AN English gentleman visiting the widow of Robert Burns at Dumfries, was exceedingly anxious to obtain some relic of the bard, as he called it; that is, some scrap of his handwriting, or any other little object which could be considered a memorial of the deceased.
Mrs. Burns replied to all his entreaties, that she had already given away everything of that kind that was remarkable, or which she could think of parting with; that, indeed, she had no relic to give him. Still the visitant insisted, and still Mrs. Burns declared her inability to satisfy him. At length, pushed by his good-humoured entreaties to very extremity, she as good-humouredly said –
“Well, sir, unless you take myself, I really can think of no other relic (relict) of him that is in my power to give or yours to receive.”
Of course this closed the argument.
