He was the lion of the day in
literary circles. Many persons who met him have told how he impressed
them; but the most interesting account is that of Walter Scott, then a
youth of sixteen. He says of Burns: "His person was strong and robust;
his manner rustic, not clownish; a sort of dignified plainness and
simplicity. His countenance was more massive than it looks in any of
the portraits. . . There was a strong expression of sense and
shrewdness in all his lineaments; the eye alone, I think, indicated the
poetical character and temperament. It was large, and of a dark cast,
which glowed (I say literally glowed), when he spoke, with feeling or
interest. I never saw such another eye in a human head, though I have
seen the most distinguished men of my time."
In 1788 the poet married Jane Armour, and the following year settled
with her on a farm at Ellisland, near Dumfries. Finding it impossible
to make a living for his increasing family as a farmer, he obtained
through friends the place of exciseman for the surrounding region.
This position obliged him to ride more than two hundred miles a week,
collecting government taxes. In 1791 he moved to the town of Dumfries.
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