[Fedora-suds-list] Bject despair, so that he required

[Stachowicz Meo]

First place, the harvest was late that year. We

find in the Scottish newspapers
of the time, that, in the middle of October, a great deal of grain was
still _out_
even in the favoured district around Falkirk; while a letter from
Sanquhar (Burns's neighbourhood), dated the 21st, states that "while
much was cut, _very little was

yet got in_, owing to the bad weather." It appears that harvest was
commenced by the 8th of

September in some districts, but was interrupted by
rains, and was not concluded till near the end of the ensuing month.
Consequently,
the incident _might_ take place in the latter part of October, and
_still be connected with

harvest operations_. The second
portion of our evidence on the
subject is from one of the exact sciences, and appears to us at once
to settle the time of the day--the month--and almost the day of the
month. 'It fully
appears that the planet Venus is the one referred to by the poet, for
the description applies only to it. Now Venus was in conjunction with
the sun, May 30, 1789, and after that became visible as the
_evening-star_ towards the end of the summer, reaching its greatest
brilliancy in winter. It is therefore certain that the star
which "loves to greet the early morn" did not at this time "usher in
the day," and consequently, so far as the time of day alluded to in
the poem is concerned, a poetical liberty was taken with truth. On the
21st of September the sun set at six o'clock, and Venus forty-four
minutes thereafter.

The planet was consequently not to be seen at that time except faintly
in the twilight. But on the 21st of October the sun set in the
latitude of Ellisland at 4h 53m, and Venus 1h 3m afterwards.
Consequently, Venus would then
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