Burns did manage a visit to Lagganpark a few months later and, showing a solid grasp of geology, gave a detailed description of valuable limestone deposits that he found on the estate.

[1] Aged 30, in 1774, taking part in open competition for the post of Classics teacher at the High School in Edinburgh he was successful and earned a reputation as an excellent scholar, but a very harsh disciplinarian.

"[10] He was a member of the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge No.2, however his vain, irascible and unpredictably ill tempered personality meant that he was not popular in Edinburgh society.

May that obstinate son of Latin prose be curst tp Scotch-mile periods, and damn'd to seven league paragraphs; while Declension and Conjugation, Gender, Number and Time, under the ragged banners of Dissonance and Disarrangement eternally rank against him in hostile array!!!

"[11] In March 1788 Burns commented in a letter to William Cruikshank that "I would send my compliments to Mr Nicol, but he would be hurt if he knew I wrote to any body and not to him.

Nicol is said to have persuaded Burns to write the "Grace Before and After Meat" as recompense and likewise 'commanded' him to compose a thanks:[21] O Lord, when hunger pinches sore, Do Thou stand us in stead, And send us, from Thy bounteous store, A tup or whether head.

[11][23] 'Epitaph for William Nicol': Ye maggots, feed on Willie's brains, For few sic feasts you'fe gotten; An' fix your claws into his heart, For fient a bit o't 's rotten.

Nicol was distressed at "the premature death of my dearly beloved Burns" and commented that "I can no longer view the face of Nature, with the same rapture; and social joy is blighted to me, for ever."

He went on to criticise the negative comments published in the press about Burns, saying that "stupidity and idiotcy rejoice, when a great and an immortal genius falls; and they pour forth their invidious reflections, without reserve, well knowing, that the dead Lion, from whose presence, they formerly scudded away, with terror, and, at whose voice they trembled through every nerve, can devour no more.

"[25] Nicol also recorded wild gossip regarding Burns's dying statements "The Fanatics have now got it into their heads, that dreadful bursts of penetential sorrow issued from the breast of our friend, before he expired.

"[28] In February 1790 Burns wrote enthusiastically to Nicol regarding the great success of a theatrical company at Dumfries and about the plans to build a new theatre there.

"[30] In August 1790 Nicol wrote to Robert Ainslie lampooning Burns for his ambition for promotion in the Excise and his revelling in pride when he achieved it.

[7] A concerned Nicol wrote to Burns regarding the 'Ca Ira' affair at the Dumfries theatre that came close to the poet losing his job, saying "Dear Christless Bobbie, What has become of thee?

"[2] In May 1795 Burns wrote to George Thomson commenting on the artist David Allan's accurate depiction of him in an engraving of 'The Cotter's Saturday Night.'