SCOTTISH POET11Y. 195 



This letter, which has hitherto been neglected by the biographers 

 of the Poet, may be found in " Croraek's Reliques." 



" Burns died July 1796. His interment took place on the 25th of July ; 

 nor should it be forgotten, in relating the Poet's melancholy story, that, 

 while his body was borne along the street, his widow was taken in labour 

 and delivered of a son, who survived his birth but a short while. The 

 leading men of the town and neighbourhood appeared as mourners ; the 

 streets were lined by the Angushire Fencibles and the Cinque Ports Cavalry, 

 and his body was borne by the Volunteers to the old kirk-yard, with mili- 

 tary honours. The multitude who followed amounted to many thousands. 

 It was an impressive and a mournful sight ; all was orderly and decorous. 

 The measured steps, the military array, the colours displayed, and the 

 muffled drum I thought then, and think now had no connexion with a 

 Pastoral Bard. I mingled with the mourners. On reaching the grave into 

 which the Poet's body was about to descend, there was a pause among 

 them, as if loth to part with his remains; and when the first shovel-full of 

 earth sounded on the coffin-lid, I looked up, and saw tears on many cheeks 

 where tears were not usual. The Volunteers justified the surmise of Burns 

 by three ragged and straggling vollies ; the earth was heaped up, and the 

 vast multitude melted silently away." P. 345. 



We would gladly quote Mr. Cunningham's able and judicious cri- 

 tique on Burns, as a poet and a man ; but the space we have already 

 occupied precludes a more lengthened notice we must hasten to 

 conclude our remarks. 



In writing the life of the Poet, Mr. Cunningham must have met 

 with many obstacles and many advantages, owing to his coming after 

 Currie and Lockhart. Currie was the first to draw attention to 

 Burns' extraordinary career, and this he did in a pleasing and read- 

 able narrative, rather disfigured by commencing his own account with 

 Burns' letter to Dr. Moore, then giving us Gilbert Burns' letter, then 

 his own, and lastly Mrs. Riddells ; but with these disfigurements, 

 Currie pleased us many years back, and these delights are sometimes 

 difficult to overcome, even when more correct narratives have been 

 given to the world. In 1828, Mr. Lockhart's life appeared, laden 

 rather heavily with " he says," and " she says" and on that account 

 confusedand intricate; but the manly style in which it is written ought 

 not to be passed over, and on the whole it is one of our finest pieces 

 .of biography. On the appearance of the life by Mr. Lockhart, the 

 country seemed to say, " that they now had the life of Burns they 

 required, and were content;" but this strong feeling in favour of Mr. 

 Lockhart will, we think, be thrown aside, on a perusal of the life 

 now under our notice; though in many places blemishes are apparent, 

 they are rather the effect of general style, than a hastiness of compo- 

 sition, but these we are willing to look over for they are to be found 

 in every work, of whatever taste in the public estimation. 



The lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects taught us 

 what to expect from Mr. Cunningham's Life of Burns, and the ex- 

 pectations which we raised, we are pleased to say, have not been dis- 

 appointed ; Mr. Cunningham's is by far the most correct of all the 

 lives, and gives us the clearest view of Burns' afflicting situations ; 

 added to this that one-third of the volume is matter new to us, our 

 readers will be disposed to think highly of what Burns' present bio- 

 grapher has done. 



