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great and the illustrious ; that Mr. Cunningham fondly imagines he was 

 qualified for such we find in one or two remarkable passages, in p. 19. 

 Without stopping to touch upon the disgraceful imputation unthinkingly 

 thrown on the army by Mr. Cunningham, who appears to have adopted 

 the poet's inveteracy against the gallant defenders of our country, we 

 hasten to remark that the only situation to which one of Burns's 

 character could, with any propriety, be preferred, was bestowed on him 

 — that of an Excise Officer ; and it is notorious that the imprudent 

 avowal of certain political opinions drew down that censure which would 

 have been exchanged for the instantaneous dismissal of any other sub- 

 ordinate. To discuss Burns's private character was a dangerous attempt 

 for a biographer so ardent in his affection as Mr. Cunningham ; facts are, 

 indeed, " stubborn things," and though warped in outline, and variously 

 coloured, cannot be entirely done away with ; and Mr. Cunningham, 

 eager as he is, and stretching probability and conjecture to the very ut- 

 termost of their endurance, has failed to prove that Burns was a man of 

 sober, moral, and religious character. He has aimed at palliation by 

 every mode which ingenuity could devise, and himself a sober, steady, 

 God-fearing man, who scruples to introduce the name of the Lord at 

 full length, ventures to talk lightly, and pleasantly, and with good humour 

 of the poet's lapses in the paths of morality, his unhappy sallies against 

 things reverend, and the unalloyed impurities of too many of his pro- 

 ductions. To use Burns's own words, in all these he must have gone 

 " agonizing over the belly of his conscience," but even so he has been 

 unable to negative the serious allegations against the object of his 

 idolatry. The wisest step for one who wished well to the memory of 

 the bard would have been to have abstained from oflTering a defence 

 of his irregularities ; to have aflforded the general particulars of his 

 career, and to have turned attention more peculiarly to his claims as a 

 poet. To dwell upon his private history is to point the eye to that 

 which no partiality, no sophistry, no evasion, no dexterity, no dove- 

 tailing of incident and insinuation can, under any circumstance, make 

 clear and spotless; and it is very questionable whether Mr. Cunningham 

 has not inflicted an injury upon the memory of his illustrious country- 

 man by his strenuous exertions to wash him clear of offence A candid 

 admission of the poet's failings and errors would have ensured a for- 

 giving temper in the reader. Still, as a new and interesting version, by 

 a popular hand, of an old story, this " life of Burns" must be read 

 with avidity. 



The writer apprises us that the farming speculations of the "illustri- 

 ous peasant," " his excise schemes, political feelings and poetic musings, 

 are discussed with a fulness not common to biography," and we admit 

 that he is fully borne out in his assertion ; the slender materials of 

 Burns's life are wrought out, like gold wire, and worked up in the most 

 amusing manner conceivable. The utmost possible importance which 

 every step and movement of the bard's humble career was capable of 

 receiving, has been conceded by the veneration and tenderness of Cun- 

 ningham : when, and where, and how he composed his songs ; what 

 " sonsie lassie" proved, for the time being, the inspiration of his Muse, 

 or to what cold and disdainful fair one he ventured to address his too 

 ardent effusions ; when he commenced to build, to sow, to reap, to 

 thrash, and to chaffer in the grass-market ; his politics and polemics ; 

 his peep at high life, his convivialities and equestrian feats, his fairings 

 and junkettings ; his gaugership, with its numerous little traits and 

 stories — all are detailed with unwearied enthusiasm. Nay, the particular 

 spots, the trees, the banks, the bushes beneath which he indited such 



