9 8 LANDSCAPE AND LITERATURE 



they soothed his sorrows. They yielded him a com- 

 panionship that never palled, a sympathy that never 

 failed. They kindled his poetic ardour, and became 

 themselves the subjects of his song. He loved them 

 with all the overpowering intensity of his affectionate 

 nature, and his feelings found vent in an exuberance 

 of appreciation which had never before been heard in 

 verse. 



Among the natural objects which exerted this potent 

 sway over the poetry of Burns, the streams of Ayr- 

 shire and Nithsdale ever held a foremost place. Their 

 banks were his favourite haunt for reverie. They were 

 familiar to him under every change of sky and season, 

 from firth to fell. Each feature in their seaward 

 course was noted by his quick eye, and treasured in 

 his loving memory. Their union of ruggedness and 

 verdure, of sombre woods and open haughs, of dark 

 cliff and bright meadow, of brawling current and 

 stealthy flow, furnished that variety which captivated 

 his fancy, and found such fitting transposition to his 

 verse. His descriptions and allusions, however, are 

 never laboured and prominent ; they are dashed off 

 with the careless ease of a master-artist, whose main 

 theme is the portrayal of human feeling. Even when 

 the banks and braes have been the immediate source 

 of his inspiration, Burns quickly passes from them 

 into the world of emotion to which he makes them 

 subservient. 



So numerous and descriptive are his allusions to 

 them that a luminous account of the characteristics 

 of the Carrick brooks and rivers might easily be 

 compiled from Burns' poems. At one moment we 



