B U It 



he fouglit to remedy by attending a country dancing-mafter, 

 in oppolitioii to his father's diredl negative. This produced 

 30 unfortunate difagrecment between them, to which he at- 

 tributed in a great meafure the fubfequent diffipation of his 

 habits. 



Thus did his life pafs till his twenty-third year ; bodily 

 labour was his employment, and a fucceflion of love adven- 

 tures his amufemtnt. Tlie bias of his mind was ilrength- 

 cned by the addition of Trillram Shandy and The Man of 

 Feeling to his library. He now engaged with a flax-drefler 

 in a neighbouring town ; but the Ihop took fire, while the 

 partners were caroufing, and the poet was left without a 

 iixpence. After his father's death, he joined his fccond 

 brother in a farm, but without fuccefs. During this period, 

 he formed a conneftion with a young woman, the confe- 

 quences of which induced him to give her an acknowledg- 

 ment of private marriage. Her parents, however, finding 

 his fituation fo defperate, prevailed with her to relinquilh it. 

 He was driven to the verge of niin, and threatened with a 

 goal, when he engaged to go to Jamaica. But as his com- 

 pofitions had become popular in the neighbourhood, he re- 

 folvcd to publilh his poems before he quilted his native coun- 

 try. The firft edition, in 1786, produced him nearly twenty 

 puundi for the expences of his voyage ; he had taken the lail 

 farewcl of his friends, when a letter from Dr. Blacklock, 

 advilinj a fecond edition, canied liim to Edinburgh, and 

 opened at once new prolptfts to his poetical ambition, and 

 new temptations to thofe fenfual propenfities, which depraved 

 his genius, and fhed a pernicious influence over his future 

 life. 



His genius and talents introduced him into the circles 

 both of rank and literature ; and his powers of converfation 

 are faid to have incrtaTed theapplaiife btftovved on his writ- 

 ings. ProRITor Dugald Stewart ohlerves, in a letter to Dr. 

 Currie, " tliat all the faculties of his mind were equally vigor- 

 ous ; and his predileftion for postry was rather the relult 

 of his own enthufiailic and impalTioned temper, than of a 

 genius exclufivtly adiipted to that fpecies of compol'ition. 

 TroRi iiis converfation I lliould have pronounced him I'ltted 

 to excel m whatever w;ilk of ambition he had chofen." 



He had gained five hundred pounds by the fale of his 

 poems, with pan of wliich he entered on the farm of Eliif- 

 land, on the banks of the river Nith, fix miles above Dum- 

 fries, in the year i;S8. He had previoufly been placed on 

 the lift of candidates for the office of exeifeman ; and un- 

 fortunately for his health and his morals, he afterwards ob- 

 tained the appointment. Before he hired the farm, he had 

 become the hnfband of the young woman mentioned above, 

 who had been turned out of doors by her father. He was 

 now become a parent in his turn ; in the fuccefs of his un- 

 dtrtak'ng the happincfs of his f imily was involved, and he 

 determined, after pondiring ferioufly on the pall, to aban- 

 don the lociety and dilnpalion of which he had been en- 

 amoured. It is greatly to be regretted that he found it fo. 

 much eafjer to form than to execute his projtft of reformation. 

 At the end of the year 1791, he found it neceffary to rel'i^n 

 his farm into his landlord's hands, and remove to a fmail 

 houfe at Dumfies. Here he was betrayed into an appro- 

 bation of the French revolution, more ardent than was con- 

 fillent with the opinions of )iis fiiperiors. He was therefore 

 fubJeAedto the animadverfion of the board, but retained his 

 lituation by promiling more guarded belraviour, on the in- 

 tervention of a friend. " Among the inhabitants of Dum- 

 fnes," fays Dr. Currie, " there were never wanting peifons 

 to fhare his focial pleafures ; to lead or accompany him to 

 the tavern ; to partake in the wildell falhcs of his wit, to 

 witnefs the ftrength and degradation of his genius." Thus 



BUR 



bcfet where he was mod vulnerable, it is a fiibjeft of greater 

 forrow than furprife, that he (hould have fallen into thofe 

 irregularities, which terminated his fliort career in July 

 1 796, in the thirty-eighth year of his age. Yet, lowered 

 as was his charafter, and peniicious as were his habits to his 

 corporeal frame, he retained his vigour of mind and imagi- 

 nation to the lail, and never, in his greateft diltrefics, lolk 

 fight of honour in his pecuniary tranfaftions, or bartered his 

 independence to fupply his ueceffities. 



With refpeft to his focial charafter, it is exaflly fixed by ■ 

 the lively remark of a Scotch lady, that no man's converfa- 

 tion ever carried her fo completely off her feet as that of 

 Burns. 



The charafter of his poetical compofitions is ftrongly 

 marked with the imprefilon of his birth and ftation. He toolo 

 no pains either to elevate his imagery, or polifh his dialeft. 

 He adopted the fimplicity of nature for his guide, and re- ■ 

 frefhed himfelf at the llream of native fenfibility, in his weary - 

 pilgrimage through an obfcure and unhappy life. He is 

 always interefting, but never fplendid. His fcenery is drawn 

 on the fpot, and his ch iraflers and incidents bear the ilanip 

 of biographical and hiftorical truth, ratlier than of poetical 

 fiftion. His humour is nch, his pathos is natural, and he 

 fometimes rifes to the i'ublime : but his fuperiority is moil 

 decifively eftablilhed in the defcriptive. His poetical charaftec 

 cannot be better concluded than in the wordsof Dr. Currie. 



" To d.termiae the comparative merit of Burns would be 

 no eafy talk. Many perfons, afterwards diilinguillicd iu 

 literature, have been born in as humble a fitnation of life; , 

 but it would be difficult to find any other who, wliile- 

 earniug his fubfillence by daily labour, has written verfes 

 which have atlrafted and retained univerfal attention, and 

 which are likely to give tlie author a permanent and diflin- 

 guifhcd place among the followers of the mufes. If he is- 

 deficient in grace, he is dillinguifhed for eafe, as well as en. 

 ergy ; and thefe are indications of the higher order of genius. 

 The father of epic poetry exhib'ts one of his heroes as ex- 

 celling' in lli-ength, another in fwiftiiels ; to form his perfcfl. 

 warrior, thefe attributes are combined. Every fpecies of 

 intelleftual Itiperiority admits perhaps of a fimilar arrange- 

 ment. One writer excels in force, another in eale ; he is 

 fuperior to both, in whom both thefe q^^ialities are united. 

 The force of Burns lay in the powers of his underllanding^ 

 and in the fenfibility of his heart ; and thefe will be found 

 to in&jfe the living principle into all the works of genius 

 which feem dellined to immortality. His fenfibility had an 

 uncommon range. He was alive to every Ip-.cits of emotion. 

 He is one of the few poets that can be mentioned, who have 

 at once excelled in humour, in tendernefs, and in fublimity ; 

 a praiie unknown to the ancients, and which in modern 

 times is only due to Ariuilo, to Shakfpeare, and perhaps to 

 Voltaire. To compare the writings of the Sc.ttifh peafani: 

 with the works of thefe giants in literature, might a -pear 

 prefumptuous ; yet it may be afferted, that he has difpiayed 

 the foot of Hercules. How near he might have approached 

 them by proper culture, vvitfi lengthened years, and under 

 happier aufpices, i- is not for us" to calculate. But while 

 we ru:i over the melancholy ilory of his life, it is impoffible 

 not to heave a figh at the afperity of his fortune ; and as we 

 furvey the records of his mi.id, it is eafy to fee, that out of 

 fuch materials have been reared the faireil and moll honour- 

 able monuments of genius." 



In his corrcfpondencc there are much good fenfe, and 

 an admirable turn of exp.effion. The late Dr. Robertfoii 

 thought Burns's piofe equal to his poetical compofitions ; 

 and the public in general are nearly of the fame opinion. 

 Hls critical powers were giore matured, and his talle more 



correct 



