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BURNS, ROBERT (1759-1796)
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See also:BURNS, See also:ROBERT (1759-1796) , Scottish poet, was See also:born on the 25th of See also:January 1759 in a cottage about 2 M. from See also:Ayr. He was the eldest son of a small See also:farmer, See also: In the earlier portions of his career a buoyant See also:humour See also:bore him up; and amid thick-coming shapes of See also:ill he bated no jot of heart or See also:hope. He was cheered by vague stirrings of ambition, which he pathetically compares to the " See also:blind groping of See also:Homer's Cyclops See also:round the walls of his See also:cave." Sent to school at Kirkoswald, he became, for his scant leisure, a See also:great reader—eating at See also:meal-times with a See also:spoon in one See also:hand and a See also:book in the other, and carrying a few small volumes in his See also:pocket to study in spare moments in the See also:fields. " The colle^_tizn di songs " he tells us, " was my .vade 's "cum. I pored over then See also:driving my See also:cart or walking to labour,See also:song by song, See also:verse by verse, carefully noting the true, See also:tender, See also:sublime or See also:fustian." He lingered over the See also:ballads in his See also:cold See also:room by See also:night; by See also:day, whilst whistling at the plough, he invented new forms and was inspired by fresh ideas, " gathering round him the memories and the traditions of his See also:country till they became a See also:mantle and a See also:crown." It was among the furrows of his See also:father's fields that he was inspired with the perpetually quoted wish " That I for poor auld See also:Scotland's See also:sake Some useful See also:plan or book could make, Or sing a sang at least." An equally striking See also:illustration of the same feeling is to be found in his summer See also:Sunday's ramble to the Leglen See also:wood,—the fabled haunt of See also:Wallace,—which the poet confesses to have visited " with as much devout See also:enthusiasm as ever See also:pilgrim did the See also:shrine of Loretto." In another reference to the same See also:period he refers to the intense susceptibility to the homeliest aspects of Nature which throughout characterized his See also:genius. " Scarcely any See also:object gave me more—I do not know if I should See also:call it pleasure—but something which exalts and enraptures me—than to walk in the sheltered See also:side of a wood or high See also:plantation in a cloudy See also:winter day and hear the stormy See also:wind howling among the trees and raving over the See also:plain. I listened to the birds, and frequently turned out of my path lest I should disturb their little songs or frighten them to another station." Auroral visions were See also:gilding his See also:horizon as he walked in See also:glory, if not in joy, " behind his plough upon the See also:mountain side "; but the swarm of his many-coloured fancies was again made See also:grey by the atra cura of unsuccessful toils. Burns had written his first verses of See also:note, " Behind See also:yon hills where Stinchar (afterwards Lugar) flows," when in 1781 he went to See also:Irvine to learn the See also:trade of a See also:flax-See also:dresser. " It was," he says, " an unlucky affair. As we were giving a welcome carousal to the New Year, the See also:shop took See also:fire and burned to ashes; and I was See also:left, like a true poet, without a sixpence." His own heart, too, had unfortunately taken fire. He was poring over See also:mathematics till, in his own phraseology,—still affected in its See also:prose by the classical pedantries caught from See also:Pope by See also:Ramsay,—" the See also:sun entered See also:Virgo, when a charming fillette, who lived next See also:door, overset See also:lily See also:trigonometry, and set me off at a tangent from the See also:scene of my studies." We need not detail the See also:story, nor the incessant repetitions of it, which marked and sometimes marred his career. The poet was jilted, went through the usual despairs, and resorted to the not unusual See also:sources of See also:consolation. He had found that he was " no enemy to social life," and his mates had discovered that he was the best of boon companions in the lyric feasts, where his eloquence See also:shed a lustre over See also:wild ways of life, and where he was beginning to be distinguished as a See also:champion of the New See also:Lights and a satirist of the Calvinism whose See also:waters he found like those of Marah. In Robert's 25th year his father died, full of sorrows and apprehensions for the gifted son who wrote for his See also:tomb in Alloway kirkyard, the See also:fine See also:epitaph ending with the characteristic See also:line
" For even his failings leaned to virtue's side."
For some See also:time longer the poet, with his See also:brother See also: . I remember . . . his shedding tears over a See also:print representing a soldier lying dead in the See also:snow, his See also:dog sitting in misery on one side, on the other his widow with a See also:child in her arms. His See also:person was robust, his See also:manners rustic, not clownish. . .. His countenance was more massive than it looks in any of the portraits. There was a strong expression of shrewdness in his lineaments; the See also:eye alone indicated the poetic character and temperament. It was large and of a dark See also:cast, and literally glowed when he spoke with feeling or See also:interest. I never saw such another eye in a human See also:head. His conversation expressed perfect self-confidence, without the least intrusive forwardness. I thought his acquaintance with See also:English poetry was rather limited; and having twenty times the abilities of See also:Allan Ramsay and of See also:Fergusson he talked of them with too much humility as his See also:models. He was much caressed in Edinburgh, but the efforts made for his See also:relief were extremely trifling." Laudatur et alget. Burns went from those meetings, where he had been posing professors (no hard task), and turning the heads of duchesses, to See also:share a See also:bed in the See also:garret of a writer's apprentice,—they paid together 3s. a See also:week for the room. It was in the house of Mr Carfrae, See also:Baxter's See also:Close, Lawnmarket, " first See also:scale See also:stair on the left hand in going down, first door in the stair." During Burns's life it was reserved for William See also:Pitt to recognize his See also:place as a great poet; the more cautious critics of the See also:North were satisfied to endorse him as a rustic See also:prodigy, and brought upon themselves a share of his See also:satire. Some of the friendships contracted during this period —as for See also:Lord See also:Glencairn and Mrs Dunlop—are among the most pleasing and permanent in literature; for genuine kindness was never wasted on one who, whatever his faults, has never been accused of ingratitude. But in the See also:bard's See also:city life there was anunnatural See also:element. He stooped to beg for neither See also:smiles nor favour, but the gnarled country See also:oak is cut up into cabinets in artificial prose and verse. In the letters to Mr See also:Graham, the See also:prologue to Mr Wood, and the epistles to Clarinda, he is dancing minuets with hob-nailed shoes. When, in 1787, the second edition of the Poems came out, the proceeds of their See also:sale realized for the author £400. On the strength of this sum he gave him-self two See also:long rambles, full of poetic material—one through the border towns into See also:England as far as See also:Newcastle, returning by See also:Dumfries to See also:Mauchline, and another a See also:grand tour through the See also:East See also:Highlands, as far as See also:Inverness, returning by Edinburgh, and so See also:home to See also:Ayrshire. In 1788 Burns took a new farm at Ellisland on the Nith, settled there, married, lost his little See also:money, and wrote, among other pieces, " Auld See also:Lang Syne " and " See also:Tam o' Shanter." In 1789 he obtained, through the See also:good See also:office of Mr Graham of Fintry, an See also:appointment as See also:excise-officer of the See also:district, worth £5.0 per annum. In 1791 he removed to a similar See also:post at Dumfries worth £70. In the course of the following year he was asked to contribute to See also:George See also:Thomson's Select Collection of See also:Original Scottish Airs with Symphonies and Accompaniments for the See also:Pianoforte and See also:Violin: the poetry by Robert Burns. To this See also:work he contributed about one See also:hundred songs, the best of which are now ringing in the See also:ear of every Scotsman from New See also:Zealand to See also:San Francisco. For these, original and adapted, he received a See also:shawl for his wife, a picture by See also:David Allan representing the " Cottar's Saturday Night," and £5! The poet wrote an indignant See also:letter and never afterwards composed for money. Unfortunately the " See also:Rock of Independence " to which he had proudly retired was but a See also:castle of air, over which the meteors of See also:French See also:political enthusiasm cast a lurid gleam. In the last years of his life, exiled from polite society on See also:account of his revolutionary opinions, he became sourer in See also:temper and plunged more deeply into the dissipations of the See also:lower ranks, among whom he found his only companionship and See also:sole, though shallow, sympathy.
Burns began to feel himself prematurely old. Walking with a friend who proposed to him to join a See also:county See also:ball, he shook his head, saying " that's all over now," and adding a verse of See also:Lady Grizel See also:Baillie's ballad
" O were we young as we ance hae been,
We sud hae been galloping down on yon See also:green, And linking it ower the lily-See also: On the 25th, when his last son came into the world, he was buried with See also:local honours, the See also:volunteers of the See also:company to which he belonged firing three volleys over his grave.
It has been said that " See also:Lowland Scotland as a distinct See also:nationality came in with two warriors and went out with two bards. It came in with William Wallace and Robert See also:Bruce and went out with Robert Burns and Walter Scott. The first two made the See also:history, the last two told the story and sung the song." But what in the See also:minstrel's See also:lay was mainly a See also:requiem was in the See also:people's poet also a prophecy. The position of Burns in the progress of See also:British literature may be shortly defined; he was a See also:link between two eras, like See also:Chaucer, the last of the old and the first of the new—the inheritor of the traditions and the See also:music of the past, in some respects the See also:herald of the future.
The volumes of our lyrist owe See also:part of their popularity to the fact of their being an epitome of melodies, moods and memories that had belonged for centuries to the See also:national life, the best
inspirations of which have passed into them. But in gathering from his ancestors Burns has exalted their work by asserting a new dignity for their simplest themes. He is the See also:heir of See also:Barbour, distilling the spirit of the old poet's epic into a See also:battle See also:chant, and of See also:Dunbar, reproducing the various humours of a See also:half-sceptical, half-religious See also:philosophy of life. He is the See also:pupil of Ramsay, but he leaves his master, to make a social protest and to See also:lead a literary revolt. The See also:Gentle Shepherd, still largely a See also:court See also:pastoral, in which " a man's a man " if born a See also:gentleman, may be contrasted with " The See also:Jolly Beggars "—the one is like a See also:minuet of the ladies of See also:Versailles on the sward of the Swiss See also:village near the Trianon, the other like the See also: We may clench the contrast by a representative example. This is from Ramsay's version of perhaps the best-known of Scottish songs, " Methinks around us on each bough A thousand Cupids See also:play; Whilst through the groves I walk with you, Each object makes me gay. Since your return—the sun and See also:moon With brighter beams do shine, Streams murmur soft notes while they run As they did lang syne." Compare the verses in Burns " We twa hae run about the braes And pu'd the gowans fine; But we've wandered mony a weary See also:foot See also:Sin auld lang syne. We twa hae paidl'd in the See also:burn, Frae See also:morning sun till dine: But seas between us See also:braid hae roar'd Sin auld lang syne." Burns as a poet of the inanimate world doubtless derived hints from Thomson of The Seasons, but in his See also:power of tuning its manifestation to the moods of the mind he is more properly ranked as a forerunner of See also:Wordsworth. He never follows the fashions of his See also:century, except in his failures—in his efforts at set See also:panegyric or fine letter-See also:writing. His highest work knows nothing of " See also:Damon " or " Musidora." He leaves the See also:atmosphere of See also:drawing-rooms for the ingle or the See also:ale-house or the mountain See also:breeze. The affectations of his See also:style are insignificant and rare. His prevailing characteristic is an See also:absolute sincerity. A love for the lower forms of social life was his besetting sin; Nature was his healing power. Burns compares himself to an Aeolian See also:harp, strung to every wind of heaven. His genius flows over all living and lifeless things with a sympathy that finds nothing mean or insignificant. An uprooted daisy becomes in his pages an enduring See also:emblem of the See also:fate of artless maid and See also:simple bard. He disturbs a mouse's See also:nest and finds in the " tim'See also:rous beastie " a See also:fellow-mortal doomed like himself to " thole the winter's sleety dribble," and draws his oft-repeated moral. He walks abroad and, in a verse that glints with the light of its own rising sun before the fierce See also:sarcasm of " The See also:Holy See also:Fair," describes the melodies of a " simmer Sunday morn." He loiters by Afton See also:Water and " murmurs by the See also:running See also:brook a music sweeter than its own." He stands by a roofless See also:tower, where " the howlet mourns in her dewy See also:bower," and " sets the wild echoes flying," and adds to a perfect picture of the scene his famous vision of " Libertie." In a single See also:stanza he concentrates the sentiment of many Night Thoughts
" The See also:pale moon is setting beyond the white See also:wave, And Time is setting wi' me, O."
For other examples of the same graphic power we may refer to the course of his stream
" Whiles ow'r a linn the burnie plays As through the glen it wimpled," &c.,
or to " The Birks of Aberfeldy " or the " spate " in the See also:dialogue of " The Brigs of Ayr." The poet is as much at home in the
presence of this See also:flood as by his " trottin' burn's meander." See also:Familiar with all the seasons he represents the phases of a northern winter with a frequency characteristic of his clime and of his fortunes; her tempests became anthems in his verse, and the See also:sounding See also:woods " raise his thoughts to Him that walketh on the wings of the wind "; full of pity for the shelterless poor, the " ourie See also:cattle," the " See also:silly See also:sheep," and the " helpless birds," he yet reflects that the See also:bitter blast is not " so unkind as man's ingratitude." This See also:constant tendency to ascend above the fair or wild features of outward things, or to penetrate beneath them, to make them symbols, to endow them with a See also:voice to speak for humanity, distinguishes Burns as a descriptive poet from the See also:rest of his countrymen. As a painter he is rivalled by Dunbar and See also: Of the people he speaks more directly for the people than any of our more considerable poets. Chaucer has a perfect hold of the homeliest phases of life, but he. wants the lyric element, and the See also:charm of his See also:language has largely faded from untutored ears. See also:Shakespeare, indeed, has at once a loftier vision and a wider grasp; for he sings of " See also:Thebes and See also:Pelops line," of See also:Agincourt and See also:Philippi, as of Falstaff, and Snug the joiner, and the " meanest See also:flower that blows." But not even Shakespeare has put more thought into poetry which the most prosaic must appreciate than Burns has done. The latter moves in a narrower See also:sphere and wants the strictly dramatic See also:faculty, but its place is partly supplied by the vividness of his narrative. His realization of incident and character is manifested in the sketches in which the manners and prevailing fancies of his countrymen are immortalized in connexion with local scenery. Among those almost every variety of disposition findsitsfavourite. The quiet households of the See also:kingdom have received a sort of See also:apotheosis in the " Cottar's Saturday Night." It has been objected that the subject does not afford See also:scope for the more daring forms of the author's genius; but had he written no other poem, this heartful rendering of a good week's close in a God-fearing home, sincerely devout, and yet relieved from all suspicion of sermonizing by its humorous touches, would have secured a permanent place in literature. It transcends Thomson and See also:Beattie at their best, and will See also:smell sweet like the actions of the just for generations to come.
Lovers of rustic festivity may hold that the poet's greatest performance is his narrative of " Halloween," which for easy vigour, fulness of rollicking life, blended truth and See also:fancy, is unsurpassed in its kind. See also: The contrast between the lines " See also:Kings may be blest," &c., and those which follow, beginning " But pleasures are like poppies spread," is typical of the perpetual See also:antithesis of the author's thought and life, in which, at the back of every revelry, he See also:sees the See also:shadow of a warning hand, and reads on the See also:wall the writing, Omnia mutantur. With equal or greater confidence other See also:judges have pronounced Burns's masterpiece to be " The Jolly Beggars." Certainly no other single See also:production so illustrates his power of exalting what is insignificant, glorifying what is mean, and elevating the lowest details by the force of his genius. " The See also:form of the piece," says Carlyle, " is a See also:mere See also:cantata, the theme the half-drunken snatches of a joyous See also:band of vagabonds, while the grey leaves are floating on the gusts of the wind in the autumn of the year. But the whole is compacted, refined and poured forth in one flood of liquid See also:harmony. It is light, See also:airy and soft of See also:movement, yet See also:sharp and precise in its details; every See also:face is a portrait, and the whole a See also:group in clear See also:photography. The blanket of the night is See also:drawn aside; in full ruddy gleaming light these rough tatterdemalions are seen at their boisterous revel wringing from Fate another See also:hour of See also:wassail and good cheer." Over the whole is flung a half-humorous, half-See also:savage satire—aimed, like a two-edged See also:sword, at the See also:laws and the See also:law-breakers, in the See also:acme of which the graceless See also:crew are raised above the level of See also:ordinary See also:gipsies, footpads and rogues, and are made to sit " on the hills like gods together, careless of mankind," and to See also:launch their Titan thunders of See also:rebellion against the world. " A fig for those by law protected; See also:Liberty's a glorious feast; Courts for cowards were erected, Churches built to please the See also:priest." A similar mixture of drollery and See also:defiance appears in the justly celebrated "Address to the Deil," which, mainly whimsical, is relieved by touches of pathos curiously See also:quaint. " The effect of contrast," it has been observed, " was never more happily displayed than in the conception of such a being straying in lonely places and loitering among trees, or in the familiarity with which the poet lectures so awful a personage,"—we may add, than in the inimitable outbreak at the close " 0 would you tak a thought an' men'." Carlyle, in reference to this passage, cannot resist the See also:suggestion of a parallel from See also:Sterne. " He is the father of curses and lies, said Dr Slop, and is cursed and damned already. I am sorry for it, quoth my See also:Uncle Toby." Burns fared ill at the hands of those who were not sorry for it, and who repeated with glib complacency every terrible belief of the system in which they had been trained. The most scathing of his Satires, under which head fall many of his minor and frequent passages in his See also:major pieces, are directed against the false See also:pride of See also:birth, and what he conceived to be the false pretences of See also:religion. The See also:apologue of " See also:Death and Dr Hornbook," " The Ordination," the song " No churchman am I for to See also:rail and to write," the " Address to the Unco Guid," " Holy Willie," and above all " The Holy Fair," with its savage See also:caricature of an ignorant ranter of the time called Moodie, and others of like See also:stamp, not unnaturally provoked offence. As regards the poet's attitude towards some phases of Calvinism prevalent during his life, it has to be remarked that from the days of Dunbar there has been a degree of antagonism between Scottish verse and the more rigid forms of Scottish See also:theology. It must be admitted that in protesting against See also:hypocrisy he has occasionally been led beyond the limits prescribed by good See also:taste. He is at times abusive of those who differ from him. This, with other offences against decorum, which here and there _ disfigure his pages, can only be condoned by an See also:appeal to the See also:general See also:tone of his writing, which is reverential. Burns had a See also:firm faith in a Supreme Being, not as a vague mysterious Power; but as the Arbiter of human life. Amid the vicissitudes of his career he responds to the cottar's See also:summons, " Let us See also:worship God." " An atheist's laugh's a poor See also:exchange For. Deity offended " is the moral of all his verse, which treats seriously of religious matters. His prayers in See also:rhyme give him a high place among See also:secular Psalmists. Like Chaucer, Burns was a great moralist, though a rough one. In the moments of his most intense revolt against conventional See also:prejudice and sanctimonious affectation, he is faithful to the great laws which underlie See also:change, loyal in his veneration for the See also:cardinal virtues—Truth, See also:Justice and Charity,—and consistent in the warnings, to which his experience gives an unhappy force, against transgressions of See also:Temperance. In the " Epistle to a Young Friend," the shrewdest See also:advice is blended with exhortations appealing to the highest See also:motive, that which transcends the calculation of consequences, and bids us walk in the straight path from the feeling of See also:personal See also:honour, and " for the glorious See also:privilege of being See also:independent." Burns, like See also:Dante, " loved well because he hated, hated wickedness that hinders loving," and this feeling, as in the lines—"Dweller in you See also:dungeon dark," sometimes breaks See also:bounds; but his calmer moods are better represented by the well-known passages in the " Epistle to Davie," in which he preaches acquiescence in our See also:lot, and a cheerful See also:acceptance of our duties in the sphere where we are placed. This philosophic See also:douce, never better sung by See also:Horace, is the prevailing refrain of our author's Songs. On these there are few words to add to the acclaim of a century. They have passed into the air we breathe; they are so real that they seem things rather than words, or, nearer still, living beings. They have taken all See also:hearts, because they are the breath of his own; not polished cadences, but utterances as direct as See also:laughter or tears. Since See also:Sappho loved and sang, there has been no such national lyrist as Burns. Fine ballads, mostly See also:anonymous, existed in Scotland previous to his time; and shortly before a fev authors had produced a few songs equal to some of his best. Such are See also: N.)
The greater part of Burns's verse was posthumously published, and, as he himself took no care to collect the scattered pieces of occasional verse, different editors have from time to time printed, as his, verses that must be regarded as See also:spurious. Poems chiefly in the Scottish See also:Dialect, by Robert Burns (Kilmarnock, 1786), was followed by an enlarged edition printed in Edinburgh in the next year. Other See also:editions of this book were printed—in See also:London (1787), an enlarged edition at Edinburgh (2 vols., 1793) and a reprint of this in 1794. Of a 1790 edition mentioned by Robert See also:Chambers no traces can be found. Poems by Burns appeared originally in The Caledonian See also:Mercury, The Edinburgh Evening Courant, The Edinburgh Herald, The Edinburgh Advertiser; the London papers, See also:Stuart's See also:Star and Evening Advertiser (subsequently known as The Morning Star), The Morning See also:Chronicle; and in the Edinburgh See also:Magazine and The Scots Magazine. Many poems, most of which had first appeared elsewhere, were printed in a series of See also:penny See also:chap-books, Poetry Original and Select (Brash and See also:Reid, Glasgo, and some appeared separately as broadsides. A series of tracts issued by Stewart and Meikle (See also:Glasgow, 1796-1799) includes some Burns's See also:numbers, The Jolly Beggars, Holy Willie's Prayer and other poems making their first See also:appearance in this way. The seven numbers of this publication were reissued in January 1800 as The Poetical See also:Miscellany. This was followed by Thomas Stewart's Poems ascribed to Robert Burns (Glasgow, 1801). Burns's songs appeared chiefly in James See also: MS. 22,307) include 162 songs, many of them in Burns's See also:handwriting; and the See also:Dalhousie MS., at See also:Brechin Castle, contains Burns's See also:correspondence with Thomson. For a full account of the songs see James C. See also:Dick, The Songs of Robert Burns now first printed with the Melodies for which they were written (2 vols., 1903).
The items in Mr W. Craibe See also:Angus's Printed Works of Robert Burns (1899) number nine hundred and See also:thirty. Only the more important collected editions can be here noticed. Dr See also:Currie was the anonymous editor of the Works of Robert Burns; with an Account of his Life, and a See also:Criticism on his Writings ... (See also:Liverpool, 1800). This was undertaken for the benefit of Burns's family at the See also:desire of his friends, Alexander See also:Cunningham and See also: H. Cromek (London, 1808). In The Works of Robert Burns, With his Life by Allan Cunningham (8 vols., London, 1834) there are many additions and much See also:biographical material. The Works of Robert Burns, edited by James See also:Hogg and William See also:Motherwell (5 vols., 1834-1836, Glasgow and Edinburgh), contains a life of the poet by Hogg, and some useful notes by Motherwell attempting to trace the sources of Burns's songs. The Correspondence between Burns and Clarinda was edited by W. C. M'Lehose (Edinburgh, 1843). An improved text of the poems was provided in the second Aldine Edition" of the Poetical Works (3 vols., 1839), for which Sir H. See also:Nicolas, the editor, made use of many original MSS. In the Life and Works of Robert Burns, edited by Robert Chambers (Edinburgh, 4 vols., 1851-1852 ; library edition, 1856-1857; new edition, revised by William Wallace, 1896), the poet's works are given in See also:chronological See also:order, interwoven with letters and See also:biography. The text was bowdlerized by Chambers, but the book contained much new and valuable See also:information. Other well-known editions are those of George See also:Gilfillan (2 vols., 1864) ; of Alexander See also: Hately Waddell (Glasgow, 1867) ; one published by Messrs See also:Blackie & Son, with Dr Currie's memoir and an See also:essay by Prof. Wilson (1843-1844); of W. Scott See also:Douglas (the Kilmarnock edition, 1876, and the " library " edition, 1877-1879), and of See also:Andrew Lang, assisted by W. A. See also:Craigie (London, 1896). The complete correspondence between Burns and Mrs See also:Dunlop was printed in 1898. A See also:critical edition of the Poetry of Robert Burns, which may be regarded as definitive, and is provided with full notes and variant readings, was prepared by W. E. See also:Henley and T. F. See also:Henderson (4 vols., Edinburgh, 1896-1897; reprinted, 1901), and is generally known as the " See also:Centenary Burns." In vol. iii. the extent of Burns's indebtedness to Scottish folk-song and his methods of See also:adaptation are minutely discussed; vol. iv. contains an essay on " Robert Burns. Life, Genius, Achievement," by W. E. Henley. The See also:chief original authority for Burns's life is his own letters. The principal " lives " are to be found in the editions just mentioned. His biography has also been written by J. See also:Gibson Lockhart (Life of Burns, Edinburgh, 1828) ; for the English Men of Letters " series in 1879 by Prof. J. Campbell See also:Shairp; and by Sir See also:Leslie See also:Stephen in the See also:Dictionary of National Biography (vol. viii., 1886), Among the more important essays on Burns are those by Thomas Carlyle (Edinburgh See also:Review, See also:December 1828) ; by John See also:Nichol, the writer of the above See also:article (W. Scott Douglas's edition of Burns) ; by R. L. See also:Stevenson (Familiar Studies of Men and Books) ; by Auguste Angellier (Robert Burns. La See also:vie et See also:les oeuvres, 2 vols., See also:Paris,1893) ; by Lord See also:Rosebery (Robert Burns: Two Addresses in Edinburgh, 1896) ; by J. Logie See also:Robertson (in In Scottish Fields, Edin., 189o, and See also:Furth in See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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