in his scrious poems, he becomes more ge- which he was attached by sentiments of nerally intelligible. It is difficult to decide | affection, gratitude, or patriotism. The whether the Address to a Mouse, whose nest, second duan, or canto, of this poem, in was turned up with the plough, should be which Coila describes her own nature and considered as serious or comic. Be this as occupations, particularly her superintenit may, the poem is one of the happiest and dence of his infant genius, and in which she most finished of his productions. If we reconciles him to the character of a bard, is smile at the "bickering brattle" of this little an elevated and solemn strain of poetry, flying animal, it is a smile of tenderness ranking in all respects, excepting the harand pity. The descriptive part is admirable; mony of numbers, with the higher producthe moral reflections beautiful, and arising tions of the English muse. The concluding directly out of the occasion; and in the con- stanza, compared with that already quoted, clusion there is a deep melancholy, a sen- will show to what a height Burns rises in timent of doubt and dread, that rises to this poem, from the point at which he set the sublime. The address to a Mountain out:Daisy, turned down with the plough, is a poem of the same nature, though somewhat inferior in point of originality, as well as in the interest produced. To extract out of incidents so common, and seemingly so trivial as these, so fine a train of sentiment and imagery, is the surest proof, as well as the most brilliant triumph, of original genius. The vision, in two cantos, from which a beautiful extract is taken by Mr. Mackenzie, in the 97th number of The Lounger, is a poem of great and various excellence. The opening, in which the poet describes his own state of mind, retiring in the evening, wearied from the labours of the day, to moralise on his conduct and prospects, is truly interesting. The chamber, if we may so term it, in which he sits down to muse, is an exquisite painting: "There, lanely, by the ingle cheek I sat and ey'd the spewing reek, And heard the restless rattons squeak To reconcile to our imagination the entrance of an aërial being into a mansion of this kind, required the powers of Burns-he however succeeds. Coila enters, and her countenance, attitude, and dress, unlike those of other spiritual beings, are distinctly pourtrayed. To the painting on her mantle, on which is depicted the most striking scenery, as well as the most distinguished characters, of his native countrry, some exceptions may be made. The mantle of Coila, like the cup of Thyrsis, and the shield of Achilles, is too much crowded with figures, and some of the objects represented upon it are scarcely admissible, according to the principles of design. The generous temperament of Burns led him into these exuberances. In his second edition he enarged the number of figures originally introduced, that he might include objects to G "And wear thou this-she solemn said, And, like a passing thought, she fled The In various poems, Burns has exhibited "Ilk happing bird-wee, helpless thing! What comes o' thee? Whare wilt thou cow'r thy chittering wing, Other reflections of the same nature occur to his mind; and as the midnight moon "muffled with clouds" casts her dreary light on his window, thoughts of a darker and more melancholy nature crowd upon him. In this state of mind, he hears a voice pouring through the gloom a solemn The and plaintive strain of reflection. "Oh, ye! who, sunk in beds of down, While thro' the ragged roof and chinky wall, The strain of sentiment which runs through this poem is noble, though the execution is unequal, and the versification is defective. Among the serious poems of Burns, The Cotter's Saturday Night is perhaps entitled to the first rank. The Farmer's Ingle of Fergusson evidently suggested the plan of this poem, as has been already mentioned; but after the plan was formed, Burns trusted entirely to his own powers for the execution. Fergusson's poem is certainly very beautiful. It has all the charms which depend on rural characters and manners happily pourtrayed, and exhibited under circumstances highly grateful to the imagination. The Farmer's Ingle begins with describing the return of evening. The toils of the day are over, and the farmer retires to his comfortable fireside. The reception which he and his men-servants receive from the careful housewife, is pleasingly described. After their supper is over, they begin to talk on the rural events of the day. "'Bout kirk and market eke their tales'gae on, How Jock woo'd Jenny here to be his bride; And there how Marion for a bastard son, And dim our dolefu' days wi' bairnly fear; The mind's aye cradled when the grave is near.' In the meantime, the farmer, wearied with the fatigues of the day, stretches himself at length on the settle, a sort of rustic couch which extends on one side of the fire, and the cat and house-dog leap upon it to receive his caresses. Here resting at his ease, he gives his directions to his men-servants for the succeeding day. The housewife follows his example, and gives her orders to the maidens. By degrees the oil in the cruise begins to fail, the fire runs low, sleep steals on this rustic group, and they move off to enjoy their peaceful slumbers. The poet concludes by bestowing his blessings on the "husbandman and all his tribe." This is an original and truly interesting pastoral. It possesses every thing required in this species of composition. We might have perhaps said every thing that it admits, had not Burns written his Cotter's Saturday Night. The cottager returning from his labours, has no servants to accompany him, to partake of his fare, or to receive his instructions. The circle which he joins, is composed of his wife and children only; and if it admits of less variety, it affords an opportunity for representing scenes that more the affections. The strongly interest (6 woman younger children running to meet him, and clambering round his knee-the elder, returning from their weekly labours with the neighbouring farmers, dutifully depositing their little gains with their parents, and receiving their father's blessing and instructions-the incidents of the courtship of Jenny, their eldest daughter, grown"-are circumstances of the most inpleas-grown teresting kind, which are most happily delineated; and after their frugal supper, the representation of these humble cottagers and uniting in the worship of God, is a forming a wider circle round their hearth, picture the most deeply affecting of any which the rural muse has ever presented to the view. Burns was admirably adapted to this delineation. Like all men of genius, he was of the temperament of devotion, and the powers of memory co-operated in this instance with the sensibility of his heart, and the fervour of his imagination. (145) The Cotter's Saturday Night is tender and moral, it is solemn and devotional, and rises at length into a strain of grandeur and sublimity, which modern poetry has not surpassed. The noble sentiments of patriotism with which it con Upo' the cutty-stool was forced to ride, The waefu' scauld o' our Mess John to bide.” The "guidame" is next introduced as forming a circle round the fire, in the midst of her grandchildren, and while she spins from the rock, and the spindle plays on her russet lap," she is relating to the young ones tales of witches and ghosts. The poet exclaims, “Oh, mock na this, my friends! but rather mourn, Ye in life's brawest spring wi' reason clear, Wi' eild our idle fancies a' return, Before we conclude, it will be proper to offer a few observations on the lyric productions of Burns. His compositions of this kind are chiefly songs, generally in the Scottish dialect, and always after the model of the Scottish songs, on the general character and moral influence of which some observations have already been offered. We may hazard a few more particular remarks. cludes, correspond with the rest of the tenderness and affection, which do not poem. In no age or country have the entirely absorb the lover, but permit him to pastoral muses breathed such elevated associate his emotions with the charms of accents, if the Messiah of Pope be excepted, external nature, and breathe the accents of which is indeed a pastoral in form only. It purity and innocence, as well as of love. In is to be regretted that Burns did not employ these respects, the love-songs of Scotland his genius on other subjects of the same are honorably distinguished from the most nature, which the manners and customs of admired classical compositions of the same the Scottish peasantry would have amply kind; and by such associations, a variety, as supplied. Such poetry is not to be esti- well as liveliness, is given to the representa| mated by the degree of pleasure which it tion of this passion, which are not to be bestows; it sinks deeply into the heart, and found in the poetry of Greece or Rome, or is calculated, far beyond any other human perhaps of any other nation. Many of the means, for giving permanence to the scenes love-songs of Scotland describe scenes of and characters it so exquisitely describes. rural courtship; many may be considered as invocations from lovers to their mistresses. On such occasions a degree of interest and reality is given to the sentiments, by the spot destined to these happy interviews being particularized. The lovers perhaps meet at the Bush aboon Traquair, or on the banks of Ettrick; the nymphs are invoked to wander among the wilds of Roslin, or the woods of Invermay. Nor is Of the historic or heroic ballads of Scot- the spot merely pointed out; the scenery is land, it is unnecessary to speak. Burns has often described as well as the characters, so nowhere imitated them, a circumstance to be as to present a complete picture to the regretted, since in this species of composi- fancy. (147) Thus the maxim of Horace ut tion, from its admitting the more terrible as pictura poesis, is faithfully observed by these well as the softer graces of poetry, he was rustic bards, who are guided by the same eminently qualified to have excelled The impulse of nature and sensibility which inScottish songs which served as a model to fluenced the father of epic poetry, on whose Burns, are, almost without exception, pas- example the precept of the Roman poet was toral, or rather rural. Such of them as are perhaps founded. By this means the imagi comic, frequently treat of a rustic courtship nation is employed to interest the feelings. or a country wedding; or they describe the When we do not conceive distinctly, we do differences of opinion which arise in mar- not sympathise deeply in any human affecried life. Burns has imitated this species, tion; and we conceive nothing in the aband surpassed his models. The song, be-stract. Abstraction, so useful in morals, ginning, "Husband, husband, cease your and so essential in science, must be abanstrife," may be cited in support of this ob-doned when the heart is to be subdued by servation. (146) His other comic songs are of equal merit. In the rural songs of Scotland, whether humorous or tender, the sentiments are given to particular characters, and very generally, the incidents are referred to particular scenery. This last circumstance may be considered as the distinguishing feature of the Scottish songs, and on it a considerable part of their attraction depends. On all occasions the sentiments, of whatever nature, are delivered in the character of the person principally interested. If love be described, it is not as it is observed, but as it is felt; and the passion is delineated under a particular aspect. Neither is it the fiercer impulses of desire that are expressed, as in the celebrated ode of Sappho, the model of so many modern songs, but those gentler emotions of the powers of poetry or of eloquence. The bards of a ruder condition of society paint individual objects; and hence, among other causes, the easy access they obtain to the heart. Generalization is the vice of poets whose learning overpowers their genius; of poets of a refined and scientific age. The dramatic style which prevails so much in the Scottish songs, while it contributes greatly to the interest they excite, also shows that they have originated among a people in the earlier stages of society. Where this form of composition appears in songs of a modern date, it indicates that they have been written after the ancient model. (148) The Scottish songs are of very unequal poetical merit, and this inequality often extends to the different parts of the same song. Those that are humorous, or cha- | of others, he has not, like some poets of racteristic of manners, have in general the merit of copying nature; those that are serious, are tender, and often often sweetly interesting, but seldom exhibit high powers of imagination, which indeed do not easily find a place in this species of composition. The alliance of the words of the Scottish songs with the music, has in some instance given to the former a popularity, which otherwise they would not have obtained. The association of the words and the music of these songs, with the more beautiful parts of the scenery of Scotland, contributes to the same effect. It has given them not merely popularity, but permanence; it has imparted to the works of man some portion of the durability of the works of nature. If, from our imperfect experience of the past, we may judge with any confidence respecting the future, songs of this description are of all others least likely to die. In the changes of language they may no doubt suffer change; but the associated strain of sentiment and of music will perhaps survive, while the clear stream sweeps down the vale of Yarrow, or the yellow broom waves on Cowden-Knowes. The first attempts of Burns in songwriting were not very successful. His habitual inattention to the exactness of rhymes, and to the harmony of numbers, arising probably from the models on which his versification was formed, were faults likely to appear to more disadvantage in this species of composition than in any other; and we may also remark, that the strength of his imagination, and the exuberance of his sensibility, were with difficulty restrained within the limits of gentleness, delicacy, and tenderness, which seemed to be assigned to the love-songs of his nation. Burns was better adapted by nature for following, in such compositions, the model of the Grecian than of the Scottish muse. By study and practice, he however surmounted all these obstacles. In his earlier songs, there is some ruggedness, but this gradually disappears in his successive efforts; and some of his later compositions of this kind may be compared, in polished delicacy, with the finest songs in our language, while in the eloquence of sensibility they surpass them all. The songs of Burns, like the models he followed and excelled, are often dramatic, and for the greater part amatory; and the beauties of rural nature are everywhere associated with the passions and emotions of the mind. Disdaining to copy the works great name, admitted into his descriptions exotic imagery. The landscapes he has painted, and the objects with which they are embellished, are, in every single instance, such as are to be found in his own country. In a mountainous region, especially when it is comparatively rude and naked, the most beautiful scenery will always be found in the vallies, and on the banks of the wooded streams. Such scenery is peculiarly interesting at the close of a summer-day. As we advance northwards, the number of the days of summer, indeed diminishes; but from this cause, as well as from the mildness of the temperature, the attraction of the season increases, and the summer night becomes still more beautiful. The greater obliquity of the sun's path on the ecliptic, prolongs the grateful season of twilight to the midnight hours; and the shades of the evening seem to mingle with the morning's dawn. The rural poets of Scotland, as may be expected, associate in their songs the expressions of passion with the most beautiful of their scenery, in the fairest season of the year, and generally in those hours of the evening when the beauties of nature are most interesting. (149.) To all these adventitious circumstances, on which so much of the effect of poetry depends, great attention is paid by Burns. There is scarcely a single song of his, in which particular scenery is not described, or allusions made to natural objects, remarkable for beauty or interest; and though his descriptions are not so full as are sometimes met with in the older Scottish songs, they are in the highest degree appropriate and interesting. Instances in proof of this might be quoted from the Lea Rig, Highland Mary, the Soldier's Return, Logan Water; from that beautiful pastoral, Bonnie Jean, and a great number of others. Occasionally the force of his genius carries him beyond the usual boundaries of Scottish song, and the natural objects introduced have more of the character of sublimity. An instance of this kind is noticed by Mr. Syme, and many others might be adduced : "Had I a cave on some wild distant shore, Where the winds howl to the wave's dashing roar; There would I weep my woes, In one song, the scene of which is laid in a winter night, the "wan moon" is described as " setting behind the white waves ;" in another, the "storms" are apostrophised, | and commanded to "rest in the cave of their slumbers." On several occasions, the genius of Burns lost sight entirely of his archetypes, and rises into a strain of uniform sublimity. Instances of this kind appear in Libertie, a Vision; and in his two warsongs, Bruce to his Troops, and the Song of Death. These last are of a description of which we have no other in our language, The martial songs of our nation are not military, but naval. If we were to seek a comparison of these songs of Burns with others of a similar nature, we must have recourse to the poetry of ancient Greece, or of modern Gaul. Burns has made an important addition to the songs of Scotland. In his compositions, the poetry equals and sometimes surpasses the music. He has enlarged the poetical scenery of his country, Many of her rivers and mountains, formerly unknown to the muse, are now consecrated by his immortal verse. The Doon, the Lugar, the Ayr, the Nith, and the Cluden, will in future, like the Yarrow, the Tweed, and the Tay, be considered as classical streams, and their borders will be trodden with new and superior emotions. The greater part of the songs of Burns were written after he removed into the county of Dumfries. Influenced, perhaps, by habits formed in early life, he usually composed while walking in the open air. When engaged in writing these songs, his favourite walks were on the banks of the Nith, or of the Cluden, particularly near the ruins of Lincluden Abbey; and this beautiful scenery he has very happily described under various aspects, as it appears during the softness and serenity of evening, and during the stillness and solemnity of the moonlight night. There is no species of poetry, the productions of the drama not excepted, so much calculated to influence the morals, as well as the happiness of a people, as those popular verses which are associated with national airs: and which being learnt in the years of infancy, make a deep impression on the heart before the evolution of the powers of the understanding. The compositions of Burns of this kind, now presented in a collected form to the world, make a most important addition to the popular songs of his nation. Like all his other writings, they exhibit independence of sentiment; they are peculiarly calculated to increase those ties which bind generous hearts to their native soil, and to the domestic circle of their in fancy; and to cherish those sensibilities which, under due restriction, form the purest happiness of our nature. If in his unguarded moments he composed some songs on which this praise cannot be bestowed, let us hope that they will speedily be forgotten. În several instances where Scottish airs were allied to words objectionable in point of delicacy, Burns has substituted others of a purer character. On such occasions, without changing the subject, he has changed the sentiments. A proof of this may be seen in the air of John Anderson my Joe, which is now united to words that breathe a strain of conjugal tenderness, that is as highly moral as it is exquisitely affecting. Few circumstances could afford a more striking proof of the strength of Burns's genius, than the general circulation of his poems in England, notwithstanding the dialect in which the greater part are written, and which might be supposed to render them here uncouth or obscure. In some instances he has used this dialect on subjects of a sublime nature; but in general he confines it to sentiments or description of a tender or humorous kind; and, where he rises into elevation of thought, he assumes a purer English style. The singular faculty he possessed of mingling in the same poem humorous sentiments and descriptions with imagery of a sublime and terrific nature, enabled him to use this variety of dialect on some occasions with striking effect. His poem of Tam o' Shanter affords an instance of this. There he passes from a scene of the lowest humour to situations of the most awful and terrible kind. He is a musician that runs from the lowest to the highest of his keys; and the use of the Scottish dialect enables him to add two additional notes to the bottom of his scale. Great efforts have been made by the inhabitants of Scotland, of the superior ranks, to approximate in their speech to the pure English standard. Yet an Englishman who understands the meaning of the Scottish words, is not offended, nay, on certain subjects, he is, perhaps, pleased with the rustic dialect. But a Scotchman inhabiting his own country, if a man of education, and more especially if a literary character, has banished such words from his writings, and has attempted to banish them from his speech. A dislike of this kind is, however, accidental, not natural. It is of the species of disgust which we feel at seeing a female of high birth in the dress of a rustic which, if she be really young and beautiful, a little habit will enable us to overcome. A |