No: heavens immortal spring shall yet arrive; And man's majestic beauty bloom again, Bright through th' eternal year of love's triumphant reign. This truth sublime, bis simple sire had taught; "With respect to Burns's early education, I' cannot say any thing with certainty. He always spoke with respect and gratitude of the schoolmaster who had taught him to read English, and who, finding in his scholar a more than ordinary ardor for knowledge, had been at pains to instruct him in the grammatical principles of the language. He began the study of Latin, but dropped it before he had finished the verbs. I have sometimes heard him quote a few Latin words, such as omnia vincit amor, &c. but they seemed to be such as he had caught from conversation, and which he repeated by rote. I think he had a project, after he came to Edinburgh, of prosecuting the study under his intimate friend, the late Mr. Nicol, one of the masters of the grammar-school here; but I do not know if he ever proceeded so far as to make the attempt. "He certainly possessed a smattering of French; and, if he had an affectation in any thing, it was in introducing occasionally a word or phrase from that that language. It is possible that his knowledge in this respect might be more extensive than I suppose it to be; but this you can learn from his more intimate acquaintance. It would be worth while to inquire, whether he was able to read the French authors with such facility, as to receive from them any improvement to his taste. For my own part, I doubt it much-nor would I believe it, but on very strong and pointed evidence. "If my memory does not fail me, he was well instructed in Arithmetic, and knew something of practical Geometry, particularly of Surveying.All his other attainments were entirely his own. "The last time I saw him was during the winter 1788-89;* when he passed an evening with me at Drumseugh, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, where I was then living. My friend Mr. Alison was the only other in company. I never saw him more agreeable or interesting. A present which Mr.Alison sent him afterwards of his Essays on Taste, drew from Burns a letter of acknowledgment, which I remember to have read with some degree * Or rather 1789-90. I cannot speak with confidence, with respect to the particular year. Some of my other dates may possibly require correction, as I keep no journal of such occurrences. degree of surprise at the distinct conception he appeared from it to have formed, of the several principles of the doctrine of association. When I saw Mr. Alison in Shropshire last autumn, I forgot to inquire if the letter be still in existence. If it is, you may easily procure it, by means of our friend Mr. Houlbrooke.”* * THE scene that opened on our Bard in Edinburgh was altogether new, and in a variety of other respects highly interesting; especially to one of his disposition of mind. To use an expression of his own, he found himself "suddenly translated "from the veriest shades of life," into the presence, and indeed, into the society, of a number of persons, previously known to him by report as of the highest distinction in his country, and whose characters it was natural for him to examine with no common curiosity. 1 From * This letter will be found vol. 11. p. 355. From the men of letters, in general, his reception was particularly flattering. The late Dr. Robertson, Dr. Blair, Dr. Gregory, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Mackenzie, and Mr. Frazer Tytler, may be mentioned in the list of those who perceived his uncommon talents, who acknowledged more especially his powers in conversation, and who interested themselves in the cultivation of his genius. In Edinburgh literary and fashionable society are a good deal mixed. Our bard was an acceptable guest in the gayest and most elevated circles, and frequently received from female beauty and elegance, those attentions, above all others most grateful to him. At the table of Lord Monboddo he was a frequent guest; and while he enjoyed the society, and partook of the hospitalities of the venerable judge, he experienced the kindness and condescension of his lovely and accomplished daughter. The singular beauty of this young lady was illuminated by that happy expression of countenance which results from the union of cultivated taste and superior understanding, with the finest affections of the mind. The influence of such attractions was not unfelt by our poet. "There "has not been any thing like Miss Burnet," said he in a letter to a friend," in all the combination "of beauty, grace and goodness, the Creator has formed, since Milton's Eve on the first day of her "her existence."* In his Address to Edinburgh, she is celebrated in a strain of still greater elevation; "Fair Burnet strikes th' adoring eye, "I see the Sire of Love on high, "And own his works indeed divine !"† ; This lovely woman died a few years afterwards in the flower of youth. Our bard expressed his sensibility on that occasion, in verses addressed to her memory.+ Among the men of rank and fashion, Burns was particularly distinguished by James Earl of Glencairn. On the motion of this nobleman, the Caledonian Hunt, an association of the principal of the nobility and gentry of Scotland, extended their patronage to our Bard, and admitted him to their gay orgies. He repaid their notice by a dedication of the enlarged and improved edition of his poems, in which he has celebrated their patriotism and independence in very animated terms. " I * VOL. II, p. 45. † VOL. III, p. 233. VOL. II, p. 325. |