The course which has been now for some time adopted in the leading periodicals of the kingdom, by which a number of works on some particular subject, or of some particular character, are placed at the head of an original disquisition, without lending further aid to its writer, may warrant us in wandering from the bounds that were originally assigned to the reviewer, and making use of the biography of the interesting characters named in the title, only so far as they may be of use to us in furthering the object we have in view-an object distinct from criticism. The study of biography becomes useful when it is made to serve as a touchstone to which to bring the views or actions of others. It is eminently so, when our own lives are brought within its influence; and perhaps the best way of recommending this mode of turning it to advantage is by examining into the parallel periods in the existence of men who were remarkable in some profession or pursuit, in which they rose to eminence; and then forming conclusions for our own guidance from their bitter or happy experience. It is difficult to pronounce whether there be, after all, anything more really instructive in the biography

of men of genius and celebrity, than in that of persons holding a less prominent station in the world; but this is clear, that those who would deduce useful instruction from such sources, and lay that instruction before the public, have not a choice, but are under the necessity of taking their materiel from the actions and opinions of those with whose memory some well-known associations are interwoven, if they would give interest to their illustrations, and weight to their arguments. Hence the essayist on character naturally selects those best known, not those most estimable or most apt for his purpose; and, to say the truth, we felt justified in our present attempt more on these grounds than from the peculiar points of distinction and similarity having at first powerfully attracted our notice. When, however, our attention was directed to the cir cumstances of the two humble bards, by those who were first struck by their peculiarity-persons well qualified to offer advice and we were shown the volumes lying together before us, (the twin-birth of the press, ushered into the world on the same day,) we saw something interesting in this casual relationship, and were not without

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hope that they might be brought to render each other and the public some service under the circumstances of their present union.

When we came, moreover, to consider the points of similarity, we found them more striking than we expected. The extreme humility of their opening career—a course winding, and often struggling, like that of a nameless stream, through the obstacles that were heaped together in the retired valley of their childhood, and the power of their resistless tide in manhood, when the tributaries of fortune and information swelled the main-stream of genius; we found all this favourable to comparison and then, as we followed them down, what a strange disparity! the magnificent calmness of the one, in its rageless strength and tempered fullness, winding through the vale of life, with respect unto the ancient boundaries of morality and religion, deepening the green of the meadow with its fertilizing waters, and flowing past many a fair city, whence it swept away impurity without sullying its own clearness, and thence rolling majestically onward in its appointed course :-the headlong career of the other, a true fretful mountain-torrent, over rocks and through chasms-broken ever and anon into small and picturesque falls, and collecting after each in momentary calmness for another headlong bound; at one time sweeping away the embankments of man in its fury, and at another, dry as throat of the traveller in the desert;-still a noble river, loved by the lover of nature, the theme of the song, and the study of the painter; and at last, when its stream was at its height, falling upon a barren, boundless sand, and sinking like a mirage from our eyes, when we were stooping to taste of its freshness: such was the other-how awful-how instructive is the contrast!

We propose, therefore, in furtherance of our object, to divide the poet's lives into three great periods, and to consider each in its turn.-We commence with their early youth-and here Burns without question had the advantage. Look at his "Cottar's Saturday Night," and you have his own home described with unexaggerated accuracy. The farmer of Scotland belongs to a class

that can scarcely be understood by those whose observation has been confined to the peasantry of our own country. He has carried down with him into the humblest hovel, and connects with the most laborious industry, a mind improved in a sphere of information infinitely above him, and he unites the highest and most minute peculiarity of sectarian doctrine with the severest practice and humblest bearing. The birth-place of the poet was at Kyle in Ayrshire, where he first saw the the light in the year 1759. The household of his father, William Burness, (or Burns, as the son chose to style himself,) was particularly noted for its poverty and its piety. The old man was himself well informed, and was anxious on all occasions to communicate to his family the information he possessed. In the words of his biographer, Allan Cunningham :—

"The peasantry of Scotland turn their cottages into schools; and when a father takes his arm-chair by the evening fire, he seldom neglects to communicate to his children whatever knowledge he possesses himself. Nor is this knowledge very limited; it extends, generally, to the history of Europe, and to the literature of the island; but more particularly to the divinity, the poetry, and, what may be called, the traditionary history of Scotland. An intelligent peasant is intimate with all those skirmishes, sieges, combats, and quarrels, domestic or national, of which public writers take no account. Genealogies of the chief families are quite familiar to him. He has by heart, too, whole volumes of songs and ballads; nay, long poems sometimes abide in his recollection; nor will he think his knowledge much, unless he knows a little

about the lives and actions of the men who have done most honour to Scotland.

In addition to what he has on his memory,

we may mention what he has on the shelf. A common husbandman is frequently master of a little library: history, divinity, and poetry, but most so the latter, compose his collection. Milton and Young are favourites; the flowery Meditations of Hervey, the religious romance of the Pilgrim's Progress, are seldom absent; while of Scottish books, Ramsay, Thomson, Fergusson, and now Burns, together with songs and ballad-books innumerable, are all huddled together, soiled with smoke, and frail and tattered by frequent use. The household of William Burness