"Alas, for the verity of the prediction!-I have invariably tried to divest myself of an idolatrous veneration for Genius, and to consider virtue and probity as the only fit objects of unlimited love and veneration. The instances in which intel. lectual superiority has been debased by vice, or degraded by absurdity of conduct, are so frequent, as not only to discourage and depress those whom the enthusiasm of fancy leads to worship and admire their Maker in that larger portion of 'celestial fire,' which he communicates to some of his creatures; but also to afford envy and dulness no small cause of exultation. How do the tasteless, the selfish, and the stupid, triumph over the splendid ruins of ill-fated Genius! Though one worthy and virtuous person be worth a thousand unprincipled and licentious wits, yet it is bard for those who have never tasted the full cup of public admiration to judge of its intoxicating qualities, and doubly hard for those who make their way through life, wrapt up in selfish caution, and wholly occupied by the wants and cares of the little individual, to comprehend the dangers that environ the children of Genius; who pass through a deceitful world with open arms stretched out to embrace all that solicit compassion, and offer gratification; and whose naked hearts, overflowing with kindness and good-will, are unprotected from treachery and temptation. "Indeed, the snares that vanity and pleasure spread in the way of those who join exquisite sensibility and a glowing imagination with artless simplicity and a high relish for all that flatters the senses, are so numerous and fatal, that the obscurity of retirement, especially in the early period of life, is per haps their only chance for safety. We are often tempted to accuse Providence for allowing merit to pine unknown to the world: but we see but in part, and know but in part. Perhaps the blooms of Genius are too delicate to bear the unhallowed breath of the world, and can only bud safely in the deep shelter of retirement, and expand to full perfection in the sunshine of divine complacence. As MILTON says of • Immortal amarant, a flow'r which once Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence To heav'n remov'd, where first it grew, there grows, "And flow'rs aloft, shading the fount of life.' I do not mean so far to give up the cause of Genius, as to say that poets are necessarily less virtuous than others: I only mean that they are less prudent, less firm, more susceptible, more simple." I do not know whether most to pity or admire BURNS. Why were such people made? What a fatal delusion, to lean for happiness on the bosom of the gay and fortunate, because they make us the companions of their pleasures! though ready to rejoice with us, if we possess talents to heighten their festive hours, alas! when the day of affliction comes, we are left to pine neglected, or per haps have our sorrows embittered by the sneer of wanton insult. Ask me of his Genius!-I have not power to do justice to its vigour, extent, and versatility. His Poetry shews him in a walk of superior excellence, while his Correspondence proves him equal to any thing. It is nauseous to hear people say, what he would have been if he had received a more thorough education; in that case he would not have been BURNS! that daring, original, and unfettered genius, whose • wood-notes wild' silence the whole chorus of modern tame correctness, as one of our mountain blackbirds would an avi. ary of canaries. He did know his own strength, as such a superior intelligence necessarily must; but then he also knew his own weak ness. This best knowledge, however, did not answer the purpose of self-defence. O that he had but learned and habitually practised self-command, and self-denial, without which the highest attainments cannot lead to happiness :-but this theme is endless. Yet one word more :-How different are his letters to Mrs DUNLOP, where his heart truly opens, from his effusions to his gay companions,-that unaffected scorn of the world and its vain pursuits,-that sublime melancholy,-that aspiration (though struggling through doubts and darkness) after what the world does not afford-that sensibility,-that manly sincerity, every thing, in short, that characterises ge nius and exalts humanity! |