"But seas between us baith hae roared Sin' auld langsyne." In the triangle indicated we have the homes of his childhood and youth-Ayr, Alloway, Mount Oliphant. At the age of 19 he removed to Lochlea, and at 25 to Mossgiel and Mauchline. The Mossgiel is par excellence the poetic period, for it was there he laid the solid foundation of his fame. Mauchline, Tarbolton, and Kilmarnock are imperishably connected with this epoch. The sun still glints o'er Galston Muirs; the rising moon still "glowers" o'er the distant Cumnock Hills. Hermit Ayr still steals through the woods, the well-fed Irvine "stately thuds" along; the banks and braes o' bonnie Doon are as fair and fresh as ever. The natural features of the country remain unchanged, though the expression of its face, so to speak, has altered. In Burns' day there were few inclosures, and the roads were of the roughest description. The only drains were وو the " "sheuchs or ditches, which also did duty for fences, and to mark the marches between farm and farm, estate and estate. Agriculture has made rapid strides since then. The "spritty knowes" and whin-clad braes have disappeared, and with them their characteristic fauna and flora. The Linnet can only now be seen in its natural habitat on the links along the Ayrshire coast. With the food which the waste places supplied, the Goldfinch has disappeared altogether, and with the advent of the Starling, Larks are undoubtedly getting scarcer. The rough herbage of those days admirably fitted the Hare, but Ground Game Acts and the poacher of the mining rows are now combined for its extinction. A quarter of a century ago I could count in the Spring scores of Peesweeps nesting within sight of my windows; now scarce a pair are observable within a mile of the village. That beautiful bird, the Magpie, used to be very abundant in the neighbourhood; now a pair or two in the Rowallan woods are all that are left. The depopulation of wood and meadow goes on year by year almost unchecked, and the sooner gamekeepers and Cockney sportsmen are taught that they cannot, with impunity, shoot every "beauteous stranger of the grove," in season and out of season, the better it will be for the country, especially our distressed agriculturists, who complain so bitterly of the increase of vermin, and who will yet ruthlessly level a gun at the useful "Houlet " or "Kestrel" whenever or wherever he presents himself. But this is a digression. In Dumfries the Bard rode as exciseman through similar scenery to that of his beloved Ayrshire, with the same objects of animate Nature before his eyes. At Ellisland he sang and through all the glorious melody of the Dumfries period can be traced the influence of his early years, when his flashing eye was yet undimmed by sad experience of the odds his genius had to contend with. The critics of the personality of Burns are many, but it is the fact that no man of large heart or broad mind has ever yet assailed him. Without his passions we could not have had his songs, which shall endure as long as human tongue can lisp articulate language. "He prayeth best, who loveth best All things, both great and small.” Robert Burns certainly attained to this religious standard of Coleridge. The words which he addressed to Peggy Chalmers, nine days before his death, may well be extended to the whole of animated creation "Full well thou know'st I love thee dear, Oh, did not Love exclaim, 'Forbear, D. M'NAUGHT. C BURNS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. CURRIED BIOGRAPHY. HE best of Burns that is known or knowable — is admittedly contained in his poetry. What is his poetic output during the Dumfries period? "Fully a hundred songs," writes Mr. William M'Dowall (a most worthy man, and a most painstaking Burnsian) in his "Burns in Dumfriesshire," "are the fruit of this period, including his most humorous ditties, many of his finest amatory effusions, and all his best battle lyrics." Mr. M'Dowall further says:— "Were he (Burns) tested by his productions in Dumfries, exclusive of his previous poems, he would still be recognised as our greatest lyrical bard. Indeed, considering the time absorbed in the faithful performance of his work as an exciseman and of his family duties, and the time spent by him in company, good, bad, or indifferent, we cannot but wonder at the teeming wealth which his mind disclosed during his latest. years." This is strictly correct. The period in Burns's life which is marked by "Scots Wha Hae," "Ae Fond Kiss," "For a' That an' a' That," "Auld Langsyne," "Duncan Gray," "Auld Rob Morris," "Willie Wastle,' O, Whistle an' I'll Come to ye, my Lad," "Contented wi Little, an' Canty wi Mair," "Ye Banks and Braes," "Should Haughty Gaul Invasion Threat," My Love is like a Red, Red Rose," "My Heart is Sair, I Daurna Tell," "Yestreen I had a Pint o' Wine," "O, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast," is as notable for poetic vitality as any previous period, and as a simple matter of fact contains more of him that is universally popular. Mr. R. L. Stevenson, who accepted the down-grade theory of Burns, says of the Dumfriesshire (not simply of the Dumfries) time:" He was thenceforward incapable, except in rare instances, of that superior effort of concentration which is required for serious literary work. He may be said, indeed, to have worked no more, and only amused himself with letters." Never was there a more grotesque thing said 66 "" 66 than that the author of "Tam o' Shanter" was "incapable," except in rare instances, "of a superior effort of concentration," or that the author of "Scots Wha Hae," which is the Marseillaise of Scotland, and of “A Man's a Man for a' That," which some folks think the Marseillaise of Humanity, was a dilettante who "amused himself with letters," although it might perhaps be expected of a writer who was careless enough to say, without reliable evidence, that before Jean Armour had given her person to Robert Burns she had given her heart to another man! As a matter of fact, Burns acted in Dumfries precisely as he had done in Mauchline, Edinburgh, and Ellisland; he found inspiration and material for his verse in the incidents of his life and time. The French Revolution took the place of the struggle between Auld Lichts and New Lichts; Chloris and Jessy took the places of Nannie, Mary, and Peggy as his models. Mr. Stevenson admits that Burns became more fastidious as he grew older ; in other words, while he was in Dumfries he was not on the down-grade as an artist. But the more fastidious a writer gets, the less he produces. Add to this that, as demonstrated by his most interesting letter to his political friend, Mr. Heron, Burns's literary work was absolutely suspended for a time by his having, during the illness of his superior officer, Mr. Findlater, to do a supervisor's labour, and that he took a deep and practical interest in the education of his children, and Mr. M'Dowall's wonder that he should have done so much as he did in Dumfries is intelligible. In Dumfries, as in Mossgiel, Burns undoubtedly had fits of depression, and had fears of early death. But these fits and fears passed away, and until he became certain that the Last Enemy had him in his grip-even Mr. Stevenson does not deny that he faced death like a man-he dreamed and hoped the dreams and hopes of a sensible struggling man. The Heron letter shows clearly what was in his mind. He contemplated, first of all, securing a supervisorship, and it is now certain that he was more than justified in his hope. The drudgery of this post would have prevented him from writing much, if anything, while he held it, although it would have enabled him and his family to live in greater comfort. From it he looked forward, however, to a collectorship, with a comparatively large income. Such a post would have given him scope for the clear poetical activity of which Carlyle speaks, for the literary leisure to which he himself alludes. Burns might, with his friends in power, have been, in ten years at the furthest, a collector. After fortyseven what might he not have done, for what have other men not done? His dream, at all events, is not that of the "despairing" and "falling" man he is represented by Mr. Stevenson to have been. Now for the main facts-the absolutely verified facts-of Burns's life in Dumfries. It is not contended, of course, by those who wish to know the positive truth as to his career that there were not ups and downs during these five years, as there had been in previous periods. What is argued is simply that this life was not steadily downwards. In 1792 he got into a difficulty of some sort with the Excise authorities. (The story that, on the 27th February, he captured a smuggling brig in the Solway, and sent its carronades to the French Convention, has been denied, and is, perhaps, not authentic.) The other story, that when tipsy, he called out for ça ira in the theatre, is effectually disposed of by his letter to Graham of Fintry. In 1794 came his quarrel with Mrs. Riddell; but, by 1795, he was reconciled both with the Board of Excise and with Mrs. Riddell, and the country rang with the praises of his "Does Haughty Gaul Invasion Threat?" That year saw him engaged in the duties of acting supervisor; in the autumn he lost a child.. This loss and the engrossing character of his duties-as is shown by a letter to Mrs. Riddell, published for the first time by Mr. Scott Douglas-adequately account for Burns's literary inactivity during this period. Discoveries made in Somerset House, and published in the beginning of 1874, and recently emphasised, make two things clear. In the first place, "a. register was kept of all censures issued by the Board of Excise, and the absence of Burns's name from the register proves that he was never censured by the Commissioners-not even in the mildest form in which they were in the habit of conveying their displeasure for what they characterised as trivial faults." In the second place, it is now certain that Burns would have obtained his promotion as supervisor on 12th January, 1797Then he could have looked forward to a life of "literary leisure." So far as can be proved, Burns was guilty of no greater crimes in 1795 than of being prostrated by the death of a child, and of declining to let love of letters interfere with his absolutely absorbing professional duties. As a simple matter |