INTRODUCTION THOMAS CARLYLE AND ROBERT BURNS "WE have often wondered how he ever found out Burns," remarked Thoreau in commenting on the fact that Carlyle was not a critic of poetry, but that his sympathy was rather with men of endeavor, “and must still refer a good share of his delight in him to neighborhood and early association." 1 There were common elements in their lives which helped to make Carlyle a sympathetic critic of Burns. Not only did both belong to the great clan of Scotchmen, but both came from the same part of Scotland, the same "neighborhood "- the Lowlands; Burns, from Ayrshire on the Firth of Clyde; Carlyle, from Dumfriesshire, bounded on the south and east by Solway Firth and the English border. Burns was born (January 25, 1759) in a clay-built cottage, reared by his father's own hands, on a farm about two miles 1 Thoreau, "Thomas Carlyle and His Works," A Yankee in Canada, p. 234. Ode to Memory of Mrs. Oswald. O, wert thou in the Cauld Blast? John Anderson my Jo Farewell to Ayr . My Heart's in the Highlands Macpherson's Farewell Bannockburn The Dumfries Volunteers A Man's a Man for a' that. INTRODUCTION THOMAS CARLYLE AND ROBERT BURNS "WE have often wondered how he ever found out Burns," remarked Thoreau in commenting on the fact that Carlyle was not a critic of poetry, but that his sympathy was rather with men of endeavor, “and must still refer a good share of his delight in him to neighborhood and early association." 1 There were common elements in their lives which helped to make Carlyle a sympathetic critic of Burns. Not only did both belong to the great clan of Scotchmen, but both came from the same part of Scotland, the same "neighborhood "the Lowlands; Burns, from Ayrshire on the Firth of Clyde; Carlyle, from Dumfriesshire, bounded on the south and east by Solway Firth and the English border. Burns was born (January 25, 1759) in a clay-built cottage, reared by his father's own hands, on a farm about two miles 1 Thoreau, "Thomas Carlyle and His Works," A Yankee in Canada, p. 234. from the town of Ayr. Carlyle was born (December 4, 1795, one year before the death of Burns) in a house also built by his father, who was a carpenter and stonemason by trade, in the small market town of Ecclefechan, Annandale, consisting at that time of but a. single street. Both came of sturdy Scotch peasant stock; and both owed much to the rugged simplicity and unaffected piety—in the Roman sense of the word of their early home influences. The Cotter's Saturday Night, which is counted amongst the finest expressions of Burns's poetic genius, and James Carlyle in Carlyle's Reminiscences, which is different in form and substance, yet as unapproachable in its way, are in a sense tributes - high and lasting tributes, or, if you like the word, monuments — to these early home influences. Burns's and Carlyle's fathers were alike in many respects, though Carlyle's was far the sterner. What Carlyle says of Burns's father on pages 58 and 59 of this Essay on Burns could be applied almost word for word to his own father. In addition to the high and rare qualities of character dwelt upon in this passage, both possessed a native gift of speech; in the case of Carlyle's father especially, of speech bold, free, and pithy. Said Mr. John Murdock, the teacher of Burns, in describing his father: "He spoke the English language with more propriety (both with respect to diction and pro |