To some it may appear that the subject of the following sketch has been exhausted by the masterly narrative of Dr Currie; and on this account the author is anxious to state that he was directed to it by accident more than by design. Being pressed by the original projector of this edition of the works of Burns, to supply a life of the Poet, he waved the proposal for the moment, by observing, that Dr Currie had left nothing to be supplied. This indirect refusal Mr Morison had interpreted into assent; and left at his death the same impression on those who succeeded to the charge of the work, and who depended on it till it was too late to make another arrangement. Under these circumstances, the person applied to was more unwilling to let his apparent hesitation occasion any inconvenience, than to engage in a task which the ability of his predecessor had rendered so unpromising of success. The facts, therefore, which he has to relate, with the exception of a few derived from his personal acquaintance with the bard, must of necessity be nearly the same with those which had been collected by the diligence of the former biographer. The reflections which are introduced can have a value only proportioned to the judgment of the writer, which he is far from comparing with that of many penetrating critics by whom the character and writings of the poet have been rigorously examined. The subject, however, may perhaps

have a better chance of the illustration which it merits, when minds of various power are employed on it. Ideas may occur to one which had escaped another: it may be seen under different aspects by observers at unequal heights and on a subject so curious, it is desireable to obtain the most accurate results, by a comparison of various observations.

ROBERT BURNS was born on the 25th of January 1759, in a cottage now converted into a country ale-house, which stands near the banks of the river Doon, about two miles from Ayr. In its immediate vicinity are the romantic bridge and the ruined church of Alloway; and the sides of the stream, both above and below, exhibit a succession of the most attractive and interesting scenery. No situation could be more propitious for cherishing, enriching, and giving its early determination to the genius of a poet. His eye would grow habitually enamoured of the loveliest landscapes of nature, while the legends connected with the old church and cemetery, would store his thoughts with those awful and aerial beings, with which he might afterwards people the splendid or terrific visions of his fancy. The place and day of Burns's birth are not likely to

be forgotten, as his admirers have instituted a festival at the former, to commemorate the latter, on its annual return. Thus, like many other eminent characters, though treated with severity in life, he has been canonised after death, and honoured with a niche among the saints of the poetical calendar.

In addition to this advantage, which Burns derived from being nurtured in scenes so fertile of imagery, and so fit to quicken the growth of genius, he was in no small degree indebted for the evolution of his powers, to a father, whose intellectual character appears to have been far above the ordinary level. William Burnes (for so he spelt his name) was born in Kincardineshire, where he had received the ordinary education of a Scottish peasant. This being generally confined to reading and writing, with a slender knowledge of arithmetic, his superiority must have been owing more to himself than to his instructors; and the anxiety which he felt to improve the understandings of his children, must have arisen from the enjoyment and consolation which, under the continued pressure of adversity, he had been conscious of deriving from the improvement of his own. He had been compelled by poverty to quit his native county, and to enter into service as a gardener. Having passed through Edinburgh, he proceeded afterwards to Ayrshire, to act in this capacity at Fairlie,

near Kilmarnock, from whence he removed to the service of Mr Crawford at Doonside, in the neighbourhood of Ayr. He next took a few acres of land, which he began to form into a public garden for the supply of that town; and in this situation, anticipating a greater measure of success than seems to have attended the project, he married and settled himself in a family way. The house which he built upon his new property (for his lease was perpetual) seems to have been of the very simplest description. The materials were mud, and himself the architect. In this sorry cottage the poet was born; and his father, by this event, and the addition of six other children, saw his expences increase, without a proportional increase in the means of defraying them; for he had found it expedient, even before the birth of Robert, who was his eldest child, to enter again into service as a gardener. His new master was Mr Ferguson of Doonholm, who permitted him to reside in his own cottage, and to bestow part of his attention on his little property. Notwithstanding his poverty, however, he was bent on giving his children the best education he could afford, and wished, since he could provide for them no other portion, to furnish them with a resource, of which misfortune could never deprive them, and which might be a substitute for all the enjoyment prosperity can supply to vacant and inactive minds. His son was, there

fore, put to the nearest school, in his 6th year; and, soon after, had the good fortune of being instructed, along with the children of some of his neighbours, by a Mr Murdoch, who is still alive, and who has given an interesting account of the early character of his celebrated pupil. It appears, from this account, that Robert Burns and his brother Gilbert were the most distinguished scholars in the little seminary, though several of their classmates had the advantage of being considerably older.

It is to be regretted, that the talents of the two brothers were so soon deprived, by untoward circumstances, of the improvement and direction which Mr Murdoch was capable of giving them. The income of William Burnes seems to have been insufficient for the support of his family; and he, therefore, availed himself of the favour in which he was held by his master, to obtain from that gentleman a farm called Mount Oliphant, in the parish of Ayr. On his removal, in 1766, to that place, which was at a considerable distance from his former residence, his sons were unable to attend Mr Murdoch with the necessary regularity; and changes occurring among the other families, who had united in the establishment of the school, it was entirely broken up, and Mr Murdoch removed to the town of Ayr. When we consider that it was only in their sixth and seventh years that the two bro