The Works of Robert Burns: With an Account of His Life , and a Criticism on His Writing. To which are Prefixed, Some Observations on the Character and Condition of the Scottish Peasantry, Volume 1T. Cadell and W. Davies ; and W. Creech at Edinburgh, 1813 |
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acquaintance Adventures of Telemachus affections afterwards appear Ayrshire Bachelor's Club banks bard beautiful bonny lass brother Burns's character charms Clackmannanshire club composition considered conversation degree delicacy dialect Dumfries Edinburgh Editor Ellisland English excelled expression fancy farm father favour Fochabers friendship genius Gilbert Burns give habits happiness heart Highland honour House of Stuart humble humour imagination interesting Jedburgh Jenny Geddes Kilmarnock kind labour lady language letter lived manners marriage Mauchline meet melancholy ment mentioned mind moral Mossgiel muse nae-body nature never night o'er objects observations parish particular passions peasantry perhaps persons pleasure poems poet poet's poetical poetry powers racter Ramsay received recollect respect Robert Burns rustic scenery scenes Scotland Scottish songs seemed sensibility sentiments situation society strain stream sublime talents Tarbolton taste temper thou thought tion verses virtue William Burnes writing young
Popular passages
Page 126 - I forget the hallowed grove, Where by the winding Ayr we met, To live one day of parting love ! Eternity will not efface Those records dear of transports past ; Thy image at our last embrace ; Ah ! little thought we 'twas our last ! Ayr gurgling kissed his pebbled shore, O'erhung with wild woods, thickening, green ; The fragrant birch, and hawthorn hoar, Twined amorous round the raptured scene.
Page 84 - ... Martyrs,' worthy of the name ; Or noble 'Elgin' beets' the heavenward flame, The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays : Compared with these, Italian trills are tame ; The tickled ears no heart-felt raptures raise ; Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise. The priest-like father reads the sacred page, How Abram was the friend of God on high ; Or Moses bade eternal warfare wage With Amalek's ungracious progeny ; Or how the royal Bard did groaning lie Beneath the stroke of Heaven's avenging...
Page 85 - Then kneeling down to Heaven's Eternal King The saint, the father, and the husband prays: Hope 'springs exulting on triumphant wing' That thus they all shall meet in future days: There ever bask in uncreated rays, No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear, Together hymning their Creator's praise, In such society, yet still more dear; While circling Time moves round in an eternal sphere.
Page 85 - And decks the lily fair in flowery pride, Would in the way His wisdom sees the best, For them and for their little ones provide ; But chiefly in their hearts with grace divine preside.
Page 307 - And wear thou this' — she solemn said, And bound the Holly round my head : The polish'd leaves, and berries red, Did rustling play; And, like a passing thought, she fled In light away.
Page 49 - Poesy was still a darling walk for my mind, but it was only indulged in according to the humour of the hour. I had usually half a dozen or more pieces on hand; I took up one or other, as it suited the momentary tone of the mind, and dismissed the work as it bordered, on fatigue. My passions, when once lighted up, raged like so many devils, till they got vent in rhyme; and then the conning over my verses, like a spell, soothed all into quiet!
Page 125 - Mary ! dear departed shade ! Where is thy place of blissful rest ? Seest thou thy lover lowly laid ? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast...
Page 46 - A country lad seldom carries on a love-adventure without an assisting confidant. I possessed a curiosity, zeal, and intrepid dexterity, that recommended me as a proper second on these occasions ; and I dare say I felt as much pleasure in being in the secret of half the loves of the parish of Tarbolton, as ever did statesman in knowing the intrigues of half the courts of Europe.
Page 37 - In my infant and boyish days, too, I owed much to an old woman who resided in the family, remarkable for her ignorance, credulity and superstition.
Page 83 - The sire turns o'er, wi' patriarchal grace, The big ha'-Bible, ance his father's pride ; His bonnet rev'rently is laid aside, His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare ; Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, He wales a portion with judicious care, And " Let us worship God !