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and they may meet and carouse, and make speeches-and they who battened upon the bard in his misery, may be foremost and loudest, and they may thump the table at his name, roar out his songs, quaff till they reel; but in the midst of all this, "the fingers of a man's hand will come forth, and write upon the wall" words of sorrow and of reproach, which will be eternal as the name and the songs of the bard. Aye, and when years and ages shall have rolled away, when the dust shall have been gathered to the dust, and not a tittle of the Edinburgh literati, during the ten fatal years, from 1786 to 1796, shall be found even in the limbo of waste paper, the memorial and the execration of this act of slow moral poisoning will be as fresh as ever.

Even from Mr. Lockhart's book -from the showing of a man who cannot be presumed to have had any wish to show it-there is an impression of the progress of the evil deed, though that impression be given rather by some lacune that want filling up, than from any thing that is said.

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Before Burns went to Edinburgh, he was by no means addicted to drinking; and, indeed, a young man whose average yearly income, over and above his food, was about seven pounds, out of which he had to clothe himself and buy his few books, and of which, after all, he made some savings which helped to stock the farm of Massgiel, could not possibly indulge much in that way. The first three or four months that he was in Edinburgh he was equally abstemious, except in the companies where he was invited to be gazed at; and so careful was he, that he shared the room and the bed of a writer's clerk; and had the "gentry" only had the decency to shut their doors against him in the beginning as they did in the end, Burns would have gone back to the country uncontaminated even in idea. But though they gave him some patronage for his book, a thing, by the way, that he did not need to thank them for and though

they initiated him in their dissipas tion, in which, then especially, and even now, Edinburgh outrages every other place in the kingdom, they gave him no friendship. He spent an entire season in Edinburgh, saw all the "gentry" in it, was univers sally described as a most sensible man and delightful companion; and yet, at the end of the time, the only persons who had attached themselves to him, or indeed shown any hearty desire of doing so, were, a schoolmaster of irascible temper, vulgar manners, and dissipated habits, and a clerk, who, though free from those offensive qualities, was certainly no Edipus. The one of these was subsequently his "Boswell" in the south of Scotland, and the other in the north; and after "seeing" Edinburgh for two years, Burns, who at that time had powers that would have done honour to any situation, was-made an exciseman, with fifty pounds a year!

This was bad enough; but there was worse to follow. As might have been foreseen-and prevented-the discharge of his duty as an exciseman, which, even on the showing of his enemies, Burns discharged with great fidelity, were incompatible with his proper management of his farm and thus he was forced to give that up, retire to the little scandal-dealing provincial capital, Dumfries, and depend wholly on his seventy pounds a year, with which his more laboris ous duties there were rewarded. Excise officers have never been, in Scotland, characters which stand very high, and they have not always de served it. Thus the very calling of the bard banished him from the soeiety of the small gentry who, unable to spend their winters in Edinburgh, spent them in Dumfries. This must have irritated him on the one hand, and on the other it forced him to associate with his brother officers; an association which was not very likely either to elevate his mind or improve his morals. If the " gentry" of Edinburgh were afraid of being eclipsed by the rustic bard,

much more must they of Dumfries have been; and as, in such coteries, there are usually very choice subjects for satire, they had no reason, to hope that the bard would spare, them. This led to irritation in the, first instance, and in the second, to revenge.

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At that time the French revolu-,, tion broke out; and, singular as it may seem, the effects of it were, perhaps, more baneful in Scotland, thau in any other country. Those who were in power, in that country, were needy, rapacious, and venal; and if they could but recommend, themselves to the notice of the state, they did not much mind the way in which they did it; alarm and treachery were the order of the day; and if any of the minions could succeed in making it be believed that any man, more especially a man of talents, was a democrat—disaffected to the king, and more especially to the minister, it was the same as finding a treasure. The tools of this miserable faction, partly out of hatred to talents of which they were afraid, and partly in the hope that they would thereby win what they had not ability to work for, marked Burns as their prey. The bold, open and manly character of the bard, rendered him an easy victim to those vermin; and for some words, of course spoken in hours of conviviality, and some foolish matters about toasts, he was reported as a danger ous and suspected person; and every lie that any one professing pseudoloyalty chose to form against him, was believed. In consequence, that society which had drawn him out of the country by its plaudits deserted him; and, in mental agony that cannot well be described, he sunk into an early grave—fell a victim to neg1 lect and treachery in the very prime, of his days. No sooner had they procured his death than they came with their crocodile tears; and men, who might with one word have averted the catastrophe, but did not, came fawning in to steal a little fame by being mourners at his bier.

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All the neglect, and all the perse cution that he suffered, could not, however, destroy the immortal spark within him. Even in these years, in which he bore the iniquities of mat degraded country and a despicable faction, Burns poured forth some of the choicest of his lyrics. For any thing but fame and that to a man who, upon, the brink of starvation himself, is fattening others, is not quite enough—his muse might as well have been silent. For the songs which he contributed to Johnson's collection, Burns got two copies of the book ! and for the labour of years towards that of Thomson, he received five pounds as a gift, and five pounds as an alms !

Mr. Lockhart's closing remarks on the character of Burns, have in them, a great deal of truth, good sense, and fair critical acumen.

"As to Burns's want of education and knowledge, Mr. Campbell may not have considered, but he must admit, that whatever Burns's oppor tunities had been at the time when he produced his first poem, such a man as he was not likely to be a hard reader, (which he certainly was,) and a constant observer of men and manners, in a much wider circle of society than almost any other great poet has ever moved in, from threeand-twenty to eight-and-thirty, with out having thoroughly removed any pretext for auguring unfavourably on that score, of what he might have been expected to produce in the more elaborate departments of bis art, had his life been spared to the usual limits of humanity. In another way, however, I cannot help sus pecting that Burns's enlarged knowledge, both of men and books, produced an unfavourable effect, rather than otherwise, on the exertions, such as they were, of his later years. His generous spirit was open to the impression of every kind of excellence; his lively imagination, bending its own vigour to whatever it touched, made him admire even what other people try to read in vain; and after travelling, as he did, over the gene.

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ral surface of our literature, he appears to have been somewhat startled at the consideration of what he himself had, in comparative ignorance, adventured, and to have been more intimidated than encouraged by the retrospect. In most of the new departments in which he made some trial of his strength, (such, for example, as the moral Epistle in Pope's vein, the heroic satire, &c.,) he appears to have soon lost heart, and paused. There is indeed one magnificent exception in Tam o' Shanter, a piece which no one can understand without believing, that had Burns pursued that walk, and poured out his stores of traditionary lore, embellished with his extraordinary powers of description of all kinds, we might have had from his hand a series of national tales, uniting the quaint simplicity, sly huniour, and irresistible pathos of another Chaucer, with the strong and graceful versification, and masculine wit and sense of another Dryden.

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"This was was a sort of feeling that must have in time subsided. But let' us not waste words in regretting what might have been, where so much is. Burns, short and painful as were his years, has left behind him à volume in which there is inspiration for eve ry fancy, and music for every mood; which lives, and will live in strength and vigour 'to soothe' as a gene rous lover of genius has said sorrows of how many a lover, to inflame the patriotism of how many a soldier, to fan the fires of how many a genius, to disperse the gloom of solitude, appease the agonies of pain, encourage virtue, and show vice its ugliness;'-a volume, in which, cen turies hence, as now, wherever a Scotsman may wander, he will find the dearest consolation of his exile! Already has

-Glory without end

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Scattered the clouds away; and on that name attend

The tears and praises of all time."

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THERE

VARIETIES.

SAGACIOUS CONJECTURE. HERE was found on an amethyst (and the same afterwards occurred on the front of an ancient temple) a number of marks or indents, which had long perplexed inquirers; and more particularly as similar marks or indents were frequently observed in ancient monuments. It occurred to the antiquary, Peirese, that these marks were nothing more than holes for small nails, which had formerly fastened little lamina, which represented so many Greek letters. This hint of his own suggested to him to draw lines from one hole to another; and he beheld the amethyst reveal the name of the sculptor, the frieze of the temple, and the name of the god. This curious discovery has been since frequently applied.

general utility, and now a patent has been obtained for metallic caissons," applicable to the construction of piers, harbours, embankments, breakwaters, basins, locks, quays, docks, mill-dams, roads through morasses, foundations of light houses, agno ducts, and other works requiring great expedition or durability. The caisson is a hollow metallic box, open generally both at the bottom and top, the thickness of the sides proportioned to the strength and gravity requir ed, and the mode of uniting being by dove-tail. The results of various calculations of the comparative expense of granite and cast iron caisson works, give from twenty to more than fifty per cent. in favour of the latter, and the advantage in the saving of time, which, in works on the coast," is obviously of the highest impor tance, it is estimated, will be at Every day some new application least four-fifths in favour of the of cast iron is made to purposes of latter. Jul 310 6 21991502 2.

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15. 10 METALLIC CAISSONS.

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STAMP ACT.

When Dr. Franklin was agent in England for the province of Pennsylvania, he was frequently applied to by the ministry for his opinion respecting the operation of the Stamp Act; but his answer was uniformly the same," that the people of America would never submit to it." After the news of the destruction of the stamped papers had arrived in England, the ministry again sent for the Doctor to consult with; and in conclusion offered this proposal:—" That if the Americans would engage to pay for the damage done in the destruction of the stamped paper, &c. the parliament would then repeal the act." The Doctor having paused upon this question for some time, at last answered it as follows:-This puts me in mind of a Frenchman, who, having heated a poker red-hot, ran furiously into the street, and addressing the first Englishman he met there," Hah! Monsieur, voulez vous give me de plaisir, de satisfaction, to let me run this poker only one foot into your body?" My body!" replied the Englishman: "What do you mean?"—" Vel den, only so far," marking about six inches. "Are you mad?" returned the other; "I tell you, if you don't go about your business, I'll knock you down." "Vel den," said the Frenchman, softening his voice and manner; "Vil you, my good Sir, only be so obliging as to pay me for the trouble and expense of heating this poker!"

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QUERIES.

Bishop Berkeley, among a set of queries, has the following, which are pertinent to existing circumstances: "Whether one may not be allowed to conceive and suppose a society or nation of human creatures, clad in woollen cloths and stuffs; eating good bread, beef, and mutton, poultry, and fish in great plenty; drinking ale, mead, and cider; inhabiting decent houses, built of brick and marble; taking their pleasure in fair parks and gardens; depending on no foreign imports for food and raiment ?"-al

so, "Whether there may not be found a people who so contrive as to be impoverished by their trade?”

BOSSUET.

Many original, and hitherto unheard of, manuscripts of this celebrated historian and divine have been brought to light in France, and are at present in the course of printing at Paris.

CONDUCTIBILITY.

Roll thin writing-paper round a brass or other metal rod, and hold the papered part over the flame of a spirit lamp; the paper will not be singed, nor otherwise injured, owing to the conducting power of the metal on which it is laid. A person made a steel escapement-wheel for a clock, and intended tempering the points of the teeth, by means of a blowpipe; but he failed, owing to the conducting power of the rest of the wheel.

In Paris there are scores of little shops where gentlemen may sit on a raised bench, and read the newspapers whilst a garcon cleans their boots-for two sous. These shops

are neatly fitted up, and are generally situated near the theatres or the public promenades.

ARTIFICIAL STONE.

Mr. W. Ranger, of Brighton, has succeeded in perfecting an invention, which is intended to be substituted for bricks or stone. It is an artificial stone, much harder than bricks or stone, being equal in durability to granite, and it has also the advantage of being considerably cheaper. Mr. Ranger has been occupied a considerable time in bringing this discovery to perfection, which he has now so far accomplished, that it is his intention to employ it altogether in the first building which he may erect. It is capable of being modelled to any shape, and in any way that may be desired, and has, when put up, the appearance of Portland stone; of course, no cement is required in the construction of buildings, in which it is employed.

OF THE

ENGLISH MAGAZINES.

NO. 8.]

BOSTON, JULY 15, 1828.

[VOL. 9, N. s.

TH

SKETCHES OF CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS.
No. IV. LORD BYRON.

HE mind of a poet of the highest order is the most perfect mind that can belong to man. There is no intellectual power, and no state of feeling, which may not be the instrument of poetry, and in proportion as reason, reflection, or sympathy is wanting, in the same degree is the poet restricted in his mastery over the resources of his art. The poet is the great interpreter of nature's mysteries, not by narrowing them into the grasp of the understanding, but by connecting each of them with the feeling which changes doubt to faith. His most gorgeous and varied painting is not displayed as an idle phantasmagoria, but there flows through all its scenes the clear and shining water, which, as wander for delight, or rest for contemplation, perpetually reflects to us an image of our own being. He sympathises with all phenomena by his intuition of all principles; and his mind is a mirror which catches and images the whole scheme and working of the world. He comprehends all feelings, though he only cherishes the best; and, even while he exhibits to us the frenzies or degradations of humanity, we are conscious of an ever-present divinity, elevating and hallowing the evil that surrounds it.

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A great poet may be of any time, or rank, or country; a beggar, an outcast, a slave, or even a courtier. The external limits of his social rela36 ATHENEUM, VOL. 9, 2d series.

tions may be narrow and wretched as they will, but they will always have an inward universality. In his rags, he is nature's treasurer: though he may be blind, he sees the past and the future, and though the servant of servants, he is ever at large and predominant. But there are things which he cannot be. He cannot be a scorner, or selfish, or luxurious and sensual. He cannot be a self-worshipper, for he only breathes by sympathy, and is its organ; he cannot be untrue, for it is his high calling to interpret those universal truths which exist on earth only in the forms of his creation. He cannot be given up to libertine debauchery; for it is impossible to dwell at once before the starry threshold of Jove's court, and in the den of lewd and drunken revel. It was to Hades, not to Olympus, that the comrades of Ulysses voyaged from the island. of Circe; nor can we pass, without long and hard purgation, from the sty to the sanctuary, or from the wine-cup to the fountain of immortality. The poet must be of a fearless honesty; for he has to do battle with men for that which men most dread, the regeneration, namely, of man: and yet he must be also of a loving-kindness; for his arms are the gentleness of his accents, and the music of all sweet thoughts. Such is the real and perfect poet; and it is only in so far as verse-artisans approach to this, that they are entitled

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