of this maxim ought frequently to be the rule of
conduct. In minds of a higher order, the object
of instruction and of discipline is very often to
restrain rather than to impel ; to curb the im-
pulses of imagination, so that the passions also
may be kept under control.*
Hence
# Quinctilian discusses the important question, whether
the bent of the individual's genius should be followed in
his education (an secundum sui quisque ingenii docendus
sit naturam), chiefly, indeed, with a reference to the
orator, but in a way that admits of very general applica-
tion. His conclusions coincide very much with those of
the text. An vero Isocrates cum de Ephoro atque Theo-
pompo sic judicaret, ut alteri frenis, alteri cal-
CARIBUS
238 THE LIFE OF
Hence the advantages, even in a moral point
of view, of studies of a severer nature, which,
while they inform the understanding, employ
the volition, that regulating power of the mind,
which, like all our other faculties, is strengthen-
ed by exercise, and on the superiority of which,
virtue, happiness, and honourable fame, are
wholly dependent. Hence also the advantage of
regular and constant application, which aids the
voluntary power by the production of habits so
necessary to the support of order and virtue,
and so difficult to be formed in the temperament
of genius.
The man who is so endowed and so regulated,
may pursue his course with confidence in almost
any of the various walks of life which choice or
accident may open to him ; and, provided he
employs the talents he has cultivated, may hope
for such imperfect happiness, and such limited
success, as are reasonably to be expected from
human exertions.
The
caribus opus esse diceret ; aut in Mo lentiore tardi-
tatem, aut in illo pene prcccipiti concitationem adjuvan-
dum docendo existimavitV cum alterum allerius natura
miscendum arbitraretur. Imbecillis tamen ingeniis sane
sic obsequendum sit, ut tantum in id quo vocat natura,
ducantur. Ita enim, quod solum possunt, melius efficient.
Iiistit. Orator, lib. ii. 9.
ROBERT BURNS. 239
The pre-eminence among men, which pro-
cures personal respect, and which terminates in
lasting reputation, is seldom or never obtained
by the excellence of a single faculty of mind,
Experience teaches us, that it has been acquired
by those only who have possessed the compre-
hension and the energy of general talents, and
who have regulated their application, in the line
which choice, or perhaps accident, may have
determined, by the dictates of their judgment.
Imagination is supposed, and with justice, to be
the leading faculty of the poet. But what poet
has stood the test of time by the force of this
single faculty ? Who does not see that Homer
and Shakespeare excelled the rest of their spe-
cies in understanding as well as in imagination ;
that they were pre-eminent in the highest spe-
cies of knowledge the knowledge of the na-
ture and character of man ? On the other hand,
the talent of ratiocination is more especially
requisite to the orator ; but no man ever ob-
tained the palm of oratory, even by the highest
excellence in this single talent. Who does not
perceive that Demosthenes and Cicero were not
more happy in their addresses to the reason,
than in their appeals to the passions ? They
knew, that to excite, to agitate, and to delight,
are among the most potent arts of persuasion;
and they enforced their impression on the under-
standing, by their command of all the sympa-
thies
240 THE LIFE OP
thies of the heart. These observations might
be extended to other walks of life. He who
has the faculties fitted to excel in poetry, has
the faculties which, duly governed, and differ-
ently directed, might lead to pre-eminence in
other, and, as far as respects himself, perhaps in
happier destinations. The talents necessary
to the construction of an Iliad, under different
discipline and application, might have led ar-
mies to victory, or kingdoms to prosperity ;
might have wielded the thunder of eloquence,
or discovered and enlarged the sciences that
constitute the power and improve the condi-
tion of our species.* Such talents are, indeed,
rare
* The reader must not suppose it is contended that
the same individual could have excelled in all these
directions. A certain degree of instruction and prac-
tice is necessary to excellence in every one, and life is
too short to admit of one man, however great his ta-
lents, acquiring this in all of them. It is only asserted,
that the same talents, differently applied, might have
succeeded in any one, though, perhaps, not equally well
in each. And, after all, this position requires certain
limitations, which the reader's candour and judgment
will supply. In supposing that a great poet might
have made a great orator, the physical qualities neces-
sary to oratory are pre-supposed. In supposing that a
great orator might have made a great poet, it is a ne-
cessary condition, that he should have devoted himself
to poetry, and that he should have acquired a profi-
ciency
ROBERT BURNS. 241
rare among the productions of nature, and oc-
casions of bringing them into full exertion are
rarer
ciency in metrical numbers, which by patience and at-
tention may be acquired, though the want of it has
embarrassed and chilled many of the first efforts of
true poetical genius. In supposing that Homer might
have led armies to victory, more indeed is assumed than
the physical qualities of a general. To these must be
added that hardihood of mind, that coolness in the midst
of difficulty and danger, which great poets and orators
are found sometimes, but not always, to possess. The
nature of the institutions of Greece and Rome produced
more instances of single individuals who excelled in various
departments of active and speculative life, than occur in
modern Europe, where the employments of men are
more subdivided. Many of the greatest warriors of an-
tiquity excelled in literature and in oratory. That they had
the minds of great poets also, will be admitted, wheu the
qualities are justly appreciated which are necessary to ex-
cite, combine, and command the active energies of a great
body of men, to rouse that enthusiasm which sustains
fatigue, hunger, and the inclemencies of the elements, and
which triumphs over the fear of death, the most powerful
instinct of our nature.
The authority of Cicero may be appealed to in fa-
vour of the close connexion between the poet and the
orator. Est enim finitimiu oratori poeta, numeris ad~
strictior paulo, verborum autem Hcentia liberior, fyc.
De Orator. Lib. i. c. 16. See also Lib. iii. c. 7.
VOL. I. R It
242 THE LIFE OF
rarer still. But safe and salutary occupations
may be found for men of genius in every direc-
tion,
It is true the example of Cicero may be quoted against his
opinion. His attempts in verse, which are praised by
Plutarch, do not seem to have met the approbation of
Juvenal, or of some others. Cicero probably did not take
sufficient time to learn the art of the poet; but that he
had the afflatus necessary to poetical excellence, may be
abundantly proved from his compositions in prose. On
the other hand, nothing is more clear, than that, in the
character of a great poet, all the mental qualities of an
orator are included. It is said by Quinctilian, of Homer,
Omnibus eloquentia partibus exemplum et ortum dedit.
Lib. i. 47. The study of Homer is therefore recom-
mended to the orator, as of the first importance. Of the
two sublime poets in our own language, who are hardly
inferior to Homer, Shakespeare and Milton, a similar
recommendation may be given. It is scarcely necessary
to mention how much an acquaintance with them has
availed the great orator who is now the pride and ornament
of the English bar, a character that may be appealed to
with singular propriety, when we are contending for the
universality of genius.
The identity, or at least the great similarity, of the
talents necessary to excellence in poetry, oratory, paint-
ing, and war, will be admitted by some, who will be in-
clined to dispute the extension of the position to science
or natural knowledge. On this occasion I may quote
the following observations of Sir William Jones, whose
own
ROBERT BURNS. 243
tion, while the useful and ornamental arts re-
main to be cultivated, while the sciences remain
to be studied and to be extended, and the prin-
ciples of science to be applied to the correction
and improvement of art. In the temperament of
sensibility, which is in truth the temperament
of general talents, the principal object of disci-
pline and instruction is, as has already been men-
tioned, to strengthen the self-command ; and
this may be promoted by the direction of the
studies, more effectually perhaps than has been
generally understood.
If these observations be founded in truth,
R 2 they
own example will however far exceed in weight the
authority of his precepts. " Abul Ola had so flourish-
ing a reputation, that several persons of uncommon
genius were ambitious of learning the art of poetry from
so able an instructor. His most illustrious scholars
were Feleki and Khakani, who were no less eminent
for their Persian compositions, than for their skill in
every branch of pure and mixed mathematics, and par-
ticularly in astronomy ; a striking proof that a sublime
poet may become master of any kind of learning which
he chooses to profess ; since a fine imagination, a lively
wit, an easy and copious style, cannot possibly obstruct
the acquisition of any scieuce whatever; but must ne-
cessarily assist him in his studies, and shorten his la-
bour."
Sir William Jones's Works, vol, ii. p. 317-
244 THE LIFE OF
they may lead to practical consequences of
some importance. It has been too much the
custom to consider the possession of poetical
talents as excluding the possibility of applica-
tion to the severer branches of study, and as in
some degree incapacitating the possessor from
attaining those habits, and from bestowing that
attention, which are necessary to success in the
details of business, and in the engagements of
active life. It has been common for persons
conscious of such talents, to look with a sort
of disdain on other kinds of intellectual excel-
lence, and to consider themselves as in some
degree absolved from those rules of prudence
by which humbler minds are restricted. They
are too much disposed to abandon themselves
to their own sensations, and to suffer life to
pass away without regular exertion, or settled
purpose.
But though men of genius are generally
prone to indolence, with them indolence and
unhappiness are in a more especial manner al-
lied. The unbidden splendours of imagination
may indeed at times irradiate the gloom which
inactivity produces ; but such visions, though
bright, are transient, and serve to cast the
realities of life into deeper shade. In bestow-
ing great talents, Nature seems very generally
to have imposed on the possessor the necessity
of
ROBERT BURNS. 245
of exertion, if he would escape wretchedness.
Better for him than sloth, toils the most pain-
ful, or adventures the most hazardous. Hap-
pier to him than idleness, were the condition of
the peasant, earning with incessant labour his
scanty food ; or that of the sailor, though
hanging on the yard-arm, and wrestling with
the hurricane.
These observations might be amply illus-
trated by the biography of men of genius of
every denomination, and more especially by the
biography of the poets. Of this last description
of men, few seem to have enjoyed the usual
portion of happiness that falls to the lot of hu-
manity, those excepted who have cultivated
poetry as an elegant amusement in the hours of
relaxation from other occupations, or the small
number who have engaged with success in the
greater or more arduous attempts of the muse,
in which all the faculties of the mind have been
fully and permanently employed. Even taste,
virtue, and comparative independence, do not
seem capable of bestowing on men of genius,
peace and tranquillity, without such occupation
as may give regular and healthful exercise to
the faculties of body and mind. The amiable
Shenstone has left us the records of his impru-
dence, of his indolence, and of his unhappiness,
amidst
246 THE LIFE OF
amidst the shades of the Leasowes ;* and the
virtues, the learning, and the genius of Gray,
equal to the loftiest attempts of the epic muse,
failed to procure him in the academic bowers of
Cambridge, that tranquillity and that respect
which less fastidiousness of taste, and greater
constancy and vigour of exertion, would have
doubtless obtained.
It is more necessary that men of genius
should be aware of the importance of self-com-
mand, and of exertion, because their indolence
is peculiarly exposed, not merely to unhappi-
ness, but to diseases of mind, and to errors of
conduct, which are generally fatal. This in-
teresting subject deserves a particular investi-
gation ; but we must content ourselves with one
or two cursory remarks. Relief is sometimes
sought from the melancholy of indolence in
practices, which for a time sooth and gratify
the sensations, but which in the end involve
the sufferer in darker gloom. To command the
external circumstances by which happiness is
affected, is not in human power j but there are
various substances in nature which operate on
the system of the nerves, so as to give a ficti-
tious
* See his Letters, which, as a display of the effects
of poetical idleness, are highly instructive.
ROBERT BURNS. 24?
tious gaiety to the ideas of imagination, and
to alter the effect of the external impressions
which we receive. Opium is chiefly employed
for this purpose by the disciples of Mahomet
and the inhabitants of Asia ; but alcohol, the
principle of intoxication in vinous and spirituous
liquors, is preferred in Europe, and is univer-
sally used in the Christian world.* Under the
various
* There are a great number of other substances,
which may be considered under this point of view
Tobacco, tea, and coffee, are of the number. These
substances essentially differ from each other in their
qualities; and an inquiry into the particular effects of
each on the health, morals, and happiness, of those who
use them, would be curious and useful. The effects
of wine and of opium on the temperament of sensi-
bility, the Editor intended to have discussed in this
place at some length ; but he found the subject too
extensive aud too professional to be introduced with
propriety. The difficulty of abandoning any of these
narcotics (if we may so term them), when inclination
is strengthened by habit, is well known. Johnson, in
his distresses, had experienced the cheering but trea-
cherous influence of wine, and, by a powerful effort,
abandoned it. He was obliged however to use tea as
a substitute, and this was the solace to which he con-
stantly had recourse under his habitual melancholy.
The praises of wine form many of the most beautiful
lyrics of the poets of Greece and Rome, and of modern
Europe. Whether opium, which produces visions still
more
248 THE LIFE OF
various wounds to which indolent sensibility is
exposed, and under the gloomy apprehensions
respecting futurity to which it is so often a prey,
how strong is the temptation to have recourse to
an antidote by which the pain of these wounds
is suspended, by which the heart is exhilarated,
visions of happiness are excited in the mind, and
the forms of external nature clothed with new
beauty !
Elysium opens round,
A pleasing phrenzy buoys the lighten'd soul,
And sanguine hopes dispel your fleeting care ;
And what was difficult, and what was dire,
Yields to your prowess, and superior stars :
The happiest you of all that e'er were mad,
Or are, or shall be, could this folly last.
But soon your heaven is gone ; a heavier gloom
Shuts o'er your head
-Momins:
more ecstatic, has been the theme of the eastern poets,
I do not know. Wine is drunk in small quantities at
a time, in company, where for a time, it promotes har-
mony and social affection. Opium is swallowed by the
Asiatics in full doses at once, and the inebriate retires to
the solitary indulgence of his delirious imaginations. Hence,
the wine-drinker appears in a superior light to the imbiber
of opium, a distinction which he owes more to the form,
than to the quality of his liquor.
ROBERT BURNS. 249
Morning comes ; your cares return
With tenfold rage. An anxious stomach well
May be endured : so may the throbbing head :
But such a dim delirium, such a dream
Involves you ; such a dastardly despair
Unmans your soul, as madd'ning Pentheus felt,
When, baited round Cithaeron's cruel sides,
JTe saw two suns and double Thebes ascend.
Armstrong's Art of Preserving Health, b. iv. /. 163.
Such are the pleasures and the pains of in-
toxication, as they occur in the temperament of
sensibility, described by a genuine poet, with a
degree of truth and energy which nothing but
experience could have dictated. There are in-
deed some individuals of this temperament on
whom wine produces no cheering influence.
On some, even in very moderate quantities, its
effects are painfully irritating; in large draughts
it excites dark and melancholy ideas ; and in
draughts still larger, the fierceness of insanity
itself. Such men are happily exempted from a
temptation, to which experience teaches us the
finest dispositions often yield, and the influence
of which, when strengthened by habit, it is a
humiliating truth, that the most powerful minds
have not been able to resist.
It is the more necessary for men of genius
to be on their guard against the habitual use of
wine, because it is apt to steal on them insen-
sibly ;
250 THE LIFE OF
sibly; and because the temptation to excess
usually presents itself to them in their social
hours, when they are alive only to warm and
generous emotions, and when prudence and
moderation are often contemned as selfishness
and timidity.
It is the more necessary for them to guard
against excess in the use of wine, because on
them its effects are, physically and morally, in
an especial manner injurious. In proportion
to its stimulating influence on the system (on
which the pleasurable sensations depend), is the
debility that ensues ; a debility that destroys
digestion, and terminates in habitual fever,
dropsy, jaundice, paralysis, or insanity. As the
strength of the body decays, the volition fails ;
in proportion as the sensations are soothed and
gratified, the sensibility increases; and morbid
sensibility is the parent of indolence, because,
while it impairs the regulating power of the
mind, it exaggerates all the obstacles to exer-
tion. Activity, perseverance, and self-command,
become more and more difficult, and the great
purposes of utility, patriotism, or of honour-
able ambition, which had occupied the imagi-
nation, die away in fruitless resolutions, or in
feeble efforts.
To apply these observations to the subject of
our
ROBERT BURNS. 251
our memoirs, would be an useless as well as a
painful task. It is, indeed, a duty we owe to
the living, not to allow our admiration of great
genius, or even our pity for its unhappy destiny,
to conceal or disguise its errors. But there are
sentiments of respect, and even of tenderness,
with which this duty should be performed; there
is an awful sanctity which invests the mansions
of the dead ; and let those who moralize over
the graves of their contemporaries, reflect
with humility on their own errors, nor forget
how soon they may themselves require the
candour and the sympathy they are called upon
to bestow.
SOON after the death of Burns, the following
article appeared in the Dumfries Journal, from
which it was copied into the Edinburgh news-
papers, and into various other periodical publi-
cations. It is from the elegant pen of a lady
already alluded to in the course of these me-
moirs,* whose exertions for the family of our
bard, in the circles of literature and fashion
in which she moves, have done her so much
honour.
The
* See p. 220.
252 THE LIFE OF
" The attention of the public seems to be
much occupied at present with the loss it has
recently sustained in the death of the Caledo-
nian poet Robert Burns ; a loss calculated to
be severely felt throughout the literary world,
as well as lamented in the narrower sphere of
private friendship. It was not therefore pro-
bable that such an event should be long unat-
tended with the accustomed profusion of post-
humous anecdotes and memoirs which are usually
circulated immediately after the death of every
rare and celebrated personage : I had however
conceived no intention of appropriating to my-
self the privilege of criticising Burns's writings
and character, or of anticipating on the province
of a biographer.
" Conscious indeed of my own inability to
do justice to such a subject, I should have con-
tinued wholly silent, had misrepresentation and
calumny been less industrious ; but a regard to
truth, no less than affection for the memory of
a friend, must now justify my offering to the
public a few at least of those observations which
an intimate acquaintance with Burns, and the
frequent opportunities I have had of observing
equally his happy qualities and his failings for
several years past, have enabled me to commu-
nicate.
It
ROBERT BURNS. 253
" It will actually be an injustice done to
Burns's character, not only by future genera-
tions and foreign countries, but even by his
native Scotland, and perhaps a number of his
contemporaries, that he is generally talked of,
and considered, with reference to his poetical
talents only : for the fact is, even allowing his
great and original genius its due tribute of ad-
miration, that poetry (I appeal to all who have
had the advantage of being personally acquainted
with him) was actually not his forte. Many
others, perhaps, may have ascended to prouder
heights in the region of Parnassus, but none
certainly ever outshone Burns in the charms
the sorcery, I would almost call it, of fascinat-
ing conversation, the spontaneous eloquence of
social argument, or the unstudied poignancy of
brilliant repartee ; nor was any man, I believe,
ever gifted with a larger portion of the e vivida
vis animi.' His personal endowments were per-
fectly correspondent to the qualifications of his
mind ; his form was manly ; his action, energy
itself; devoid in great measure perhaps of those
graces, of that polish, acquired' only in the re-
finement of societies where in early life he could
have no opportunities of mixing; but where
such was the irresistible power of attraction
that encircled him, though his appearance and
manners were always peculiar, he never failed to
delight and to excel. His figure seemed to
bear
254 THE LIFE OF
bear testimony to his earlier destination and
employments. It seemed rather moulded by
nature for the rough exercises of Agriculture,
than the gentler cultivation of the Belles Let-
tres. His features were stamped with the hardy
character of independence, and the firmness of
conscious, though not arrogant, pre-eminence ;
the animated expressions of countenance were
almost peculiar to himself; the rapid lightnings
of his eye were always the harbingers of some
flash of genius, whether they darted the fiery
glances of insulted and indignant superiority,
or beamed with the impassioned sentiment of
fervent and impetuous affections. His voice
alone could improve upon the magic of his eye:
sonorous, replete with the finest modulations, it
alternately captivated the ear with the melody
of poetic numbers, the perspicuity of nervous
reasoning, or the ardent sallies of enthusiastic
patriotism. The keenness of satire was, I am
almost at a loss whether to say, his forte or his
foible - y for though nature had endowed him
with a portion of the most pointed excellence
in that dangerous talent, he suffered it too
often to be the vehicle of personal, and some-
times unfounded, animosities. It was not al-
ways that sportiveness of humour, that e un-
wary pleasantry,' which Sterne has depicted
with touches so conciliatory, but the darts of
ridicule were frequently directed as the caprice
of
ROBERT BURNS. 255
of the instant suggested, or as the altercations
of parties and of persons happened to kindle the
restlessness of his spirit into interest or aversion.
This, however, was not invariably the case ;
his wit (which is no unusual matter indeed)