The works of Robert Burns; with an account of his life, and a criticism on his writings, Volume 11800 |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 24
Page 12
... improved . The Scottish system of psal- mody is however radically bad . Destitute of taste or harmony , it forms a striking contrast with the delicacy and pathos of the prophane airs . Our poet , it will be found , was taught church ...
... improved . The Scottish system of psal- mody is however radically bad . Destitute of taste or harmony , it forms a striking contrast with the delicacy and pathos of the prophane airs . Our poet , it will be found , was taught church ...
Page 17
... improved . In the art which they celebrate he was perfectly skilled ; he knew and had practised all its mysteries . Intercourse of this sort is indeed universal even in the hum- blest condition of man in every region of the earth . But ...
... improved . In the art which they celebrate he was perfectly skilled ; he knew and had practised all its mysteries . Intercourse of this sort is indeed universal even in the hum- blest condition of man in every region of the earth . But ...
Page 23
... improving . Industry and the use- ful arts came later into Scotland than into Eng- land , because the security of property came later . With causes of internal agitation and warfare si- milar to those which occurred to the more south ...
... improving . Industry and the use- ful arts came later into Scotland than into Eng- land , because the security of property came later . With causes of internal agitation and warfare si- milar to those which occurred to the more south ...
Page 24
... improving in Scotland . As yet indeed the farmers are not in general enabled to make improvements out of their own capitals , as in England ; but the land - holders who have seen and felt the advantages resulting from them , con ...
... improving in Scotland . As yet indeed the farmers are not in general enabled to make improvements out of their own capitals , as in England ; but the land - holders who have seen and felt the advantages resulting from them , con ...
Page 25
... improvement of the people , the rapidly increasing use of spirituous liquors , a detestable practice , which includes in its conse- quences almost every evil , physical and moral . * The peculiarly social disposition of the Scottish ...
... improvement of the people , the rapidly increasing use of spirituous liquors , a detestable practice , which includes in its conse- quences almost every evil , physical and moral . * The peculiarly social disposition of the Scottish ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acquaintance Adventures of Telemachus affections afterwards appears Ayrshire banks bard beautiful Blind Harry brother Capt character charms circumstances composition conversation copies degree delicacy dialect ditto Dumfries Dunlop Edinburgh Ellisland English excellence farm father favourable Fochabers friendship genius Gilbert Burns give Glasgow Gordon habits happiness heart Highland honour house of Stewart humble humour imagination impression interesting Inverness Jamaica James Jedburgh John Kilmarnock kind labour lady letter lived Liverpool London Lord M'Intosh Manchester manners marriage Mauchline melancholy mentioned merch mind Murdoch muse nae-body nature never observations parish passion peasant perhaps persons pleasure poems poet poetical poetry powers procured racter Ramsay respect Robert Burns Robt rustic scenery scenes Scotland Scottish peasantry seemed sensibility sentiments situation society songs spirit sublime talents Tarbolton taste temper tenderness Thos thou tion verses virtue William Burnes writing
Popular passages
Page 87 - 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 86 - Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme, How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed; How He, who bore in heaven the second name, Had not on earth whereon to lay his head; How his first followers and servants sped: The precepts sage they wrote to many a land: How he, who lone in Patmos banished, Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand; And heard great Babylon's doom pronounced by Heaven's command. Then, kneeling down to heaven's Eternal King, The saint, the father, and the husband prays; Hope springs...
Page 86 - With Amalek's ungracious progeny; Or how the royal bard did groaning lie Beneath the stroke of heaven's avenging ire; Or, Job's pathetic plaint, and wailing cry; Or rapt Isaiah's wild, seraphic fire; Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre.
Page 87 - And proffer up to heaven the warm request, That HE who stills the raven's clam'rous nest, And decks the lily fair in flow'ry 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 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 85 - 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 an' bare ; Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, He wales a portion with judicious care ; And " Let us worship God !
Page 43 - ... promises, kindly stepped in, and carried him away, to where the wicked cease from troubling and where the weary are at rest!
Page 45 - The great misfortune of my life was — to want an aim. I had felt early some stirrings of ambition, but they were the blind gropings of Homer's Cyclops round the walls of his cave.
Page 254 - The poetic genius of my country found me, as the prophetic bard Elijah did Elisha, at the plough, and threw her inspiring mantle over me. She bade me sing the loves, the joys, the rural scenes and rural pleasures of my native soil, in my native tongue. I tuned my wild, artless notes, as she inspired.
Page 301 - But, fare you weel, auld Nickie-ben! O wad ye tak a thought an' men' ! Ye aiblins might — I dinna ken — • Still hae a stake — I'm wae to think upo' yon den, Ev'n for your sake ! THE DEATH AND DYING WORDS OF POOR MAILIE, THE AUTHOR'S ONLY PET YOWE.