thers were under the tuition of this intelligent teacher, it may appear extravagant to attach so much importance to it. But genius, in all probability, takes its bent at a very early period; and no one can be sure that the subsequent bias of Burns to intellectual exercise, was not impressed upon his mind by hints imperceptibly caught from an admirer of literature, at an age when his taste could have no specific determination.

With a view to provide capital for carrying on his farm, William Burnes offered his little possession to sale; but finding no purchaser, was furnished by Mr Ferguson with a loan of £100; and the narrowness of his circumstances compelled him to resort, insignificant as it must have been, even to the manual labour of his boys. Their school education was thus interrupted, but they still had a singular advantage in the assistance of a father who, after the fatigues of the day, devoted his evenings to the labour of teaching them arithmetic, and who probably communicated more important instruction, in the less elaborate form of familiar conversation. The picture of the family, at this period, as it is drawn by Gilbert Burns, is extremely interesting.

"Nothing," says he, "could be more retired than our general manner of living at Mount Oliphant; we rarely saw any body but the members of our own family. There were no boys of our own age, or near it, in the neighbourhood. In

deed the greatest part of the land in the vicinity was at that time possessed by shopkeepers, and people of that stamp, who had retired from business, or who kept their farm in the country, at the same time that they followed business in town. My father was for some time almost the only companion we had. He conversed familiarly on all subjects with us, as if we had been men ; and was at great pains, while we accompanied him in the labours of the farm, to lead the conversation to such subjects as might tend to increase our knowledge, or confirm us in virtuous habits."*

Such were the circumstances in which the boyhood of Burns was passed. Daily exhausted by the severest labour of which his age was capable, he returned, at night, to a home where few of what are called the comforts of life were to be found, and which could be endeared to him only by mental gratification, by the interchange of domestic affection, and the indulgence of liberal curiosity. If, therefore, it be natural, in after life, to regard with approbation, and to value with partiality, what constituted the principal pleasure of our early years, it was to be expected that the exercise of the intellectual powers,— the sole enjoyment by which the winter evenings of Mount Oliphant were cheered,—should be allowed a marked precedency to every other, in the estimation of Burns.

* Currie's Life of Burns, Vol. I. p. 64,

Until the year 1772, no change appears to have taken place in his condition. His reading, during this period, was extremely limited, consisting merely of the few books which accident threw in his way. In the narrative of his life, addressed to Dr Moore, he mentions that the first compositions in which he took delight, were the Vision of Mirza, and one of the Hymns of its elegant author, beginning, "How are thy servants blest, O Lord!" and that the two first volumes which he read with interest, were, the Life of Hannibal, and the History of Wallace. That the compositions of Addison should have captivated Burns, at so early an age, is certainly creditable to his natural discernment; and the ardour with which he dwelt on relations of patriotic valour testified, and probably cherished, the original force of that national spirit which was afterwards to spread itself through his own effusions. In addition to this account of the very primitia of his studies, we have a list of the other authors which fell in his way at Mount Oliphant, furnished partly by himself, and partly by his brother. This list merits insertion; for, to a well directed curiosity, no research can be more interesting than to trace every help which administered to the progressive expansion of such powers as those of Burns, and to ascertain the sources from which he drew that store of "breathing thoughts and burning words," which were to

impart so widely the emotions of delight and admiration.

The books were these; Salmon and Guthrie's Geographical Grammar; Stackhouse's History of the Bible; Derham's Astro and Physico Theology; and Ray's Wisdom of God in Creation; the Ready Reckoner; a Collection of Letters, and some odd volumes of Richardson's and Smollet's Novels.

From this course of reading, though neither copious, systematic, nor select, the mind of Burns would still derive advantage. Original thinkers require from books, only hints to set their own ideas in motion; and wretched, indeed, must be the writer, who cannot even give excitement to a train of associations, in an understanding so vigorous and active as the one which we are contemplating.

About 1773, Burns and his brother were sent to improve their writing at the parish school of Dalrymple, which was nearly three miles from Mount Oliphant. As both the boys could not be spared at once, they alternately took a week of instruction and a week of farm labour, and even this incommodious and interrupted attendance could be permitted only for three months. To have gained much benefit from a teacher, under circumstances so awkward and so unfavourable, must have required in the learners no common degree of resolute assiduity and ambition to ex

cel. It was fortunate for the poet, that about this time Murdoch returned to Ayr, after an absence of some years, and immediately renewed his intimacy with his pupils and their father. For the worth and understanding of the latter, he had the highest value and esteem. He discerned and cherished the opening talents of the brothers; he brought them books, and, what was of superior consequence, he maintained, in their hearing, many intelligent and interesting conversations with their father, by which they could not fail to find their minds enlarged, and directed to new speculations.

During the following year, the poet attended the school of Murdoch in the town of Ayr, for a single week before, and for two after harvest. His object at the time was to study English grammar; but his master being himself engaged in learning French, imparted what he could of this new acquirement to his favourite pupil, who afterwards made some farther progress in the study by himself. On this On this progress, slender as it probably was, he seems to have piqued himself; for both his letters and conversation were, perhaps too liberally, sprinkled with such French expressions as he was able to command. At this time he also attempted, with the assistance of a Mr Robertson, to acquire some knowledge of Latin; but he was now of an age when too many objects solicited his attention, to admit of his success, in