The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-01-25
NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, JANUARY Is, 1859.


style, some plays Of saakspere, Dickson on Agricu
ture, Locke on the UNDERMINING (and better one
Ss put on e sR
my reading" These books were well enough, for in
He did mot derive bis tempestnous nature from
books hs tender life, his sympathy his personal re-
fu his Penetration % aess' Of human s' his
ing and smiling, his love Of man; Of liberty
Of power and q grandeur The roots Of Burns works
good books. reader that makes book good; they
were very good books when Burns read them but you
unwrten book Of God that taught Robert Burns Let
look at him at fourteen He was a coarse, awkward,
mrh moi quick, and truly unlike poet lie knew how
to work. AS early as fourteen he became sklful as
poughman at fifteen he was head workman on his
fathers farm. And let II be said that Burns was
lazy man who took to poetry as an
excuse for negectrg hard work. No man ever perform
ed downright straightforward patient, uncomplain
ing work than did he He fought for years. and fought
desperately against dscouragements fathers farm;
and when afterwards he became farmer for himself he
shrunk from toithe hardest, coarsest and most
uncongenia to his poetica temperament But must not
anticipate Burns now al twenty and the sad life OF
stumbling in rough way; Of the most genial and
tender ahectonate natures, seeking by to grasp man
kind by the heart and aiming in all his essential works to
crown the human heart with goodness. But before We
venture upon that career OF mingled good and ILL.,
must stop and ask what Burns was for there are some
and some who rashly defended him the expense OF
good morals. What those errors were, his own moral
sense, his solemn and bitter words do show. No enemy
equal Burns remorseless words He was his own
Rodamanthus He carried convivaly TO excess he vio
lated his principles Of virtue and grathed his cen.
tousness upon love. Burns is not helped either when
deny this mournfu phase of his sad life when paae
them to- degree which shall make them less guilty in poet
than in every man. Let them stand they defects;
We must recognise them in drawing his character When
get out all the lights, must shrink at the sha
dows also But although immoratieS not TO be ex
cused from the plea of what is not what is
should determine the severity Of condemnation How
ship behaves upon the sea depends as much upon tn
manner IN which II ia built upon the person who is
managing IT, Burns was endowed with extraordinary
dersanding clear and penetrating, that saw things by
their whoe-not ntuitively not in detail gradually His
mind was logical. He, therefore, was wiser as
thinker than as an actor. That part OF the
management md tact and thrift in common things of
life, was not eminent in him. He inherited pride which
wrought in him most intense Of personality, which
gave MIN very high ideal of mahiness, which inspired
an undypg longing for well earned glory, which made
him suspicious Of all above him. but patron and protec-
tor TO all below him; pride which acting in way
sustained him under load Of i'll success but which
ing inward in his heart caused intense hatred TO
rise know not from which parent he took his heart
from both think II had large generous nature ike the
athers but had the depth of and tenderness of his
TIERS 1t has been the fashion to speak Of Burns being
of light fancy, easily kindled by beauty and easily
extnguished. Nothing can be more untrue. No
deeper Ner more enduring in bis affections. Each love
was another link that long chain of which his heart was
an mmovable staple. He loved men and animals what
ever thing grew-if only grew in Scotland. daughter
His loving nature was wonderful No man can form
who does not study his heart whose tides deep
as the ocean and sometimes tempestuous. That he
more susceptible to woman than is not strange
The same thing has happened sometimes before augh.
er But though he best loved woman, that was not his
only love. Universal being crcled into the affections Of
his nature. But that peculiar quality Of heart which is
sometimes called fancy imagination, deality, poetic
visionha divine element in the soul which reaches
to the soul Of things and not their literal beauties
which clothes whatever it looks upon with beauty and
grace-which works with forms, with movements. and
evolves the subtle grace them a-the soul that has this
ear the mind are amoners going forth and clothing all
things in radiant apparel Besides these faculties there
two other elements which lar gey influenced his life
and determined his character One q hereditary
trait of melancholy, the other his temperament From
his earliest life in all his poems that dark despond
ing tone which wonderfully contrasts with the other
Let Us trace his character Az times it is somewhat
the great world of despair had round between him
and the and he lay in fatal eclpse-hopeless gloomy
wretched demented. Had his life been successful il
may DC believed that with vigorous health with praise
that graifed his PRIDE and with full heart to pour
forth his powers, he would have risen above this aady
Nor is it less important that should consider his
per- for on that depends much OF the credit some
have for prudence and self control the be-
eve later psychologists agreed that in the
human system there is portion Of the nervous
mass, whose function is TO produce general SEN
sibility Thus SOUND OF music falling upon
another will receive 1t calmly. The nervous system of
receives the impression more largely than the other
This fact becomes apparent in morbid conditions of life,
when sounds OF no consequence at other times, I'LL the
mind with exciting emotion So in estimating the power
Of feeling in any mind, We must look into tho combna
power and next 70 the general sensbty of the whole
nervous SYSTEM under the influence Of which the special
faculties are tempered Some with strong minds
not well tempered and are deficient in general sensbiy
Their feelings gradually worked up. They have
cool and collected They heat iron heats Ohe
heat powder heats-it touch and explosion.
II is trouble 10 TO equal temperate
medium; they are OF go equal uninpassioned and
incxcitabe nature. The sins of such men
usually on the notdong SIDE But such men
unit judges Of those who have an acute sen.
sibilty. Men who hear thunder if it were but
hand knocking at the door not fit judges of the &C.
coustcs of men to whom any small upon the door
sounds Ike thunder Burns a who had this
excessive sensbiliy His capacity for generating sens
biy was prodgous Ills one nature carried enough for
twenty common men OF force Of feeling He never
trickled drop by drop he gushed. lie sen
der thread Of silver water; he came down booming all
abroad Ike one Of hrs streams when shower has
broke and burst upon the mountain There no pro-
portion between the cause and effect. mousse flower,
had him IN their power. His heart upon the daisy
which went under his poughshare All parts Of his ma
ture were subjec to this grand overflow He suffered
though ends possessed him. he enjoyed though angels
carried him in their bosom There he stands, ike
tain OF his own land often capped with and otener
snrouded win msts often laundering with the sound OF
waters which rolled down. tearing up roads and sweep
ing away bridges but there also birds brooded and sung
there also sweet flowers found foot Now
problem is how shall this very sensitive creature, with
heart which everybody could knde, but nobody could
put out make bis way up into life from poverty and rude
success? II snot the question how well man can
carry cup half full of water without splng but how
well he can carry quart cup brim full stormy,
rough road at night It s not'how well compounded
an engine that makes steam than IL ever
work-that Gembies as il with open furnace
doors, that sings at every seam and Kisses at
every rvet with an overcharge of steam-how shall
1t get along (Applause 1t is not the question pro-
pound TO You night-what is righH what s duty2-all
are agreed as to that but what shall this Robert Barns
do with that nature, compounded OF ouch astonishing OPP
postes-of proieuudest melancholy and socalty-wth
pride as high and stern the ordy monarch the
throne wththe mot clear and practical understanding that
no shaln could deceive with imagination so strong that
gave announcer nature TO everything, with conscience
ehuer mat he would sooner die than speak fasehood,
9u, Win sueh ancy that ali things were magnined and
dhtor,ec-hs riends angels his enemies devils homely
laces handsome, common natures divine very good men
odcus, better men vckedwth so keen relish for the
nc, that he filed ait bis companions with merri-
ment, and yet despising the world and walking
ABOVE men as shadows yoarnng for Immortal
NY IS one OF The most remarkable histories
the worid has ever recorded Gilbert his elder brother
plan, nopes' man, merry and witty at school
wnse Robert was The Ounce. He was as little known
himself az 10 others One thing s plain-hc was no sen
tmenth aggard His father had desperate struggle for
livelihood aud met that fortune with IN industry and
patience winch would have conquered # IL could have
oeen done " w npe burrows aud handsome cast Of the
nand Tor sowing seeds Az thirteen ne worked on the
fhr al fourteen be feared connection AZ the ponQh
Al me'n ne Studying the nicer shadcs of language and
w crltc OF NtTns and substantives While driving to
ahd IRON ne hea ne pours The scotch ball every
Gle o. Wnlcl was IKE him IN anotncr