New-York daily tribune., 1859-01-25


rot bow u shool3 carry cup half fdl on his way
but fow be should carry great cup brimul over 8
rough al Stony road at night IL wss no. ones
tiop of what vas right sod wha' duty but Whist
chance Robert Burns bad With nature compounded
of Il ob ptrciiy and opposite qualities the pro-
foundest melancholy With the creates; social tyrun
nil over with goodrt ss-combining most clear aud
prsc,icsl understanding. The lecterer then followed
The history O. The poet ron his youth 70 his death
roticpg promioeDtly the limited facilities which he
had TO aid in bis unfodirg & ard his avaing himself OF
every means which could advance him. AT twenty
every nsn said to him, You are born to be
farmer" ard so be thought himself; aud be
tried 10 be ore in conformity to hia piety
ard the teaching Of bis own understsu ling. With
this forced kind of life it was not unn1a.
raj that his rature should react end reboan and that
som. times he should overflow with revelry. Abiding
TO his becoming fax dr. seer the lecturer spoke OF
bis poetry sId his love of heroic PATRIOTISM his philo-
sO5hic meditatiops, bis rare src exquisite sstroihl
ard natural beauty being set asice to break and
hstcbel fax. That was good work for poet The
poet srtst or gepius DO anything shey be COO
scioDs of their power; and they toll to accomplish,
their ambition. And it strange that there should
be rebellion on the part OF tho poet, when
poetry had such a secondary Office to perform
ard u at his life ehouli EXHIBIT excesses. HIS desph;
and melancholy With rapid alterations of Joy and
meInmept which form such strange o.
his character, referred 20 by the lecturer and
e1au pies in the life OF the poet addsced. One OF
the Sc was desp,irrg letter written by Barns while
engaged in sxjrs sslpg, and IN which he annoanced
hs berg rck OF e and the 'ac' that three Gays suo
stQuently bis ATTENDING mefry-naklng, which re-
su.d ID the burning up OF the TAX establish nent IN
wb cb s1 months Of labor was destroyed In as msny
mir utes. When he returned at the age oi twenty
three or -four, poetry Was bis reaxaloa as resJurce
from al unpr, tabe hfe. He yet trying to think
IL i he " as 10 be a farmer Here mao, one OF
the create t who lived, with noble ambition,
never dreaming OF what was bis place, aud stiv-
ing not TO be that for which he intended AMI to
be tbst fer which be not. 1t was not his faul.
that k(iod had maze hin poet, taat his soul was
harp which nature employed. When his father died
az Il age Of %, he meaIt To set the yexed qlss)n
of what bis destiny ives. He Intended to be farn-r,
10 thrive and do well. Blu. Burns could not be far.
uer first sr then poet. When he had once poured
cut his soul i1tc IT'S true chsnres and 'e that he had
reached bis cestity, then be might have become
secopdaIily a good farmer 1t curing this time
that the Co.ters Saturday Dgbt arc some of his other
Doe ms were written. At lei gtb at ths age of 20, he
had the vanity to write Robert Burns Poet his
name, and even then 1t was title OF honor, ana
10. bic real name. The lecturer adser cd to the
difficulties that be'et him, the fact of the mother
of bis babes not beitg his wife, the perss-
cu,iors that hung over him, aod his DO
teruo stiop, as last resort, broken down aad aus
conraR.d to 90 TO JaUacs the overseer OF plsn'
tstion The lecturer thought he saw Robert Burns On
the plantation with the ship in his hapd hoegiog
gang of slaves, and then chatting - mao'. man
"for a'tbst." Loud applause Poor Robert Burns ans
vet new era cawned upon him, and he was sum-
noned to Edinburgh, W ere be was iced by men who
were eminent, and the more eminent because tney
were tte friends of Burns. His modesty, self-pos-
session W. ndeifal conversation before which learned
ard pracced takers felt themselves entertained snd
instructed, his earnestness aud social qualities,
showed that If Burns from the bret had been blessed
with favorable crcuu stances, ana hs ready nature
had been cultivated there would have been fewer
shadows TO the brilliancy Of bis fair name. Had he
found ss napy friends to establish him 10 life IA there
were to build bs monument his uccesses would have
be IN much greater. As it was, it was bat another
instance TO show that the world was made for mea
who make Themselves. From bis marriage bures
tuI ned fr the diss pstioDs Of Edinburgh tn become
Ali honest working farmer for the deuson still exist
ed and covenant OF bnslosss IL
trrneo out as might be expected What Tor
tiue was simply the backslding in the position
he had taken to iorswear poetry, soon became
open apostscy. Following bis hisrory. the
lecturer ,luded TO biz accepting Of position hateful
to himself the excisen an, position raught with
darger to his family and yet compelled to accept
that be might be of bread. Fifty pounds year
YES the r. ward of genius in this case n It's time.
Subsequent to this event. the suffering and mel,n-
choly cobuasted with pleasures AID reseres which
characterized bis life were adv rted to- but the 'ec.
tuer soid that the greatest remorse was exhibited by
BurLs himself 10 bis letters written at that time.
During the last four years of bis life VT ten his
most exquisite poetry and sent to the world, more
than undIed Of tbOee beautiful sOogs which vii
live for all time. His last letters be'eechDg
small loans Of mooey TO save himself from sl
ard suffering, and which were dsregtrded; a1d
yet soIupulous was he OF his integrity
that when he died he owed no man pen.
~. As 10 man ever attempted TO make SAINT
O BuIps DO ole need dispate mis- moral exoeleuc,es,
and man need write anything Of his weaknesses.
No judgment could add an, thing to the efec'iveoess
Of the condemnation Of himself which eclpsed his
10y end ended his career Yo, 40 man could keep his
con pspy apd OF feel his power His letters were as
wObcerful as his pOem atd l. IL sad his conversation
even eIceled both. The lecturer expressed wish
that there glt have been some Boswell wno could
lave pr. .served those conversations to be read now
Irt gkgr. mr. nj an IHaf
dre0 years which had no; been crowded with
me NOR ais. His -pILts, Low one hundred years
old, were warm. He could not In despair get ten
pounds to rave hIm from ruin. DEAD, he had
maze the world rich. He life was failure uotil he
died. and siI ce, 1t had been marvellous success.
He bad scattered bis thoughts over ell the EARTH ani
could be have kno the future, It would have saved
his heart many iguoble struggles of his hfe for now
there was nothing left TO gan-for his spirit ruled
kings snd prnces His poems were the ihsepafabls
companions OF the Scot Sherever he vent nt-and where
was there a land on the earth where the ScOtc 1man
did not gol Scotland was knoWn as much by her
poet Burns es by all her Sons beside. lie regarded
Burnss earliest predictions as being his poorest. As
be went the stream Of life the stream Of his poetry
seemed 10 run more clearly. HIS best Efforts were
these OF bic middle and later life If the term could
be sppled to one whose death occurred at three
years less than forty. 1t was not difficult. to
that if his life had reached longer period,
the poetry he has now given US would DO
found but the first fruits. He had gathered up the
lower thoughts of mep and thrown the light Of genius
upon them to give them beauty; but the great ,auy
of his works in the oral element which peryadea
them. II his moral toLe was witadIs~n from his
work.. they would fall ~ pieces. The time 10 which
BnrIs lived was one in which liberty in civil tbogs
bad run iIto license and religion into form; yet no
mad in all tina, perioo, faithful apostle TO
hbsrty than was Burrs. II did not Develop itself IN
pohticsl theories philosophical speculation. 1t
scarcely touched tte external forms. IL went TO the
root of all tbipRs-tte iDeradicable worth CT As
a child Of God, be had no enmity against kings
or pob'es, if they were mem bat be bore wit,