The Works of Robert Burns: With an Account of His Life, and a Criticism on His Writings; to which are Prefixed, Some Observations on the Character and Condition of the Scottish Peasantry, Volume 2F. Lucas, jun. and J. Cushing, 1815 |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 61
Page v
... written without the least view to publication , various pas- sages were found unfit for the press , from differ- ent considerations . It will also be readily sup- posed , that our poet , writing nearly at the same time , and under the ...
... written without the least view to publication , various pas- sages were found unfit for the press , from differ- ent considerations . It will also be readily sup- posed , that our poet , writing nearly at the same time , and under the ...
Page vii
... Written un- der distress of mind , 4. To . Mrs. Dunlop . Thanks for her no- tice . Praise of her ancestor , Sir William Wallace , 5. To Mrs. Stewart , of Stair . Inclosing a poem on Miss A—— 6. Proclamation in the name of the Mu- ses ...
... Written un- der distress of mind , 4. To . Mrs. Dunlop . Thanks for her no- tice . Praise of her ancestor , Sir William Wallace , 5. To Mrs. Stewart , of Stair . Inclosing a poem on Miss A—— 6. Proclamation in the name of the Mu- ses ...
Page ix
... the poetical character , 40. To Mrs. Dunlop . 21st Jan. 1788.- Written on recovery from sickness , 41. Extract to the same . 12th Feb. 1788 . Defence of himself , 68 69 70 280 No. 42. To the same . 7th March , 1788 CONTENTS . ix.
... the poetical character , 40. To Mrs. Dunlop . 21st Jan. 1788.- Written on recovery from sickness , 41. Extract to the same . 12th Feb. 1788 . Defence of himself , 68 69 70 280 No. 42. To the same . 7th March , 1788 CONTENTS . ix.
Page xvi
... written from " The dead to the living , " 151. To Mrs. Dunlop . 15th Dec. 1795 . Reflections on the situation of his family if he should die - praise of the poem entitled " The Task , " 152. To the same , in London . 20th Dec. 246 249 ...
... written from " The dead to the living , " 151. To Mrs. Dunlop . 15th Dec. 1795 . Reflections on the situation of his family if he should die - praise of the poem entitled " The Task , " 152. To the same , in London . 20th Dec. 246 249 ...
Page 14
... written in the preceding pages , is the settled tenor of my present resolu- tion ; but should inimical circumstances forbid me closing with your kind offer , or enjoying it only threaten to entail farther misery- To tell the truth , I ...
... written in the preceding pages , is the settled tenor of my present resolu- tion ; but should inimical circumstances forbid me closing with your kind offer , or enjoying it only threaten to entail farther misery- To tell the truth , I ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acquaintance Ayrshire ballad bard bert Graham character charming Clarinda Closeburn compliments composition copy creature CUNNINGHAM dare dear madam dear sir Dryburgh Abbey Dumbarton's Drums Dumfries DUNLOP Edinburgh Ellisland epistle esteem excise fancy fate favour favourite feel fellow Fintry flattering follies friendship genius gentleman give grey plovers happy hear heart heaven honest honoured friend hope house of Stewart humble humour idea inclosed kind lady late letter lord Mauchline meet ment merit mind miserable muse Mylne's native never night Nithsdale obliging opinion owing perhaps perusal pity pleasure poem poet poetic poetry poor present pride racter reason REVEREND rhyme ROBERT BURNS Scottish sent sentiment Shanter shew sincerely sing song soon soul spirit stanzas sweet SYLVANDER taste thee thing thou thought tion verses virtue wish worth wretch write
Popular passages
Page 141 - Man, this is one of the most extraordinary, that he shall go on from day to day, from week to week, from month to month.
Page 212 - Farewell thou fair day, thou green earth, and ye skies, Now gay with the broad setting sun ! Farewell loves and friendships, ye dear, tender ties, Our race of existence is run ! Thou grim king of terrors, thou life's gloomy foe, Go, frighten the coward and slave ; Go, teach them to tremble, fell tyrant ! but know, No terrors hast thou to the brave! Thou strik'st the poor...
Page 234 - The fates and characters of the rhyming tribe often employ my thoughts when I am disposed to be melancholy. There is not, among all the martyrologies that ever were penned, so rueful a narrative as the lives of the poets. In the comparative view of wretches, the criterion is not what they are doomed to suffer, but how they are formed to bear. Take a being of our kind, give him a stronger imagination and a more delicate sensibility, which between them will ever engender a more ungovernable...
Page 106 - Leith, Fu' loud the wind blaws frae the Ferry, The ship rides by the Berwick-law, And I maun leave my bonnie Mary. The trumpets sound, the banners fly, The glittering spears are ranked ready; The shouts o' war are heard afar, The battle closes thick and bloody; But it's not the roar o...
Page 9 - ... and hear the stormy wind howling among the trees, and raving over the plain. It is my best season for devotion : my mind is wrapt up in a kind of enthusiasm to Him, who, in the pompous language of the Hebrew bard, ' walks on the wings of the wind.
Page 110 - I never hear the loud, solitary whistle of the curlew in a summer noon, or the wild mixing cadence of a troop of grey plovers in an autumnal morning, without feeling an elevation of soul like the enthusiasm of devotion or poetry.
Page 109 - Bagdat, in order to pass the rest of the day in meditation and prayer. As I was here airing myself on the tops of the mountains, I fell into a profound contemplation on the vanity of human life ; and passing from one thought to another,
Page 110 - Are we a piece of machinery, which, like the jEolian harp, passive, takes the impression of the passing accident; or do these workings argue something within us above the trodden clod ? I own myself partial to such proofs of those awful and important realities : a God that made all things, man's immaterial and immortal nature, and a world of weal or woe beyond death and the grave.
Page 109 - ... routine of life and thought, which is so apt to reduce our existence to a kind of instinct, or even sometimes, and with some minds, to a state very little superior to mere machinery. This day...
Page 152 - Mary! dear departed shade! Where is thy place of blissful rest? Seest thou thy lover lowly laid? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast?