Incongruous as the different parts of this poem are, it is not an incongruity that displeases, and we have only to regret that the poet did not bestow a little pains in making the figures more correct, and in smoothing the versification. The epistles of Burns, in which may be included his Dedication to G. H. Esq. discover, like his other writings, the powers of a superior understanding. They display deep insight into hu man nature, a gay and happy strain of reflection, great independence of sentiment, and generosity of heart. It is to be regretted, that in his Holy Fair, and in some of his other poems, his humour degenerates into personal satire, and is not sufficiently guarded in other respects. The Halloween of Burns is free from every objection of this sort. It is interesting not merely from its humorous description of manners, but as it records the spells and charms used on the celebration of a festival, now even in Scotland falling into neglect, but which was once observed over the greater part of Britain and Ireland.* These charms are supposed to afford an insight into futurity, especially on the subject of marriage, the most interesting event of rural VOL. I. X * In Ireland it is still celebrated. It is not quite in disuse in Wales. rural life. In the Halloween, a female in performing one of the spells, has occasion to go out by moonlight, to dip her shift-sleeve into a stream running towards the South.* It was not necessary for Burns to give a description of this stream. But it was the character of his ardent mind to pour forth not merely what the occasion required, but what it admitted; and the temptation to describe so beautiful a natural object by moon-light, was not to be resisted "Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays "Unseen that night." Those who understand the Scottish dialect will allow this to be one of the finest instances of description, which the records of poetry afford. Though of a very different nature, it may be compared in point of excellence with Thomson's description of a river swollen by the rains of winter, bursting through the streights that confine its torrent, * See vol. 111. p. 136, 137. torrent, "boiling, wheeling, foaming, and thundering along."* In pastoral, or to speak more correctly, in rural poetry, of a serious nature, Burns excelled equally as in that of a humorous kind, and using less of the Scottish dialect in his serious poems, he becomes more generally intelligible. It is difficult to decide whether the Address to a Mouse whose nest was turned up with the plough, should be considered as serious or comic. Be this as it may, the poem is one of the happiest, and most finished of his productions. If we smile at the bickering brattle" of this little flying animal, it is a smile of tenderness and pity. The descriptive part is admirable; the moral reflections beautiful, and arising directly out of the occasion; and in the conclusion there is a deep melancholy, a sentiment of doubt and dread, that rises to the sublime. The Address to a Mountain Daisy, turned down with the plough, is a poem of the same nature, though somewhat inferior in point of originality, as well as in the interest produced. To extract out of incidents so common, and seemingly X 2 *See Thomson's Winter. ↑ Vol. 111. p. 146. Ibid. p. 201. so trivial as these, so fine a train of sentiment and imagery, is the surest proof, as well as the most brilliant triumph, of original genius. The Vision in two cantos, from which a beautiful extract is taken by Mr. Mackenzie, in the 97th number of the Lounger, is a poem of great and various excellence. The opening, in which the poet describes his own state of mind, retiring in the evening, wearied from the labours of the day, to moralize on his conduct and prospects, is truely interesting. The chamber, if we may so term it, in which he sits down to muse, is an exquisite painting. "There, lanely, by the ingle-cheek "An' heard the restless rattons squeak To reconcile to our imagination, the entrance of an aerial being into a mansion of this kind, required the powers of Burns-he however succeeds. Coila enters, and her countenance, attitude, and dress, unlike those of other spiritual beings, are distinctly pourtrayed. To the painting on her mantle, on which is depicted the most striking scenery, as well as the most distinguished characters, of his native county, some exceptions may be made. The mantle of Coila, like the cup of Thyrsis, Thyrsis, and the shield of Achilles, is too much crowded with figures, and some of the objects represented upon it, are scarcely admissible, according to the principles of design. The generous temperament of Burns led him into these exuberances. In his second edition he enlarged the number of figures originally introduced, that he might include objects to which he was attached by sentiments of affection, gratitude, or patriotism. The second Duan or canto of this poem, in which Coila describes her own nature and occupations, particularly her superintendence of his infant genius, and in which she reconciles him to the character of a bard, is an elevated and solemn strain of poetry, ranking in all respects, excepting the harmony of numbers, with the higher productions of the English muse. The concluding stanza, compared with that already quoted, will show to what a height Burns rises in this poem, from the point at which he set out. "And wear thou this-she solemn said, * See the first Idyllium of Theocritus. In |