with critical observations and biographical notices, by Robert Burns

IV
given us, and possibly it may give us more, though,
alas
! I fear it. This protracting, slow, consuming
illness which hangs over me, will, I doubt much, my
ever dear friend, arrest my sun before he has well
reached his middle career, and will turn over the
poet to far other and more important concerns than
studying the brilliancy of wit, or the pathos of senti-
ment ! However, hope is the cordial of the human
heart, and I endeavour to cherish it as well as I can.
—(ReliqueSj p. 184.^
This heart-rending letter shews that Burns retained
to the last hour his enthusiastic taste for the rustic
poetry of his country. That he imbibed this taste
at an early age, and that he cherished it throughout
his life, we have abundant proof from the testimony
of his nearest relatives and friends, and from his own
avowal. ' I have,' he himself observes, * paid
more attention to every description of Scots Song
than perhaps any body living has done.' He had all
the advantages of study, of local situation, and of
national attachment ;
and his own inborn enthusiasm
perpetually impelled him to cultivate these advan-
tages. As an instance of the vivid impression which
the poetry of his country made on his young mind,
we may mention the song of The hlaithrie o*tf
which, he observes, was the earliest song he remem-