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Life of
Robert Burns.
MOSTLY BY
Thomas Carlyle.
New York:
Delisser & Procter, 508 Broadway.
1859.
The readers of the “Household Library” will certainly welcome a Life ofBurns. That his soul was of the real heroic stamp, no one who is familiarwith his imperishable lyric poetry, will deny.
This Life of the great Scottish bard is composed of two parts. The firstpart, which is brief, and gives merely his external life, is taken fromthe “Encyclopedia Britannica.” The principle object of it, in this place,is to prepare the reader for what follows. The second part is a grandspiritual portrait of Burns, the like of which the ages have scarcely[Pg 4]produced; the equal of which, in our opinion, does not exist. In fact,since men began to write and publish their thoughts in this world, no onehas appeared who equals Carlyle as a spiritual-portrait painter; and,taken all in all, this of his gifted countryman Burns is his master-piece.I should not dare to say how many times I have perused it, and always withnew wonder and delight. I once read it in the Manfrini Palace, at Venice,sitting before Titian’s portrait of Ariosto. Great is the contrast betweenthe Songs of Burns and the Rime of the Italian poet, between the finespiritual perception of Carlyle’s mind and the delicate touch of Titian’shand, between picturesque expression and an expressive picture; yet thisvery antithesis seemed to prepare my mind for the full enjoyment of boththese famous portraits; the sombre majesty of northern genius seemed toheighten and be heightened by the sunset glow of the genius of the south.
Besides giving the article from the “Encyclopedia Britannica,” as a kind[Pg 5]of frame for the portrait of Burns, we will here add, from the “EnglishCyclopedia,” a sketch of Carlyle’s life. A severe taste may find it alittle out of place, yet we must be allowed to consult the wishes of thosefor whom these little volumes are designed.
Carlyle, (Thomas,) a thinker and writer, confessedly among the mostoriginal and influential that