e exactly ascertained. Some unexpected particulars emerge; as, for
instance, that, notwithstanding his poverty, he occasionally
accommodated his friends with money and credit, and almost to the last
was able to be their host as well as their guest. But perhaps the most
important result is what we learn of the wonderful versatility of
Burns's feelings and emotions. He is found writing a pensive,
semi-religious letter one day, and the next indulging in some outburst
of extravagant merriment. One day, he indulges in a strain of
melancholy recollection regarding a deceased mistress, commemorating
her in an elegy which hardly any one has ever since been able to read
without tears; and within four-and-twenty hours, he is again strumming
on the comic lyre. A deep mortification falls upon him in the shape of
a censure from the Board of Excise, a pain in which we are peculiarly
disposed to sympathise; but let us not be too eager to suppose that
Burns was permanently affected by any such mark of moral bondage. A
week or two after, he is found keeping a couple of friends in drink
and merriment at his table for a whole night. It is eminently the
_poet_ that is thus brought before us--a being of keen sensibility,
but whose gusts of feeling are as quick in passing as they are violent
while they last.

Beyond these few sentences, limited to a description of the structure
of this work, we can only propose to give one or two extracts.

Burns, it clearly appears, while degraded by the humble office
assigned to him, did his best, by performing its duties well, to
elevate it. He acted humanely towards poor people, but was the
conscientious servant of the government in protecting the revenue in
essential matters. The editor has been fortunate enough to discover
some documents which set his character as a man of affairs in a
favourable light.

'The first is a petition of T. J., farmer at Mirecleugh, addressed to
the justices of peace for Dumfriesshire, reclaiming against a fine of
L.5 which Collector Mitchell had imposed on him for "making fifty-four
bushels of malt, without entry, notice, or licence." J. stated that he
had been in the habit of making malt for forty years without making
entry of his kiln or pond, which he deemed unnecessary, because the
malting was always effected at one operation, and not till notice had
been given to the proper officer. With respect to "notice" on this
occasion--having inquired of Mr Burns which was the