e unhappiness, for your proper sphere; but it
is in obedience to a great though occult law of our nature--a law,
general as it affects the species, in its course of onward
progression--particular, and infinitely more irresistible, as it
operates on every truly superior intellect. There are men born to wield
the destinies of nations--nay, more, to stamp the impression of their
thoughts and feelings on the mind of the whole civilized world. And by
what means do we often find them roused to accomplish their appointed
work? At times hounded on by sorrow and suffering, and thus in the
design of providence, that there may be less of sorrow and suffering in
the world ever after--at times roused by cruel and maddening oppression,
that the oppressor may perish in his guilt, and a whole country enjoy
the blessings of freedom. If Wallace had not suffered from tyranny,
Scotland would not have been free."

"But how apply the remark?" said my companion.

"Robert Burns," I replied, again grasping his hand, "yours, I am
convinced, is no vulgar destiny. Your griefs, your sufferings, your
errors even, the oppressions you have seen and felt, the thoughts which
have arisen in your mind, the feelings and sentiments of which it has
been the subject, are, I am convinced, of infinitely more importance in
their relation to your country than to yourself. You are, wisely and
benevolently, placed far below your level, that thousands and ten
thousands of your countrymen may be the better enabled to attain to
theirs. Assert the dignity of manhood and of genius, and there will be
less of wrong and oppression in the world ever after."

I spent the remainder of the evening in the farm-house of Mossgiel, and
took the coach next morning for Liverpool.

CHAPTER VII.

"His is that language of the heart
In which the answering heart would speak--
Thought, word, that bids the warm tear start,
Or the smile light up the cheek;
And his that music to whose tone
The common pulse of man keeps time,
In cot or castle's mirth or moan,
In cold or sunny clime."--_American poet._

The love of literature, when once thoroughly awakened in a reflective
mind, can never after cease to influence it. It first assimilates our
intellectual part to those fine intellects which live in the world of
books, and then renders our connection with them indispensable, by
laying hold of that social principle of our nature which eve