rds. In this
tenderness towards animals we see another point of likeness between
him and Cowper.

Fourthly. For all aspects of the natural world he has the same (p. 200)
clear eye, the same open heart that he has for man. His love of nature
is intense, but very simple and direct, no subtilizings, nor refinings
about it, nor any of that nature-worship which soon after his time
came in. Quite unconsciously, as a child might, he goes into the
outward world for refreshment, for enjoyment, for sympathy. Everywhere
in his poetry, nature comes in, not so much as a being independent of
man, but as the background of his pictures of life and human
character. How true his perceptions of her features are, how pure and
transparent the feeling she awakens in him! Take only two examples.
Here is the well-known way he describes the burn in his _Halloween_--

Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays,
As thro' the glen it wimpl't;
Whyles round a rocky scaur it strays,
Whyles in a wiel it dimpl't;
Whyles glitter'd to the nightly rays,
Wi' bickerin', dancin' dazzle:
Whyles cookit underneath the brass,
Below the spreading hazel,
Unseen that night.

Was ever burn so naturally, yet picturesquely described? The next
verse can hardly be omitted--

Amang the brachens on the brae,
Between her an' the moon,
The deil, or else an outler quey,
Gat up an' gae a croon:
Poor Leezie's heart maist lap the hool;
Near lav'rock height she jumpit;
But miss'd a fit, an' in the pool
Out-owre the lugs she plumpit,
Wi' a plunge that night

"Maist lap the hool," what condensation in that Scotch phrase! (p. 201)
The hool is the pod of a pea--poor Lizzie's heart almost
leapt out of its encasing sheath.

Or look at this other picture:--

Upon a simmer Sunday morn,
When Nature's face is fair,
I walked forth to view the corn,
And snuff the caller air.
The risin' sun owre Galston muirs
Wi' glorious light was glintin;
The hares were hirplin down the furrs,
The lav'rocks they were chantin
Fu' sweet that day.

I have noted only some of the excellences of Burns's p