18 ONE HUNDRETH BIRTHDAY. And wear thou this-she solemn said, And, like a passing thought, she fled The gravest moralist could not show more impressively the evanescence of pleasure than Burns does in his famous poem of "Tam O'Shanter," by a profusion of imagery In "But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed! A moment white-then melts for ever; That flit ere you can point their place; "Bruce's Address at Bannockburn" this highly figurative style is exchanged for the simplest, but full of fire and fervour "By oppression's woes and pains! Lay the proud usurper low! Liberty's in every blow! Let us do or die!" Never was sorrowing gratitude more feelingly expressed than in the "Lament for the Earl of Glencairn". CELEBRATED IN BRISTOL "The bridegroom may forget the bride 19 And how exquisite is his description of the pure and tender love of woman "As in the bosom o' the stream The moonbeam dwells at dewy e'en, He had solemnly exchanged lovers' vows with his Highland Mary Campbell, who died early, before they met again. As he lay on some sheaves of corn at Ellisland, gazing on the planet Venus, he composed this exquisitely beautiful and pathetic ode to "Mary in Heaven " "Thou ling'ring star, with less'ning ray, That lov'st to greet the early morn, Again thou usher'st in the day My Mary from my soul was torn. O Mary! dear departed shade! Where is thy place of blissful rest? Seest thou thy lover lowly laid? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? That sacred hour can I forget? Can I forget the hallow'd grove, Where by the winding Ayr we met, Eternity will not efface Those records dear of transports past; Thy image at our last embrace; Ah! little thought we 'twas our last! 20 ONE HUNDRETH BIRTHDAY. Ayr gurgling kiss'd his pebbled shore, Where is thy blissful place of rest? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast?" Three characteristics of Burns's poetry are, strong sense, simple manly vigour, intense feeling. Like the ancient prophets and bards he was a seer. His sensitive mind received distinct images of what he saw, and he transmitted them in sun-pictures of nature in her beauty and grandeur, her brightness and gloom, in portraits of men and manners, coloured according to the moods of his mind, mirthful, melancholy, humourous, rejoicing, overflowing with tenderness and pity, vehement with passion or glowing with rapture(applause). The soul of a sincere and great poet speaks to your soul in tones that thrill and vibrate through your whole being. This is true poetry, true eloquence. Possessing these qualities, his flowing verse, animating songs and lyrical compositions, are unsurpassed. His best works, composed in the intervals of labour, during a short life—for he died in his 38th year-indicate a power which, with more of learned leisure, might have achieved those higher results of continued industry, on which the fame of the greatest masters in the art depends. But he had great industry, great energy, and, notwithstanding his occupations, trials, difficulties, and temptations, the vision of his CELEBRATED IN BRISTOL. 21 youth was realized, for Scotland has bound the holly round his head and crowned him her national bard, and she says of Burns, as a favourite poet of England said of his country— "With all thy faults, I love thee still." In every library, in every house, aye, in every cottage whose inmates can read-and how few of the Scottish peasantry cannot read ?—is the favourite volume; and in their bibles and standard books of divinity that wellinstructed peasantry have the best corrective of what is evil both in life and in literature, the best preparation to appreciate what is pure and excellent in both-(hear, hear). Not only are the poems and songs of Burns read and sung by the fireside and in the field; the expatriated Scotchman takes them as the companions of his exile to Canadian wilds, or to a tropical climate. There the glowing lines of the rustic bard recall fair visions of the purple mountains, the woody vales, the banks and the braes where his boyhood wandered, till he seems to feel the breeze from his native hills fan and revive his languid frame,-to see the well-known river, to hear the dash of its waterfalls, and listen to the murmuring flow of its crystal streams at the magic touch of genius. And if among heathen temples, and shapeless idols, and polluted rites, the sacred day has been unhallowed, haply "The Cotter's Saturday Night" may remind him of the coming morn, and the simple worship of his father's home. This is what we commemorate when we approach the poet's tomb to hang our grateful garland there-(cheers). And if every epitaph were as candid as that which his own hand inscribed, how much posthumous flattery would disappear "Is there a man whose judgment clear Yet runs himself life's mad career Wild as the wave? Here pause, and through the starting tear, 22 ONE HUNDRETH BIRTHDAY. Who can survey it without mingled admiration and sorrow? Who will survey it in any other spirit than that of the lowly publican ?-(loud applause). Had I been born in a clay-built cottage, cradled in adversity, with a loving, ardent, lofty, impetuous soul, raised suddenly from the depths of despair to the perilous heights of fame, from frugal poverty to scenes which realized the voluptuous den of Comus and his crew, how should I have broken the spell and escaped the snare? Down, censorious pride; be humble, be contented, be grateful. It is thus we would pay the tribute due to genius, yet render that higher homage we owe to truth and virtue. (The Chairman resumed his seat amidst long continued and enthusiastic cheering). |