Robert Burns

“ Licentious Passions burn;
Which tenfold force gives Nature’s law,
That man was made to mourn.
Look not alone on youthful Prime,
Or Manhood’s active might;
Man then is useful to his kind,
Supported is his right. ”

“ In Burns's infant days he owed much to an old woman, who resided in his father's family, remarkable for her ignorance, credulity and superstition, she had, he supposed, the largest collection in the country, of tales and songs, concerning devils, ghosts, fairies, brownies, witches, warlocks, spunkies, kelpies, elf-candles, dead-lights, wraths, apparitions, cantrips, giants, enchanted towers, dragons, and other trumpery. ”

“ Not a village but there is a hop-master. Parents should strain every nerve to prevent these Hop-meetings, in ale houses. It is well known they are not in the path of virtue.
The first circumstance which induced our youthful poet to warble his "wild, artless notes," is very interesting, on account of the elegant simplicity which distinguishes the following description of his harvest partner. ”

“ Man’s inhumanity to Man,
Makes countless thousands mourn. ”

“ But the one at Ayr exceeds them, both in point of learning, for men of the first rate abilities are employed as teachers, which raised this seminary to great renoun; many of the students are from all quarters of the world. It was instituted by subscription, and the subscribers erected into one Body, political and corporate, by Royal charter, in 1798. The managers and directors in terms of the Charter, are persons or bodies corporate or politic, who may have subscribed the sum of £50 or upwards. Seven members from the town council of Ayr, annually chosen. ”

“ Or catch'd wi' warlocks in the mirk,
By Aloway's auid haunted Kirk,
⁠AH, gentle dames' it gars me greet,
To think how many counsils sweet,
How many lengthen'd, sage advices,
The husband frae the wife despises. ”

“ The obliging landlord has on the walls of the house painted in bright letters, "Burns's Cottage. Robert Burns the Ayrshire Poet, was born under this roof, on the 25th January, 1759. In one of the largest Rooms, there stands a drawing of the poet on canvas. Many of the Travellers who visit Ayr, walks out to the cottage and the ruins of Alloway Kirk the scene of action with Tam o' Shanter and the Witches. The Kirk stands without a roof in the midst of the Burying ground. ”