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Article BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EMINENT (DECEAS... ← Page 2 of 14 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Biographical Sketches Of Eminent (Deceas...
a faithful account of what character of a man I am , and how I came by that character , ma ^ perhaps amus e you in an idl e moment . I will give you an honest narrative ; though I know it will be often at my own expense , for I assure you , sir , I have , like Solomon—whose character , except in the trifling affair of wisdom , I sometimes think I resemble—I have , I say , like him , turned niy eyes to behold madness and folly ; ' and , like him , too frequently shaken hands ^ with their intoxicating friendship . " . . . . .
That he did not claim a long descent from some remote ancestor , as is too often the case with a man when he becomes famous , we have his own testimony in the following passage : — u I have not the most distant pretensions to assume that character , Avhich the pye-coated guardians of escutcheons call a gentleman . When at Edinburgh , last winter , I got acquainted in the herald ' s office ; and looking through that granary of honours , I found almost every name in the kingdom ; but for me ,
. . . . , . c My ancient , but ignoble , blood , Has crept through scoundrels since the floodgules , purpure , argent , & c ., quite disowned me . " No doubt this feeling was uppermost in the poet ' s breast during the whole of his life , for who does not remember one of his latest productions , in which he speaks thus : —
A king can mak' a belted knight , A marquess , duke , and a that ; But an honest man ' s aboon his might , Guid faith he maunna fa' that ! For a' that , and a' that , Their dignities , and a' that , The pith o' sense , and pride o worth , Are higher ranks than a' that . "
But to return to his narrative . He says his father was the son of a farmer in the north of Scotland , and was thrown by early misfortunes on the world at large , where after many years , wandering and sojourning , he picked up a pretty large quantity of observation and experience , to Which the poet acknowledges himself indebted for
most of his . pretensions to wisdom . In that deep spirit of filial respect which seems inherent to the sons of Caledonia , Burns says , in speaking of his father— " I have met with few who understood men , their manners , and their ways , equal to him ; " but stubborn , ungainly
integrity , and headlong , ungovernable irascibility , were , in the poet ' s view , disqualifying circumstances , therefore he was born the son of a very poor man . In the first six or seven years of our bard ' s life , his father Avas gardener to a gentleman of small estate in the neighbourhood of Ayr , and by the assistance of this worthy and generous master , our poet ' s father ventured on a small farm on the estate of his patron , chiefly with " the dearest wish and prayer to have it in his own power to keep his children under his own eye , till they could discern between good and evil . " During this period our hero appears , from his own account , not to have been a favourite with anybody .
u
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Biographical Sketches Of Eminent (Deceas...
a faithful account of what character of a man I am , and how I came by that character , ma ^ perhaps amus e you in an idl e moment . I will give you an honest narrative ; though I know it will be often at my own expense , for I assure you , sir , I have , like Solomon—whose character , except in the trifling affair of wisdom , I sometimes think I resemble—I have , I say , like him , turned niy eyes to behold madness and folly ; ' and , like him , too frequently shaken hands ^ with their intoxicating friendship . " . . . . .
That he did not claim a long descent from some remote ancestor , as is too often the case with a man when he becomes famous , we have his own testimony in the following passage : — u I have not the most distant pretensions to assume that character , Avhich the pye-coated guardians of escutcheons call a gentleman . When at Edinburgh , last winter , I got acquainted in the herald ' s office ; and looking through that granary of honours , I found almost every name in the kingdom ; but for me ,
. . . . , . c My ancient , but ignoble , blood , Has crept through scoundrels since the floodgules , purpure , argent , & c ., quite disowned me . " No doubt this feeling was uppermost in the poet ' s breast during the whole of his life , for who does not remember one of his latest productions , in which he speaks thus : —
A king can mak' a belted knight , A marquess , duke , and a that ; But an honest man ' s aboon his might , Guid faith he maunna fa' that ! For a' that , and a' that , Their dignities , and a' that , The pith o' sense , and pride o worth , Are higher ranks than a' that . "
But to return to his narrative . He says his father was the son of a farmer in the north of Scotland , and was thrown by early misfortunes on the world at large , where after many years , wandering and sojourning , he picked up a pretty large quantity of observation and experience , to Which the poet acknowledges himself indebted for
most of his . pretensions to wisdom . In that deep spirit of filial respect which seems inherent to the sons of Caledonia , Burns says , in speaking of his father— " I have met with few who understood men , their manners , and their ways , equal to him ; " but stubborn , ungainly
integrity , and headlong , ungovernable irascibility , were , in the poet ' s view , disqualifying circumstances , therefore he was born the son of a very poor man . In the first six or seven years of our bard ' s life , his father Avas gardener to a gentleman of small estate in the neighbourhood of Ayr , and by the assistance of this worthy and generous master , our poet ' s father ventured on a small farm on the estate of his patron , chiefly with " the dearest wish and prayer to have it in his own power to keep his children under his own eye , till they could discern between good and evil . " During this period our hero appears , from his own account , not to have been a favourite with anybody .
u