and supposing that poetry would scarcely give a living, agreed to go to Jamaica in the capacity of bookkeeper on a plantation. In order to pay for his transportation he published, at the suggestion of a friend, a number of poems lying in his table drawer. The enthusiasm with which the Kilmarnock volume was received in all directions promptly put an end to the Jamaica scheme. The "Ayrshire Ploughman," as he now came to be called, went to Edinburgh instead.

Winter in Edinburgh. "The journey from Mossgiel to Edinburgh," says Principal Shairp, "was a sort of triumphal progress. The feasting and enthusiasm on the way were, moreover, merely a foretaste of what the whole winter in Edinburgh was to be. All classes welcomed him to their homes and hearts; in one sense better still, all subscribed liberally to the second edition of his poems, published in April, 1787," for the sole benefit of the author." From this edition Burns received £500, a huge fortune for one of his experience.

Farewell to Greatness in Edinburgh. After travelling in various parts of Scotland, and visiting Ayrshire, Burns returned to Edinburgh. But his second winter there was not to be a duplicate of the first. Though he had been proclaimed on all sides a brilliant conversationalist and a satisfactory guest, the novelty of the ploughman poet had worn off, and the best of Edinburgh's intellectual and social life was weary of its "lion." Burns was, moreover, very proud, and acted as if the adulation of Edinburgh was only his due. He once wrote to a friend: "I am as proud as ever; and when I am laid in my grave, I wish to be stretched at my full length, that I may occupy every inch of ground which I have a right to." In March, 1788, he left Edinburgh, and

TAM O'SHANTER CROSSING THE BRIDGE OF AYR.
The witch is seen just seizing the gray mare's tail. From an old print.

some biographers have doubtless painted too darkly the
closing period, the best possible even for a friend to say is
that "the untimely end of Burns was, it is far too probable,
hastened by his own intemperance and imprudence." 1
He was never in good health after the letter just quoted;
and two years later, July 21, he passed away. "His true
life," said Lord Rosebery, "began with his death; with the

Poe

of nat

and th

hackg

The m

turns

"artle

sympa

1

Despite

brought

man has a Scotch setting, it is much broader in its reach.
It takes in all mankind, as is clearly shown by the poem
which, in sentiment at least, is his climax:

"For a' that, an' a' that,

It's coming yet, for a' that,

That man to man, the warld o'er,

Shall brothers be for a' that."

Burns's Songs.
world's gratitude is his songs - love songs, drinking songs,
patriotic songs, as well as songs touching upon natural
scenes, and songs proclaiming the brotherhood of man.
Most readers respond to

But Burns's most enduring claim on the

"Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes " and to

"Of

poet a

nature

dom;

Alth

Arcadi

called

Travel