ROBERT BURNS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18923, 11 February 1927, Page 11

ROBERT BURNS.

TO TUB EDITOR Or THE MESS. | Sir,— "Hear me, ye venerable core. As Counsel for poor mortals." It is as "counsel for poor mortals " that Bums has conquered the English-speak-ing world. He is the defender of that vast company of sinners called mankind, and ho defends them all the more effectively becauso he shares not only their sins, but their aspirations after virtue. Few poets but Burns have ever been constantly quoted with equal approbation by Moderators of the General Assemblv, and by village drunkards. You will find in "Burns'? poetry every argument in favour of good morals and every allowance made for bad. Scholars have traced much of the poetry of Burns to its origin in other Scottish and English poets. Dut the great stream of Burns ? s genius was something new and quite different from the tiny tributaries that fed it. Ilia poetry, indeed, was fed most of ail from his own vein?. Lord Kid<;ell i'.i an C--say wrote: "Something stirs in u< th;u | he puts into words. He' it is who makes u:t atop in thy wood to listen to tne mn'si singing. Ho loves the little people who dweli eloso'to tI.J ground or wing their flight in t!.-' air. and the 'wee timorous benstie' —the little linnet on her nest." And ho makes us love thein, too; he it i* who provides tne universal currency of friendship m "Aula Lang Svi;c.' —Vcurs, eU^ Xow Brighton. February 10th,-10-0.