122

THE MORAL OF THE SHEPHERD'S REMARKS.

carried bonny Kilmeny for ever in the arms o' my heart, kissin her shut een whan she sleepit, and her lips as calm as the lips o' death, but as sweet as them o' an undying angel!

North. And such was the origin of the finest Pastoral Lyric in our tongue!

Shepherd. Sic indeed, sir, was its origin. For my sowl, ye see, sir, had fa'n into a kind o' inspired dwaum—and the Green Leddy o' the Forest, nae less than the Fairy Queen hersel, had stown out frae the land o' peace on my slumber; and she it was that stooped doun, and wi' her ain lily-haun shedding frae my forehead the yellow hair, left a kiss upon my temples, just where the organ o' imagination or ideality lies; and at the touch arose the vision in which

"Bonny Kilmeny gaed up the glen."

and frae which you, sir, in your freendship say, that I becam ane o' the Immortals.

North. The moral of the tale ?

Shepherd. The moral o' the tale is this-that never was I sae happy in my parent's hoose as I was that nicht-that Saturday nicht. Thae eemages o' ideal goodness and beauty had saftened a' ma heart-and sae far frae my heart becoming chilled as my fancy warmed, as you, Mr Muir, aver is the case, I sat as mute as a mouse by the ingle, thinkin on my faither and mither, and brithers and sisters, and on the possible force o' affection in filial and parental hearts, till I could hae dee'd for ony o' them; but since there was nae need o' that, I took a silent oath that I would behave mysel weel in life, that the hearts o' ma twa parents micht sing aloud for joy, and that I would work hard at ony mainner o' wark my maister chose to set me- auld Mr Laidlaw-that I micht in time mak up a sma' pose again' the day o' their auld age, and see that nae ither snaws than what Time draps frae his frosty fingers should ever let ae single flake fa' on their unsheltered heads. North. And that oath you devoutly kept, James.

Shepherd. Ma "theory, at least, o' the social affections, was never sae refined and elevated as to unfit me for the practice o' them;" and yet I should be doing injustice to the spirit within me, to the spirit that breathed in the bosoms of Thomson, and Ramsay, and Burns,-to the spirit that reigns a' ower Scotland, and hath its holy altars at this day in ilka hut and

THE SHEPHERD'S THEORY VERSUS MOORE'S THEORY. 123

ilka shieling, did I fear to say, I—even I—have refined and elevated my theory of all the social affections far beyond the reach o' sic a meeserable deevil as Lowry Sterne; and that if people will whine ower dead asses, and neglect living mothers, the blame maun be attributed no to a refined and elevated theory o' the social affections; for I defy ony theory beneath the skies to be mair refined and elevated than is the practice o' the Christian, or imagination to conceive thochts or feeling's half as beautifu' or shooblime as thousan's that the real agonies o' life, be they agonies o' woe or bliss, send into men's hearts, driving like hurricanes, or breathe them like the hush o' some lown place. Think o' the speerit o' a son or a father ca'd upon by nature to do his duty on some great emergency— think, sir, on his ha'in done it—and done it because he knew it was well-pleasing to God-and then show me, sir, any theory o' the social affections so high and so refined, that the mind would feel a fall frae it, if required to ack in the light and glow o' common humanity?

North. Mr Moore seems, by his mild-looking silence, James, to acquiesce

Shepherd. Do you acquiesce, Mr Muir ?-Weel, a nod's

aneuch.

North. But Mr Moore, James, says, "that not only is the necessity of commerce with other minds less felt by such persons-(the men of a higher order of genius)-but, from that fastidiousness which the opulence of their own resources generates, the society of those less gifted with intellectual means than themselves, becomes often a restraint and burden, to which not all the charms of friendship, or even love, can reconcile them."

Shepherd. What? He would indeed be a pretty fallow, wha, in opulence o' his ain resources, fand a fastidiousness generated within him towards his sweetheart!-because, forsooth, the bonny lassie was less "gifted wi' intellectual means!" That would be rather philosophical, or rather pragmatical or pedantic, than poetical; and a girl would need to be a great gawpus indeed, provided she was modest, and loving, and handsome, and weel-faured—and a poet's mistress must be endowed wi' sic qualities--afore a man o' the higher order o' genius would feel fastidious to Fanny. Dinna you think sae, sir?

124

THE LOVES AND FRIENDSHIPS OF GENIUS.

North. I do. Nay, I believe that, were a true poet to marry an idiot, 'tis a thousand to one that he would never find it out.

Shepherd. Just as wi' a dowdy.

North. Precisely.

Shepherd. The idiot would, in his eyes, be a Minerva, fresh frae the brain o' Jove

North. Lemprière !

Shepherd.and the dowdy, a Venus attired by the Graces. North. "Men of a high order of genius are not unfrequently fastidious in the formation of their friendships. They are privileged to be so; but their friendships, when once formed with congenial spirits, though perhaps less gifted, are imperishable—and they are sacred, far beyond the conception of vulgar souls.

Shepherd. What do you mean by vulgar souls, sir?

North. Not the souls of shepherds, James, but of Bagmen. Shepherd. Aneuch.

North. And what more common than friendships between men of transcendent genius, and men of no genius at all!

"Worth (not wit) makes the man-the want of it the fellow ;" and before the power of Virtue, Genius loves to stand, not rebuked, for haply there was no occasion for rebuke, but in abasement of spirit, and reverence of her who is a seraph.

Shepherd. A' orders o' minds mingle naturally, and o' their ain accord; and life wadna possess that delichtfully variegated character that is noo sae charmin, gin ilka class keepit aloof by itsel, and trusted to itsel for a' its enjoyment o' this warld!

North. Proceed to paint the inevitable results of any opposite system.

Shepherd. Suppose poets, for example, and o' poets we're speakin, a' flocked thegither

North. On pretence of being birds of the same feather.

Shepherd. For a while they would a' luk unco bonny in the sunshine, sitting thegither on "some heaven-kissing hill," and assistin ane anither to sort their plummage, till it purpled wi' many-shiftin colours in the eye o' day, and seemed to set their necks and their wings on fire.

North

"But ere the second Sunday came

THE DEVIL AMONG THE POETS.

125

Shepherd. The knowe would be a' covered wi' bluidy feathers, as if there had been foughten there a Welsh main o' cocks! Some o' the poets would be seen sittin on their doups, wi' their een pickit out, and yet, like true ggemm, dartin their nebs roun' aboot on a' sides, in howps o' finnin a foe. Ithers o' them would be aff and awa, whurr, ower the back o' beyont, and there venturin to raise an occasional craw on their new domain. And ane, obnoxious to a' the rest, would be lyin battered to bits, stane-dead. So much, sir, for birds o' a feather flocking thegither-when thae birds happened to be poets.

North. Whereas, by the economy of nature, "poets and all other men of the higher order of genius" are sprinkled over society, and all their ongoings intermingled with those of the children of the common clay. And thus "poets and men of the higher order of genius" are made to submit or to conform to the usages of this world, and its ordinary laws, or, if they do not, they soon are made to feel that they are ridiculous, and that genius is never less respected than when it chooses to wear a cap and bells.

Shepherd. Anither screed.

North. Mr Moore, towards the close of his disquisition, says, "that if the portrait he has attempted of those gifted with high genius, be allowed to bear, in any of its features, a resemblance to the originals, it can no longer be matter of question whether a class, so set apart from the track of ordinary life, so removed, by their very elevation, out of the influences of our common atmosphere, are at all likely to furnish tractable subjects for that most trying of all social experiments-matrimony."

Shepherd. I dinna like the soun' o' that sentence.

North. Nor I, James. In the first place, the portrait may bear, "in some of its features, a resemblance to the originals,' and yet the question started by Mr Moore by no means be put to sleep.

Shepherd. His logic's out at the elbows.

North. Secondly, Mr Moore has utterly failed in showing that the class he speaks of are set apart from the track of ordinary life, and removed, by their very elevation, out of the influences of our common atmosphere.

Shepherd. And you, sir, have utterly succeeded in pruvin the very contrar.

North. Thirdly, there is a Cockneyish and Bagman-like

vulgarity in the would-be fashionable slang-whangishness of the terms, 66 at all likely to furnish subjects for that most trying of all social experiments-matrimony."

Shepherd. Hoo the deevil, Mr Muir, can ye, wi' ony semblance o' sense ava, man, ca' that the maist tryin o' a' "social experiments," which is, has been, and will be, performing by all men and women in the "varsal world," with the exception of a few fools or unfortunates, called bachelors and old maids, frae the beginning till the end o' time-frae Milton's First Man, to Campbell's Last?

North. Why, really, James, Mr Moore here speaks of matrimony in the style of a sentimental farce-writer for the Cobourg Theatre. Observe what a silly look the word "matrimony wears, and how like ninnies the "men of the higher order of genius" kythe' on being brought forward by Hymen, in a string, and kicking and flinging out unlike "tractable subjects."

Shepherd. The haill discussion grows ludicrous on reflection, and an air o' insincerity, almost o' banter, Mr Muir, at last plays ower your features, as if you were bammin the public;— but the public's no sae easy bammed, sir, and imperiously demands "a wise and learned spirit" in him who takes it upon him to pruve that the holiest o' a' God and Natur's ordinances is no suited to men o' the higher order o' genius, wha should be a' monks and celibates, sae fastidious necessarily are they alike in freenship and love! Ony mair havers ?

North. A few.

Shepherd. Say awa, for onything's better nor politicsI'm gratefu' to you for keepin aff them the nicht.

North. Politics! I had forgotten there was such a thing in all the wide world. But here is bit of poetical politics, by a young friend of mine, James-a promising youth, of the right kidney-and who, I doubt not, will one day or other do honour to an honourable name. My young friend informs me that the lines are written by one who, without positively condemning the late French Revolution, cannot bestow upon it that unqualified approbation which many wish it to receive, -much less can justify those in our own country, who, while they profess themselves friendly to the constitution, take advantage of the late transactions in France for the purpose of

1 Kythe-show themselves.