The Real Robert Burns Part 14

Still o'er these scenes my mem'ry wakes, And fondly broods with miser-care; Time but th' impression stronger makes, As streams their channels deeper wear.

My Mary, dear departed shade!

Where is thy place of blissful rest?

See'st thou thy lover lowly laid?

Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast?

The general themes of this sacred poem, written three years after Mary Campbell's death, are the preponderating themes of his love-songs. No love-songs ever written have so little of even embracing and kissing as the love-songs of Burns, except the sonnets of Mrs Browning.

It is worthy of note that Mary Campbell was not a beauty--her attractions were kindness, honesty, and unselfishness; yet, though happily married himself, he loved her, three years after her death, as profoundly as when they parted on the Fail, more than three years before he wrote the poem.

CHAPTER VIII.

BURNS A PHILOSOPHER.

The fine training by their father developed the minds of both Robert and Gilbert Burns as original, independent thinkers, chiefly in regard to religious, ethical, and social problems. Professor Dugald Stewart, of Edinburgh University, expressed the opinion that 'the mind of Burns was so strong and clear that he might have taken high rank as a thinker in any department of human thought; probably attaining as high rank in any other department as he achieved as a poet.' The quotations given from his writings in the preceding pages prove that he was a philosopher of unusual power in regard to Religion, Democracy, and Brotherhood.

Lockhart said, speaking of the ranking of Burns as a thinker, compared with the best trained minds in Edinburgh: 'Even the stateliest of these philosophers had enough to do to maintain the att.i.tude of equality when brought into contact with Burns's gigantic understanding.'

Many of his poems are ornamented and increased in value by flashes of philosophic thought. His 'Epistle to a Young Friend' is a series of philosophical statements for human guidance.

Ye'll find mankind an unco squad, strange And muckle they may grieve ye, much

I'll no say men are villains a'; The real hardened wicked, Wha hae nae check but human law, Are to a few restricket; restricted

But, och! mankind are unco weak, very An' little to be trusted; If self the wavering balance shake It's rarely right adjusted.

He takes a kindly view, that men as a whole are not so bad as pessimists would have us believe; that there are comparatively few that have no respect for the Divine Law, and are kept in check only by the fear of human law; but mourns because most men yet think more of self than of their neighbours, to whom they may be of service, and sees that, where our relations with our fellow-men are not satisfactorily balanced, the destroyer of harmony is universally selfishness in one form or another.

The fear o' h.e.l.l's a hangman's whip To haud the wretch in order.

Even yet this is advanced philosophy, that fear, being a negative motive, cannot kindle human power or lead men to higher growth. So far as it can influence the human soul, its effect must be to depress it. Not only the fear of h.e.l.l, but fear of anything, is an agency of evil. Some day a better word than fear will be used to express the proper att.i.tude of human souls towards G.o.d.

But where you feel your honour grip Let that aye be your border.

What you think of yourself matters more to you than what others think of you. Let honour and conscience be your guide, and go not beyond the limits they prescribe. Stop at the slightest warning honour gives,

And resolutely keep its laws, Uncaring consequences.

In regard to religious matters, he gave his young friend sage advice:

The great Creator to revere Must sure become the creature; But still the preaching cant forbear, And ev'n the rigid feature.

The soul's att.i.tude to the Creator is a determining factor in deciding its happiness and growth. Reverence should not mean solemnity and awe.

Reverence based on dread blights the soul and dwarfs it. True reverence reaches its highest when its source is joy; then it becomes productive of character--constructively transforming character. The formalism of 'preaching cant' robs religion of its natural attractiveness, especially to younger people; the 'rigid feature' turns those who would enjoy religion from a.s.sociation with those who claim to be Christians, and yet, especially when they speak about religion, look like melancholy and miserable criminals whose final appeal for pardon has been refused.

Burns's philosophy would lift the shadows of frightfulness from religion and let its joyousness be revealed.

An Atheist's laugh's a poor exchange For Deity offended.

A correspondence fixed wi' heaven Is sure a n.o.ble anchor.

To Burns, the relations.h.i.+p of the soul to G.o.d was of first importance. He cared little for man's formalisms, but personal connection with a loving Father he regarded as the supreme source of happiness. Only a reverent and philosophic mind would think of prayer as 'a correspondence with heaven.'

Burns holds a high rank as a profound philosopher of human life, of human growth, and of human consciousness of the Divine, as the vital centre of human power.

Burns was a philosopher in his recognition that productive work is essential to human happiness and progress.

In 'The Twa Dogs' he makes Caesar say:

But human bodies are sic fools, For a' their colleges and schools, That when nae real ills perplex them, They mak enow themselves to vex them; An' ay the less they hae to sturt them, trouble In like proportion less will hurt them.

But gentleman, and ladies warst, Wi' ev'n-down want o' wark are curst.

Burns had real sympathy for the idle rich. He saw that idleness leads to many evils, and that probably the worst evils, those that produce most unhappiness, are those that result from neglecting to use, or misusing, powers that, if wisely used, would produce comfort and happiness for ourselves as well as for others. He believed that every man and woman would be happier if engaged in some productive occupation, and that those who do not use their hands to produce for themselves and their fellows are 'curst wi' want o' wark.'

This belief is based on an old and very profound philosophy, that is not even yet understood as widely and as fully as it should be: the philosophy first expounded by Plato, and afterwards by Goethe and Ruskin, that 'all evil springs from unused, or misused, good.' Whatever element is highest in our lives will degrade us most if misused. The best in the lives of the idle sours and causes deterioration instead of development of character, and breeds discontent and unhappiness, so that days are 'insipid, dull and tasteless,' and nights are 'unquiet, lang and restless.'

Burns showed that he understood this revealing philosophy in 'The Vision.'

In this great poem he a.s.sumes that Coila, the genius of Kyle, his native district in Ayrs.h.i.+re, appeared to him in a vision, and revealed a clear understanding of the epoch events of his past life and their influence on his development, and gave him advice to guide him for the future. In one verse he says:

I saw thy pulse's maddening play Wild send thee pleasure's devious way, Misled by fancy's meteor-ray, By pa.s.sion driven; But yet the light that led astray Was light from heaven.

He was attacked and criticised severely for the statement contained in the last two lines. The statement is but philosophic truth that his critics did not understand. Fancy and pa.s.sion are elements of power given from heaven. Properly used they become important elements in human happiness and development. Improperly used they produce unhappiness and degradation.

Burns understood clearly the philosophic basis of modern education, the importance of developing the individuality, or selfhood, or special power of each child. The poem he wrote to his friend Robert Graham of Fintry, beginning:

When Nature her great masterpiece designed And framed her last, best work, the human mind, Her eye intent on all the mazy plan, She formed of various parts the various man,

is a philosophical description of how Nature produced various types of men, giving to each mind special powers and apt.i.tudes. The thought of the poem is the basis of all modern educational thought: the value of the individuality of each child, and the importance of developing it.

He expresses very beautifully the philosophy of the ephemeral nature of certain forms of pleasure in eight lines of 'Tam o' Shanter':

But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; Or as the snowfall in the river, A moment white, then melts forever; Or like the borealis race, That flit e'er you can point their place; Or like the rainbow's lovely form, Evanis.h.i.+ng amid the storm.

Burns understood the philosophy of the simple life in the development of character and happiness.

In 'The Cotter's Sat.u.r.day Night,' after dilating on the glories of simple, reverent religion, as compared with 'Religion's Pride,'

In all the pomp of method and of art, When men display to congregations wide Devotion's every grace except the heart,

he prays for the young people of Scotland--

Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content; And O! may Heaven their simple lives prevent From luxury's contagion, weak and vile!

Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent, A virtuous populace may rise the while, And stand a wall of fire around their much-loved isle.