58 CHARACTER, HOW TO BE ESTIMATED. fect standard of duty and moral conduct for each of us: to believe, obey, and imitate. But in estimating the characters of other men, how are we to apply that standard? By the rule of charity, "which suffereth "long, and is kind—is not easily provoked, thinketh no"evil;-beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth "all things, endureth all things." How can we judge another, whose peculiar temperament, inclinations, habits, temptations, power of resistance, strivings against sin, advantages, disadvantages,. motives, we may partly guess but cannot perfectly know and understand? "To his own master he standeth or "falleth." Therefore, "Judge not that ye be not "judged." "Who made the heart, 'tis He alone He knows each chord-its various tone, Then at the balance let's be mute, What's done we partly may compute, That Burns, who keenly resented the presumptuous: reproofs and censures of his fellow-mortals, was no self-deceiver, is plain from his writings, and especially from that most candid concentrated autobiography A BARD'S EPITAPH. Is there a whim-inspired fool, Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule, And owre this grassy heap sing dool, 66 66 HIS OWN EPITAPH. Is there a Bard of rustic song, Who, noteless, steals the crowds among, O, pass not by! But, with a frater-feeling strong, Here, heave a sigh. Is there a man whose judgment clear, Here pause-and, thro' the starting tear, The poor Inhabitant below Was quick to learn, and wise to know, But thoughtless follies laid him low, Reader, attend-whether thy soul Know, prudent, cautious self-control 59 He also wrote, "My great constituent elements are 'pride and passion. The first I have endeavoured to 'humanize into integrity and honour; the last makes "me a devotee to the warmest degree of enthusiasm "in love, religion, or friendship-either of them or all together, as I happen to be inspired." 66 "I have been this morning taking a peep through, as Young finely says, 'the dark postern of time long elapsed.' It was a rueful prospect! What a tissue of "thoughtlessness, weakness, and folly! My life re 66 60 SELF-SCRUTINY. "minded me of a ruined temple. What strength, what proportion in some parts, what unsightly gaps, what "prostrate ruins in others! I kneeled down before the "Father of Mercies and said, 'Father, I have sinned "against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called Thy Son.' I rose, eased and strengthened.” Other instances of deep self-humiliation and earnest prayer are recorded of this rarely-constituted, highlygifted man; and that there were many more, known only to himself and to the "Father of Mercies," who can doubt? Hoping and believing this, let us go to the grave with his brother poet Wordsworth, and feel as he felt when sadly pensive, he uttered these wise and beautiful thoughts in noble verse:— I mourned with thousands, but as one Alas! where'er the current tends, Neighbours we were, and loving friends True friends, though diversely inclined, Through Nature's skill, May even by contraries be joined More closely still. * Criffel, a mountain in Annandale, near Ellisland, from which Burns could see Skiddaw, in Cumberland. WORDSWORTH AT HIS GRAVE. The tear will start, and let it flow, Might we together Have sate and talked where gowans blow What treasures would have then been placed But why go on? Oh! spare to sweep, thou mournful blast, Enough of sorrow, wreck, and blight, His course was true, Through busiest street and loneliest glen What need of fields in some far clime, Shall dwell together till old Time Folds up his wings. 61 62 WORDSWORTH AT HIS GRAVE Sweet Mercy, to the gates of heaven But why to Him confine the prayer, With all that live? The best of what we do and are, Just God, forgive! DESCENDANTS OF ROBERT BURNS. For the following information respecting them, I am indebted to the kindness of Gilbert Burns, Esq., Knockmaroon Lodge, Co. Dublin, youngest son of the poet's brother Gilbert : The Poet's three sons were all married, James twice. Robert left an only child, Mrs. Everitt, now a widow, who, with her only child Martha, lives at Barn's Terrace, Ayr. William had no child. James left two daughters, Sarah, who married an Irish physician, Dr. Hutchison, now living at Bayswater, London, and her half-sister, Annie Burns. Mrs. Begg died some years ago; her two daughters, Agnes and Isabella, live near Ayr, her son, Robert, has been schoolmaster at Kinross for more than fifty years. The only living male descendant of. the poet is Robert Burns Hutchinson, so that the name is extinct in the direct line. And in Scotland there is not an individual of the name of Burns or Burnes. The few that bear that name are not likely to return to Scotland. In March, 1859, I received a letter from Colonel James Glencairn Burns, in which, after thanking me for an unpublished letter, in his father's handwriting, on |