ften visit the birthplace of
Burns near Ayr than of Shakespeare at Stratford-on-Avon. What
qualities in Burns account for such popularity? The fact that the
Scotch are an unusually patriotic people and make many pilgrimages to
the land of Burns is only a partial answer to this question. The
complete answer is to be found in a study of Burns's characteristics.
In the first place, with his "spark o' Nature's fire," he has touched
the hearts of more of the rank and file of humanity than even
Shakespeare himself. The songs of Burns minister in the simplest and
most direct way to every one of the common feelings of the human
heart. Shakespeare surpasses all others in painting universal human
nature, but he is not always simple. Sometimes his audience consists
of only the cultured few.

Especially enjoyable is the humor of Burns, which usually displays a
kindly and intuitive sympathy with human weakness. _Tam o' Shanter_,
his greatest poem, keeps the reader smiling or laughing from beginning
to end. When the Scottish Muse proudly placed on his brow the holly
wreath, she happily emphasized two of his conspicuous qualities,--his
love and mirth, when she said:--

"I saw thee eye the gen'ral mirth
With boundless love."[13]

Burns is one of the great masters of lyrical verse. He preferred that
form. He wrote neither epic nor dramatic poetry. He excels in "short
swallow flights of song."

There are not many ways in which a poet can keep larger audiences or
come nearer to them than by writing verses that naturally lend
themselves to daily song. There are few persons, from the peasant to
the lord, who have not sung some of Burns's songs such as _Auld Lang
Syne, Coming through the Rye, John Anderson my Jo_, or _Scots Wha hae
wi' Wallace Bled_. Since the day of his death, the audiences of Robert
Burns have for these reasons continually grown larger.

WALTER SCOTT, 1771-1832

[Illustration: WALTER SCOTT. _From the painting by William
Nicholson._]

Life.--Walter Scott, the son of a solicitor, was born in Edinburgh
in 1771. In childhood he was such an invalid that he was allowed to
follow his own bent without much attempt at formal education. He was
taken to the country, where he acquired a lasting fondness for animals
and wild scenery. With his first few shillings he bought the
collection of early ballads and songs known as Percy's _Reliques of
Ancient English Poetry_. Of this he says, "I do not believe I ever
read a book