circle at least. The many inaccuracies and
awkwardnesses of rhyme and diction, to which he alludes in
republishing them towards the close of his life, did not prevent real
lovers of poetry from seeing that no one but a poet could have
transfused the daring imagery of the German in a style so free, bold,
masculine, and full of life; but, wearied as all such readers had been
with that succession of feeble, flimsy, lackadaisical trash which
followed the appearance of the Reliques by Bishop Percy, the opening
of such a new vein of popular poetry as these verses revealed would
have been enough to produce lenient critics for far inferior
translations. Many, as we have seen, sent forth copies of the Lenore
about the same time; and some of these might be thought better than
Scott's in particular passages; but, on the whole, it seems to have
been felt and acknowledged by those best entitled to judge, that he
deserved the palm. Meantime, we must not forget that Scotland had lost
that very year the great poet Burns,--her glory and her shame. It is
at least to be hoped that a general sentiment of self-reproach, as
well as of sorrow, had been excited by the premature extinction of
such a light; and, at all events, it is agreeable to know that they
who had watched his career with the most affectionate concern were
among the first to hail the promise of a more fortunate successor.
Scott found on his table, when he reached Edinburgh, the following
letters from two of Burns's kindest and wisest friends:--

TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., ADVOCATE, GEORGE'S SQUARE.

MY DEAR SIR,--I beg you will accept of my best thanks for the
favor you have done me by sending me four copies of your
beautiful translations. I shall retain two of them, as Mrs.
Stewart and I both set a high value on them as gifts from the
author. The other two I shall take the earliest opportunity of
transmitting to a friend in England, who, I hope, may be
instrumental in making their merits more generally known at the
time {p.234} of their first appearance. In a few weeks, I am
fully persuaded they will engage public attention to the utmost
extent of your wishes, without the aid of any recommendation
whatever. I ever am, Dear Sir, yours most truly,

DUGALD STEWART.

CANONGATE, Wednesday evening.

TO THE SAME.

DEAR SIR,--On my return from Cardross, where I had