there is a re-action of generosity which
stimulates them--when forcibly summoned--to redress the wrong; and, for
the sensible part of mankind, _they_ are neither dull to understand, nor
slow to make allowance for, the aberrations of men, whose intellectual
powers do honour to their species.

I am, dear Sir, respectfully yours,
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

Rydal Mount, January, 1816.

[5] It was deemed that it would be so, and the letter is published
accordingly.

(b) OF MONUMENTS TO LITERARY MEN.

_Letter to a Friend_.

Rydal Mount, April 21. 1819.

SIR,

The letter with which you have honoured me, bearing date the 31st of
March, I did not receive until yesterday; and, therefore, could not
earlier express my regret that, notwithstanding a cordial approbation of
the feeling which has prompted the undertaking, and a genuine sympathy
in admiration with the gentlemen who have subscribed towards a Monument
for Burns, I cannot unite my humble efforts with theirs in promoting
this object.

Sincerely can I affirm that my respect for the motives which have swayed
these gentlemen has urged me to trouble you with a brief statement of
the reasons of my dissent.

In the first place: Eminent poets appear to me to be a class of men, who
less than any others stand in need of such marks of distinction; and
hence I infer, that this mode of acknowledging their merits is one for
which they would not, in general, be themselves solicitous. Burns did,
indeed, erect a monument to Fergusson; but I apprehend his gratitude
took this course because he felt that Fergusson had been prematurely cut
off, and that his fame bore no proportion to his deserts. In neither of
these particulars can the fate of Burns justly be said to resemble that
of his predecessor: his years were indeed few, but numerous enough to
allow him to spread his name far and wide, and to take permanent root in
the affections of his countrymen; in short, he has raised for himself a
monument so conspicuous, and of such imperishable materials, as to
render a local fabric of stone superfluous, and, therefore,
comparatively insignificant.

But why, if this be granted, should not his fond admirers be permitted
to indulge their feelings, and at the same time to embellish the
metropolis of Scotland? If this may be justly objected to, and in my
opinion it may, it is because the showy tributes to genius are a