peace. You can hardly imagine how often I have
been heated in private when opposed, as I have thought unjustly and
superciliously, and yet I have striven, and succeeded, I hope, in
keeping down replies of the like kind. And I know I have never lost by
it." [1511]

While the painter Barry was at Rome, he involved himself, as was
his wont, in furious quarrels with the artists and dilettanti, about
picture-painting and picture-dealing, upon which his friend and
countryman, Edmund Burke--always the generous friend of struggling
merit--wrote to him kindly and sensibly: "Believe me, dear Barry,
that the arms with which the ill-dispositions of the world are to be
combated, and the qualities by which it is to be reconciled to us, and
we reconciled to it, are moderation, gentleness, a little indulgence
to others, and a great deal of distrust of ourselves; which are not
qualities of a mean spirit, as some may possibly think them, but virtues
of a great and noble kind, and such as dignify our nature as much
as they contribute to our repose and fortune; for nothing can be so
unworthy of a well-composed soul as to pass away life in bickerings and
litigations--in snarling and scuffling with every one about us. We must
be at peace with our species, if not for their sakes, at least very much
for our own." [1512]

No one knew the value of self-control better than the poet Burns, and
no one could teach it more eloquently to others; but when it came to
practice, Burns was as weak as the weakest. He could not deny himself
the pleasure of uttering a harsh and clever sarcasm at another's
expense. One of his biographers observes of him, that it was no
extravagant arithmetic to say that for every ten jokes he made himself
a hundred enemies. But this was not all. Poor Burns exercised no control
over his appetites, but freely gave them rein:

"Thus thoughtless follies laid him low
And stained his name."

Nor had he the self-denial to resist giving publicity to compositions
originally intended for the delight of the tap-room, but which continue
secretly to sow pollution broadcast in the minds of youth. Indeed,
notwithstanding the many exquisite poems of this writer, it is not
saying too much to aver that his immoral writings have done far more
harm than his purer writings have done good; and that it would be better
that all his writings should be destroyed and forgotten provided his
indecent songs could be destroyed with t