Page:Life of Robert Burns, the Ayrshire Bard.pdf/13

Rh frisks of the little minnows in the sunny pool, hunting after the intrigues of butterflies― short, send him adrift after some pursuit which shall etcrnallyeternally [sic] mislead him from the paths of lucre, and yet cursccurse [sic] him with a keener relish than any man living for the pleasures that lucre  purchase; lastly, fill up the measure of his by bestowing on him a spurning sense of his  dignity, and you have created a wight nearly  miserable as a poet." In these short  Burns has traced his own character far better than any one has done it since.

The affairs of the farm did not long to thrive, and, perceiving them going backwards, Burns resolved to enter upon the duties of  Excise. He was accordingly appointed to the district where his own farm was situated. his residence here, he regularly attended, and assisted in forming a reading club. He paid particular attention to the education of  children, and assisted them greatly himself. Afterwards, however, on the failure of his farming projects, the gloom which preyed on his spirits him too often not unwilling to become the companion of the thoughtless and the dissipated;  notwithstanding these follies, he was never deserted by that feeling of honour and  of spirit which led him always to detest