and refused to become a candidate for a newly-created Chair of
Agriculture in the Univ. of Edin., although influential friends offered
to support his claims. After giving up his farm he removed to Dumfries.
It was at this time that, being requested to furnish words for _The
Melodies of Scotland_, he responded by contributing over 100 songs, on
which perhaps his claim to immortality chiefly rests, and which placed
him in the front rank of lyric poets. His worldly prospects were now
perhaps better than they had ever been; but he was entering upon the last
and darkest period of his career. He had become soured, and moreover had
alienated many of his best friends by too freely expressing sympathy
with the French Revolution, and the then unpopular advocates of reform at
home. His health began to give way; he became prematurely old, and fell
into fits of despondency; and the habits of intemperance, to which he had
always been more or less addicted, grew upon him. He _d._ on July 21,
1797.

The genius of B. is marked by spontaneity, directness, and sincerity, and
his variety is marvellous, ranging from the tender intensity of some of
his lyrics through the rollicking humour and blazing wit of _Tam o'
Shanter_ to the blistering satire of _Holy Willie's Prayer_ and _The Holy
Fair_. His life is a tragedy, and his character full of flaws. But he
fought at tremendous odds, and as Carlyle in his great Essay says,
"Granted the ship comes into harbour with shrouds and tackle damaged, the
pilot is blameworthy ... but to know _how_ blameworthy, tell us first
whether his voyage has been round the Globe or only to Ramsgate and the
Isle of Dogs."

The books about Burns, his life and writings, are innumerable. Among the
Lives are those by Currie (1800); Allan Cunningham (1834); J.G. Lockhart
(1828), on which is based Carlyle's memorable _Essay_ (which _see_).