The case, then, seems to stand thus. Burns commanded two languages,
which he employed instinctively for different kinds of subject and
mood. The subjects and moods which evoked vernacular utterance were
those that with all writers are more apt to yield poetry, and in
consequence most of his best poetry is in Scots. But when a theme
naturally evoking English was imaginatively felt by him, the use of
English did not prevent his writing poetically. And there were themes
which he could handle equally well in either speech--as we see, for
example, in the songs in _The Jolly Beggars_.

Yet the language had an importance in itself. Though its vocabulary is
limited in matters of science, philosophy, religion, and the like,
Lowland Scots is very rich in homely terms and in humorous and tender
expressions. For love, or for celebrating the effects of whisky,
English is immeasurably inferior. The free use of the diminutive
termination in _ie_ or _y_--a termination capable of expressing
endearment, familiarity, ridicule, and contempt as well as mere
smallness--not only has considerable effect in emotional shading, but
contributes to the liquidness of the verse by lessening the number of
consonantal endings that make English seem harsh and abrupt to many
foreign ears. Moreover, the very indeterminateness of the dialect, the
possibility of using varying degrees of "broadness," increased the
facility of rhyming, and added notably to the ease and spontaneity of
composition. Thus in Scots Burns was not only more at home, but had a
medium in some respects more plastic than English.

Language, however, was not the only element in his inheritance which
helped to determine the nature and quality of Burns's production. He
was extremely sensitive to suggestion from his predecessors, and
frankly avowed his obligations to them, so that to estimate his