had naturally a warm heart and strong impulses; it is only when an
element of consciousness or mawkishness appears that his "sensibility"
is to be ascribed to the fashionable philosophy of the day and the
influence of his English models.

For better or worse, then, Burns belongs to the literary history of
Britain as a legitimate descendant of easily traced ancestors. Like
other great writers he made original contributions from his individual
temperament and from his particular environment and experience. But
these do not obliterate the marks of his descent, nor are they so
numerous or powerful as to give support to the old myth of the "rustic
phenomenon," the isolated poetical miracle appearing in defiance of
the ordinary laws of literary dependence and tradition.

If this is true of his models it is no less true of his methods.
Though simplicity and spontaneity are among the most obvious of the
qualities of his work, it is not to be supposed that such effects were
obtained by a birdlike improvisation. "All my poetry," he said, "is
the effect of easy composition but laborious correction," and the
careful critic will perceive ample evidence in support of the
statement. We shall see in the next chapter with what pains he fitted
words to melody in his songs; an examination of the variant readings
which make the establishment of his text peculiarly difficult shows
abundant traces of deliberation and the labor of the file. In the
following song, the first four lines of which are old, it is
interesting to note that, though he preserves admirably the tone of
the fragment which gave him the impulse and the idea, the twelve lines
which he added are in the effects produced by manipulation of the
consonants and vowels and in the use of internal rhyme a triumph of
conscious artistic skill. The interest in technique which this implies