style. The former, on the other hand, is the attainment of a clever
pupil when the sentiment is commonplace; when it is deep and vehement,
it is often, in the language of Carlyle, "the effort of a man to express
something which he has no organ fit for expressing." Common people, to
whom niceties of style are unknown, and who read primarily or
exclusively for the sake of the matter, perceive nothing of this
affectation, and think scarcely less highly of Burns's letters than they
do of his poetry.

J. LOGIE ROBERTSON.

7 LOCKHARTON TERRACE,
SLATEFORD, EDINBURGH.


[Footnote a: This is really the exposure of an absurdity.]

[Footnote b: By Jeffrey.]

[Footnote c: Dr. Hately Waddell.]

[Footnote d: See, for example, the _Cheese_ Letter to Peter Hill, or the
_Snail's-horns_ Letter to Mrs. Dunlop.]

[Footnote e: Mr. R. L. Stevenson.]




GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE.