(13) When Curran, the Irish barrister, visited Burns's cabin in 1810,
he found it converted into a public house, and the landlord who
showed it was drunk. "There," said he, pointing to a corner on
one side of the fire, with a most MALAPROPOS laugh-"there is the
very spot where Robert Burns was born." "The genius and the fate
of the man," says Curran, "were already heavy on my heart; but the
drunken laugh of the landlord gave me such a view of the rock on
which he had foundered, that I could not stand it, but burst
into tears."
(14) The chaplain of Horsemongerlane Gaol, in his annual report to
the Surrey justices, thus states the result of his careful study of
the causes of dishonesty: "From my experience of predatory crime,
founded upon careful study of the character of a great variety of
prisoners, I conclude that habitual dishonesty is to be referred
neither to ignorance, nor to drunkenness, nor to poverty, nor to
overcrowding in towns, nor to temptation from surrounding wealth--
nor, indeed, to any one of the many indirect causes to which it is
sometimes referred--but mainly TO A DISPOSITION TO ACQUIRE
PROPERTY WITH A LESS DEGREE OF LABOUR THAN ORDINARY INDUSTRY."
The italics are the author's.
(15) S. C. Hall's 'Memories.'
(16) Moore's 'Life of Byron,' 8vo. Ed., p. 182.
(17) Captain Basil Hall records the following conversation with Scott:-
"It occurs to me," I observed, "that people are apt to make too
much fuss about the loss of fortune, which is one of the smallest
of the great evils of life, and ought to be among the most
tolerable.
Pages:
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253