Volume 1 > Half-Volume 1

251
and justly-admired engraving. James was arrested
and riveted by the painting, so unlike all he had
hitherto admired and copied: it was, he perceived,
in some such spirit as this that he must select from
nature, and imitate it, if he would succeed in his
daring enterprise. This conviction was further con-
firmed by studying the productions of the eminent
Dutch masters in the British gallery, where he found
that originality of conception was not only intimately
blended with the truthfulness of nature, but made
subservient to its authority. He must therefore
study nature herself where she was best to be found
�among the fields, and beneath the clear skies,
where the beauty of form and the richness of colour
presented their infinite variety to the artist's choice,
and taught him the best modes of arranging them
upon the canvas. Forth he accordingly went, with
nothing but his note-book and pencil; and among
the fields, in the neighbourhood of London, he
marked with an observant eye the various objects
that most struck his fancy, and made short sketches
of these, to be afterwards amplified into paintings.
It was remarked, also, in this collection of hasty
pencillings, that instead of seeking to aggrandize the
works of nature, he faithfully copied them as he
found them. "He has introduced," says a judicious
critic, speaking of one of his paintings, "everything
that could in any way characterize the scene. The
rainbow in the sky, the glittering of the rain upon
the leaves; the dripping poultry under the hedge,
the reflections of the cattle on the road, and the girl
with the gown over her shoulders, all tend with
equal force to illustrate his subject." Not content,
also, with the mere work of sketching in the fields,
he was accustomed to note down in his book such
observations in connection with the sketch as might
be available for the future picture, or those remarks
in reference to light and shade that were applicable
to painting in general. The result of this training
was soon perceptible in the increasing excellence of
his successive productions, of which Allan Cunning-
ham, his biographer, well remarks:�"His trees are
finely grouped; his cows are all beautiful; they have
the sense to know where the sweetest grass grows;
his milk-maids have an air of natural elegance about
them, and his cow-boys are not without grace."
Of the paintings of James Burnet, some of which
are in the possession of his relatives, and others
among the costly picture galleries of our nobility, the
following is a list:�I. Cattle going out in the
Morning. 2. Cattle returning Home in a Shower.
3. Key of the Byre. 4. Crossing the Brook. 5.
Cow-boys and Cattle. 6. Breaking the Ice. 7.
Milking. 8. Crossing the Bridge. 9. Inside of a
Cow-house. 10. Going to Market. 11. Cattle by
a Pool in Summer. 12. Boy with Cows.
While Burnet was thus pursuing a course of self-
education that drew him onward step by step in im-
provement, and promised to conduct him to a very
high rank among pastoral and landscape painters, a
malady had latterly attended him in his wanderings,
that too often selects the young and the sensitive for
its victims. This was consumption, a disease which
his lonely habits and sedentary employment in the
open air were only too apt to aggravate; and,
although a change of scene and atmosphere was
tried by his removal to Lee in Kent, it was soon
evident that his days were numbered. Even then,
however, when scarcely able to walk, he was to be
found lingering among the beautiful scenery of Lee
and Lewisham, with his pencil and note-book in
hand, and to the last he talked with his friends about
painting, and the landscapes that he still hoped to
delineate. He died on the 27th July, 1816. His
dying wish was to be buried in the village church of
Lee, in whose picturesque churchyard he had so
often wandered and mused during the last days of
his illness; but as sepulture in that privileged place
could not be granted to a stranger, his remains were
interred in the churchyard of Lewisham. At his
death he had only reached his twenty-eighth year.
BURNS, ALLAN. This talented anatomist and
surgical writer, in whom a life of high promise was
too soon arrested, was the son of the Rev. Dr.
Burns, minister of the Barony Church, Glasgow; a
venerable clergyman, who, after bearing for several
years the title of "father of the Church of Scotland,"
on account of his seniority, died in 1839, at the very
advanced age of ninety-six. Allan Burns was born
at Glasgow on the 18th September, 1781. When
not more than fourteen years old, he entered the
medical classes, where his diligence and proficiency
were so remarkable, that only two years afterwards,
he was able to undertake the entire direction of the
dissecting-rooms of Mr. John Burns, his brother,
who at that time was a lecturer on anatomy and
surgery in the city of Glasgow. In this situation,
his opportunities of extending and perfecting his
knowledge were so carefully employed, that he
attained, even though still a youth, a high reputation
among the practical anatomists of his day. His
views being directed to medical practice in the army,
he went to London, in 1804, for the purpose of ob-
taining a commission; but before his application was
made to that effect, he received an offer that altered
his intention. It was to repair to St. Petersburg,
and undertake the charge of an hospital which the
empress Catherine was desirous of establishing in
her capital, upon the English plan. Allan Burns
had been recommended to her majesty by Dr.
Creighton, as one everyway qualified for this im-
portant charge; and when the offer was made, it
was with the understanding that he might make
a six months' trial before finally closing with it.
Tempted by so alluring a prospect, Burns left
London for St. Petersburg, and commenced the
duties of his new career. But Russia was not at
that time the country which it has now become, and
the sensitive mind of the young Scot was soon
sickened by the Asiatic pomp and Scythian barbarism
with which he was surrounded. On this account,
he abandoned the tempting prospects of court favour
and professional advancement that were held out to
him, and returned to Scotland before the six months
of probation had ended. At his departure, he was
presented by the empress with a valuable diamond
ring, as a token of the royal approbation and esteem.
On returning to his native country, which was at
the commencement of 1805, Burns resolved to
occupy the place of his brother, who had discon-
tinued his lectures on surgery and anatomy. This
he did in the winter of the following year, and
quickly won the admiration of his pupils, by the
correctness and extent of his professional knowledge,
and great power of illustration. Indeed, as a
lecturer, the most abstruse subjects in his hands
became plain and palpable, and the driest subjects
full of interest. Still, however, notwithstanding his
reputation as a lecturer, his fame would have been
limited and evanescent, had it not been for the works
he published, by which the high admiration of those
who knew him was participated in by the world at
large. The first of these publications, which ap-
peared in 1809, was entitled Observations on some
of the most Frequent and Important Diseases of the
Heart: or Aneurism of the Thoracic Aorta; or Pre~
ternatural Pulsation in the Epigastric Region; and