Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Poems and songs, chiefly in the Scottish dialect

XV
way of procuring a more liberal education. We
may partly account for the seeming neglect of the
public, from the number of mere versifiers, who,
since the days of Burns, obtruded themselves on
the world with very insufficient claims. Our au-
thor stood in need of judicious advice, and if he
had acquired a little more experience, his eminence
would have been more apparent. The fault of too
early, or too hasty publication, is not soon repair-
ed. Of this he came to be aware ; for in a letter
to a friend, he says, " I am confident had I waited
a few years longer, I would have presented a vo-
lume less exceptionable."
His improvement might have been greater had
he been less impatient under criticism. The feel-
ings of the Poet, and the views of the critic are
seldom in unison, and few are disposed to admi-
nister correction from a pure regard to the advan-
tage of an author ; fewer still can do it without
giving offence. The partiality of a poet is dispos-
ed to retain as a beauty, what an indifferent person
may treat as a deformity, and he will seldom con-
sent to lop off redundancies, though they impair
the energy of the composition The poet has felt
the moment of inspiration, and supposes that Others