Note 15 — VIII THE SCOT AS A CRITIC

In the Embankment Gardens, London, there is a statue of Burns, on the pedestal of which appears the appended inscription:

“The Poetic Genius of my country found me at the plough and threw her inspiring mantle over me. She bade me sing the loves, the joys, the rural scenes, and rural pleasures of my native soil in my native tongue. I tuned my wild, artless notes as she inspired.”

Now any poet who can babble about his wild, artless notes is beyond praying for. I think this particular monument ought to be taken down.