The Kilmarnock edition (1786) of Burns' _Poems_ was published during the most eventful period of the poet's life; the almost universally kind reception accorded to this volume was the one source of consolation amid many sorrows and distractions. Two reviews have been selected to illustrate both the Scottish and English attitude toward the newly discovered "ploughman-poet." The _Edinburgh Magazine_, IV (284-288), in October, 1786, gave Burns a welcome that was hearty and sincere; though we may smile to-day at the information that he has neither the "doric simplicity" of Ramsay, nor the "brilliant imagination" of Ferguson. Besides the poems mentioned in brackets, the magazine published further extracts from Burns in subsequent numbers. The _Critical Review_, LXIII (387-388), gave the volume a belated notice in May, 1787, exceeding even the Scotch magazine in its generous appreciation. With the generally accepted fact in mind that all of Burns' enduring work is in the Scottish dialect, and that his English poems are comparatively inferior, it is interesting to note the _Critical Review's_ regret that the dialect must "obscure the native beauties" and be often unintelligible to English readers. The same sentiment was expressed by the _Monthly Review_, LXXV, p. 439, in the critique reprinted (without its curious anglified version of _The Cotter's Saturday Night_) in Stevenson's _Early Reviews_. There is perhaps no other English poet whose fame was so suddenly and securely established as Burns'. At no time since the appearance of the Kilmarnock volume has the worth of his lyrical achievement been seriously questioned. The _Reliques_ of Burns, edited by Dr. Cromek in 1808, were reviewed by Walter Scott in the first number of the _Quarterly Review_, and by Jeffrey in the corresponding number of the _Edinburgh_. Both articles are valuable to the student of Burns, but their great length made their inclusion in the present volume impracticable. 14. _Rusticus abnormis sapiens, etc._ Horace, Sat. II, l. 3. 15. _A great lady ... and celebrated professor_. Evidently Mrs. Dunlop and Professor Dugald Stewart, who both took great interest in Burns after the appearance of the Kilmarnock volume. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH The thin quartos containing _An Evening Walk_ and _Descriptive Sketches_ were published by Wordsworth in 1793. The former was practically a school-composition in verse, written between 1787-89 and dedicated to his sister; the latter was composed in France during 1791-92 and was revised shortly before publication. The dedication was addressed to the Rev. Robert Jones, fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, who was Wordsworth's companion during the pedestrian tour in the Alps. Though _An Evening Walk_ was published first, the _Monthly Review_, XII, n.s. (216-218), in October, 1793, noticed both in the same issue and naturally gave precedence to the longer poem. Specific allusions in the text necessitate the same order in the present reprint.