What is your cold =judgment= regarding it? Note that this is by no means necessarily the same thing as what you may feel. Many people do not care especially for Dickens or Kipling, yet they all grant that both these authors have deserved their fame. They may not like them, but their reason and their judgment compel admission of their ability. It is accordingly important to ask what impression a book makes on your feelings and on your judgment as well, and to ask why that impression has grown upon you. The value of this systematic consideration of a passage of literature is manifest. The reader's knowledge is increased, and, better still, his ability to arrive at a wise judgment of other literature is greater than before. Efficiency in habits of thought is encouraged, his outlook on life is broader, he becomes more fit to take a prominent part in social and in business life, wherever judgment and thought are needed. PART III STUDIES OF GREAT AUTHORS In making use of these Studies, the reader is advised to adopt the following method: Read the sketches of the author in the Study and in front of the selections and then read the selections themselves. Next answer the questions in the Study, taking care to give reasons for each answer, with illustrations carefully chosen from the author's work, wherever possible. In making comparisons between authors or selections remember that points of contrast as well as of likeness should be considered. Be sure to keep in mind the essentials of PART II, and refer not only to them but to the INDEX for references to national characteristics, history, and authors. Further reading should be selected from the author's works given in the notes which precede the selections and from the biographical and critical works mentioned at the end of each Study. ROBERT BURNS (1759-1796) Robert Burns was born and spent most of his life in Ayrshire, in the lowlands of Scotland. Broad-minded, tolerant, and trusting, he had a place in his heart for all men, whatever their failings. His thoughtless love of good-fellowship was the principal cause of his untimely end. His best songs, dealing with the common life of the Lowlands and written in the Scottish dialect, were as a rule spontaneous; though "The Cotter's Saturday Night," probably reminiscent of his boyhood home, is a more finished and careful production. He is the greatest of Scotch poets. Since Shakespeare there has been no better interpreter of the human heart. THE MAN 1. Why is Burns called the Ayrshire Bard? Locate Ayrshire on the map. 2. From what rank of society did Burns come? 3. What was his attitude toward the humbler classes of society? II, 379. Toward men in general? 4. What can you say as to his patriotism? 5. Was he a favorite with the public? 6. See Carlyle's opinion of his reception by the public, III, 55; of his worth, III, 102. 7. To what may we ascribe his rapid decline and early death?