Burns found and filled the only channels open to him, in a printed
book, and in music books for which he transmuted old songs.
The bookish materials offered to Will, in London, were crammed with
reminiscences from the classics, were mainly romantic and theatrical;
and, from his profession of actor, by far the best channel open to
him was the theatre. Badly as it paid the outside author, there was
nothing that paid better. Venus and Adonis brought "more praise than
pudding," if one may venture a guess. With the freedom of the
theatre Will could soar to all heights and plumb all depths. No such
opportunity had Burns, even if he could have used it, and, owing to a
variety of causes, his spirit soon ceased to soar high or wing wide.
I take Shakespeare, in London at least, to have read the current
Elizabethan light literature--Euphues, Lyly's Court comedies, novels
full of the classics and of social life; Spenser, Sidney--his Defence
of Poesy, and Arcadia (1590)--with scores of tales translated from
the Italian, French, and Spanish, all full of foreign society, and
discourses of knights and ladies. He saw the plays of the day,
perhaps as one of "the groundlings." He often beheld Society, from
without, when acting before the Queen and at great houses. He had
thus, if I am right, sufficient examples of style and manner, and
knowledge of how the great were supposed (in books) to comport and
conduct themselves.
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