SELECTED LETTERS OF ROBERT BURNS (371 pp.)—Edited by DeLancey Ferguson—Oxford ($1.25).
"Do you think that the sober, ginhorse routine of existence could inspire a man with life, & love, & joy—could fire him with enthusiasm, or melt him with pathos. . . ? No! No! Whenever I want to be more than ordinary in song ... do you imagine I fast & pray for the celestial emanation? Tout au contraire! I have a glorious recipe ... I put myself on a regimen of admiring a fine woman."
Robert Burns followed his regimen so strenuously that at his death in 1796, he was...