says he had been compared.
"A gross blunder of the English public has been talking of Burns as if
the character of his poetry ought to be estimated with an eternal
recollection that he was a 'peasant'. It would be just as proper to
say that Lord Byron ought always to be thought of as a 'Peer'. Rank in
life was nothing to either in his true moments. Then, they were both
great Poets. Some silly and sickly affectations connected with the
accidents of birth and breeding may be observed in both, when they are
not under the influence of 'the happier star.' Witness Burns's prate
about independence, when he was an exciseman, and Byron's ridiculous
pretence of Republicanism, when he never wrote sincerely about the
Multitude without expressing or insinuating the very soul of scorn."]
* * * * *
December 14, 15, 16.
Much done, but nothing to record. It is quite enough to set down my
thoughts,--my actions will rarely bear retrospection.
* * * * *
December 17, 18.
Lord Holland told me a curious piece of sentimentality in Sheridan. The
other night we were all delivering our respective and various opinions
on him and other _hommes marquans_, and mine was this:--"Whatever
Sheridan has done or chosen to do has been, _par excellence_, always the
_best_ of its kind. He has written the _best_ comedy (_School for
Scandal_), the _best_ drama (in my mind, far before that St.
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