THE WILD OATS THEORY.
rro THE EDITOR OE THE " SPECTATOR:I
Sia,—On this subject Carlyle's views as given in his Essay on Burns are not without interest. Burns
"quits the paternal roof. . . and becomes initiated in those dissipations, those vices, which a certain class of philosophers have asserted to be a natural preparative for entering on active life; a kind of mud-bath in which the youth is, as it were, necessitated to sleep, and, we suppose, cleanse himself, before the real toga of manhood can be laid upon him. We shall not dispute much with this Mass of philosophers; we hope they are mistaken : for Sin and Remorse so easily beset us at all stages of life, and are always such indifferent company, that it seems hard we should it any stage be forced and fated, not only to meet, but to yield to them, and even serve for a term in their leprous armada. We hope it is not so. Clear we are, at all events, it cannot be the training one receives in this Devil's-service, but only our determining to desert from it, that fits us for true manly action."
Maybury, Woking.
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