text:  Who is there that has not heard of the Ettrick Shepherd--of him whose inspiration descended as lightly as the breeze that blows along the mountain side--who saw amongst the lonely and sequestered glens of the south from eyelids touched with fairy ointment such visions as are vouchsafed to the minstrel alone--the dream of sweet Kilmeny too spiritual for the taint of earth? I shall not attempt any comparison--for I am not here to criticise--between his genius and that of other men on whom God in his bounty has bestowed the great and the marvellous gift