Excerpt from Dreams and Memories Ries, until, by the time Burns appeared, Scot land, and almost every Scottish heart, were curiously divided into two imperfectly related societies. On the one hand was an ascetic dis dain of luxury, pomp, art, and even the com forts and amenities of existence; on the other hand an eager joy in life. There were not a few generous and ample souls in whom a love of spiritual perfection mingled harmoniously with a more instinctive acceptance of things as they are; but the tendency was to go to ex tremes. Many Of the strongest natures in Scot tish history were either fanatics or sensualists, either austerely self-repressed or fiercely self willed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.