We have had Gilbert's testimony to the
eagerness with which he devoured such books as came within his reach,
and the use he made of his later fragments of schooling points the
same way. He had a quarter at the parish school of Dalrymple when he
was thirteen; and in the following summer he attended the school at
Ayr under his former Alloway instructor. Murdoch's own account of
these three weeks gives an idea of Burns's quickness of apprehension;
and the style of it is worth noting with reference to the
characteristics of the poet's own prose.
"In 1773," says Murdoch, "Robert Burns came to board and lodge
with me, for the purpose of revising English grammar, etc., that
he might be better qualified to instruct his brothers and sisters
at home. He was now with me day and night, in school, at all
meals, and in all my walks. At the end of one week, I told him as
he was now pretty much master of the parts of speech, etc., I
should like to teach him something of French pronunciation, that
when he should meet with the name of a French town, ship, officer,
or the like, in the newspapers, he might be able to pronounce it
something like a French word. Robert was glad to hear this
proposal, and immediately we attacked the French with great
courage.
"Now there was little else to be heard but the declension of
nouns, the conjugation of verbs, etc.
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