Excerpt from Literature: I. Robert Burns, II. Sir Walter Scott, III. Lord Byron We recognize the truth of the principle instinctively. We feel readily enough that we are not so much con cerned in knowing the characteristics of a great man's greatness, the limitations of it, the history of it, as we are in knowing what sort of man it was who was great. We want to know how the qualities to which his great ness was due comported with the other qualities that he had. In plain words, we want to see how nearly the individual characteristics of a great man are like the characteristics of common humanity. It is the universal instinct of self-betterment that prompts this feeling. We know well that the inspira tion of a great example is possible only when it seems possible. That it may seem possible it must proceed from a life not wholly unlike our own. The example of a great life would be valueless to us if that life were so unlike our own as to have nothing in common with it. 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.