But
he had ill-fortune, and was besides so greedy after every
shadow of the true divinity, and so much the slave of a
strong temperament, that perhaps his nerve was relaxed and
his heart had lost the power of self-devotion before an
opportunity occurred. The circumstances of his youth
doubtless counted for something in the result. For the lads
of Ayrshire, as soon as the day's work was over and the
beasts were stabled, would take the road, it might be in a
winter tempest, and travel perhaps miles by moss and moorland
to spend an hour or two in courtship. Rule 10 of the
Bachelors' Club at Tarbolton provides that "every man proper
for a member of this Society must be a professed lover of ONE
OR MORE of the female sex." The rich, as Burns himself
points out, may have a choice of pleasurable occupations, but
these lads had nothing but their "cannie hour at e'en." It
was upon love and flirtation that this rustic society was
built; gallantry was the essence of life among the Ayrshire
hills as well as in the Court of Versailles; and the days
were distinguished from each other by love-letters, meetings,
tiffs, reconciliations, and expansions to the chosen
confidant, as in a comedy of Marivaux. Here was a field for
a man of Burns's indiscriminate personal ambition, where he
might pursue his voyage of discovery in quest of true love,
and enjoy temporary triumphs by the way.
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