Ake - Obviously we English are more virile & manly than you limp Scots. Is that our fault? No! You need to add something more than salt to your porridge... Mind you, in the face of genuine history with bits of paper to prove it, I bow down & worship, you are are a GREAT MAN (I hate you, you jammy bugger, etcetera...)!! ;)

Teribus - I will dispute wid ye, & also poke yers in th' eye wid a sharp stick! Who said anyfink about "merely", eh? Heven hwe hunedicated Henglish hwill hacknowldege Burns (no I can't reasonably hget an 'h' on the front of that... ;) ) as a great poet. But who included "merely", eh?

Shakespeare (& I'm no particular fan) left a legacy that no-one, poet or playwright, is likely to match. Nationality is beside the point. And, it can also be argued, that Wobbly Bill was no particular philosopher. Yet, with the volume of his output (which surpasses others without effort or question) he hits the proverbial nail over & over.

Shakespeare is quoted time & again. More than Burns, more than Dryden, Milton, Boswell, Johnson, or any than you could name. The incidents you quote are not germane to either Shakespeare or Burns, but William S., I am sure, is quoted more oft even than Rabbie B.

Worldwide!

R.