r^- -# » » '^. ^^ , o * -^^0^ ^'^^^^ <^ ^0^ . *^''^^% ^'^''^1*-^^^^^ .♦^^♦. ° J'^^^ . '^^ ^ »>;? ^ ^^ O. ^^0^ hac'^^i M'-^'^/-^ C_C^ ^ .«;--»--i THE BURNS ALMANAC. PRKSS OF WAI.'TER W. RKID, NEW YORK. NOTE. The compiler will esteem it a favor to receive a memoran- dum of additional items or corrections from anyone, so that in the event of another edition of The Ai^manac being called for, it may be made as perfect as possible. Address, care of the Publisher. A sufficient space has been left at the end of each date for the insertion of any items that may suggest themselves to the reader ; while for more extended notes a few blank pages have been provided at the end of the book. I have to acknowledge, with thanks, the valuable assist- ance rendered me in compiling the book, by my brother, Peter Ross, LL. D., New York, and John Muir, F. S. A. Scot, Glasgow. JOHN D. ROSS. THE BURNS ALMANAC A RECORD OF DATES, EVENTwS, Etc., CONNECTED WITH THE POET. BY JOHN D. ROSS, LL. D., Editor of "Burnsiana," "Round Burns' Grave," "Burns' Clarinda," etc. Nkw York : THE RAEBURN BOOK COMPANY, 185 Grand Street. THE BURNS ALMANAC. >s^ ** Edinburgh, Dec. 7, 1786. " I am in a fair way of becoming as eminent as Thomas a Kempis or John Bunyan ; and you may expect henceforth to see my birthday inserted among the wonderful events in the Poor Robin's and Aberdeen Ahnanacks, along with the Black Monday and the Battle of Bothwell Bridge." — Burns to Gavin Hamilton. That far-off day in Edinburgh town, When Burns first tasted fame, His fancy wove his coming crown, And saw his famous name: For was he not on upward track ? With "Bunj^an" soon to shine; And in " Poor Robin's Almanac" To get a birthday line — Forthwith, that day. Now has he worn his fadeless crown For a himdred years or more ; With all the world for Edinburgh town, To harken and adore : "rspnc;' now moref* 'eminent" than he, On- his mastersinger's throne, A.rnong the, world's best company; ,' ;Wit;li dn Almanac his own — Herewith, this day. 1898. Hunter MacCulloch. THIS VOI^UME IS RESPECTFUI^IvY DEDICATED TO The Hon. CHARLES H. COLLINS, Hii,i.SBORO, Ohio, U. S. A., IN APPRECIATION OF HIS EFFORTS BOTH BY VOICE AND PEN TO EXTEND THE FAME OF ROBKRT BURNS IN AMERICA. CONTENTS. PAGE The Burns Ai^manac. Poem. MacCui.i.och. Back of titi.e page, AlvMANAC, 13 Robert Burns' FamiIvY, 89 WlI,I^IAM BURNES' FaMIIvY, 89 Prices obtainabi^e in 1898 for a first edition of Burns, 90 List of subscribers for the first edition, . 91 Seven Epochs in the Life of Burns, ... 91 ChronoTvOGical Table of Burns' Life and Works, 93 Burns Ci.ubs in America, 113 Statues and Busts of Burns, 114 Books subscribed for by Burns, . . . . 115 A Century of Burns Biography. Wallace, . .115 The Story of Clarinda, 124 Burns in Westminster Abbey, 126 Misconceptions Regarding Burns. Ross, . . 134 Flowers Mentioned by Burns, 139 The Funeral of Robert Burns, .... 143 Manuscript Notes, 148 THE BURNS ALMANAC, JANUARY. 1 — "This Day Time Winds," etc. Composed 1791. " Epistle to Davie, a brother poet." Composed 1785. ''Elegy on the Year 1788." Composed 1789. "To Miss Logan." Composed 1787. Article entitled "A Century of Burns' Biography," by William Wallace in Chambers's Journal, 1896. Rev. Andrew Jeffrey died 1795. Robert Burness, uncle of the poet, died 17S9. The Newbery Classics "Burns." Edited by J. R. Tutin. Published 1893. 14 THE BURNS ALMANAC— JANUARY. Rev. Dr. William Burnside, Dumfries, died 1806, Alexander Eraser Tytler, died 1813. "O Poortith Cauld and Restless Love." Composed 1793. Gilbert Burns initiated into vSt. James's Lodge, F. & A. M. 1786. Allan Ramsay died 1758. The Poet defines his religious creed in a letter to Clarinda, 1788. '•Highland Mary," published by Alexander Gard- ner, Paisley, 1894. 10 Robert Graham, of Fintry, died 18 15. The Caledonian Hunt subscribed for 100 copies of the Poet's second edition, 1787. THE BURNS ALMANAC— JANUARY. 15 11 Dr. John Mackenzie died 1737. 12 The Poet present at orand Masonic meeting, St. Andrew's Lodge, Edinburgh, 1787. Col. Wni. Fullarton, died 1754. 13 Albany, (N. Y. ) Burns Club, organized 1854. Peter Pindar (Dr. John Walcot) died 18 10. John Wilson ("Dr. Hornbook") died 1839. 14 Mrs. Burns, mother of the poet, died 1820. Rev. Dr. George H. Baird died 1840. William Creech, publisher, died 1815. Lucy Johnston (Mrs. Lucy Oswald of Anchincruive) died 1798. Henry Mackenzie, author of "The Man of Feeling," died 1 83 1. 15 The poet describes his favorite authors in a letter to John Murdoch, 1783. i6 THE BURNS ALMANAC— JANUARY. 16 The Scottish Parliment sanctions the Union, 1707. 17 Brodie, of Brodie, died 1824. IS 'Burnsiana, " vol. i, issued 1892. 19 "Burns Chronicle," Vol. III., edited by D. M 'Naught, issued 1894. 20 Mrs. Candlish, the Miss vSmith of the " Mauchline Belles", died 1854. Mrs. Stephen Kemble, died 1841. 21 Dr. John Moore, died 1802. THE BURNS ALMANAC— JANUARY. 17 22 " Round Burns' Grave," enlarg-ed edition, published 1892. Margaret Orr (Mrs. Paton) died 1837. 22> Article on Bonnie Jean, by Archibald Munro, in The Scotsman, 1894. Right Hon. William Pitt, died 1806. 24 "Farewell to Clarinda, " sent to Mrs. McLehose, 1788. Earlston Burns Club, instituted 1885. 25 Birthday of the poet, 1759. Poliockshaws Burns Club, instituted 1886. Portobello Burns Club, instituted 1892. Thornliebank Burns Club, instituted 1891. Carlisle Burns Club, instituted 1889. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher delivered his great ora- tion on the poet before the New York Burns Club, 1859. The Burns' Society of New York, Organized 187 1. Monument erected to Highland Mary in Greenock Churchyard, 1842, "Sonnet on the author's birthday." Composed 1793. i8 THE BURNS ALMANAC— JANUARY. 25t)n contintjteci. Foundation stone of the Doon Monument, laid 1820. The Glasgow Monument unveiled 1887. John Maxwell, of Terraughty and Munches, died 1814. Airdrie Burns Club, instituted 1885. Glasgow-Carrick Burns Club, instituted 1859. Fairfield Govan Burns Club, instituted 1886. Arlington Burns Club, instituted 1887. Barlinne Burns Club, instituted 1893. Kirn Burns Club, instituted 1892. Derby Burns Chib, instituted 1891. Edinburgh (Portsburgh) Burns Club, instituted 1894. 26 Gabriel Richardson, Provost of Dumfries, died 1820. The Poet baptized, 1759. THE BURNS ALMANAC— JANUARY. 27 " Isobel Burns," A Memoir, published in 1894. Alexander Cunningham, Jeweller, died 181 2. Hamilton Burns Club, instituted 1877. 28 Rev. Dr. William Dalrymple. Ayr, died 18 14. The Poet recommended for Examiner, Excise, 1791, 29 John Orr (last survivor of the Batchelor's Club) died 1837. 30 James, Earl of Glencairn, died 1791. Preliminary meeting held to erect statue at Dundee, 1877. 31 Bonnie Prince Charlie, died 1788. 20 THE BURNS ALMANAC— FEBRUARY. FEBRUARY. 1 The Poet affiliated a member of Canongate Kilwin- ning Lodge, No. 2, 1787. *' Hey for a lass wi' a tocher." Composed 1796. John Rankin, died 18 10. Dundee Burns Club, instituted i860. Sir James Hunter Blair, Bart., born 1741. The Poet's Portrait painted by Nasmyth, began 1787. Burns Chronicle," No. i, edited by John Muir, F. S. A. Scot., issued 1892. Thomas Carlyle, died 1881. Gavin Hamilton, died 1805. THE BURNS ALMANAC— FEBRUARY. ai 6 The Poet petitions for permission to erect headstone over the grave of Robert Ferguson, 1787. Miss Mary McPherson, donor of the Albany (N. Y.) Bums Statue, died 1886. The Poet visited Ecclefechan, 1795. John Maxwell, of Terraughtie, born 1720. Copy of First Kilmarnock edition of the Poems sold in Edinburgh for ^572, ($2,860) 1898. 8 Mary, Queen of Scots, died 1587. Arlington Burns Club instituted 1888. Muirkirk Lapraik Burns Club instituted 1893. '*0 Lassie, Art Thou Sleeping Yet," sent to Mr. Thomson, 1795. 10 Peter Hill, bookseller, died 1837. Rev. Dr. James Mackinlay, died 1841. THE BURNS ALMANAC— FEBRUARY 11 Right Rev. John Geddes, D. D., died 1799. 12 Burns' dog Luath, killed 1784. 13 William Burnes, father of the poet, died 1784. George Dempster, M. P., died 1818. Col. William Fullarton, died 1808. William Fisher, " Holy Willie," died 1809. Stuart's 5/rtr, started 1789. 14 Douglas Graham, ("Tam o' Shanter,") died 1811. Second volume "Johnson's Museum, "published 1788. 15 Rev. Alexander Moodie, died 1799. Rev. Dr. James Steven, died 1824. James Burnes, Provost of Montrose, died 1852. Janet Gibson, ("Racer Jess,") died 1813. THE BURNS ALMANAC— FEBRUARY. 23 16 Article by John Muir, entitled ''Burns in German," Blackwood's Magazine, 1894. 17 "The Twa Dogs," completed 1786. IS George Thomson, died 1851. William Dunbar, (" Rattlin' Roaring Willie,") died 1807. 19 Mrs. Scott, (the " Guidwife of Wauchope House,") died 1789. Rev. Stephen Young, died 181 9. 20 Bishop Alexander Geddes, died 1802. 21 William Nicol, son of the poet, died 1872. Dr. John Moore, London, died 1802. 24 THE BURNS ALMANAC— FEBRUARY. 22 Permission granted to erect headstone on the grave of Robert Ferguson, 1787. "The Inventory," composed 1786. Dr. Adam Ferguson, died 18 16. Du7idee Weekly News issued a "Burns Centenary Supplement," 1896. 22> Rev. John Russell, Kilmarnock, died 181 7. 24 William Gordon, Lord Kenmure, executed 17 15. Capt. Matthew Henderson, born 1737. 25 The Poet presented with a copy of Johnson's " Lives of the Poets," 1789. Rev. Joseph Kirkpatrick, died 1824. 26 James Johnson, engraver, died 181 1. Article entitled " The Burns Centenary," in Cham- bers's Journal^ 1859. THE BURNS ALMANAC-FEBRUARY. 25 27 Jean Armour, born 1767. 28 "The Deil's Awa' wi' the Exciseman," composed 1792. Lewis Hay, died 1800. 29 26 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MARCH. MARCH. 1 The Poet inaugurated Poet Laiireate of Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, No. 2, 1797. Preface written for volume 2, Johnson's Museum, 1787. Gilbert Burns entered as a F. & A. M., 1786. Niel Gow, died 1807. Rev. Dr. William M'Quhae, died 1823. Article "Burns and Beranger," by Dr. Chas. Mackay in 7Jie Nineteenth Centiwy^ 1880. James Smith, merchant, Mauchline, boi'n 2765. Anabella, sister of the poet, died 1832. Prof. John Stuart Blackie, died 1895. John Ramsay, Ochtertyre, died 1814. Dunoon-Cowal Burns Club, instituted 1896. Twin daughters born to the poet, 1788. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MARCH. 27 Rev. Dr. Carfrae, died 1822. Lord Dare, (William Basil) died 1794. 6 James Dalrymple, Orangefield, died 1795. Jessie Staig, (Mrs. Miller of Dalswinton) died 1801. Ordination of Rev. Dr. James Mackinlay, 1785. Bust of the poet unveiled in Westminster Abbev, 1885. 8 William Cruickshank, teacher, died 1793. Glas^ow-Ardgowan Burns Club, instituted. 9 William Nicol, son of the poet, born 1795. John Logan, of Laight and Knockshinnock, died 1816. 28 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MARCH. lO "All About Burns," published in New York, 1896. Glasgow Thistle Burns Club, instituted 1882. 11 Rev. Dr. Bowmaker, Dunse, died 1797. 12 "There'll Never be Peace till Jamie Comes Hame," composed 1781. Rev. Thomas Mitchell, Lamington, died 181 1. 13 The Poet completes terms for the farm of Ellisland, 1788. John Stewart, Seventh Earl of Galloway, born 1736. 14 R. H. Cromek, died 181 2. Gen. Dumourier, died 1823. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MARCH. 29 15 Janet Little, died 1818. 16 David Doig', Rector of Stirling Grammar School, died 1800. Peoples' Friend issued a Burns Centenary Supple- ment, 1896. Lord Dare, (William Basil) born 1763. Verses "To Miss Isabella Macleod," composed 1787. 17 Agnes Broun, mother of the poet, born 1732. Dr. Robert Chambers, died 187 1. IS Charles K. Sharpe, died 1851. Article "The Reid Miniature Portrait of Burns," appeared in The Scotsman^ 1892. "Tamo' Shanter," printed in Edinburgh Herald^ 1791. 30 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MARCH. 19 Lines under the portrait of Fergusson, written 1787. 20 Copy of '* Mary Morison " sent to George Thomson, 1793- 21 •Fair Empress of the Poets Soul," composed 1788. 22 Possilpark Burns Club, instituted 1892. 2Z "Burnsiana," volume 4, issued 1894. 24 Robert Aitken, writer, A3^r, died 1807, THE BURNS ALMANAC— MARCH. 31 2S James Gould, great Collector of Burnsiana, died 1890. 26 Mrs. Burns, the poet's widow, died 1834. 27 *'Wilt Thou Be My Dearie ?" composed 1793. 28 Manuscript of *' Song of the Whistle," sold in Edin- burgh at auction for 230 guineas, 1887. 29 Breadalbane, John, 4th Earl of, died 1834. 30 Dr. William McGill, died 1807. *'The Chevalier's Lament," composed 1788. 32 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MARCH. 31 The Poet appointed to the Excise, 1788. Rev. Edward Neilson, died 1824. Cast taken of the Poet's cranium, 1834. THE BURNS ALMANAC— APRIL. 33 APRIL - 1 - Funeral day of the Poet's widow, 1834. First Epistle to Lapraik, composed 1785. Gilbert Burns published his recollections of the poet, 1798. Dr. James Gregory, died 182 1. Prof. John Wilson, died 1854. Preface to second edition of the poems, written 1787. Captain Riddell of Glenriddel, died 1794. Tam 'o Shanter Club, Dumfries, decides to raise funds for a Burns Statue, 1877. 34 THE BURNS ALMANAC— APRIL. — 6 Dumfries Statue unveiled, 1882. Yes'treen I had a pint of Wine," sent to Mr. Thomson, 1793. s Gilbert Burns, died 1827. William Paterson, Kilmarnock, died 1791. James Sibbald, bookseller, died 1803. Sir John Whitford, Bart, died 1803. William Nicol Burns, born 1791. Common Place Book, commenced 1787. 10 Alexander Nasmyth, died 1840. Rev. James Olyphant, died 1818. Date of the Poet's Diploma as a member of the Cal- edonian Hunt, 1792. THE BURNS ALMANAC— APRIL. 35 11 Jane Maxwell, Duchess of Gordon, died 1812. Robert Ainslie, died 1838. 12 Dr. Currie's edition of the poet's works, issued 1800. 13 Robert Heron, died 1807. Rev. John Clunie, died 1819. Hon. William Maule, (Lord Panmure) died 1852. 14 Rev. Dr. Robert Duncan, died 18 15. The Poet issued proposals for publishing his poems, 1786. ( 15 Rev, Dr. A. Murray, died 181 3. 16 Battle of CoUoden, 1746. Mrs. Dunlop, of Dunlop, born 1730. 36 THE BURNS ALMANAC— APRIL. 17 Rev. Dr. Patrick Wodrow, died 1793. Clarinda, born 1759. / IS Rev. Dr. John Kemp, died 1805. 19 Mrs. M'Murdo, died 1836. 20 "To a Mountain Daisy," composed 1786. Earl of Buchan, died 1829. John Murdoch, schoolmaster, died 1824. Robert Riddell, of Glenriddel, died 1794. 21 New edition of poems, issued at Edinburgh, 1787. William Nicol, died 1797. Second Epistle to Lapraik, composed 1785. The Ballarat (Australia) Statue, unveiled 1887. William Creech, publisher, born 1745. THE BURNS ALMANAC— APRIL. 37 ^ 22 Robert Muir, wine merchant, died 1788. 22> William Wordsworth, died 1820. 2A Jane Cruickshank, (Mrs. James Henderson) "The Rose-bud," died 1835. Dr. James McKittrick Adair, died 1802. 25 Maxwell Bvirns, died 1799. 26 Rev. Dr. David Shaw, died 1810. The Poet promoted to Dumfries First Division, Ex- cise, 1792. 27 "The Soldier's Return," composed 1793. 38 THE BURNS ALMANAC— APRIL. 28 Rev. George Smith, died 1823. Dr. William Greenfield, died 1827. John Tennant, (" Auld Glen,") died 1810. 29 Rev. James Gillespie, died 1806. Prof. James Candlish, Edinburgh, born 1806. 30 Alexander Fergusson, of Craigdarroch, died 1796. THE BURNS ALMANAC—MA Y. 39 MAY, - 1 James Hogg, elected poet laureate of Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, No. 2, 1835. Lockhart's '* Life of Burns," reviewed by Prof. Wil- son in Blackwood' s Magazine^ 1828. Rev. Dr. William M'Quhae, born 1737. David Siller, died 1830. Epistle to Gavin Hamilton recommending a boy, written 1786. 4 John Anderson, hero of the song, "John Anderson my Jo," died 1832. The Poet and Robert Anislie started on Tour through the South of Scotland, 1787. Adelaide (South Australia) Statue unveiled 1894. Rev. Archibald Laurie died 1837. 40 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MAY. 6 John Wilson, publisher, died 182 1. " Fair Maid you need not take the hint," composed 1787. John Lapraik, died 1807. Crawford Tait, Harvieston, died 1832. Ode, '' Sacred to the Memory of Mrs Oswald,'* first published in The Star, 1789. 8 'The Land of Burns," by Hon. Wallace Bruce, published in New York, 1879. Kilmarnock Standard re'pvmts Rev. P. H. Waddeil's Centenary (1859) Address, 1891. 10 Dr. David Irving, died i860. Rev. William Inglis, died 1826. THE BURNS ALMANAC.~MA Y. 41 11 Freedom of Burgh of Jedburgh conferred upon the Poet, 1787. Earl of Chatham, died 1778. 12 Captain Francis Grose, died at Dublin, 1791. Dr. Alexander Wood, Edinburgh, died 1807. 13 William Tennant,{" Preacher Willie,") died 1813. Epistle to William Creech, composed 1787. 14 Final interview between the Poet and Highland Mary, 1786. Robert Burns Jr., died 1857. 15 " Epistle to a young friend," composed 1786. Highland Mary left Ayrshire for the West Highlands 1786. 42 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MA Y. 16 Rev. Dr. James Muirhead, died 1808. Rev. Dr. Thomas Somerville, died 1830. 17 Rev. Archibald Alison, died 1839. IS Copy of "Delia, "sent to the editor of The Star, 1789. 19 The poet was made a Royal Arch Mason, 1787, Archibald Skirving, artist, died 18 19. 20 *' Robert Burns, A Centenry Ode," by Hunter Mac- Culloch, issued 1896. 21 "Burns Almanac," No. i, issued 1897. THE BURNS ALMANAC-MAY. 43 22 " Rantin' Rovin' Robin," composed 1785. 2i The Poet acted as D. P. G. M., St. James's Lodge, Tarbolton, 1788. 24 Mrs. Dunlop, of Dunlop, died 1815. Earl of Selkirk (4th) died 1799. Arent Schuyler de Peyster, appointed Colonel Dum- fries Volunteers, 1795. 25 Dinner in London in aid of Mausoleum fund. 18 16, 26 Jessie Lewars (Mrs. Thomson), died 1855. Francis Joseph Hayden, died 1829. 27 Lord Monboddo, died 1799. 44 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MA Y. 28 "Though Cruel Fate," composed 1785. 29 Epitaph on Robert Ruisseaux, composed 1785. William Marshall, poet, died 1833. 30 Article on Burns and Scottish song-, by Robert Ford in The Peoples' Friend^ 1892. 31 " Mark Yonder Pomp of Costly Fashion," composed 1795. Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., died 1867. THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUNE. 45 JUNE. - 1 "Address of Beelzebub," composed 1785. Mr. White, Rector Dumfries Academy, died 1825. Drama entitled " Robert Burns " produced at The Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 1896. Rev. John Mutrie, died 1785. 3 " Logan Braes," composed 1796. Jessie Lewars married to James Thomson, 1799. " Guid Mornin' to your Majesty," composed 1786. Gen. Burgoyne, died 1792, Miss Alexander, "the Lass of Ballochmvle," died 1843. Robert Burns, architect, Edinburgh, died 1815. Rev. John Robertson, Kilmarnock, died 1799. 46 THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUNE. 6 A Burns Statue for Glasgow, suggested by an article in The Citize?t^ 1872. Article "A French estimate of Burns" in Glasgow Herald, 1892. "On a Scotch bard gone to the West Indies," composed 1786. 8 'Adown winding Nith I did wander, "composed 1793. The Poet returned to Mauchline after his Border Tour, 1787. Jean Armour returned to Mauchline from Paisley, 1786. 10 'A Bard's Epitaph," composed 1786. THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUNE. 47 11 Prof. Dugald Stewart, died 1828. Rev. Dr. William Robertson, died 1793. 12 The Poet took up his residence at Ellisland, 1788. John Gibson Lockhart, born 1794. 13 Mrs. Thompson, (Betty Burns,) died 1873. 14 Agnes Tennant, ("Nancy,") died 1787. 15 Thomas Campbell, died 1843. 16 Rev. John Skinner, died 1807. 17 Miss Eliza Burnet, of Monboddo, died 1790. 48 THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUNE. 18 'Burnsiana," Vol. VI, published 1897. 'Address To The Toothache," composed 1789. 19 James Boswell, of Auchinleck, died 1795. John Maxwell, of Munches, died 18 14. Patrick Brydone, F. R. S., died 1818. John Kennedy, Factor, Dumfries House, died 181 2. 20 From thee Eliza, I must go," composed 1786. 21 Description of Tour in Galloway, sent to Mr. D. McCuUoch, 1794. Samuel Mitchelson, died 1788. 22 "The Lass o' Ballochmyle," composed 1786. "The Contemporaries of Burns," published 1840. 22> The Poet acted as D. M. of St. James's Lodge, 1786. W. Scott Douglas, died 1883. THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUNE. 49 24 Alexander, fourth Duke of Gordon, died 1827. Sir James Hall, of Douglass, died 1832. Rev. George Maxwell, died 1807. William Smellie, printer, died 1795. 25 "Logan Water," sent to Mr. Thomson, 1793. St. James's Lodge United with St. David's Lodge, Tarbolton, 1781. 26 Jessie Lewars presented by the Poet with the Scots Musical Museum, 1796. 27 Alexander H. Smith, "Antique Smith," convicted of forging Burns and other manuscripts, 1893. Isabella, sister of the poet, born 1771. David Ramsay, (Edinburgh Coiiranf)^ died 18 13. Earl of Strathallan, (" Strathallan's Lament,") died 1765. so THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUNE. 28 First Version of poem "Written in Friars Carse," composed 1788. 29 Mary Morison, died at Mauchline, 1791. 30 William Roscoe, died 1831. John Davidson, *' Souter Johnie," died 1806. THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUL Y. 51 JULY. - 1 John Goudie, Alloway, died 1842. Sir James Hunter Blair, Bart., died 1787. Article on ''The Duchess of Gordon," by J. M. Bulloch, in The New Illustrated Magazine 1897. Jean, daughter of Gilbert Burns, died 18 15. The Poet initiated into St. David's Lodge, Tarbolton, 1781. Monument at Doon, finished 1823. The Poet starts for Brow, 1796. William Simpson, schoolmaster, died 181 5. The Penny Poets No. 5, "Robert Burns," published 1895. 52 THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUL V. Mrs.Riddell and the Poet had a memorable interview, 1796. David Dunn, schoolmaster, died 18 10. ** Last May a braw wooer cam' down the lang glen," composed 1795. Poem entitled "The Tomb of Burns," by William Wallace, in T/ie Spectator^ 1895. George Augustus Elliott, died 1790. Rev. Dr. Thomas Blacklock, died 1791. Edmond Burke, died 1797. Ayr Monument unveiled, 1891. Fitz-Green Halleck, born 1790. W. E. Henley's Essay on Burns, written 1897. 9 Francis Wallace Burns, Poet's son, died 1803. Alexander Marshall, famous MauchUne Burns Guide, died 1898. THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUL Y. 53 10 John Burns, brother of the Poet, born 1769. Dr. Robert Chambers, born 1802. 11 Epistle to Hugh Parker, composed 1788. 12 Letter addressed to Mr. Thomson soliciting loan of five pounds, 1796. "Fairest Maid on Devon's Banks," composed 1796. Epistle from Janet Little, addressed to the Poet, 1789. Alexander Williamson, Balgray, died 1805. Article on Alexander Nasmyth, by the Rev. P. Anton in TJie People's Friend^ 1897. 13 Leslie Bailey, (Mrs. Cunningham of Logie), died 1843. Lady Winfred Maxwell Constable, died i8or. 14 George Thompson wrote his last letter to the Poet, 1796. 54 THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUL Y. 15 Burns Exhibition, opened at Glasgow, 1896. John Ballantyne, banker, Ayr, died 181 2. 16 Rev. David Grant, died 1791, 17 Letter to David Bryce, "I am now fixed for the West Indies in October," 1786. Battle of Killiecrankie, 1689. IS Statue at Irvine unveiled, 1896. The Poet returned from Brow, 1796. Last letter written by Burns, (addressed to his father- in-law), 1796. Lord President Dundas, born 17 13. 19 William Stewart, companion of the Poet, died 181 2. THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUL Y. 55 20 John McLeod, of Raasay, died 1787. 21 The day on which the poet died, 1796. Great Centenary Demonstration held at Ayr, Dun- fries, etc., 1896. For full accounts see Bums Chronicle, Vol. VI. First Meeting- of the Greenock Burns Club, t8oi. Bust of the Poet, by D. W. Stevenson, unveiled in Tullie House, Carlisle, England, 1898. ■ ^ — 22 Assignment made by the Poet of his works, 1786. John Ballantyne, banker, Ayr, born 1743. _23 Inaugural Meeting of the Dundee Burns Society, 1896. Foundation Stone of the Burns Memorial, at Mauch- line, laid 1896. 56 THE BURNS ALMANAC— JUL Y. 24 The Poet's remains removed from his house to the Town Hall, 1796. William, brother of the Poet, died 1790. Article on George Thomson, in the Kilmarnock Sta7idard^ 1897. 25 Funeral day of the Poet, 1796. Maxwell Burns, born 1796. The Poet presided as D. G. M., Tarbolton Lodge, 1787. 26 Burns Statue unveiled on Thames Embankment, 1884. 27 The Poet elected D. M. St. James's Lodge, 1784. Obituary notice of the Poet appeared in London Herald^ 1796. 28 Mrs. Dugald Stewart, (Miss Cranston), died 1838. Prof. John Stuart Blackie, born 1809. The Poet promoted to Dumfries 3rd. Division Excise, 1790. THE BURNS ALMANAC— JULY. 57 29 Alexander Weir, merchant, died 1819. 30 William Burns, brother of the Poet, born 1767. 31 Dr. James Currie, died 1805. "Scots Wha Hae," composed (according to Mr. Syme), 1793. 58 THE BURNS ALMANAC— AUGUST. AUGUST. — 1 — Rev. James Young, Cumnock, died 1795. Highland Mary Statue at Dunoon, unveiled 1896. Autobiographical sketch sent to Dr. John Moore, 1787. Sir Harris Nicolas, died 1848. First epistle to Mr. Graham, of Fintrv, composed 1788. Lady Elizabeth Cunningham, died 1804. The Poet and Jean Armour legally married, 1788. THE BURNS ALMANAC-AUGUST. 59 Festival in honor of the Poet's sons held at Ayr, 1844. Rev. Walter Young, died 18 14. David Allan, printer, died 1796. Stephen Clark, musician, died 1797. The Sydney (Australia) Memorial wreath of flowers, enclosed in a hugh block of ice, received in Dumfries, 1896. The Kirk's Alarm," composed 1789. s ** Montgomery's Peggy," composed 1784. William Muir, wine merchant, born 1758. *' Whistle and I'll come to you," composed 1793. Kilmarnock Memorial Statue, unveiled 1879. Catalogue of the M'Kie Burnsiana Library, published 1883. 6o THE BURNS ALMANAC— AUGUST. lO Sir Robert Laurie, Maxwelton, died 1804. Second epistle to Mr. Graham, of Fintry, composed 1789. 11 Alexander Tennant, (''Singin' Sannock"), died 1841, 12 James Glencairn Burns, born 1794. 13 Fourth Volume, Scots Musical Museum, published 1792. George Gebbie, Burns scholar and publisher, Phila- delphia, Pa., died 1892. 14 Rev. James Shepard, Muirkirk, died 1799. 15 Sir Walter Scott, born 1771. THE BURNS ALMANAC—AUGUST. 6i 16 Letter regarding '* Man was Made to Mourn," sent to Mrs. Dunlop, 1788. 17 Dr. Adam Smith, died 1790. Article entitled "A Glimpse of Clarinda," by Dr. James Adams, appeared in Glasgow Daily Mail, 1895. IS Francis Wallace Burns, born 1789. Dr. James Beattie, died 1803. The Poet acted as D. M., St. James's Lodge, 1786. 19 Samuel Clark, writer, died 18 14. 20 The Poet visited Kenmore, 1787. Ann Rankine, (Mrs. Merry), died 181. 62 THE BURNS ALMANAC— AUGUST. 21 Unveiling of the Highland Mary panel in the Ayr Statue, by the Hon. Wallace Bruce, 1895. John, Earl of Mar, died 1825. 22 'The Holy Fair," composed 1785. 22> William Simpson, of Ochiltree, born 1758. Alexander Wilson, author of "Watty and Meg," died 1813. Robert Aiken, (writer, Ayr), born 1739. 24 Rev. Dr. Blacklock, addressed a poetical epistle to the Poet, 1789. 25 The Poet started on his Highland Tour, 1787. Andrew Strahan, publisher, died 1831. 26 The Poet knelt at the tomb of Sir John the Graham, 1787. THE BURNS ALMANAC— AUGUST. 63 27 Gavin Hamilton's Mother and her family visited by the Poet, 1787. 28 John Francis Erskine, Earl of Mar, died 1825. 29 '• On the Seas and Far Away," composed 1794. The Poet visited Taymouth, 1787. Rev. William Dalrymple, born 1723. 30 David Tennant, (''The Manly Tar"), died 1839. "Theniel Menzie's Bonie Mary," composed 1787. 31 Dr. James Currie, died 1805. 64 THE BURNS ALMANAC—SEPTEMBER. SEPTEMBER. 1 Public Library opened in Dumfries, 1793. Blair Athol visited by the Poet, 1787. Thomas Telford, engineer, died 1834. 3 Robert Burns Jr., born 1786. The Poet listens to sermon by the Rev. Jas. Stevens, (The Calf), 1786. Rev. Dr. Blacklock suggested that the Poet visit Edinburgh, 1786. The Burns Federation decided to issue an Annual '' Burns Chronicle," 1891. Robert Fergusson, born 1751. The Poet visited the Falls of Foyers, 1787. THE BURNS ALMANAC— SEPTEMBER. 65 James Clark, teacher, died 1825. Bolton Burns Club, instituted 1881. Colloden Muir, visited by the Poet, 1787. s The Poet enrolled as a member of the Caledonian Archers, 1792. Sir S. Brydges Egerton, died 1837. 9 "The Day Returns," composed 1788. 10 "Tam Samson's Elegy", composed 1786. Mary Wolstonecraft, died 1797. 11 Jean Lorimer, "Chloris," died 1831. Colin Rae Brown, died 1897. 66 THE BURNS ALMANAC-SEPTEMBER. 12 The Poet's remains placed in the Mausoleum, 1815, William Tytler, of Woodhouselee, died 1792. 13 Third epistle to Lapraik, composed 1785. Lord Maitland, died 1839. Charles James Fox, died 1806. w Rev. Dr. Andrew Shaw, died 1805. Foundation Stone of the Kilmarnock Memorial, laid 1 Crossgates Burns Club, instituted 1889, 15 Burns Statue unveiled at Aberdeen, 1892. Mrs. M. Henri, (daughter of Mrs. Dunlop), died 1792. 16 The Poet returned to Edinburgh from his Highland tour, 1787. THE BURNS ALMANAC— SEPTEMBER. 67 17 Epistle to the Rev. John McMath, written 1785. Mrs. Ronald, Bennals, died 1838. 18 Monument erected in St. Michael's Churchyard, 1815. 19 Douglas Ainslie, died 1850. 20 *' The Burns Scrap Book," issued in New York, 1893 21 Sir Walter Scott, died 1832. 22 She says she lo'es me best of a','' composed 1794. 22> Sir Adam Ferguson, of Kilkerran, died 1813, §8 THE BURNS ALMANAC—SEPTEMBER. 24 "O Willie brewed a peck o'maut," composed 1789. John, seventh Earl of Glencairn, died 1796. 25 Rev. James Grey, died 1830. 26 James McKie, publisher, died 1891. The Paisley Statue unveiled, 1896, 27 Sir Thomas Miller, Bart., died 1789. 28 Gilbert Burns, born 1760. 29 John, fourth Duke of Athol, died 1830. THE BURNS ALMANAC—SEPTEMBER. 69 30 Burns Statue at Albany, (N.Y.), unveiled 1888. Agnes Burns, born 1762. The Poet presented four volumes to the Subscription Library, Dumfries, 1793. Mrs. Findley, (Miss Markland), died 1851. 70 THE BURNS ALMANAC— OCTOBER. OCTOBER. 1 The Poet raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason, 1781. Charles Tennant, ("Wabster Charlie"), died 1838. Burns Statue unveiled in Central Park, New York, 1880. 3 - Edward Whigham, (Provost of Sanquhar), died 1823. Ballad of the Whistle, composed 1789. Mr. McWhinnie, writer, Ayr, and subscriber for twenty copies of the Kilmarnock edition, died 1819. Date of second epistle to Mr. Graham, of Fintry, 1791. "Burns' Clarinda," edited by John D. Ross, pub- lished at Edinburgh, 1897. THE BURNS ALMANAC— OCTOBER. v 6 Final accounting between the Poet and Mr. Wilson, printer, 1786. 'Farewell the Bonnie Banks of Ayr," composed 1786. 8 Hon. Henry Erskine, died 181 7. James Brash, bookseller, died 1835. Sir Alexander Boswell, Bart., born 1775. 10 Allan Masterton appointed writing master to Edin- burgh High School, 1789. 11 Rev. Dr. William Peebles, died 1826. Burns Monument unveiled at Leith, 1898. 72 THE BURNS ALMANAC— OCTOBER. 12 William Tytler, of Woodhouselee, born 1781. 13 Dr. William Maxwell, died 1834. William Motherwell, born 1797. 14 Rev. Dr. Andrew Mitchell, died 181 1. Rev. Mr. Lawson, Kirkmahoe, died 1796. 15 Allan Ramsay, born 1686, Dr. James Anderson, of The Bee, died 1808. 16 Robert Ferg-usson, died 1774. Dundee Statue unveiled, 1880. Final contest for the Whistle occured at Friars Carse, 1789. Mrs. Perochen, (daughter of Mrs. Dunlop), died 1825. The Poet elected an honorary member of St. John's Lodge, Kilm-arnock, 1786. THE BURNS ALMANAC— OCTOBER. 73 17 Isa Craig- Knox, born 1831. Rev. William Boyd, of Fen wick, died 1828. 18 Letter to Miss Alexander, of Balloclimyle, 1786. 19 " The Lover's Morning Salutation,'' composed 1794. Charles Hay, (Lord Newton), died t8ii. Rev. Dr. Laurie, died 1799. Rev. Dr. Candlish, died 1873. 20 Highland Mary, died 1786. "To Mary in Heaven," composed 1789. The Poet returned to Edinburgh, 1787. 21 "On Captain Grose's Peregrinations," composed 1789. Epistle to Dr. Blacklock, composed 1789. David Staig, Provost of Dumfries, died 1826. 74 THE BURNS ALMANAC— OCTOBER. 22 Clarinda, died 1841. Grace Aitken, died 1857. Sir James Shaw, Bart, died 184; David Watt, miller, died 1823. 22> The Poet introduced to Prof. Dugald Stewart, 1786. 2\ ' Lines on Meeting with Lord Dare," composed 1786. 25 " Tullochgorum," pronounced ''the best Scotch song- ever Scotland saw," 1787. Cupar Burns Club, inaugurated 1893. 26 The Poet affiliated with St. John's Lodge, 1786. 27 The Poet presented with Ritson's collection of EnglivSh songs, 1794. Baron Panmure, born 1771. THE BURNS ALMANAC-OCTOBER. 75 28 William Dndo^eon, died 1813. 29 - Allan Cunnino^ham, died 1842. 30 Andrew Hunter Aiken, died 1832. "Epistle to Major Logan," composed 1786. Archibald, eleventh Earl of Eglinton, died 1796. 31 London Burns Club, instituted 1868. Hallowe'en. John Niven, died 1822. Jean Glover, born 1758. 76 THE BURNS ALMANAC— NOVEMBER. NOVEMBER. — 1 — William Motherwell, died 1835. St. Rollox Burns Club, instituted 1889. Isabel Pagan, died 182 1. The Tarn o' Shanter Inn, Ayr, sold at public auction for ;^3i9o, 1892. Edinburgh Magazine contained critique on the Poet's writings, 1786. Rev. William M'Morine, died 1832. Margaret Kennedy, ("Young Peggy"), born 1766. Mrs. Bruce, (Clackmannan), died 1791. Impromptu sonnet on Mrs. Riddel's birthday, com- posed 1793. THE BURNS ALMANAC— NOVEMBER. 77 " My Chloris, mark how green the groves, " com- posed 1794. 6 Robert Heron, born 1764. Burnsiana, Vol. V, issued 1895. "Lassie wi' the Lint White Locks," composed 1794, The Poet defends the house of Stuart in a letter to 71ie London Star, 1788. 'To a Mouse," composed 1785. 10 Rev. Dr. Thomas Blacklock, born 1721. Sir Gay Carleton, (Lord Dorchester), died 1808. James McPherson,("McPherson's Fare well"), hanged at Banff, 1700. 78 THE BURNS ALMANAC— NOVEMBER. 11 William Burnes, the Poet's father, born 1721. Lease of EUisland surrendered, 1791. First meeting of the Bachelor's Club, Tarbolton, 1780. 12 Sir William Forbes, Bart., died 1806. 13 Battle of Sherrifmuir, 17 15. John Stewart, seventh Earl of Galloway, died 1806. 14 Anabella Bums, sister of the poet, born 1764. Miss Susan Ferrier, died 1844. Duchess of Albany, died 1789. Sir Roger Curtis, Admiral, died 18 16. 15 " Burns' Bonnie Jean," edited by John D. Ross, pub- lished in New York, 1897. THE BURNS ALMANAC— NOVEMBER. 79 16 Dr. James Adair and Miss Charlotte Hamilton, married 1789. 17 Fitz-Green Halleck, died 1867. IS James Glencairn Burns, died 1865. Song "The Lass of Ballochmyle, " sent to Miss Alexander, 1786. John M'Diarmed, Dumfries, died 1852. 19 James Fergusson, (Craigdarroch), died 1787. " O Phillis, happy be that day," composed 1794. 20 " Contented wi' little and can tie wi' mair," composed 1795- Gavin Hamilton, baptised 1751. 21 Elizabeth Riddell Burns, born 1792. James Hogg, died 1835. 8o THE BURNS ALMANAC— NOVEMBER. 22 New Brig, Ayr, opened 1786. 22> Burns manuscript forgeries exposed by Edinburgh Evening Dispatch, 1892. 24 John Syme, died 1831. Robert Bums Club, of Chester, Pa., organized 1879. 25 John Gibson Lockhart, died 1854. 26 Col. De Peyster, died 1822. 27 The Poet left Mossgiel for Edinburgh, 1786. Capt. Matthew Henderson, died 1788. THE BURNS ALMANAC— NOVEMBER. 8i 28 William Wallace, sheriff, died 1786. The Poet arrived in Edinburgh, 1786. 29 William Read, bookseller, died 1831. 30 " Robert Burns ; an anniversary poem, " by Duncan MacGregor Crerar, published 1885. 82 THE BURNS ALMANAC— DECEMBER. DECEMBER. 1 Complete copy of "The Lea Rig," sent to Mr. Thomson, 1792. " My Bonie Mary," composed 1788. 'Address to Edinburgh," composed 1786. "Isobel Burns, (Mrs. Begg), died 1858. Thomas Carlyle, born 1795. Alexander Findlater, excise collector, died 1839. John M'Murdo, died 1803. Duchess of Athole, died 1790. James Perry, editor, died 182 1. THE BURNS ALMANAC— DECEMBER. 83 Final interview between the Poet and Clarinda, 1791. First letter to Clarinda, written 1787. Song, "Once mair I hail thee, thou gloomy Decem- ber," composed 1792. Mrs. Oswald, of Auchencriuve, died 17S8. Allan Cunningham, born 1784. The Poet introduced to the brethern of Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, 1786. 8 Elizabeth Burns, " Sonsie, vSmirking, dear-bought Bess," (Mrs. John Bishop), died 181 7. Accident to the Poet which confined him to his room for six weeks, 1787. Prof. Andrew Dalzell, died 1806. Mary, Queen of Scots, born 1542. Henry Mackenzie's article on the Poet appeared in The Lounger^ 1786. Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, died 18 15. 84 THE BURNS ALMANAC— DECEMBER. lO Philadelphia, Pa. Burns Statue Association, insti- tuted 1893. Article, *'The Prose of Burns" appeared in The Scotsman, 1887. 11 Copy of "Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots," sent to Clarinda, 1791. 12 Rev. Dr. William Auld, died 1791. Thomas Samson, died 1795. 13 Lord President Dundas, died 1787. John Beugo, engraver, died 1841. William Niven, Maybole, died 1844. Glasgow Sandyford Burns Club, instituted 1893. 14 Rev. Mr. Lawson, Kirkmahoe, died 1796. William Wood, actor, died 1802. THE BURNS ALMANAC— DECEMBER. 85 15 William Burnes and Agnes Broun, married 1757. Earl of Eglinton, (Montgomerie of Coilsfield), died 1819. Philadelphia Tam o' Shanter Club, instituted 1883. Mrs. Walter Riddell, died 1808. 16 The Poet praised his Jacobite Ancestry in a letter to Lady Winfield M. Constable, 1789. 17 Epigram "To Mr. vSyme," composed 1795. "' Song of Death," composed 1791. 18 Carlyle's Review of Lockhart's Burns appeared in TJie Edinburgh Revtezu^ 1828. Rev. John M'Math, died 1825. 19 Louis Cauvin, French Teacher, died 1825. 86 THE BURNS ALMANAC— DECEMBER. 20 "Address to the Hao^gis," first published in Cale- donian Mercury^ 1786. 21 Sir John Sinclair, died 1835. Mrs. Margaret M. Inglis, Dumfries, died 1843. 22 Rev. Alexander Miller, died 1804. Nanse Tannock, died 1858. 22 Helen Marie Williams, died 1827. William, fourth Duke of Queensberry, died 18 10, 24 Gilbert, son of Gilbert Burns, died 1803. 25 The Burns Almanac, No. 2, published 1897. George Augustus Eliot, born 17 17. THE BURNS ALMANAC— DECEMBER. 87 26 Hanson's Burns, 2 vols., published in London, 1895. 27 The Poet elected a member of St. Andrew's Lodge, Dumfries, 1788. Copy of "Ae fond Kiss," sent to Clarinda, 1791. Dr. Hugh Blair, died 1800. Thomas Cadell, publisher, died 1800. 28 The Poet wrote his first letter to his father from Irvine, 1781. 29 'Carlyle on Burns" by John Muir, published 1897. 30 The Poet first alludes to Clarinda in a letter to Richard Brown, 1787. 88 THE BURNS ALMANAC— DECEMBER. 31 The Poet recited his Birthday Ode in honor of Prince Charlie, 1787. Gen. Richard Montgomerie, died 1775. Lenzie Burns Club, instituted 1895. THE BURNS ALMANAC. 89 ROBERT BURNvS' FAMILY. Robert Burns, born 25th of January, 1759. Died at Dumfries, 21st of July, 1796. Jean Armour, his wife, born at Mauchline, 27th of February, 1765. Died at Dumfries, 26th of March, 1834. children: Twins — boy and girl — born 3d of September, 1786. ^ Robert died 14th day of May, 1857. The oM died in infancy. Twins, born 3rd of March, 1788. Both died soon after birth. Francis Wallace, born i8th of August, 1789. Died 9th of July, 1803. William Nicol, born 9th of April, 1791. Died 21st February, 1872. Elizabeth Riddel, born 21st of November, 1792. Died September, 1795. James Glencairn, born 12th of August, 1794. Died 1 8th of November, 1865. Maxwell, born 25th of July, 1796. Died 25th of April, 1799. WILLIAM BURNES' FAMILY. William Burnes, born at Clockenhill, nth of Nov- ember, 172 1. Died 13th of February, 1784. Agnes Broun, his wife, born in Carrick district, 17th of March, 1732. Died 14th of January. 1820. 90 THE BURNS ALMANAC. children: Robert, born 25th of January, 1759. Died 21st of July, 1796. Gilbert, born 28th of September, 1760. Died 8th of April, 1827. Ao^nes, born 30th of vSeptember, 1762. Died 8th of April, 1834. Annabella, born 14th of November, 1764. Died 2d of March, 1832. William, born 30th of July, 1767. Died 24th of July, 1790. John, born loth of July, 1769. Died 24th of July, 1783. Isobel, born 27th of June, 1771. Died 4th of December, 1858. PRICES OBTAINABLE IN 1898 FOR A FIRST EDITION OF BURNS. Copies measuring; 7 inches ;^3o 45 60 75 90 100 no 122 135 147 160 175 190 1% 7/2 8 8^8 8>^ 8f^ 83/ If in the original boards, and with the label on back 200 THE BURNS ALMANAC. 91 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS FOR THE FIRST EDITION. Copies Robert Aitken, of Ayr 145 Robert Muir, Kilmarnock 72 Gilbert Burns, MossiJ^iel 70 James vS mi th, Mauchline 41 Gavin Hamilton, Mauchline 40 John Logan, Laight 20 John Kennedy, Dumfries House 20 iMr. M'Whinnie, Ayr 20 David Sillar, Irvine 14 Wm. Niven, Maybole 7 Walter Morton, Cumnock 6 John Neilson, Cumnock 5 The Author 3 The Printer 70 Sundry persons 67 Total 600 SEVEN EPOCHS IN THE LIFE OF BURNS. First Epoch — Alloway. Seven years were passed in the Auld Clay Biggin at Alloway, from the 25th of January, 1759, until the Whitsuntide of 1766. vSecond Epoch — Mount Oliphant. Eleven years (from his seventh to his eighteenth year) were passed on the farm at Mount Oliphant, from the Whitsuntide of 1766 until the Whitsuntide of 1777. Third Epoch — Lochlea. Six years (from his eighteenth to his twenty- fourth year) were passed on the farm at Lochlea, from the Whitsuntide of 1777 until the Martinmas of 1783. 92 THE BURNS ALMANAC. Fourth Epoch — Mossgiel. Three years (from his twenty-fourth to his twenty- seventh year) were passed on Mossgiel, from the Martinmas of 1783 until the Martinmas of 1786. Fifth Epoch — Edinburgh. Nearly two years (from his twenty-eighth on into his twenty-ninth year) were passed in Edinburgh, or in tours to the South, and into the West Highlands. Sixth Epoch — Ellisland. Three years (from his twenty-ninth to his thirty- second year,) from the Whitsuntide of 1788, until nearly the end of 1791, were passed at the farm of Ellisland. Seventh Epoch — Dumfries. Five years, from the end of 1791, until the 21st of July, 1796, when he died (at the age of thirty- seven years and six months,) were passed in the town of Dumfries, first in the Wee Vennel, now known as Bank Street, and finally in a narrow street near the church, now called Burns Street, in mem- ory of its having been the last place of residence of the National Poet of Scotland. THE BURNS ALMANAC. 93 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF BURNS' LIFE AND WORKS. From the Globe edition of Burns. ALLOWAY. T759- January 25. — Robert Bums bom at Alloway, parish of Ayr, in a clay-built cottage, the work of his father's own hands. His father, William Burnes (so the family name was always written until changed by the poet), was a native of Kincardinshire, born November 11, 1721. His mother, Agnes Broun, born March 17, 1732, was daughter of a farmer in Carrick, Ayrshire. The poet's parents were married December 15, 1757. William Burnes was then a gardner and farm-overseer. 1765— (^Etat Six). Sent to a school at Alloway Mill, kept by one Campbell, who was succeeded in May by John Murdoch, a young teacher of uncommon merit, engaged by William Burnes and four of his neighbors, who boarded him alternately at their houses, and guaranteed him a small salary. Two advantages were thus possessed by the poet — an excellent father and an excellent teacher. MOUNT OLIPHANT. 1766 — (Seven). William Burnes removed to the farm of Mount Oliphant, two miles distant. His sons still attended 94 THE BURNS ALMANAC. Alloway school. The books used were a spell- ing-book^ the New Testament^ the Bible ^ Mason's Col- lection of Prose and Verse^ and Fisher's English Grammar. 1768 — (Nine). Murdoch gave up Alloway school. Visiting the Burnes family before his departure, he took with him, as a present, the play of Titus Andronicus, He read part of the play aloud, but the horrors of the scene shocked and distressed the children, and Robert threatened to burn the book if it was left. Instead of it, Murdoch gave them a comedy, the School for Love (translated from the French) and an English Grammar. He had previously lent Robert a Life of Hannibal. "The earliest composition that I recollect taking any pleasure in," says the poet, **was the Visiofi of Mirza, and a hymn of Addison's beginning. How are Thy Servants blest ^ O Lord I I particularly remember one half-stanza, which was music to my boyish ear, — * For though in dreadful whirls we hung High on the broken wave ! ' " He had found these in Mason's Collection. The latent seeds of poetry were further cultivated in his mind by an old woman living in the family, Betty Davidson, who had a great store of tales, songs, ghost-stories, and legendary lore. 1770 — (Eleven). By the time he was ten or eleven years of age he was an excellent English scholar, "a critic in sub- stantives, verbs, and particles. " After the departure of Murdoch, William Burnes was the only instructor of his sons and other children. He taught them arithmetic, and procured for their use Salmon's Geographical Grammar, Derhanis Physics and Astro- THE BURNS ALMANAC. 95 Theology, and Rafs Wisdom of God in the Creation. These g-ave the boys some idea of Geography, Astronomy and Natural History. He had also StackJioiise's History of the Bible, Taylor's Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin, a volume of EnglisJi His- tory (reig-ns of James I. and Charles I.). The blacksmith lent the common metrical Life of Sir William Wallace (which was read with Scottish fervor and enthusiasm), and a maternal uncle supplied a Collection of Letters by the wits of Queen Anne's reign, which inspired Robert with a strong desire to excel in letter- writing. 1772 — (Thirteen). To improve their penmanship, William Burnes sent his sons, week about, during the summer quarter, to the parish school of Dalrymple, two or three miles distant. This year Murdoch was appointed teacher of English in Ayr school, and he renewed his acquaintance with the Burnes family, sending them Pope's Works and "some other poetry. " 1773 — (Fourteen). Robert boarded three weeks with Murdoch at Ayr in order to revise his English Grammar. He acquired also a smattering of French, and on returning home he took with him a French Dictionary and French Grammar, and a copy of Telemaque, He attempted Latin, but soon abandoned it. 1774 — Fifteen). His knowledge of French introduced him to some respectable families in Ayr (Dr. Malcomb's and others). A lady left him the Spectator, Pope's Homer, and several other books. In this year began with him love and poetry. His partner in the 96 THE BURNS ALMANAC. harvest-field was a "bewitching creature" a year younger than himself, Nelly Kilpatrick, daughter of the blacksmith, who sang sweetly, and on her he afterwards wrote his first song and first effort at rhyme, (9, once I loved a bonnie lass. 1775 — (Sixteen). About this time Robert was the principal laborer on the farm. From the unproductiveness of the soil, the loss of cattle, and other causes, William Burnes had got into pecuniary difficulties, and the threatening letters of the factor (the landlord being dead) used to set the distressed family in tears. The charater of the factor is drawn in the Tale of Twa Dogs. The hard labor, poor living, and sorrow of this period formed the chief cause of the poet's subsequent fits of melancholy, frequent headaches, and palpitation of the heart. 1776 — (Seventeen). Spent his seventeenth summer (so in poet's MS. British Museum; Dr. Currie altered the date to nineteenth) on a smuggling coast in Ayrshire, at Kirkoswald, on purpose to learn mensuration, sur- veying, etc. He made good progress, though mixing somewhat in the dissipation of the place, which had then a flourishing contraband trade. Met the second of his poetical heroines, Peggy Thomson, on whom he afterwards wrote his fine song, Nozv westlin winds and slaughVring guns. The charms of this maiden "overset his trigonometry and set him off at a tangent from the sphere of his studies." On his return from Kirkoswald ("in my seventeenth year," he writes) he attended a dancing school to "give his manners a brush." His father had an antipathy to these meetings, and his going "in absolute defiance of his father's command" {sic in orig. ) was an THE BURNS ALMANAC. 97 *' instance of rebellion " which he conceived brought on him the paternal resentment and even dislike. Gilbert Burns dissents altogether from this con- clusion: the poet's extreme sensibility and regret for his one act of disobedience led him unconsciously to exaggerate the circumstances of the case. At Kirkoswald he had enlarged his reading by the addition of Thomson's and Shenst one's Works, and among the other books to which he had access at this period, besides those mentioned above, were some plays of Shakespeare, Allan Ramsay's Works, Harvey's Meditations, and a Select Collection of English Songs ("The Lark," 2 vols.). This last work was, he says, his vade meciim; he pored over it driving his cart or walking to labor, and carefully noted the true tender or sublime from affectation and fustian. He composed this year two stanzas, I dream' d I lay %vhere floivers were springing. LOCHLEA. 1777 — (Eighteen). William Burnes and family remove to a larger farm at Lochlea, parish of Tarbolton. Take possess- ion at Whitsunday. Affairs for a time look brighter, and all work diligently. Robert and Gilbert have ^7 per annum each as wages from their father, and they also take land from him for the purpose of raising flax on their own account. "Though, when young, the poet was bashful and awkward in his intercourse with women, as he approached manhood his attachment to their society became very strong, and he was constantly the victim of some fair enslaver." (Gilbert Burns.) He was in the secret, he says, of half the loves of the parish of Tarbolton. 1778 — Nineteen). "I was," he says, "about eighteen or nineteen when I sketched the outlines of a tragedy." The 98 THE BURNS ALMANAC. whole had escaped his memory, except a fragment of twenty lines: All devil as I am, etc. 1780 — (Twenty-one). The "Bachelors' Club," established at Tarbolton by Robert and Gilbert Burns, and five other young- men. Meetings were held once a month, and ques- tions debated. The sum expended by each member was not to exceed threepence. 1781 — (Twenty-two). David Sillar admitted a member of the Bachelors* Club. He describes Burns: "I recollect hearing his neighbors observe he had a great deal to say for himself, and that they suspected his prinhiples (his religious principles). He wore the only tied hair in the parish, and in the church his plaid, which was of a particular color, I think fillemot, he wrapped in a particular manner round his shoulders. Between sermons we often took a walk in the fields ; in these walks I have frequently been struck by his facility in addressing the fair sex, and it was generally a death-blow to our conversation, however agreeable, to meet a female acquaintance. Some book he always carried and read when not otherwise em- ployed. It was likewise his custom to read at table. In one of my visits to Lochlea, in the time of a sowen supper, he was so intent on reading, — I think Tristram Shandy, — that his spoon falling out of his hand made him exclaim in a tone scarely imitable, 'Alas, poor Yorick! ' " The poet had now added to his collection of books Mackenzie's Man of Feeling (which he said he prized next to the Bible) and Man of the World, Sterne's Works, and Macpherson's Ossian. He would appear also to have had the poetical works of Young. Among the fair ones whose society he courted was a superior young THE BURNS ALMANAC, 99 woman, bearing the impoetical name of Ellison Begbie. She was the daughter of a small farmer at Galston, but was servant with a family on the banks of the Cessnock. On her he wrote a ''song of similes," beginning On Cessnock banks there lives a lass, and the earliest of his printed correspondence is addressed to Ellison. His letters are grave, sensible epistles, written with remarkable purity and coiTectness of language. At this time poesy was, he says, "a darling walk for his mind." The oldest of his printed pieces were Winter, a Dirge, the Death of Poor Mailie, John Barleycorn, and the three songs // was upon a Lammas night, Nozv westlin winds and slaiighfring guns, and Behind yon hills ivhere Stinchar Jlozvs. We may add to these O Tibbie I hae seen the day and Aly father was a fanner. His exquisite lyric, O Mary, at thy windozu be, was also, he says, one of his juvenile works. 1782 — (Twenty-three). Ellison Begbie refuses his hand. She was about to leave her situation, and he expected himself to " remove a little further off." He went to the town of Irvine. " My twenty-third year," he says, "was to me an important era. Partl)^ through whim, and partly that I wished to set about doing something in life, I joined a flax-dresser in a neighboring town to learn his trade, and carry on the business of manu- facturing and retailing flax. This turned out a sadly unlucky affair. My partner was a scoundrel of the first water, who made money by the mystery of thieving, and to finish the whole, while we were welcoming carousal to the New Year, our shop, by the drunken carelessness of my partner's wife, took fire, and was burned to ashes ; and left me like a true poet, not worth a sixpence."* In Irvine his reading * From orig. in Brit. Museum. Burns wrote an interesting and affecting letter to his father, from Irvine. Dr. Currie LofC. loo THE BURNS ALMANAC. dates it 1781, which we think is an error. The poet's state- ment is corroborated by his brother's narrative, and the stone chimney of the room occupied by the poet is inscribed, evidently by his own hand, " R. B. 1782." He consoled him- self for his loss after this fashion : — '* O, why the deuce should I repine, And be an ill foreboder ? I'm twenty-three, and five feet nine, I'll go and be a sodger." was only increased, he says, by two volumes of Pamela, and one of Ferdinand, Count Fathom, which gave him some idea of novels. Rhyme, except some religious pieces that are in print, he had given up, but meeting with Fergnsson's Scottish Poems, he ** strung anew his lyre with emulating vigor." He also formed a friendship for a young fellow, **a very noble character," Richard Brown, and with others of a freer manner of thinking and living than he had been used to, *'the consequence of which was," he says," that soon after I resumed the plough, I wrote the Poefs Welcome'' (to his illegitimate child). But this was not till the summer of 1 784. Before leaving Lochlea he became a Freemason. MOSSGIEL. 1784 — (Twenty-five). February 13. — William Bumes died at Lochlea in his sixty-fourth year, his affairs in utter ruin. His sons and two grown-up daughters ranked as creditors of their father for arrears in wages, and raised a little money to stock another farm. This new farm was that of Mossgiel, parish of Mauchline, which had been sub-let to them by Gavin Hamilton, writer (or attorney) in Mauchline. They entered on the farm in March: "Come, go to, I will be wise," resolved the poet, but bad seed and a late harvest deprived them of half their expected crop. Poetry was THE BURNS ALMANAC. loi henceforth to be the only successful vocation of Robert Burns. To this year may be assigned the Epistle to John Rafikine (a strain of rich humor, but indelicate), and some minor pieces. In April or May he commenced his acquaintance with "Bonnie Jean " — Jean Armour — an event which colored all his future life, imparting to it its brightest lights and its darkest shadows. ^7^5— (Twenty-six). In January the Epistle to Davie completed: Death and Doctor Hornbook wntten about Februar3\ Epis- tle to J, Lapraik, April i, 21, and vSeptember 13. Epistle to IV. Simpson in May. The Twa Herds, or the Holy Tiilzte : this satire was the first of his poetic offspring that saw the light (excepting some of his songs), and it was received by a certain description of the clergy, as well as laity, with a *'roar of applause." Burns had now taken his side with the *' New Light," or rationalistic section of the church, then in violent antagonism to the "Auld Light," or evangelistic party, which comprised the bulk of the lower and middling classes. To this year belong The Jolly Beggars, Haliozueen, The Cotter's Saturday Night, Man was made to Monrn, Address to the Dei I, To a Mouse, A Winter Night, Holy Willie's Prayer, and Ihe Holy Fair (early MS. in British Museum),' Epistle to James Smith, etc, 1786 — (Twenty-seven). In rapid succession are produced Scotch Dri7tk, The Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer, The Twa Dogs, The Ordi7iation, Address to the Ujico Quid, To a Moun- tain Daisy, Epistle to a Yoiing Friend^ A Bards Epitaph, The Lament, Despondency, etc. Such a body of original poetrj', written within about twelve months, — poetry so natural, forcible, and pictur- 102 THE BURNS ALMANAC. esque, so quaint, sarcastic, humorous, and tender, — had unquestionably not appeared since Shakespeare. Misfortunes, however, were gathering round the poet. The farm had proved a failure, and the con- nection with Jean Armour brought grief and shame. He gave her a written acknowledgment of marriage, but at the urgent entreaty of her father she con- sented that this document should be destroyed. The poet was frantic with distress and indignation. He resolved on quitting the country, engaged to go out to Jamaica as book-keeper on an estate, and, to raise money for his passage, arranged to publish his poems. Subscription papers were issued in April. In the meantime, in bitter resentment of the perfidy, as he esteemed it, of the unfortunate Jean Armour, he renewed his intimacy with a former love, Mary Campbell, or "Highland Mar5%" who had been a servant in the family of Gavin Hamilton, and was nov/ dairy-maid at Coilsfield. He proposed marriage to Mary Campbell, was accepted, and Mary left her service and went to her parents in Argyle- shire, preliminary to her union with the poet. They parted on the banks of the Ayr, on Sunday, May 14, exchanging Bibles and vowing eternal fidelity. No more is heard of Mary until after her death,' which took place in October of this year. The poems were published in August, an edition of 600 copies, and were received with enthusiastic applause. The poet cleared about ^20 by the volume, took a passage in the first ship that was to sail from the Clyde (nothing was said of Mary accompanying him), and was preparing to embark, when a letter from Dr. Blacklock, offering encouragement for a second edition, roused his poetic ambition, and led him to try his fortune in Edinburgh. Before start- ing he made the acquaintance of "Mrs. Dunlop, the most valued and one of the most accomplished of his corres[)on dents. THE BURNS ALMANAC. 103 EDINBURGH. November 2S, 1786. — Burns reaches the Scottish capital, and instantly becomes the lion of the season. He is courted and caressed by the witty, the fashion- able, and the learned — by Dugald Stewart, Harry Erskine, Hugh Blair, Adam Ferguson, Dr. Robert- son, Lord Monboddo, Dr. Gregory, Eraser Tytler, Lord Glencairn, Lord Eglinton, Patrick Miller (the ingenious laird of Dalswinton), the fascinating Jane, Duchess of Gordon, Miss Burnet, etc. Henry Mac- kenzie, the "Man of P'eeling," writes a critique on the poems in the Lounger^ — the members of the Caledonian Hunt subscribe for a hundred copies of the new edition, — and the poet is in a fair way, as he says, of becoming as eminent as Thomas a Kempis or John Bunyan. 1787 — (Twenty-eight). Burns applies for and obtains permission to erect a tombstone in Canongate Churchyard over the remains of Fergusson the poet. In April appears the second edition of the Poems, consisting of 3,000 copies, with a list of subscribers prefixed, and a portrait of the poet. In this edition appeared Death and Dr. Hornbook^ the Ordination^ and Address to tlie Unco Gidd, which were excluded from the first edition, and several new pieces, the best of which are the Brigs of Ayr and Tarn Samsofi' s Elegy. On the 5th of May the poet sets off on a tour with a young- friend, Robert Ainslie, in order to visit the most interesting scenes in the south of Scotland. Cross- ing the Tweed over Coldstream bridge, Burns knelt down on the English side and poured forth, uncov- ered, and with strong emotion, the prayer for Scotland contained in the last two stanzas of the Cotter s Saturday Night. June 4, he was made an honorary burgess of the town of Dumfries, after I04 THE BURNS ALMANAC. which he proceeded to Ayrshire, and arrived at MauchHne on the 9th of June. "It will easily be conceived," says Dr. Currie, "with what pleasure and pride he was received by his mother, his brothers, and sisters. He had left them poor and comparatively friendless ; he returned to them hig-h in public estimation, and easy in his circumstances." At this time the poet renewed his intimacy with Jean Armour. Towards the end of the month he made a short Hig^hland tour, in which he visited Loch Lomond and Dumbarton, and returning to Mauchline, we find him (July 25) presiding as Deputy Grand Master of the Tarbolton Mason Lodg-e, and admitting Professor Dugald Stewart, Mr. Alexander, of Ballochmyle, and others, as hon- orary members of the Lodge. On the 25th of Aug-ust the poet set off from Edinburgh on a north- ern tour with Willliam Nicol of the High vSchool. They visited Bannockburn, spent two days at Blair with the Duke of Athole and family, proceeded as far as Inverness, then by way of Elgin, Fochabers (dining with the Duke and Duchess of Gordon), on to Aberdeen, Stonehaven, Montrose, where he met his relatives the Burneses. Arrived at Edinburgh on the 1 6th of September. In December made the acquaintance of Clai-inda, or Mrs. M'Lehose, with whom he kept up a passionate correspondence for about three months. Overset by a drunken coach- man, and sent home with a severely bruised knee, which confined him for several weeks. Mr. A. Wood, surgeon " lang sandy WcxkI," applies to Mr. Graham, of Fintr)% Commissioner of Excise, and g-ets Burns's name enrolled among the number of expectant Excise officers. During all this winter the poet zealously assists Mr. James Johnson in his publication, the Scots Musical Museum. 1 788 — Twenty-nine). Left Edinburgh for Dumfries to inspect Mr. THE BURNS ALMANAC. 105 Miller's lands at Dalswinton. Stopped by the way at Mossgiel, February 23. Poor Jean Armour, who had again loved not wisely, but too well, was living apart, separated from her parents, and supported by Burns. He visited her the day before his departure for Dumfries (apparently February 24), and it is painful to find him writing thus to Clarinda: "I, this morning as I came home, called for a certain woman. I am disgusted with her. I cannot endure her. I, while my heart smote me for the profanit}^ tried to compare her with my Clarinda; 'twas setting the expiring glimmer of a farthing taper beside the cloudless glory of the meridian sun. Here was taste- less insipidity, vulgarity of soul, and mercenary fawning; there, polished good sense, Heaven-born genius, and the most generous, the most delicate, the most tender passion. I have done with her, and she with me." * In less than two months they were married ! In this, as in the Highland Mary episode, Burns's mobility, or *' excessive susceptibility of immediate impressions," % seems something marvel- ous, and more akin to the French than the Scotch character. Returned to Edinburgh in March, and on the 13th took a lease of the farm of EUisland, on the banks of the Nith. On the 19th settled with Creech, the profits from the Edinburgh edition and copyright being about ;i^5oo, of which the poet gave ;,^i8o to his brother Gilbert, as a loan, to enable him to continue (with the family) at Mossgiel. In the latter \)3.vt of April Burns was privately married to Jean Armour, and shortly afterwards wrote on her his two charming songs Of a' the airts the wind can blaiv and O, were I on Parnassus hill ! * From the original, published in Banffshire Jour naL I So defined by Byron, who was himself a victim to this "unhappy attribute," See " Don Juan," canto xvi. 97. io6 THE BURNS ALMANAC. ELLISLAND. In June the poet went to reside on his farm, his wife remaining at Mauchline until a house should be built at Ellisland. Formed the acquaintance of Captain Riddel, of Glenriddel, a gentleman of liter- ary and antiquarian tastes, who resided at Friars Carse, within a mile from Ellisland. On 28th June wrote Verses in Ftiars Carse Hermitage. August 5, the poet at Mauchline made public acknowledgment of his marriage before the Kirk Session, at the same time giving " a guinea note for behoof of the poor." In December conducted Mrs. Burns to the banks of the Nith. I /me a ivife o' my ain I 1789— (Thirty). Visited Edinburgh in February, and received about jQ^o more of copyright money from Creech. August 18, son born to the poet, named Francis Wallace. About the same time receiv^ed appoint- ment to the Excise. October 16, the great baccha- nalian contest for the Whistle took place at Friars Carse in presence of the poet. On the 20th of October (as calculated, and indeed proved by Mr. Chambers) the sublime and affecting lyric, To Mary in Heave?i, was composed. Met Grose, the antiquary at Friars Carse, and afterwards wrote the humorous poem O71 Captain Grose' s Peregidnations. In Decem- ber was written the election ballad The Five Carlines. 1790 — (Thirty-one). January 11. — Writes to Gilbert that his farm is a ruinous affair. On the 14th, addressing his friend Mr. Dunbar, W.vS., relative to his Excise appoint- ment, he says: "I found it a very convenient busi- iness to have £c^o per annum; nor have I felt any of those monilvm^- circumstances in it I was led to THE BURNS ALMANAC. 107 fear." The duties were hard; he had to ride at least 200 miles ever)^ week, but he still contributed largely to the Scots Musical Museum, wrote the elegy 0?i Captain Matthew Henderson (one of the most exquisite of the poet's productions), and in autumn produced Tarn 0' Shanter, by universal assent the crowning glory and masterpiece of its author. 1791 — (Thirty-two.) In February wrote La^ne^it of Mary Queen of Scots, and Lament for James Earl of Gle7icarin. In March had his right arm broken by the fall of his horse, and was some weeks disabled from writing. In this month also occurred an event which probably caused deeper pain than the broken arm. First, as Mr. Chambers saj^s, ''we have a poor girl lost to the reputable world ; " (this was "Anna with the gowden locks," niece to the hostess of the Globe Tavern;) *'next we have Burns seeking an asylum for a help- less infant at his brother's; then a magnanimous wife interposing with the almost romantically gen- erous offer to become herself its nurse and guardian."'* April 9, a third son born to the poet, and named William Nicol. At the close of the month the poet sold his crop at Ellisland, "and sold it well." Declined to attend the crowning of Thomson's bust at Ednam, but wrote verses for the occasion. In November made a short visit — his last — to Edin- burgh, and shortly afterwards wrote his inimitable farewell to Clarinda, Aefond kiss and then we sever. The fourth stanza of this song Sir Walter Scott said contained "the essence of a thousand love tales." * Mrs. Burns v/as much attached to the child, who reniained with her till she was seventeen years of age, when she married a soldier, John Thomson of the StirHng IVIihtia. She is still living, and strongly resembles her father. Poor Anna the mother felt deeply the disgrace ; she, however, made a dt- cent marriage in Leith, but died comparatively young, without any family W her husband. io8 THE BURNS ALMANAC. DUMFRIES. At Martinmns (Nov. ii), the poet having disposed of his stock and other effects at Ellisland, and sur- rendered the lease of the farm to Mr. Miller the proprietor, removed with his family to the town of Dumfries. He occupied for a year and a half three rooms of a second floor on the north side of Bank Street (then called the Wee Vennel). On taking up his residence in the town, Burns was well received by the higher class of inhabitants and the neighbor- ing gentry. One of the most accomplished of the latter was Mrs. Walter Riddel {7tee Marie Woodley), then aged only about eighteen. This lady, with her husband, a brother of Captain Riddel of Glenriddel, lived on a small estate about four miles from Dum- fries, which in compliment to the lady they called Woodley Park (now Goldielea). 1792 — (Thirty -three). February 27. — Burns behaved gallantly in seizing and boarding a smuggling brig in the vSolway. The vessel, with her arms and stores, was sold by auction in Dumfries, and Burns purchased four carronades or small guns, for which he paid ^:^. These he sent, with a letter, to the French Convention, but they were retained at Dover by the Custom-house authorities. This circumstance is supposed to have drawn on the poet the notice of his jealous superiors. He warmly sympathized with the French people in their struggle against despotism, and the Board of Excise ordered an inquir)^ into the poet's political conduct, though it is doubtful whether any repri- mand was ever given him. In September Mr. George Thomson, Edinburgh, commenced his pub- lication of national songs and melodies, and Bums cMTdialh' lent assistance to the undertaking, but THE BURNS ALMANAC. 109 disclaimed all idea or acceptance of pecuniary re- muneration. On the 14th of November he trans- mitted to Thomson the song of Highland Mary, and next month one of the most arch and humorous of all ditties, Duncan Gray cam here to woo. 1793 — (Thirty -four). The poet continues his invaluable and disinterested labors for Mr, Thomson's publication. In July he makes an excursion into Galloway with his friend Mr. Syme, stamp distributor, and according to that gentleman (though Burn's own statement on the subject is different), he composed his national song, Scots wha hae, in the midst of a thunder-storm on the wilds of Kenmure. The song was sent to Thomson in September, along with no less popular, Auld Laiig Syne. At Whitsuntide the poet removed from the " Wee Vennel " to a better house (rent ^^8 per an- num) in the Mill-hole Brae (now Burns Street), and in this house he lived until his death. His widow continued to occupy it till her death, March 26, 1834. 1 794 — (Thirty-five). At a dinner-party at Woodley Park, on one occa- sion the poet, like most of the guests, having ex- ceeded in wine, was guilty of some act of rudeness to the accomplished hostess which she and her friends resented very warmly. A rupture took place, and for nearly a twelvemonth there was no in- tercourse between the parties. During this interval Burns wrote several lampoons on Mrs. Riddel, wholly unworthy of him as a man or as a poet. Ap- ril 4, Captain Riddel of Glenriddel, died unreconciled to Burns, yet the latter honored his memory with a sonnet. August 12, another son born to the poet, and named James Glencaim. During this autumn no THE BURNS ALMANAC. and winter Burns wrote vsome of his finest songs, in- vspired by the charms of Jane Lorimer, the "Chloris" of many a lyric. In November he composed his lively song, Contented wV little and cantie wV mair, which he intended as a pictrire of his own mind; but it is only, as Mr. Chambers says, the picture of one aspect of his mind. Mr. Perry of the Morning Chronicle wishes to engage Burns as a contributor to his paper, but the "truly generous offer" is declined, lest connection with the Whig journal should injure his pro.spects in the Excise. For a short time he acted as supervisor, and thought that his political sins were forgiven. 1 795 — (Thirty-six). In January the poet composed his manly and in- dependent song For a' that and a' that. His inter- course with Maria Riddel is renewed, and she sends him occasionally a book, or a copy of verses, or a ticket for the theatre. He never relaxes his genial labors for the musical works of Johnson and Thom- son, and he writes a series of election ballads in favor of the Whig candidate, Mr. Heron. He joins the Dumfriesshire corps of Volunteers, enrolled in the month of March, and writes his loyal and patriotic song, Does haughty Gaul invasion threat ? also his fine national strain. Their groves of sweet 7nyrtle let foreign lands reckon, and one of the best of his ballads. Last May a braw wooer. The poet's health, however, gives way, and premature age has set in. 1796 — (Thirty-seven). The decline of the poet is accelerated by an acci- dental circumstance. One night in January he sat late in the Globe Tavern. There was deep snow on the ground, and in going home he sank down, over- powered b)^ drowsiness and the liquor he had taken, THE B URNS ALMANA C. 1 1 1 and slept for some hours in the open air. From the cold caiif^^ht on this occasion he never wholly recov- ered. He still, however, continued his song-writing, and one of the most beautiful and most toucliing of his l3n-ics was also one of his latest. This was the song beginning Here's a health to ane 1 1& e dea?', writ- ten on Jessy Lewars, a maiden of eighteen, sister to a brother exciseman, who proved a "ministering an- gel" to the poet in his last illness. In May, another election called forth another ballad, Wha will buy my troggiyi ? And about the middle of June we find the poet writing despondingly to his old friend Johnson, and requesting a copy of the Scots Musical Museum to present to a young lady. This was no doubt the copy presented to Jessy Lewars, June 26, inscribed with the verses, Thine be the volumes^ Jessy fair. As a last effort for health. Burns went on the 4th of July to Brow, a sea-bathing hamlet on the Solway. There he was visited by Maria Riddel, who thought "the stamp of death was imprinted on his features." He was convinced himself that his illness would prove fatal, and some time before this he had said to his wife, " Don't be afraid : I'll be more respected a hundred years after I am dead, than I am at pres- ent. " Mrs. Riddel saw the poet again on the 5th of July, when they parted to meet no more. On the 7th he wrote to his friend Alexander Cunningham to move the Commissioners of Excise to continue his full salary of jQ^o instead of reducing it, as was the rule in the case of excisemen on duty, to ;£2>S' ^^• Findlater, his superior officer, says he had no doubt this would have been done had the poet lived. On the 10th Burns wrote to his brother as to his hope- less condition, his debts, and his despair ; and on the same day he addressed a request to his father-in-law, stern old James Armour, that he would write to Mrs. Armour, then in Fife, to come to the assistance of her daughter, the poet's wife, during the time of I f2 THE BURNS ALMANAC. her confinement. His thoughts turned also to his friend Mrs. Diinlop, who had unaccountably been silent for some time. He recalled her interesting correspondence: *' With what pleasure did I use to break up the seal ! The remembrance adds yet one pulse more to my poor palpitating heart. Farewell !" Close on this dark hour of anguish came a lawyer's letter demanding payment — and no doubt hinting at the serious consequences of non-payment — of a hab- erdasher's account. This legal missive served to conjure up before the distracted poet, the image of a jail with all its horrors, and on the 12th he wrote two letters — one to his cousin in Montrose begging an advance of ;^io, and one to Mr. George Thom- son imploring ^5. "Forgive, forgive me!" He left the sea-side on the i8th, weak and feverish, but was able the same day, on arriving at his house in Dumfries, to address a second note to James Armour, reiterating the wish expressed six days before, but without dieting any reply: " Do, for Heaven's sake, send Mrs. Armour here immediately." From this period he was closely confined to bed (according to the statement of his widow), and was scarcely ^^hini' self for half an hour together. He was aware of his infirmity, and told his wife that she was to^touch him and remind him when he was going wrong. One day he got out of his bed, and his wife found him sitting in a corner of the room with the bed- clothes about him ; she got assistance, and he suf- fered himself to be gently led back to bed. The day before he died he called very quickly and with a hale voice, " Gilbert! Gilbert! " On the morning of the 2ist, at daybreak, death was obviously near at hand, and the children were sent for. They had been re- moved to the house of Jessy Lewars and her brother, in order that the poet's dwelling might be kept quiet, and they were now summoned back that they might have a last look at their illustrious father in life. He was insensible, his mind lost in delirium. THE BURNS ALMANAC. 113 and, according to his eldest son, his last words were, ''That d d rascal, Matthew Penn! " — an execra- tion against the legal agent who had written the dunning letter. And so ended this sad and stormy life-drama, and the poet passed, as Mr. Carlyle has said, "not softly but speedily into that still country where the hail-storms and fire-showers do not reach, and the heaviest-laden wayfarer at length lays down his load. " On the evening of Sunday, the 24th of July, the poet's remains were removed from his house to the Town Hall, and the next day were in- terred with military honors. BURNS CLUBS IN AMERICA. Robert Burns Association, Philadelphia. Tam o' Shanter Club, Philadelphia, Pa. Burns Club, Newport News, Va. Waverley Society and Burns Club, Pittsburgh, Pa. The Burns Society of the State of New York, New York, N. Y. Robert Burns Club, Yonkers, N. Y. Burns Club, Waterbury, N. H. Burns Club, West New Brighton, Staten Id, N. Y. Burns Club, Brantford, (Ontario.) Burns Club, Utica, N. Y. Robert Burns Club, Chester, Pa. North Eastern Burns Club, Philadelphia. Pa. In addition to the above, every Caledonian Club, St. Andrew's Society, Order of Scottish Clans, Or- der of Sons of Scotland, and various other Societies throughout the United States and Canada hold a Burns Anniversary Celebration every 25th of Jan- uary. 114 THE BURNS ALMANAC. STATUES AND BUSTS OF BURNS. Statue in Edinburgh. Statue in Perth. Statue in New York. Statue in Dundee. Statue on Thames Embankment, London. Bust in Westminster Abbey, London. Statue in George Square, Glasgow. Statue in Kay Park, Kilmarnock. Bust in Monument on Doon side. Sculptured figure in Mausoleum, Dumfries. Statue in Dumfries. Statue in Ballarat, Australia. Statue in Albany, N. Y. Statue in Dunedin, New Zealand. Statue in Montrose. Bust in Wallace Monument, near Stirling. Statue in Ayr. Statue in Aberdeen. Statue in Barre, Vt. Statue in Belfast. Statue in Paisley. Bust in Metropolitan Museum, New York, by Cal- verley. Statuette in London, by P. R. Montford. Statue (in plaster) Cairns, Boston, by H. McNair. Bust owned by Andrew Carnegie, by Calverley. Bust owned by Peter Kinnear, of Albany, by Cal- verley. Statue in Irvine. Bust in Buffalo Library, by Langenbein. Statue in Artist's Studio, by W. Clark Noble. Bust (new study) in Artist's Studio, by Calverley. Medallion (new study) in Artist's Studio, by Cal- verley. Bust in Tullie House, Carlyle, England, by D. W. Stevenson. Statue in Leith. THE BURNS ALMANAC, 115 BOOKS SUBSCRIBED FOR BY BURNS. Blind Harry. — Metrical History of Sir William Wallace, Knight, of Ellerslie, carefully transcribed from the manuscript copy in the Advocate's Library, Edinburgh, under the eye of the Earl of Buchan, with Notes, etc., Pocket volume edition, with por- trait and frontispieces, 3 vols, i8mo, cf., Morrison, Perth, 1790. Among the list of subscribers' names appears that of " Mr. Robert Burns, Ellisland." The Practical Figurer, by William Halbert, schoolmaster, Auchinleck. Paisley, 1789. The poet's name appears among the list of subscribers thus: — " Robert Burns of Parnassus." Poems, consisting of miscellaneous pieces, by James Mylne, Lochill, 1790. In the list of subscri- bers' names is "Mr. Robert Burns, Ellisland." A CENTURY OF BURNS BIOGRAPHY. By William Wallace. On the twenty-first of July, 1896, was completed that hundred years from the death of Robert Burns which, according to a generally credited, if not absolutely verified tradition, he told his Jean would be required to do justice to his memory. In the March number of the Monthly Magazine and British Register for 1797, there appeared the first instal- ment of the first biography of the poet — the modest beginning of the most extraordinary literature of the " Memoirs" order which the world has seen, or is likely to see. It was signed " H," and came from the pen of Robert Heron, an unfortunate — and according to Allan Cunningham — dissipated ' ' stickit I r6 THE BURNS ALMANAC. minister'" and hack of letters, who died in 1807, and at the age of forty-three, in the Fever Hospital of St. Pancras, to which he had removed from a debt- or's cell in Newgate. Heron's biography was antici- pated, however, in the same magazine by anony- mous ''stanzas'* (in reality a poem of great length) to the memory of Robert Burns. These stanzas appeared in the "original poetry department" of the periodical in January (that January which, had the poet exciseman lived, would have witnessed his promotion to a supervisorship), in the company, oddly enough, of verses by Charles Lamb, who writes to "Sara and S. T. C. at Bristol," complain- ing that he cannot snatch a "fleeting holiday, a little week," to see them, and to Muse in tears on that mysterious youth Cruelly slighted, who, in evil hour, Shap'd his advent' rous course to London walls. There is, indeed, something almost pathetically prophetic in the character both of the poetical and of the prose memorials to the genius of Burns which appeared in the Monthly Magazine ninety-nine years ago. Upon the merits of no man have the poets been more heartily united and biographers more fatally, if not fiercely, disunited. The anonymous writer of January, 1797, closes his stanzas thus: High above thy reptile foes Thy tow'ring soul unconquer'd rose — Love and the Muse their charms disclose — The hags retire ; And thy expanded bosom glows With heav'nly fire. Go, Builder of a deathless name ! Thy Country's glory, and her shame ! Go, and th' immortal guerdon claim, To Genius due ; Whilst rolling centuries thy fame Shall still renew ! Here already we have the spirit, if not the genius of Wordsworth's noble lines, of the scarcely THE BURNS ALMANAC. 117 less eloquent Ode of Mr. William Watson, one of the most eminent of living poets, and the silent tears which, according- to Edward FitzGerald, were wrung from the late Lord Tennyson by the sudden realization of the glory of Doonside and the tragedy of Dumfries. On the other hand, Heron began his biography with a grotesque inaccuracy, and closed St with the first crude statement of the gravest of all the charges that have been made against the char- acter of Burns, He claimed for the poet that he was the product and triumph of the Scottish paroch- ial school system. This was altogether a blunder. If Burns was a triumph of anything except natural genius, he was a triumph of private tuition. Heron further brought his biography to a termination with this extraordinary statement: "Even in the last feebleness, and amid the last agonies of expiring life, yielding readily to any temptation that offered the semblance of intemperate enjoyment, he died at Dumfries, in the summer of the year 1796, while he was yet three or four years under the age of forty." It is hardly too much to say that the biographers of Burns, who have followed in the wake of Heron, have devoted more attention to ascertaining how much — or how little — truth there is in this damning declaration, than to the elucida- tion of any other disputed incident in the life of the poet. In this same year, 1797, Heron reprinted his articles in the Mont lily Magazine, with additions, as a biography of Robert Burns, and under his signa- ture. But immediately after the poet's death arrangements were made for the publication of an authoritative memoir. This work was entrusted to Dr. James Currie, a Liverpool physician, a great iidmirer of Burns, and a connection of Mrs, Dunlop. Currie had many advantages, including access to original manuscripts of poems and letters, which have been enjoyed by no subsequent biographer. ii8 THE BURNS ALMANAC. Relatives of Burns, like his brother Gilbert, and surviving friends, like Syme of Rydedale, were understood to have given him all the help in their power. When Currie's Life appeared in 1800 it met with an instantaneous success. Few biographies have passed through so many editions as this has done; still fewer have been subjected to such merci- less criticism. The weaknesses of Currie's work are, indeed, only too apparent. He is deplorably inaccu- rate in matters of detail. He took unwarrantable liberties with Burns's letters. He has been proved to have deliberately misdated several of those w^hich, in his last years, the poet addressed to Mrs. Dunlop. He listened far too readily to reports bearing un- favorably on the life of a man whom he had never seen. It has been said that Currie was supported by the authority of Burns's physician. Dr. Max- well. Tliis view has, however, been discredited, to say the least, by the fact that, while Currie ex- pressly declares that Burns went to the Brow Well in the last months of his life in opposition to the views of his medical attendant, letters published within a comparatively recent period prove that the poet took this step in accordance with the advice of that attendant! But of Dr. Currie's good intentions there can be no doul^t whatever, and his Life is still, within certain limits, authoritative. It was followed in 1808 by Cromek's Reliqucs, which, although mainly notable as giving poerns by Burns which up to that period, had not seen the light, was valuable also for certain biographical passages. One of these — that dealing with the story of Highland Mary — has become part and parcel of the imperishable poetical romance. Three years later. Professor Josiah Walker, who knew Burns personally, published a biography by way of preface to Morison's editions of the poems. It con- tained reminiscences which are still of some interest and even biographical value, in spite of at least one THE BURNS ALMANAC. 119 serious mistake in dates which they contained, and of the scarification to which they and their author were subjected at the hands of Professor John Wilson. A reaction now set in ag-ainst the view of Burns's latest years — that he became intemperate and dissolute — first given by Heron, and counten- anced to a considerable extent by Currie. It be- came known that men like Findlater, his official superior, and his neighbor, Gray the teacher, indig- nantly denied these charges, and declared that their friend, although he lived a freely social life, never fell into sottishness. The first fruits of this reaction was the sympathetic biograph}^ which the celebrated ecclesiastic, humorist, and convivalist, the Rev. Hamilton Paul, published along with an edition of the "Poems and Songs" in 1819. This work in turn led up to a much more important work, con- ceived in a similar spirit. John Gibson Lockhart's Life, published in 1828, still holds its own as one of the standard biographies of Burns. As all the world knows, it was the work of Lockhart which called forth the celebrated Essay of Carlyle, which is at once one of the great masterpieces of Burns criticism, and the high-water mark of its author's earlier and, as many folk think, its better style. The publication of Lockhart's Life marks a stage — as it closed a generation — of Burns Biography. Lives and editions now poured forth on both sides of the Border with a rapidity almost as extraordinary as the growth of Burns clubs, and testifying, like that unique phenomenon, to the permanent fascina- tion of the poet's life and personality. They are far too numerous to mention; but the first Aldine edition, published in three volumes in 1839 along with a memoir by Sir Harris Nicholas, merits a word of attention, both for the fresh poems of Burns which were published in it, and also as being the first im- portant work on Burns that was published in Eng- land. And it became a fashion with Scottish poets I20 THE BURNS ALMANAC. to edit the works of their acknowledg-ed pioneer and master. In 1834 " honest" — but by no means invar- iably accurate — Allan Cunningham published an edi- tion of Burns in eight volumes, along with a life which derives some weight from the fact that its author was a Dumfriesshire man, and claimed special acquaintance with the last seven years of the poet's life. James Hogg and William Motherwell pub- lished an edition of Burn's works in 1836; the fifth volume of this edition is a biography written by James Hogg. Among the other Scottish poets who had tried their hands at editing Burn's works, or writing his life, are Alexender Smith, who prepared the well-known Globe edition of the "Life and Works of Burns" (1868); Principal Shairp of Si. Andrews, whose monograph on the poet in the "English Men of Letters" series (1S79) raised a controversy which has not yet been forgotten, and is notable as having led Robert Louis Stevenson to write " Some Aspects of Robert Burns," which takes rank with Wilson's eloge and Carl3^1e's essay; the Rev. George Gilfillan, whose National Burns ap- peared in 1878-79; Professor Nichol, who in 1882 contributed a biographical and critical essay on Burns to William Scott Douglas's six-v^olume edition of the Poems and Letters (published by Mr. Patter- son of Edinburgh); and Mr. Andrew Lang, who con- tributed an Introduction to "Selected Poems of Robert Burns." Meanw^hiie, the necessity for investigating every incident in Burn's life separately and much more thoroughly than had been done by Currie and Lock- hart had become obvious^ and had been emphasized by the publication of the celebrated Clarinda corres- pondence, first irregularly in 1802, and in a more complete form in 1843. This necessity was seen by no man more than by Robert Chambers, who, al- ways an enthusiastic and painstaking student of Burns, had edited (1838) one of the numerous THE BURNS ALMANAC. 121 editions of Currie, and in 1840 had, in conjunction with ProfCvSsor WiLson, produced "The Land of Burns," which is still the standard work on Burns topooTaph}^ Dr. Chambers's investii.>;-ations further led him to the conclusion that of no poet can it be said so absolutely as of Burns that his works form part of his life. The great majority both of his poems and of his letters reflect his moods — his des- pair, the anxiety and remorse due to his "thought- less follies;" his all embracing love of nature and humanity, the ecstacies on the wings of which he soared above the circumstances of his life. Dr. Chambers perceived that to separate the biography of the poet from the poems and letters was to effect an unnatural divorce, as they were portions of one astonishing if not stupendous whole. This connec- ticm was strengthened by the researches of another very painstaking student of Burns, William Scott Douglas, which culminated in the famous paper which he read before the Society of Scottish Antiqu- aries in January, 1850, and which rendered it almost certain that Burns's betrothal to Highland Mary was an episode in that attachment Vv^hich ended in Jean Armour becoming his wife. Dr. Chambers followed up this paper by independent discoveries in Green- ock, which proved, among other things, that the Mary Campbell whom all but universally accepted belief has identified with the Highland Lassie of Burns's verse and prose must, if the story of her relatives can be accepted at all, have been buried in the West Kirkyard of that town immediately after the acquisition of a "lair" there by her brother-in- law on October 12, 1786. The labors of Dr. Cham- bers, who had been placed in possession of all the in- formation at the disposal of Burns's surviving rela- tives, and of his youngest sister, Mrs. Begg, were crowned especially by the publication, in 1851-52, of his "Life of Burns" in four volumes. This work was at once recognized b}^ the public as the authori- 122 THE BURNS ALMANAC. tative biography of Burns, representing his life as an organic whole, in which letters, poems, and incidents form a "harmony not understood" — that indeed could not have been understood — by previous editors and biographers. Nearly half a century has elapsed since Dr. Chambers great work was published. Since then, innumerable editions of Burns's works, and not a fevv^ biographies, have been published in England, in America, and even on the continent, where the Burns cult is spreading with marvelous rapidity. Among the most remarkable of these lives are the highly original "spiritual" biography of the Rev. Dr. Hately Waddell, published in 1869, and the Life in two volumes given to the world in 1893 by M. Auguste Angellier, a professor in Lille. M. Angel- lier's book is a remarkable performance in many ways, — well informed, scholarly and full of enthus- iasm. To find a parallel to Burns, he goes not to "the too didactic Hesiod, nor the precise Theocrit- us," but to "the marvellous verses of Aristophanes." There " we find the countryman speaking for him- self, loving the earth unphilosophically, simply for the benefit he derives from it, and the labor it asks of him." But Mr. Angellier's work is mainly nota- ble for his strenuous and, on the whole, wonderfully successful effort to translate Burns into French. Not only is Burns literature increasing by leaps and bounds, but it is being specialized. For ex- ample, the books more or less of a biographical na- ture which have been written on Highland Mary al- most vie in number and in passion with those which have been evoked by the beauty and tragic story of her namesake, the Queen of Scots, Nor is it all an exaggeration to say that the controversial literature wliich has arisen out of the question whether Burns, when he lived in Edinburgh, was formally installed as Laureate of the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge of Freemasons is equal in dimensions to the biographs THE BURNS ALMANAC. 123 of Cnrrie and Lockhart combined. The process of Burns specialization has been greatly encouraged by the establishment of Burns Clubs all over the world. Some missing links in the chain of biography, in the form both of poems and letters, have been foimd in the course of the last forty-three years. Most of these — including some which have never 5^et seen the light — were recovered by Dr. Chambers, who continued to the end of his life an indefatigable col- lector of all information bearing on his favorite sub- ject. Certain aspects of Burn's life also merit further exploration. The full story of his stay in Irvine has to be related. The whole truth has not been told of the circumstances under which he con- templated exile to Jamaica. The last word has not been said on Highland Mar3^ Above all things, fresh investigations into the life of Burns in Dum- fries tend happily to give him a higher claim, not to the love and admiration, — for a higher claim to these he cannot have — but to the respect of his fellow- countrymen. The researches of the last forty-three years have left unshaken the vast majority of the statements of facts which Dr. Chambers embodies in his biography. But they have further demonstrated the wisdom of the general plan which he adopted. The national feeling of Scotland for Burns has rendered the peri- odical rectification, elucidation, and consolidation of his biography a sacred duty; and it is in the per- formance of this duty that the publishers of Dr. Chambers's Life issued in 1896 a revised edition of that Vvork, containing the later discoveries of its author and of other Burns students who have fol- lowed in his footsteps. 124 THE BURNS ALMANAC. THE STORY OF "CLARINDA." On December 7, 1787, on Burns's return from the Highland tour, he met, at the table of a com- mon friend, Mrs. M'Lehose, a lady whose husband had g-one to the West Indies and left her with limited means to bring up two children in retirement in Potterow. Handsome, lively, well read, of easy manners and a ready wit, a writer of verses, senti- mental, and yet ardent, she was born in the same year as Burns, and told him that she shared his dis- positions, and would have been his twin brother had she been a man. Two such beings were obviously made. for one another, and they lost no time in tind- ing it out. If he was, as lawyers maintain, at this time a married man, he did not know it; but she was sure that she w^as only a grass widow, and she was virtuous. Their correspondence must, there- fore, be conducted v;ith discretion, and "friend- ship," not " love," must be their watchword. How to reconcile the pretence with the realit)^ v/as the trouble. Let them take the names of Clarinda and Sylvander, and exchange their compliments v/ith the pastoral innocence of shepherd and shepherdess in the golden age. So it went on. Letters flying to and fro like carrier pigeons, then greetings from windows, visits, risks, reconcilings, fresh assigna- tions, reproaches and reconciliations, wearisome to us, alternately tantalising, and alluring to the mutu- ally fascinated pair. It was no case of mere phi- landering. Beneath all Clarinda's verbiage there throbs the pulse of real passion afraid of itself, and yet incapable of surrendering its object. Sylvander writes more like an artist, never with so much apparent affectation as in many of these letters — fustian and bombast they often are, but as to their being falsetto is another matter. In February he had news from Mauchline, which naturally dis- THE BURNS ALMANAC. 125 tressed, and seems, less naturally, to have surprised him. Jean was again about to become a mother, and this time her father turned her out of the house. Burns rushed to the rescue, and shortly came to the resolve to throw over his poetical grass widow and do his duty by the girl who for him had given up everything. In a note he says that his wife had read nothing but the Bible and his verses (in singing which he often praises her voice) but that his marriage had taken him "out of his vil- lany. " Clarinda, however, was of an opposite opinion, and on the news wrote him a furious letter, calling him "a villian," an accusation to which in a dignified reply of March, 1789, he refuses to plead guilty, being "convinced of innocence though con- scious of folly." Three years later, in November, 1 791, he bitterly writes to Ainslie. " My wife scolds me, my business torments me, and my sins come staring me in the face." It is at this period that Clarinda again flashes with vivid lustre across the scene. The intermittent correspondence thickened, and towards the close of November he went to Edinburgh and spent a week mainly in her company. To their farewell meeting on the 6th of December there are several fervent allusions. From Dum- fries on his return we have on the 15th, "This is the sixth letter that I have written since I left you, my ever beloved." Shortly after he sends the verses "Ae fond kiss and then we sever," with the quatrain — Had we never loved sae kindly, Had we never loved sae blindly, Never met or never parted, We had ne'er been broken hearted — which, quoted by Byron, admired by Carlyle and Mr. Arnold, is the quintesscence of passionate regret. More than a year elapsed, during which Mrs. M'Lehose had gone to the Indies and, finding her 126 THE BURNS ALMANAC. husband surrounded by a troop of small mulattoes, had come back again. In an old woman's diary of 1831, is the following inscription: — "This day I can never forget. Parted with Burns in the year 1 79 1, forty years ago, never more to meet in this world. Oh, may we meet in heaven. " The writer survived till 1841, reaching the age of 82. It was Clarinda. BURNS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. The monumental bust in marble of the poet, the cost of which was provided by subscriptions of not more than one shilling each, contributed by his countrymen and admirers all over the world, was, in the presence of a large and influential assembly of ladies and gentlemen, unveiled on March 7th, 1885, in the Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, by the Right Hon. the Earl of Rosebery. Prior to proceed- ing to the Poets' Corner the company met in the Jerusalem Chamber, but the attendance was so great that the meeting was adjourned to the large dining hall connected with the Westminster vSchool. The Dean of Westminster presided. Preceptor Wilson said: — My Lord, ladies, and gentlemen, in name of the committee of which I have the honor to be chairman, I have to thank you for your presence here to-day, and more especially the Dean of Westminster, for so kindly granting us the use of this chamber. The movement that has brought us together this day, like many great move- ments, had a very small beginning. It happened in this wise. A meeting of trades' representatives in Glasgow had been convened for the purpose of set- tling the order of procession when the statue to our national poet was unveiled by Lord Haughton, a day never to be forgotten in Glasgow, when a suggestion THE BURNS ALMANAC. 127 was thrown out that the time had surely come when a monumental bust of Burns might be placed in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. The sugges- tion met with enthusiastic approval, and steps were taken there and then to raise subscriptions. It was felt that if the movement was to be not only nation- al, but I might say universal, the amount of individ- ual subscriptions should be limited to not more than a shilling, the same sum that raised the statue in George Square, Glasgow. To-day you will see the realization of this idea. I need not deal on the vast labor connected with a monument so unique, for I presume there is no monumental bust in the Abbey that has been raised by the shillings and pence of so many admirers. Prince and peasant gave their con- tributions, and I may add these contributions came to us from all ends of the earth. Switzerland, Ben- gal, New Zealand, Nova Scotia, Canada, United States of America (north and south). South Africa, London, Birmingham, Bradford, Halifax, Leicester, Liverpool, Norwich, Belfast, Limerick, Londonderry, and from nearly every town in Scotland. All the Scotch members of the House of Commons gave their shillings: more was offered, but more could not be received. Some twenty-two members of the House of Lords gave their shillings, and at the head of the list was His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. In short, we have in our lists some 20,000 contributors. In selecting an artist for the monu- mental bust of Burns the committee had great diffi- culty. It was said, and said truly, that as Burns was not only the national poet of Scotland, but be- longed to the human race, all nations might claim him as expressing in some measure their national feelings. No doubt all this was true, but the com- mittee felt at the same time that the whole move- ment was so full of Scottish national feeling, that Burns was so distinctly a Scottish poet, and that the bust was to be a Scottish gift to the British national 128 THE BURNS ALMANAC. shrine, that the case required it should be executed by a Scottish artist. In the veteran artist Sir John Steell, of the Royal Scottish Academy, whose ab- sence we all so much reg-ret this day, we found a man after our own heart, an enthusiastic admirer of the poet, and who executed some years ago the Burns statue at New York, which has since been re- peated on behalf of Dundee, London and Dunedin. In carrying out the commission the sculptor has shown that his hand still retains its ancient cunning. I wall make only one further observation, viz: the bust is no fancy portraiture of the poet, but the re- sult of careful study of Nasmyth's authentic portrait, the original of which is in the National Gallery at Edinburgh. The site so graciously granted by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster is, we think, the most appropriate that could have been chosen, even had the opportunity of selection presented itself very many 5^ears ago, and long before the Abbey had been so well filled as it now is with similar memor- ials and monuments to the illustrious dead. The bust has been erected on the stone screen in the centre of which is the splendid statue of Shake- speare, England's and the w^orld's greatest dramatist and poet. To the right of Shakespeare stands the statue of Glasgow's greatest poet, Thomas Camp- bell, author of the "Pleasures of Hope," "Ye Mar- iners of England," and other lyrics that will last as long as the English language. To the left of Shake- speare is the monument to the poet Thomson, an- other working Scotchman, and author of "The Sea- sons," &c., and on a level with the bust of Burns is the tablet and monumental bust to the memory of Robert Southey, the immediate predecessor of Lord Tennyson, our illustrious Laureate. I am afraid I have detained you too long from the interesting ceremony still before you. I shall not, in this dis- tinguished company, say one word on the character and genius of Burns, for that was so well and so elo- THE BURNS ALMANAC. 129 quently said by Lord Roseber}^ on a recent occasion ; but I may again be pardoned if I remind you that the poet had some, it may be dim, vision of this day Avhen he penned the memorable lines so familiar to us all from our childhood. Speaking of himself, he makes the "gossip " say — " He'll hae misfortunes great and sma', But aye a heart abune them a', He'll be a credit to us a' — We'll a' be prood o' Robin." In conclusion, let me add how appropriate it is that this monumental bust of our Scottish national poet should be placed in this glorious temple, the pride of our country, consecrated to Almighty God, and where the song of the angels has so often been sung — ''Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill to men;" paraphrased b}^ Burns, in his ever to be remembered " wood notes wild " — " Then let us pray that come it may, As come it will for a' that, That man to man the world o'er Shall brithers be and a' that," In the name of the committee I have again to thank you for your attendance here on this red-letter day for Scotland and Scotchman all the world over, and I have most respectfully to ask the Right Hon. the Earl of Rosebery to proceed to unveil the bust, and hand it over, with the nation's thanks, to the safe keeping of Dean Bradley and the Chapter of Westminster Abbey. The Earl of Rosebery said — Mr. Dean, ladies and gentlemen, it will be impossible for me to say more than one or two words on this most interesting and most auspicious occasion. In the first place, I was told I was not to say anything; in the next place, I am expected to return at once to an assem- bly which I will not mention for fear I should trench upon the forbidden ground of politics; and 130 THE BURNS ALMANAC. in the third place, as this is the third effigy of Bums I have unveiled within the last two years, it will be better to refrain from any further discourse on that immortal topic. Mr. Dean, I must be allowed, however, to return to you, in the name of the sub- scribers who are here present and the subscribers who are absent, because they could not all be con- tained in this or any other hall, our sincere thanks not merely for the courtesy which you have dis- played to us in the course of our dealings with you, but for the spontaneity and readiness with which you agreed to admit the bust within the walls of which you are the trustee. In past days many were admitted into Westminster Abbey whom a stricter scrutiny would probably be disposed to reject, and the result is that the walls of that structure are so encumbered with various memorials and various tablets that it is hardly possible now to find a place in Poets' Corner for anybody. We therefore take it as a greater compliment from you, Mr. Dean, that you, without hesitation and without reluctance, in the happiest and most friendly terms at once accorded some of the few remaining inches of space to a bust held dear by so large a proportion of your countrymen. As regards the ceremony of this day, I think it can be summed up in two very brief sen- tences. As regards the trustees of our national temple of fame, the spontaneous welcome which they have accorded to the effig}^ of Burns nearl}* a century after his death seems to me to represent not the partiality of friends or the enthusiasm of devotees, but the voice and judgment of posterity itself. And as regards the subscribers who offer it, we feel that in handing over to the Abbey this bust we are bringing the very choicest offering that we can bring to the shrine of the empire. The Dean of Westminster said — My Lord Rosebery, Preceptor Wilson, and all the Scottish friends who are here, I may assure you that it is in THE BURNS ALMANAC. 131 a spirit of something warmer than cordial acquies- cence that we Englishmen have rejoiced to crown to-day the efforts of Scotsmen in all quarters of the globe by placing a memorial of your great poet in that part of our historic church which for more than three centuries has been sacred to the memory of our national poets. We need not, I think, regret that such homage may seem at first sight somewhat tardy. If all but 90 years have passed since your poet's death, we may remember that for a century and a half the dust of Chaucer lay unmarked and unhonored by any monument. Nearly as long a period went by before any record of Shakespeare found a place upon our walls. Even Milton's name was for more than two generations unnoticed, except for a passing reference in the inscription to a for- gotten poet. And of Burns, as his great brother poets, no verdict of posterity will reverse our judg- ment. The three generations that have passed since the death of the Ayrshire peasant saddened Scotland and smote the heart of England with the thought "of might}" poets in their misery dead," have only increased the interest of mankind in the man, have only raised the deliberate estimate of his marvellous genius. In his own well-known words — *^ Time the impression deeper makes, As streams their channels deeper wear." Sut I feel, quite apart from the pressure of time, it would be impertinent for one who has passed his life in southern England to speak to Scotsmen of the poetry of the most universal, yet also the most national, of poets, of one who has gained a hold on the heart and mind of his countrymen to which I hardly know any parallel in the history of literature. What corner of the habitable globe is there to which the restless foot and active brain of Scotchmen have penetrated that has not echoed with his poetry? 132 THE BURNS ALMANAC. His sono-s are sun^i^ to-day, let me say, by your brave countrymen on the banks of the Nile, Where many dangers they must dare, Far from the bonny banks of Ayr. But I cannot forget to-day that I stand in the place of one who has left on record passage after passage of singular interest, in which he displays profound admiration of your poet such as I have found in no English writer with v/hom I am acquainted. If one so blameless and so pure in life and thought as Arthur Stanley was not blind to the darker side, to the sadder side, of the poet's life, which is recorded in such tender and pathetic accents by the poet him- self — if he ventured to speak of him before a Scot- tish audience on Scottish soil as "the prodigal son of the Scottish Church," yet I may ask what Eng- lishman, I may say what Scotchman, ever entered with fuller sympathy or keener discrimination into all that was wise and enduring in his teaching ? You gentlemen, you Scotsmen, may dwell with pride on the invigorating influence of the genius of Burns in rekindling in Scotland the embers of a warm and passionate natural feeling of a love for the scenery, the manners, the associations, the history — the romantic and inspiring history — of your native land, an influence second only to that of the Wizard of the North. But I may remind you to-day that it was not a Scotsman but an Englishman, a Dean of Westminster, who, while really sensitive to all that we deplore in the poet's works or character, yet did not shrink from recognizing even a religious power in the "tender pathos," the "wise humor," the "sagacious penetration" of Robert Burns. Nay more, he did not shrink from placing him, in virtue not of one or two, but of many of his poems, among "the universal teachers of all churches." In one he recognized, "if not the theology of Calvin, yet certainly that of the Sermon on the Mount;" in THE BURNS ALMANAC, 133 another "the most comprehensive and pathetic of prayers for a Christian household;" in a third "the most profound and pastoral of advice to youth." It was not a vScot, but a Dean of Westminster, who did not even flinch from the "withering satire" with which your poet assailed much of the religious teaching of his day "those keen sarcasms" — I quote once more his words — "which pierce through the hollow cant and harrowing preten^sions of every Church v/ith a sword which cuts too sharply, but not too deeply." Nay more, he went so far as to draw a parallel between the devout tinker of Bed- ford, the author of the "Pilgrim's Progress, " and one so unlike him as the peasant poet of the "Cot- tar's vSaturday Night." And we, my Lord, as we shall stand for a moment in silence by a bust which may recall, we trust, to far-off ages, if not the "large dark eye, which glowed," as the greatest of his countr3^men said, "literally glowed when he spoke with feeling and interest," yet, at least, the inassive countenance with strength and shrewdness in every lineament, we may ask that tlie poet's best legacies to his race, all that is good and beautiful and noble in his poems may long invigorate and enrich and delight mankind in every corner of the world where his tongue is spoken — that all that is misleading or lowering may die out of men's hearts. And for himseU", with all his splendid gifts, his great qualities, his indisputable virtues, his indisputable frailties and faults, let us be content — in the words of a poet who was dear to him in his youth, and whose monument will not lie far from his own — let us be content to leave them — '* 111 their dread abode. Where they aHke in trembling hope repose. The bosom of their Father and their God." The company, headed by the Dean and Lord Rosebery, then proceeded to the Poets Corner, where, 134 THE BURNS ALMANAC. after a short prayer, by the Dean, Lord Rosebery unveiled the bust. In addition to the large gather- ing which had accompanied the Dean from the Dining Hall, there was a numerous attendance in those parts of the Abbey open to the public, and nearly every one present took advantage of the Dean's permission to inspect the monument. The bust, which is by Sir John Steell, R.S.A., is erected on a corbel, ornamented in harmony with the style of the surrounding portions of the building. It stands about fifteen feet from the Abbey floor, and about three feet to the right of the bust of Shakespeare. On the left of the great dramatist is the memorial of another eminent Scottish poet, James Thomson, the author of "The Seasons." The sculptor has largely adhered to the leading features of the Nasmyth portrait of Burns, modified by information from other sources. MISCONCEPTIONS REGARDING BURNS. From an Address by John D. Ross .... It is a peculiar fact that no poet has received the same amount of censure and praise from the world at large as has Robert Burns. And there are many reasons for this. He was in all respects a poet of the people. He sang for the masses and not for the aristocracy. He hated hyprocrisy and shams and allowed no opportunity to pass whereby he could expose and hold up to ridicule either them or their authors. And in doing this he made enemies for himself right at the beginning of his brilliant poetical career, enemies who continued to scatter lies and foul accusations against him, not only during his brief and eventful life, but long after he had passed to the Silent Land. Now, I am not so blinded with enthusiam for THE BURNS ALMANAC. 135 Burns as to claim that he was what we term to-day, a religious, temperate man, but I do claim that his faults have been greatly magnified and that many of them, were simply the faults common to the age in which he lived. Hundreds of intellectual and highly cultured individuals who were famous as authors, statesmen, etc., in the Seventeenth Century lived the self same kind of a life as Robert Burns did, and yet their various peculiarities are not blazoned forth, or pointed out as a warning to posterity. Indeed, the parties themselves or their works are seldom men- tioned or heard tell of one way or the other now-a- days. And how then comes it that because one of the brightest geniuses ever born in Scotland happened in one or two unguarded moments to falter in the path of virtue and on several occasions is said to have indulged too freely with a few boon companions over the festive cup ? Why is it, I ask, that his little shortcomings and failmgs must be continually par- aded by some parties before the wondering gaze of the unco guid and the enlightened generations con- stituting the Nineteenth Century? These same parties seem to forget or to entirely overlook the fact that it is not the life of Burns his admirers are en- thusiastic about, but his high-born, unapproachable, poetic genius. A fruitful source from whence have emanated misconceptions and errors regarding Burns and his writings, may be traced, strange to say, to his various editors and biographers. These gentlemen, with a few exceptions, have taken the memoir of the poet, written almost immediately after his death by Dr. James Currie as their guide, and whether the state- ments made in that memoir by him were true or not, they have never stopped to consider, but have taken it for granted that they were and blindly followed him. 136 THE BURNS ALMANAC. New fads are (gradually being brought to light, however, facts showirig that certain statements made by Dr. Currie, Allan Cunningham and others are both erroneous and false. Not only have words been omitted in his poems and letters, but whole sentences, and lines and dates have been deliberately tampered with and changed. So-called new editions of his works have been issued and sent broadcast over the world, and yet on investigation these new editions prove to be nothing but the very old ones of Currie and others, reprinted, and full of errors and blemishes, with a title page, having a new imprint, as well as a nev/ date on it. And so this kind of thing has been going on since 1800, when Dr. Currie issued his edition in four volumes, until people, deeply interested in all that concerns the poet, are taking the matter in hand, and by study and careful investigation are proving that many of the sayings and doings, which we know to the discredit of Burns, are simply myths. What some fanatics are pleased to term "The downward grade in the life of Burns," began with his removal to Dumfries, in 1791. From this date until his death he is credited by them with all sorts of wickedness. He was a libertine, a drunkard, etc. Indeed, we are told that toward the end of his life the better class of society in Dumfries shunned him entirely, and we are all familiar with the story of his v/alking ak>ne and unheeded one day along the shady side of the principal street in the town, while the other side was crowded with gay ladies and gentlemen. Mr. R. L. Stevenson says, speaking of the Dum- fries period, " Burns was thenceforward incapable, except in rare instances, of that superior effort of concentration, which is required for serious literary work. He may be said, indeed, to have worked no more, and only amused himself with letters." But surely, my friends, Mr. Stevenson must THE BURNS ALMANAC. 137 have been talking;- at random when he ventured this assertion. Leaving- his other vahiable work, vSuch as contributions to "Johnson's Museum" and to " Thomson's Collection " out of the question, Burns produced over 100 of his best sono;-s while residing in Dumfries, among- them being "Sects Wha Hae," " Ae Fond Kiss,"^^' " A Man's a Man for a' That," " Auld Lang vSyne," "Duncan Gray Cam' Here to Woo." " Auld Rob Morris," O, Whistle an' I'll Come to Ye My Lad," "My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose," " My Heart is vSair, I DarnaTell," " O Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast," "Last May a Braw Wooer," "Lassie Wi' the Lint White Locks " and others which are widely knowm the world over. And it is just such eminent men as Stevenson making rash statements of this kind that keeps alive apityful sort of prejudice in certain quarters regarding the poet and his works. Were their statements true, no one, of course, could honestly object to them, but therein lies the trouble, they are not true, and the parties are unable to verify them w^hen called upon to do so. We have all read and believed it true that Burns, while acting- as an excise officer, was several times reprimanded by his superiors for serious offen- ces. A few years ago, however, by the discovery of certam books, it Vv^as shown conclusively that such was not the case. These books or diaries cover the entire period of Burns' connection with the excise, and his name is only mentioned twice in them, once in 1792 and again in 1795. Now listen to the offen- ces on which his detractors have laid so much stress. 1 quote from a recent article (^n the subject: " In the first instance, on May 10, 1792, Burns, in taking- a trader's stock of tea, entered j6o pounds in his book instead of sixteen pounds, which error he him- self rectified on his next visit. In the second in- stance he neglected to visit a tanner, as he ought to have done, according to his instructions, on the 25th 138 THE BURNS ALMANAC. of May, 1795, and vSuperintendent Findlater came in on the following day and discovered the omisvsion. He was not even censured for these paltry mistakes. Toward the end of a memoir of Burns in an edition of his works issued last year in London, I read as follows: " We are now fast approaching the last scene of this strange, sad history. His health had seriously given way in the latter end of 1795, ^^^ when re- turning home from the Globe tavern one night in January of the following year, he had the misfortune to fall asleep in the snow. This disaster resulted in an attack of rheumatic fever, which still further enfeebled his already impaired constitution. After fruitlessly trying various expedients to recover his strength, and in the endurance of keen mental agony, Robert Burns died, his reason almost tottering on its throne, on the 21st day of July, 1796. Now, there has always seemed something wrong about this sleeping in the snow story to me. On the 31st of January, Burns wrote to Mrs. Dunlop about the death of his " only daughter and darling child." These are his own words, and then said, " I had scarcely began to recover from that shock when I became the victim of a most severe rheumatic fever. " This letter, you notice, is dated the 31st of January. Lockhart, as good a biographer as Burns has ever had, says that "a few days after the writing of this letter, he joined a festive circle at a tavern dinner, etc." Dr. Curriesays that **from October, 1795, to the January following an accidental complaint confined him to the house. A few days later he dined at a tavern, etc." Alexander Smith, in an excellent and well-written life of the poet, says that " the tavern dinner took place early in January," and so on, each has his own idea on the subject, and each contradicts the other — so which are we to believe? But now let me read an extract from an article THE BURNS ALMANAC. 139 by William Wallace on this very subject. Mr. Wal- lace, whom I acknowledge to be one of the best Burns scholars of the day, says, " There is no word of a tavern dinner as the hnal cause of Burns' death in Heron's biography. There is none in Hamilton Paul's. There is no word of the Globe Inn as the scene of the dinner in Currie or Lockhart or Walker. As for Lockhart, he says gingerly, ' It has been said that he fell asleep upon the snow on his way home.' It is in 1838, and in a note to a new edition of Currie, then published, that the Globe Inn and the sleep in the snow story make their definitive appearance. It runs thus : ' It is added as a tradition of Dumfries that on his way home he sat down on some steps projecting into the street, and falling asleep in that situation became fatally chilled.' And so it is on a tradition of nearly half a century old that Burns' character has been blasted — a tradition, too, which asks us to believe that his companions, although they preceived him to be intoxicated, had not the common humanity to see him safely home ! " The Globe legend that Burns died of a fever caused in the final resort by intoxication is therefore a confused mass of contradictory statements, and may be placed on the same shelf as the almost iden- ical story which is related by the way of accounting for the death of Shakespeare." FLOWERS MENTIONED BY BURNS. Snowdrop and primrose — ** The snowdrop and primrose our woodlands adorn, And violets bath in the weet o' the morn." Primrose — ** The primrose I will pu', the firstling o' the year." Pink— **And I will pu' the pink, the emblem o' my dear." I40 THE BURNS ALMANAC. Rose — "I'll pu' the buddinjT;' rose when Phoebus peeps in view." Balm — " For its like a baumy kiss o' her sweet bonnie mou." Hyacinth — "The hyacith's for constancy, wi' its unchanging blue." Lily- "The lily it is pure, and the lily it is fair, And in her lovely bosom I place the lily there." Daisy — " The daisy's for simplicity and unaffected air." Hawthorn — " The hawthorn I will pu' wi" its locks o' siller grey, Where like an aged man it stands at break o'day." Woodbine — " The woodbine I will pu' when the e'ening star is near." Violet— "The violet for modesty, which weel she fa's to wear, And a' to be a posie to my ain dear ^lay." Myrtle — "Their groves o' sweet myrtle let foreign lands reckon. Where bright beaming summers exalt the per- fume." Brake fern — " Far dearer to me yon glen o' green breckan." Broom — " Wi' the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom. " THE BURNS ALMANAC. 141 Bluebell and goivan — "Where the bhiebell and gowan lurk lowly unseen." A-list'ning the linnet, aft wanders my Jean." Harebells — " Mourn, little harebells o'er the lee." Foxgloves — "Ye stately foxgloves, fair to see. In scented bow'rs. " Wallflower — " Where the wa'flower scents the dewy air." Ivy — " Where the howlet mourns in her ivy bower. " Reeds — " Ye healthy wastes, immixed with reedy fens." Sedge and rushes — "Ye mossy streams, with sedge and rushes stor'd; To you I fly, ye with my soul accord." Cowslips — " Now bank and brae are clothed in green, An' scatter'd cowslips sweetly spring. " Poppies — " But pleasures are like poppies spread. You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed." Water lily — " His hoary head with water lilies crowned." Gardener' s garters — " His manly leg with garter tangle bound." Brier — " O bonnie was yon rosy brier, That blooms sae far frae haunt o' man." 142 THE BURNS ALMANAC. Heather — ** Sweet brushing the dew from the brown heather bells." Moss— *' Her color betrayed her on yon mossy fells." Thistle — * ' The roiig-h bur- thistle, spreading wide, I turned by weeding heuk aside, An' spared the s3aTibol dear." Thyme — "Hey and the rue grows bonnie wi' thyme." Rue— *' And the thyme it is withered, and rue is in prime." Lint— " I bought ray wife a stane o' lint." Whins — " vShe through the whins and by the cairn, An' ower the hill gaed screivin'. " Boortree — "Or rustlin', thro' the boortrees comin'." Holy— "Green, slender, leaf clad holy boughs Were twisted gracefu' round her brows.'* Sloe thorn — "From the white blossomed sloe, my dear Chloe requested A sprig her fair breast to adorn." Lime and Orange — " O sweet grows the lime and the orange." THE BURNS ALMANAC. 143 Laurel — *' Then farewell hopes o' laurel bows, To garland my poetic brows." Many other quotations could be made with reference to other plants, etc., connected with the vegetable world, but, as they are farther from the subject than any now taken notice of, I have kept them out of the list. As already stated, some of the plants noted will not be regarded as flowers; however, if such plants as puddock-stools and nettles were included, we would be farther a-iield than ever. The list will be found to contain all the more characteristic and emblematic plants connected with Britain. THE FUNERAL OF ROBERT BURNS. It was on Thursday, the 21st of July, 1796, that the poet breathed his last in the house which the Industrial vSchool now adjoins, and the funeral took place on the following Monday, 25th July. It was of a public character, and started from the Mid- steeple, to which the body had been removed on the Sabbath evening. Some confusion has unaccoimt- ably arisen on this point, on which there is really no room for uncertainity. The building has been referred to in some works of a recent date as the Trades Hall, which was in the same neighborhood, but on the opposite side of the street, and was let out for meetings and entertainments. But in the report of the funeral which appeared in the Dumfries Journal on the following day it is called " the Town Hall;" and Mr William Grierson, draper, who as a young man walked in the posession, records in the diary which he kept at the time that it was in the Court-house that the coffin was placed and where the mourners assembled. This was the large apart- 144 THE BURNS ALMANAC. ment in the upper stor}^ of the Midsteeple, approach- ed by the outside stair, and was at the time the place in which the sittings of the Sheriff Court and the Justiciary Court were held. Public meetings of an official nature, on such questions, for example, as national defense, were also held within its walls, so that it might quite appropriately be spoken of as the Town Hall. Dumfries was at that time never with- out a contingent of military. The troops then quartered in the town were the Angus-shire Fen- cibles (a force which formed the precursor of the of the district militia, but which was levied by con- scription ballot), commanded by Major Fraser, and a detachment of the Cinque Ports Cavalry, under Captain Findlay. These forces joined with the local Volunteers in paying military honors to the author " Scots wha ha'e," "Does haughty Gaul," the pop- ular war-song of the time — " The Poor and Honest Sodger," and the heroic soldier's " Song of Death." The following is the simple account of the funeral which appeared in the weekly issue of the local newspaper: "The mihtary here, consisting of the Cinque Ports Cavalry and the Angus-shire Fencibles, having handsomely tendered their services, lined the streets on both sides to the burial grounds. The Royal Dumfries Volunteers (of which he was a member) in uniform, with crape on their left arms, supported the bier. A party of that corps, appointed to per- form the military obsequies, moving in slow, solemn time to "The Dead March in Saul," which was played by the military band, preceded in mournful array, with arms reversed. The principal part of the inhabitants of this town and neighborhood, with a number of the particular friends of the bard from remote parts, followed in possession — the great bells of the churches tolling at intervals. Arrived at the at the churchyard gate the funeral party, according to the rules of that exercise, formed two lines, and THE BURNS ALMANAC. 145 leaned their heads on their firelocks pointed to the ground. Through this space the corpse was carried, and borne forward to the grave. The party then drew up alongside of it, and fired three volleys over the cofhn when deposited in the earth. The whole ceremony presented a solemn, grand, and affecting spectacle ; and accorded with the general sorrow and regret for the loss of a man whose like we scarce can see again." Allan Cunningham, who was then serving his apprenticeship in Dumfries as a stone mason, wit- nessed the funeral of his elder and greater brother of '* the bardic race," and years afterwards he pub- lished an account of it, which showed that the pro- ceedings had greatly impressed him ; but when he estimates the multitude who assembled at twelve thousand, we recognize the exaggerated impressions of a boy of twelve. It is worth while, however, to quote what Cimningham says of the demeanor of the townspeople during the last illness of Burns, for the information of the remnant who cling 10 the myth that he was neglected and unappreciated by his own townspeople. '* Dumfries," says Allan, " was like a besieged place. It was known he was dying, and the anxiety not of the rich and learned only, but of the mechanics and peasants exceeded all belief. Wherever two or three people stood together their talk was of Burns, and of him alone. They spoke of his history, of his person, of his works, of his family, and of his untimely approaching fate, with a warmth and enthusiasm which will ever endear Dumfries to my remembrance. All that he said or was saying — the opinion of the physicians (and Maxwell was a kind and skillful one) were eagerly caught up and reported from street to street. As his life drew to a close the eager yet decorous solicitude of his fellow- townsmen increased. It is the practice of the young men of Dumfries to meet in the street during the hours of remission from labor, and by these means I 146 THE BURNS ALMANAC. had an opportunity of witnessing the general solici- tude of all ranks and of all ages. His differences with some of them on some important points were forgotten and forgiven. They thought only of his genius; of the delight his compositions had diffused; and they talked of him with the same awe as of some departing spirit whose voice was to gladden them no more." We reproduce also Mr. Grierson's account of the funeral (to which we have referred above) and the reflections on the subject which he wrote in his diary : "Monday, 25th July. — This day at 12 o'clock went to the burial of Robert Burns, who died on the 2ist, aged 38 years. In respect to the memory of such a genius as Mr. Burns, his funeral was uncom- monly splendid. The military here consisted of the Cinque Ports Cavalry and Angus-shire P'encibles, who, having handsomely tendered their services, lined the streets on both sides from the Court-house to the burial ground. (The corpse was carried from the place where Mr. Burns died to the Court-house last night.) Order of procession: The firing party, which consisted of twenty of the Royal Dumfries Volunteers (of which Mr. Burns was a member), in full uniform with crapes on the left arm, marched in front with arms reversed, moving in a slow and solemn time to the ' Dead March in Saul, ' which was played by the military band belonging to the Cinque Ports Cavalry. Next to the firing party was the band, then the bier or corpse supported by six of the Volunteers, who changed at intervals. The relations of the deceased and a number of the re- spectable inhabitants of both town and country followed next. Then the remainder of the Volun- teers followed in rank, and the procession closed with a guard of Angus-shire Fencibles. The great bells of the churches tolled at intervals during the time of the procession. When arrived at the churchyard THE BURNS ALMANAC, 147 gate, the funeral party formed two lines, and leaned their heads on their firelocks pointed to the ground. Through this space the corpse was carried and borne to the grave. The party then drew up along- side of it, and fired three volleys over the coffiin when deposited in the earth. Thus closed a cere- mony which, on the whole, presented a solemn, grand, and affecting spectacle, and accorded with the general sorrow and regret for the loss of a man whose like we can scarce see again. As for his private character and behavior, it might not have been so fair as could have been wished, but whatever faults he had, I believe he was always worse for himself, and it becomes us to pass over his failings in silence, and with veneration and esteem look to his immortal works, which will live forever. I be- lieve his extraordinary genius may be said to have been the cause of bringing him so soon to his end, his company being courted by all ranks of people, and being of too easy and accommodating a temper, which often involved him in scenes of dissipation and intoxication, which by slow degrees impaired his health, and at last totally ruined his constitution. For originality of wit, rapidity of conception, and fluency of nervous phraseology he was unrivalled. He has left a wife and five children in very indigent circumstances, but I understand very liberal and extensive subscriptions are to be made for them. His wife w^as delivered of a child about an hour after he was removed from the house." MANUSCRIPT NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. 149 I50 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. 151 152 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES, 153 154 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. 155 156 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS, NOTES. 157 158 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. 159 i6o THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC-MS. NOTES, i6r i62 THE BURNS ALMANAC—MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. 163 i64 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. 165 i66 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. 167 i68 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. i'^ THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. 169 I70 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. 171 172 THE BURNS ALMANAC—MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. 173 174 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. 175 176 THE BURNS ALMANAC— MS. NOTES. H 451 85 ^^0^ ^ArS 0^ **/•-••'< « t ^ *Ao< 'o * » ^ ^-'^^'/^ "v^^^/' \/^?v n..n^ >^ ''^o.o"' .o' ';> \^* . 5 * « - '^. "c «^ ^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proce! I « se^^ Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide ? * . JL Treatment Date: March 2009 ^5^^' u^ ^ •i^^O^^ft^^** si^\^ Neutralizing agent: Magnesiu ^^fl^S » . 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