than in prosperity that endowed him with his great genius for friendship. Strong Churchman that he was, and ever ready to enter into a polemical duel, he never cherished any feeling of intolerance towards those who differed from him. One of the most pleasing pictures in his life of social intercourse is presented to us in the friendship which sprang up between himself and John Brown, the parish minister of Longside, a friendship which, with the exception of a temporary estrangement consequent on Skinner's suspicion of Mr Brown having been in league with the Lady of Kinmundry, at whose instigation soldiers were brought to Longside to burn down his chapel, continued till death. So close was their intimacy that they could afford to chaff each other even on their differences in religious practices without giving or taking offence. Of Skinner as a parson and ecclesiastic, this is not the time or the place to say much, if anything. My sole. object in briefly alluding to him in this capacity, is to show how he fulfilled the wishes of his father after he accepted the principles of Episcopacy. His defection from the Presbyterian Church was naturally a great disappointment to his father, who intended him for the Establishment Church, but instead of remonstrating with him, the worthy dominie expressed the fervent wish that his son might be sincere in his new profession, and do credit to the principles which he had adopted. How abundantly this wish was realised is well known to all, and to none more fully than to Skinner's own fellow-churchmen of the past and present generations. As a scholar and writer, Skinner occupied a position. of eminence in the literary world of his day. His ecclesiastical history, theological works, and his contributions to the Encyclopædia Britannica and to other contemporary writings of his time, all bear the stamp of ripe scholarship. But it is not as a historian or theologist or a controversialist that the name of Skinner is recalled with reverence to-day. It is as the brother bard," and the loon who did it of Burns that he lives in the hearts of his countrymen. His love of poetry and his turn for poetical compositions were conspicuous at an early age. He was only seventeen years of age when he wrote "The Monymusk Christmas Ba'ing " -a poem full of graphic power and "Homeric vigour." This poem is perhaps the best example of the pure vernacular that the eighteenth century has produced. Its language is so archaically Scotch that few a hundred years ago, and fewer still to-day, could read it intelligently without the aid of a glossary. How many people are there to-day who could say right off what is meant by a "skypel skate," a yap gilpy," or a 'sauchin slype "? Notwithstanding that the Ba'ing was written in imitation of a poem 66 by King James, it has considerable originality and great wealth of expression. What more delightful pen-picture of a football match as played in those days could we have than in the words : "Like bumbees bizzing frae a bike Whan hirds their riggins tirr; They yowff'd the ba' frae dyke to dyke 66 Wi' unco speed and virr." When the late Professor Geddes gave his estimation of Skinner as a far-off second " to Burns, he was no doubt thinking of quantity more than of quality, forgetful of the fact that poetic composition was regarded by him only as an amusement, and further, that, being a clergyman, he could not use the same unrestrained freedom as Burns, either in the choice of his themes or in his treatment of them. Whatever may be thought of a number of songs which he tossed off at a moment's notice, there are two which stand out unchallenged in the estimation of all song lovers as being almost on a level with the best of Burns, namely, "Tullochgorum" and "The Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn," both of which called forth unstinted praise from Burns himself, who regarded the former as the "best Scotch song ever Scotland saw," and when on reading the latter, exclaimed, "Oh, an' I had the loon that did it." In praise of these two songs I cannot do better than quote the words of my friend, Canon Wilkinson, whose unrivalled knowledge of Skinner and his times, and his ardent ad miration of his genius, enabled him to speak with an authority and with a sense of appreciation which few can exercise. "There are," he says, few things in Scottish literature to match the joyous humanity, the buoyant ringing tolerance, and the lilt of couthly, canty fellowship in the one, and the pathos, the tenderness, the heartwrung grief, and the over-flowing compassion of the other." The spirit of these songs will ever keep his name fresh and green, and produce a rich harvest of affection and admiration in the hearts of generations to come. The toast was drunk in silence. Dr Wood proposed Skinner's Church," which was replied to by the Bishop. "His Ain Folk" was spoken to by Captain A. M'D. Younie, and a letter was read from the Very Rev. John Skinner Wilson, D.D., formerly Dean of Edinburgh, from which we extract the following: "Aros, Strathtay, Perthshire. "I understand that your Committee proposes to include among their toasts one to John Skinner of Linshart's 6 ain folk.' They are a numerous body, composed, I hope, of men and women of whom he would not be ashamed. In 1807, when the old man was spending his closing days on earth with his second son and Bishop of Aberdeen, he had one of his great-grandchildren in his arms when he quoted from the Psalm (with a slight extension of the original) Yea, thou shalt see thy children's grandchildren, and peace upon Israel.' I have cherished the idea that the child in his arms may have been my mother, then a year old. It may, on the other hand, have been one of the children of John Skinner of Forfar, the Fourth John Skinner in his well-known list, whose humility he fanned by predicting (but not veraciously) 'the fourth shall be a fool.' Anyhow, the old man's memory is held in highest honour among his 'ain folk,' who have sprung from two of his grandsons, John Skinner of Forfar, Dean of Dunkeld, and William Skinner, who was Bishop of Aberdeen from 1816 to 1857. My mother was the only child of the latter. If I have drawn from her breast the spirit of Tullochgorum to a very limited degree, it has shown itself in me, not in poetic genius, nor in theological learning, nor in brilliance in conversation, nor in ready wit-in all of which he excelled-but solely in life-long devotion to that branch of the Church of Christ in Scotland of which he in his generation was the most distinguished of its clergy for wise and statemanlike vision. I have spent close on fifty years among these self-same pastoral duties in which he found his delight; but my lines have fallen in pleasant places and in more prosperous days. May it be long before there is no descendant of his to carry on in the service of his Church. I have done my best to pass on the tradition. 66 But besides the Skinner's and the Wilson's sprung from the stock of "Tullochgorum,” and still at home, there are many others-Cummings in New York, Skinners in Canada and India, whose hearts will rejoice to learn that the old man's memory is being honoured in Longside on the bi-centenary of his birth. "In the name of them all I beg to tender respectful thanks to the members of the Tullochgorum' Club for all they are doing to keep that memory green.—I am, yours faithfully, "J. S. WILSON, D.D." و, "Tullochgorum was sung by Mr J. S. Smith, and "The Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn was recited by Mr G. M. Gray. The following greeting was sent by the Secretary to the Vernacular Circle of the London Burns Club :— "Dear brither Scots in Lunnon toon, In speech and sang galorum; And pledge wi' a' decorum, The toast of Tullochgorum." BURNS CLUBS AND BURNS'S SONGS. I WAS rather surprised lately to read in an article in the Glasgow Herald, entitled "A Scots Revival," that the London Robert Burns Club had just inaugurated a new departure in trying to create an interest amongst children in the Songs of Scotland. I am sure our good friends in London know, and acknowledge, that this is a work dear to the Burns Federation, which for many years has not only "done things," but has regularly presented an annual report on what had been accomplished. Scotland is the greatest song-writing country in the world, and Burns is the greatest song-writer. When I use the word song I am speaking of the spontaneous and natural lyrics which no artiste need be ashamed of. The lilts of the Hebrides and the similar folk-songs of all lands are often charming, but tend to monotony and gloom, and I am of opinion that the worthy people who, during the past few years, have been striving hard to get us to admire these often fantastic fragments would be doing a better service to Scotland if they were content to "push Burns, Lady Nairne, Scott, Hogg, Tannahill, and others at their best. For (as I shall try to show presently) of the 300 songs or thereby that Burns wrote, about onehalf are never heard of in public, and others but seldom, though they ought to be sung into popularity. The Burns cult had for a time a struggle for existence. It is true that Greenock founded a Burns Club in 1802, and that other towns soon followed the example, though only with qualified success. But when we review the dead years that followed Waterloo, the political excitements of the 'twenties and 'thirties, the hunger and misery of the 'forties and 'fifties, we are not surprised that song-singing was not much in vogue in Scotland. The publication of Carlyle's Essay on Burns in 1835 gave a new interest to Burns, and prepared the way for the triumphant celebrations of the Poet's Centenary in 1859. |