A BURNS MANUSCRIPT. The manuscript-Burns's holograph, but not Burns's composition-which is reproduced in facsimile on the opposite page was offered at auction by Messrs. Sotheby, of London, on 16th July, 1924, and was sold for £82. The purchaser-Mr. George A. Ball, of Muncie, Indiana -has been good enough to send a photograph of the document and to grant permission for its reproduction here. The interjectional words, between the poem and Anderson's presentation inscription, are in the hand of R. A. Smith himself. The manuscript of Burns's song, "O, gude ale comes," as originally printed in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, is now in possession of Paisley Burns Club. It carries this docket-" Burns' Autograph. Presented to R. A. Smith for the Paisley Burns Club by Jno. Anderson, Engraver. Edinburgh, Nov. 22d, 1820." Smith, whose fame as musician and musical editor still lives, was then the leading figure in Paisley Burns Club; Anderson had been assistant to James Johnson, publisher of the Museum. JAMES THOMSON. BURNS AND ELLISLAND. The three brief letters and the bill which are printed below were offered at auction by Messrs. Dowell's Ltd., Edinburgh, on 28th October, 1925, and were purchased by Mr. Walter Spencer, of London, for £127 (No. 1, £35; No. 2, £41; No. 3, £51). They were part of a large collection of manuscripts and printed books which was formed by the late ex-Provost Duncan Ferguson, of Burntisland, and had been acquired by him -for £105-at an auction, on 15th December, 1920, in Messrs. Sotheby's rooms, in London, to which they had been sent by Miss H. B. Waddell-Boyd, of Ravelin House, Portsmouth. ROBERT BURNS TO THOMAS BOYD. I Isle, Sunday morn : I see at last, dear Sir, some signs of your executing my house within the current year. I am oblidged to set out for Edinr. to-morrow se'ennight, so I beg you will set as many hands to work as possible during this week. I am distressed with the want of my house in a most provoking manner. It loses me two hours' work of my servants every day, besides other inconveniences. For Gd's sake let me but within the shell of it! I arrived from Edinr. yesternight and was a good deal surprised at finding my house still lying like Babylon in the prophecies of Isiah. I beg, dear Sir, for humanity's sake, that you will send me out your hands to-morrow and oblidge, Dr. Sir, Yours sincerely, ROBT. BURNS. III Dear Sir, Ellisland, 16 June, 1791. As it is high time that the account between you and me were settled, if you will take a bill of Mr. Alexr. Crombie's to me for twenty pounds in part, I will settle with you immediately; at least against Wedensday se'ennight, as I am to be out of the country for a week. Mr. Crombie cannot take it amiss that I endeavour to get myself clear of his bill in this manner, as you owe him and I owe you. I am, Dear Sir, Yours, ROBT. BURNS. The bill referred to in this letter is dated April 6, 1791. It is directed to Mr. Alexr. Crombie, mason in Dalswinton, and reads:-" Sir,-Three months after date pay to me or my order at the Coffee house in Dumfries the sum of twenty pounds sterling for value received from-Robt. Burns." The bill carries the signatures of Burns, William Lorimer, and Alexr. Crombie. The letters refer to the building of the Poet's farmhouse at Ellisland, whither he himself had gone in June of 1788, leaving his wife and his son at Mauchline. During the months when the house was building he lived at The Isle," on the Nith-half a mile away. It was here that the first two of the letters were writtendoubtless in the autumn of 1788; and it was to the same temporary residence that he brought his wife in or about the following November. “LAST MAY A BRAW WOOER CAM DOUN THE Sir, LANG GLEN." Brankston House, In the hope that it may interest some of your readers, I send you the following note regarding the origin of Burns's song, "Last May a Braw Wooer Cam Doun the Lang Glen." The story came from my uncle, who often spoke of it, and who died some years ago at over eighty years of age, having lived all his life in Nithsdale. When Burns was performing his duties as an Exciseman, he visited the inn at Durisdeer from time to time, and it was there that the incidents occurred around 66 which he wove the song. The inn was then occupied by a family named Brown, and cousins were tenants of the adjacent farm of Gateslack. Mailie or Mary Brown, the innkeeper's daughter, was one of the beauties of the district; and it is of her that the Poet writes and to her that the "" braw wooer came with so little success. He was the laird of Troloss, a property at the upper end of the Dalveen Pass-the "lang glen "-at the lower end of which the village of Durisdeer is situated. Although Mary in the song shows signs of relenting, she in fact married William Rae, a well-known farmer in the district, who later became the tenant of Gateslack farm, and who, with his descendants, occupied it for over 120 years. The story has a personal interest for me, as Mary Brown was my great-grandmother. Yours faithfully, JAMES GOURLAY. by Burns to George Thomson on or about 3rd July, 1795. Thomson objected to the introduction of "Gateslack" and "Dalgarnock" in the song; and on or about 3rd August following the Poet wrote to him that "Gateslack '-the word you object to in my last ballad -is positively the name of a particular place, a kind of passage among the Lowther Hills, on the confines of this county. 'Dalgarnock' is also the name of a romantic spot, near the Nith, where are still a ruined church and a burial-place. However, let the line run 'He up the lang loan,' &c." |