work for the preservation of the vernacular, it was the Aberdeen district. He recalled having once taken an Aberdonian who spoke the purest Doric down to the south of England, and he had been asked where he had got hold of that ancient Briton who talked Gaelic. That showed, if they studied the vernacular, and went among strange people, they would always command attention. The object of the Association was to keep alive the spirit of their Scots literature and the Doric, and he thought that had been done admirably by writers such as Charles Murray.

Professor John Glaister said that he had come because he was in entire sympathy with the movement. He had for a long time tried to do a little for the propagation of the knowledge of the vernacular among children. He was Hon. President of a Burns Club in Glasgow which, since its inception, had given prizes annually to certain schools in the city for the children who qualified to be able to read Burns and to understand him. If the proposed Association was to be of any value, it had to be an organisation with some life in it, but from what he knew of the people behind it he was certain that there would be no lack of vigour.

The motion was unanimously adopted.

Mr. George Eyre-Todd proposed the following list of office-bearers-Hon. President, Sir Donald MacAlister; President, Sir Robert Bruce; Vice-Presidents, Professor R. S. Rait and Mr. A. M. Williams; and Secretary, Mr. J. Jeffrey Hunter.

Mr. Tod Ritchie, who seconded, gave the assurance of the support of the teaching profession.

Mr. Thomas Killin submitted the names of the Council, with power to add to their number.

Both lists were approved.

UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS OF BURNS:

MR. A. J. LAW'S COLLECTION.

There has recently come into the ken of students of Burns a very important, but little known, collection of manuscripts which forms part of the library owned by A. J. Law, Esq., formerly M.P. for Rochdale. Many of these manuscripts yield valuable corrections of, and additions to, certain published letters and poems. Several of the manuscripts have never been printed; while one, though in print, has never been suspected to be a composition of Burns. Scotland and the far-flung Burns world owe Mr. Law grateful thanks for kindly allowing these valuable items to be published in the official Burns Chronicle.

In the fifth volume of Burnsiana (1895, p. 31) there is an article by Mr. G. A. Aitken, entitled "A Collection of Burns Manuscripts"; it deals with a great sale at Messrs. Puttick and Simpson's Rooms in London, on 2nd May, 1861. Mr. Aitken expresses the hope that his article "will lead to the discovery and publication of some of the manuscripts dispersed so long ago." Several of the manuscripts to which he refers are in the Law Collection. Among them is "Broom Besoms." [MS. i]

(a) BROOM BESOMS.

I maun hae a wife, whatsoe'er she be;
An she be a woman, that's eneugh for me.

Chorus.

Buy broom besoms! wha will buy them now;
Fine heather ringers, better never grew.

If that she be bony, I shall think her right:
If that she be ugly, where's the odds at night?
Buy broom &c.

O, an she be young, how happy shall I be!
If that she be auld, the sooner she will die.
Buy broom &c.

If that she be fruitfu', O! what joy is there!
If she should be barren, less will be my care.
Buy broom &c.

If she like a drappie, she & I'll agree;
If she dinna like it, there's the mair for me.
Buy broom &c.

Be she green or gray; be she black or fair;
Let her be a woman, I shall seek nae mair.
Buy broom &c.

At the foot of the page Burns has written "Same tune-Turn over, ," and on the reverse, in his holograph, is the following song, without heading or title:

(b)

1.

Young & souple was I, when I lap the dyke;
Now I'm auld & frail, I douna step a syke.

Chorus.

Buy broom besoms! wha will buy them now;
Fine heather ringers, better never grew.

2.

Young & souple was I, when at Lautherslack,
Now I'm auld and frail, & lie at Nansie's back.
Buy broom &c.

3.

Had she gien me butter, when she gae me bread,
I wad looked baulder, wi' my beld head.

Buy broom &c.

Another manuscript has seventeen lines of poetry on one side of the paper, and what appears to have been intended for another portion of the same poem, nine lines in all, is written on the other side. This latter portion is immediately followed, without any indication of divi

sion, by the first two stanzas of the "Address to the Toothach." The seventeen and the nine lines are without doubt experiments in a Dedication to John Ballantine, superseded by the Dedication of "The Brigs of Ayr as published the twenty-four lines beginning:

"The simple Bard, rough at the rustic plough, Learning his tuneful trade from ev'ry bough."

Sir,

[MS. ii]
(a)

think not with a mercenary view
Some servile Sycophant approaches you.
To you my Muse would sing these simple lays,
To you my heart its grateful homage pays,
I feel the weight of all your kindness past,
But thank you not as wishing it to last:

Scorn'd be the wretch whose earth-born grov'lling soul
Would in his ledger-hopes his Friends enroll.

Tho I, a lowly nameless, rustic Bard,

Who ne'er must hope your goodness to reward,
Yet man to man, Sir, let us fairly meet,

And like masonic Level, equal greet.

How poor the balance! ev'n what Monarch's plan,
Between two noble creatures such as Man.
That to your Friendship I am strongly tied
I still shall own it, Sir, with grateful pride,
When haply roaring seas between us tumble wide.

(b)

Or if among so many cent'ries waste,

Thro the long vista of dark ages past,
Some much-lov'd honor'd name a radiance cast,
Perhaps some Patriot of distinguish'd worth,
I'll match him if My Lord will please step forth.
Or Gentleman and Citizen combine,
And I shall shew his peer in Ballantine:
Tho' honest men were parcell'd out for sale,
He might be shown a sample for the hale.

[MS. iii]

The next item is a communication on songs written

on four folio pages. On the third page are an unpublished poem and an unpublished letter. Page 4 has the postmark "Mauchline," and the superscription "Mr. James Johnson, Engraver, Bell's wynd, Edinburgh." [On page I of MS.J

(a)

Tune-Deil flee o'er the water wi' her.
Note I send this tune along with the song.

I was walking up the street,

A barefit maid I chanc'd to meet,

But the road seem'd hard

For that maid's tender feet.

'Twere more meet that those fine feet
Were lac'd up in silken shoon :
'Twere more fit that she should sit
In yon chariot gilt aboon.

Mally's meek, Mally's sweet,
Mally's modest & discreet,
Mally's rare, Mally's fair,

Mally's every way compleat.

Her yellow hair, beyond compare,

Comes trinkling down her swan-white neck:
Her two eyes like stars in skies

Would keep a sinking ship frae wreck.

Immediately after the tune of "Deil flee o'er the, &c., is another, "Lenox love to Blantyre." This last is the tune of a Song in the 2d Vol. of Scots Songs beginning "The wren she lies in care's bed." It is a very good song & tune both: & deserves a place.

[On page II of MS.]

(b)

Tune: My love is lost to me.-Oswald.

O were I on Parnassus' hill!

Or had of Helicon my fill;

That I might catch poetic skill,

To sing how dear I love thee.