day of Jane Seventeen hundred and Sighly Seven years.

I presence of fames Colquhoun of Nucla de Stquire Prood. t of the Burgh of Bumbarton Neil Campe bell and Webert Gardie Baquires Bailies Robert Wifintock Dean of Guiliff and John Jarden TravcuNT thereof Compscared, M. Robert Buras of. Ayrshire who was admelled, and received in Burgiss Guild Brother of the said Burghs with power to him to use and enjoy all the priviledge and Comunities theres belonging Extracted by

TO ROBERT BURNS, 1787

in 1773. The Town Council were the patrons of the living, and Oliphant's induction was bitterly opposed by the bulk of the parishioners; they ultimately became reconciled to him, and he in turn became a man of great influence in the parish. He died in 1818, and was buried in Dumbarton Churchyard.

Dr. Wallace conjectures that it was in Dumbarton that Burns wrote

66

"When Death's dark stream I ferry o'er

(A time that surely shall come),

In Heaven itself I'll ask no more

Than just a Highland welcome."

That he was well pleased with his reception in the Town of the Rock and with the Town-clerk's hospitality may be gathered from a letter to McAulay in which he saysThere is a certain pretty large quantum of kindness for which I remain, and from inability I fear must still remain, your debtor, but though unable to repay the debt I assure you, sir, I shall ever warmly remember the obligation. It gives me the sincerest pleasure to hear that you are hale, weel, and living,' and that your charming family are well."

An interesting chapter in the history of Dumbarton closed on 29th June, 1926, when the Burgess ticket passed for safe custody into the municipal archives. The ceremony took place in the Municipal Buildings, at a special meeting of the Town Council, in which they were joined by members of the Burns Club. Provost Garrick presided.

The Secretary of the Club, called upon to make the gift, thanked the Council for honouring the Burns Club by having this special meeting to receive into municipal custody for all time the Burgess ticket of Robert Burns, granted by their predecessors in office 139 years ago. They were there, he said, through the kindness and generosity of Mrs. Burns Gowring, who had commissioned him to hand over the historical parchment.

The Provost said there was not a member of the Town Council who would not like to take part in thanking the Club for their kindness. The Burgess ticket was indeed a treasure. In Council they had passed a resolution that they would accept as authentic the little evidence there was that Burns had been admitted a Burgess of their royal and ancient burgh. He concluded by reading the terms of the Burgess ticket, and moved that the Council record in their minutes their appreciation of Mrs. Burns Gowring's kindness in presenting to the burgh the Burgess ticket of her famous ancestor, and that they instruct the Town-clerk to communicate with Mrs. Burns Gowring, sending her an excerpt from the minutes; also that the Council sincerely thank the Burns Club for the interest they had taken in procuring the ticket for preservation in the burgh archives. The motion was agreed to unanimously.

To commemorate the event, the Committee of the Burns Club commissioned Mr. Ian Strang, London, son of the late William Strang, LL.D., of Dumbarton, to prepare an etching of the Bard and the Burgess ticket. Signed proofs of the etching were presented to the Town Council, to Mrs. Burns Gowring, and to the Secretary of the Club. Mr. Ian Strang has been very successful in the design, and the whole work reflects credit on a Son of the Rock as a promising etcher. The head of the Poet in the etching is founded on the Nasmyth painting, and the etcher has been bold enough to add his own artistic conception. In the lower part of the plate is reproduced the Burgess ticket on one side a facsimile of the manuscript, and on the other the Arms of the Burgh of Dumbarton. In the distant background are shown, on the Poet's right, the Auld Brig of Ayr, and on his left Dumbarton Rock, thus symbolising his connection with the two ancient towns.

J. M. MENZIES,

Hon. Secy., Dumbarton Burns Club.