the death of Mr James Forbes, a former Auditor and member who rendered good service in the early days of the Association.

Another loss has been occasioned through the removal to Glasgow of Mr G. A. Mitchell, who, since the inception of the Association, has evinced a keen interest in its doings and closely identified himself with the Council, rendering good service in many

ways.

At the last Annual General Meeting Mr J. G. Simpson, who had devoted six years' service as Honorary Secretary, and Mr G. E. Bain, who performed the Honorary Treasurer's duties for a period of nine years, asked to be relieved of their respective offices, and the council desire to voice the thanks of the whole Association for the painstaking services rendered by these gentlemen during such long periods of office.

The meetings have been held in the Mikado Cafe, Long Row, and the attendances, with one or two exceptions, were very satisfactory. The thanks of the Association are due to the ladies and gentlemen who arranged the various programmes for the different meetings, and also to the many ladies and gentlemen who contributed to the enjoyment of all present.

The special events during the year have been two, viz. :-The Whist Drive and Dance on the 31st December, 1912, held in the Woodlands Ballroom, when upwards of 120 members and friends assembled. The members will be pleased to learn that financially as well as numerically it was a great success. The committee in charge of this event duly merit the best thanks for the able manner in which the arrangements were carried through. The other special event was the "Burns Dinner" held on the 27th January, 1913, at the Victoria Station Hotel, the party numbering 80. The President, Mr John Crawford, J.P., fully justified his selection to propose the Immortal Memory " in a magnificent tribute to Scotia's National Bard. The later programme was devoted to the loyal and other toasts, interspersed with songs, not the least enjoyable being the Concertina Selections of Miss F. Sutherland, an innovation so far as the Dinner is concerned. The Council regret that a greater number of the ordinary members do not support them at this function and so enable them to make the event as successful financially as the proceedings deserve from a representative body of Scotchmen.

The Accounts and Balance Sheet show the finances of the Association to be in a very healthy state, notwithstanding a small deficit on the Burns Dinner.

The Council invite full and free discussion of the accounts and general procedure, and will welcome any suggestions as to improvements in the conduct of the ordinary meetings or any other matters which may conduce to an increased interest in the Association's

proceedings. They feel that each member should endeavour to create and foster a live interest in the work amongst resident Scots, especially new comers to the city and district, inducing them to identify themselves as members and augment the spheres of usefulness thus open to the Association.

Hogmanay." Whist Drive and Dance---The Woodlands
Ballroom, Long Row.

Jan. 13. "The Jacobite Risings "-Mr J. C. Warren, M.A.
Jan. 26. "Burns Dinner "--Victoria Station Hotel.

Cairo-The City of the Arabian Nights" (Illustrated by
Limelight Views)-Professor John A. Todd, B.L.

Mar. 10. Musical Evening.

The ordinary meetings are held in the Mikado Cafe, Long Row, at 7.45. The above programme is subject to alteration.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

VERSES WRITTEN IN CARSE HERMITAGE, BY NITHSIDE. By Mr ROBERT BURNS.

(Extract from the Weekly Miscellany, Wednesday, 30th November, Printed by W. Bell, Saltmarket, Glasgow.)

1791.

Thou, whom chance may hither lead,

Be thou clad in russet weed,

Be thou deck'd in silken stole,

Grave these counsels on thy soul.

Life is but a day at most,

Sprung from night, in darkness lost,

Hope not sunshine every hour,

Fear not clouds will always lowr.

When youth, and love, with sprightly dance,

Beneath thy morning's star advance,

Pleasure, with her Syren air,

May delude the thoughtless pair ;
Let prudence bless enjoyment's cup,
Then raptur'd sip, and sip it up.

As thy day grows warm, and high,

Life's meridian flaming nigh,

Dost thou spurn the humble vale ?

Life's proud summit wouldst thou scale?

Check thy climbing steps elate,

Evils lurk in felon wait,

Dangers, eagle-pinion'd, bold,

Soar around each cliffy hold;

While chearful peace with linnet-song,

Chants the lowly dales among.

[The foregoing is one of the versions of this piece, which has so many variations of text -ED.]

THE INVENTORY OF BURNS.

(From Pagan's William Patterson, Founder of the Bank of England.)

The Commissary records we examined in the Register House, Edinburgh, from the beginning of the seventeenth century till the end of the eighteenth. Under the attractive name, Robert Burns," we found the whole personality given up by Mrs Jean Armour, his widow, as amounting to only fifteen pounds :- 1796, Oct. 6. Robert Burns, officer of excise in Dumfries, died July, 1796. Inventory given up by Jean Armour, his relict-no will. 1st, Sum of £5 contained in promissory note, Sir Wm. Forbes & Co. (bankers, Edinburgh), to George Shearer, payable on demand, indorsed payable to defunct. 2nd, £10 in draft, dated 15th July, 1796, by Robert Christie, on British Linen Co., Edinburgh, in favour of James Burness, indorsed by him to defunct. Summa of inventory, fifteen pounds. William Wallace, writer, Dumfries, cautioner." This inventory should also have included the library and household furniture, and any other moveable estate of the Poet. Dr Robert Chambers's Life of Burns, vol. iv., p. 223, informs us that the Poet owed only a few pounds at his death, while there belonged to him a sum of £180, due to him by his brother, books to the value of £90, and his household furniture. But the purpose of the inventory, plainly and simply, was to warrant the uplifting by the widow of the two bank orders which had come to her husband-too late, however, to be of any use to him. The two sums above mentioned were remittances made to the Poet on his death-bed, in compliance with urgent requests from him-the former by George Thomson of Edinburgh, the latter by James Burness of Montrose (his relative), as particularly mentioned by Burns's biographers. The Poet died nearly seven years before I was born, but I recollect Mrs Burns, the widow, and Mr Wallace, the cautioner, quite well. When a boy at Dumfries School, 19th June, 1815, the day after Wellington's crowning victory at Waterloo, I witnessed Burns's second interment-the removal of his body from its first resting-place near the centre of Dumfries churchyard, to the public mausoleum then erected in honour of his memory. His widow had an annuity of £60 from the sale of Currie's edition of Burns, or other generous sources, which was paid her monthly in Mr Thomson's office, where I was apprenticed. Not coming, one first of the month, or sending, the cashier, Mr Robert M'Lellan, lately deceased, took me along with him to Mrs Burns's house-the house where the Poet died-when the widow thanked us kindly for calling with the money, and gave us wine and cake. It is no small matter to have received such from the hand of Bonnie Jean." That would be in 1819 or 1920.