on war ably

DENNISTOUN JOLLY BECGARS.

ANNUAL REPORT.

The year just finished has been a very trying one for the Club. With some of our members in the Army, and many others engaged work in the evenings, the attendance naturally fell considerbelow its previous high standard. In spite of adverse circumstances, however, we kept the fires of Burns enthusiasm burning throughout the year, and always managed a quorum at least. The Poet's Anniversary was celebrated by a Supper in the Loudon Arms Hotel, on Saturday, 29th January, at which thirty-one members and friends were present-the Immortal Memory" being proposed by the Vice-President. Papers were given by various members during the year, on such subjects as The Evolution of Liberty," **Some Thoughts on the National Poet,' Tom Campbell," Glasgow &c., and an appropriate ode on 'Robert Burns" was the Club Bard.

Cathedral,

recited by

66

7966

9966

J. MACDONALD, Secy.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

BURNS'S

GRANDSIRE.

In view of the interest taken by Scotsmen all the world over in everything that concerns Burns and his family, we venture to reproduce a facsimile of a legal document that contains the signature of the Poet's grandfather, who also bore the name of Robert Burns. The signature is thought to have some resemblance to that of the Poet himself, whose handwriting is familiar to most people.

It appears that the grandfather, then described as residing in Falside of Kinneff, was summoned to the Sheriff Court at Stonehaven on 18th December, 1746, to answer the following charge at the instance of George Stephen, sub-tenant in Pitcarry :

"That is to say, the said Robert Burnes, defender, to hear and see himself decerned and ordained by decreet of Court, order of law and Justice, to pay and deliver to the said pursuer the sum of three pounds ten shillings Scots money as the worth and value of two firlots of corns, cropt 1745 years, that grew on Falside belong. ing to the pursuer, eaten and destroyed by a calf and a foal belonging to the defender that went among the pursuer's corns the whole time they were on the ground, And that by the custom of the country a firlot of corn is due for each of them in name of Calf and Foal Maill, And that the pursuer got seven pound Scots for each boll of his corns and cropt; Item, fourteen pound Scots more beside the above for two bolls eaten corn cropt forsaid on the said town eaten and destroyed by the defender's Bestiall over and above the above calf and foal maill, etc."

It will be seen from the document that the Poet's grandfather duly appeared before the Sheriff on 8th January, 1747, and swore in open court that his " bestiall did not skaith the Pursuer's corns in manner lybelled," and was, in legal language, duly assoilzied."

Robert Burns, senior, succeeded George Stephen as tenant of Falside at Whitsunday, 1745. His tenancy of that holding was very brief as he was unable to pay the rent, for which he was sued shortly afterwards in the same Court by his laird, George Kinloch of Kair.

-Caledonian Medical Journal,

per Mr W. A. MACNAUGHTON, M.A., Co-Editor.

DAVID AULD AND TAM O' SHANTER.

Subsequently to the appearance of the notice on James Thom, the self-taught sculptor, and his statues of Tam o' Shanter and Souter Johnnie, in the last number of the Burns Chronicle, a very curious paragraph in the Autobiographical Reminiscences of James Paterson, author of the History of the County of Ayr and other works, has come under the notice of the writer. In his book, which was published in 1871, Paterson has a good deal to say about all that concerns Burns, and naturally Thom's statues came under review, and it occurred to me that what he says about them might be of interest to those readers who have not access to the book in question. It is necessary to note that Paterson was editor of the Ayr Observer. Here is the extract :

own.

** While I was in the Observer, Fillans, the sculptor, used frequently to visit Ayr. He was enthusiastic about Burns and the Monument. He generally drove or walked out to the grounds every time he came. I forget the occasion, but I recollect going into the house at the Monument in which the figures of Tam o' Shanter and Souter Johnnie are kept. The figure of Tam had often struck me as out of all proportion, and I was dilating on the subject, surprised that Fillans did not enter more warmly into it, for it seemed as if it were one peculiarly his own. But I noticed frequently that he was reluctant to find fault with works not his By and by, however, I went into the Monument Inn, kept at the time by the proprietor himself (Mr David Auld). Mr Auld happened to be in the way, and at once offered to join us. The conversation quickly turned on what Fillans and I had been formerly speaking about. 'Od, man,' said Mr Auld, it was me that sat for Tam o' Shanter's body, in place o' big Affleck, the carter, wha sat for the legs.' Fillans could not contain himself longer, but burst into an immoderate fit of laughter. The idea of Mr Auld's attenuated body, superinduced upon Affleck's herculean limbs, was one of the best practical illustrations of what I had remarked. Mr Auld was good authority, for it was he who first employed Thom, the sculptor."

Is this pretended conversation with Mr Auld an invention of the narrator, or is Mr Auld the inventor of the insinuation attributed to him? We should hesitate to believe that the statue, as we know it, is of the composite order hinted at, and that two models entered into its fabrication. expedient of reproducing the legs of one individual, and the body of another, to say nothing of somebody else's head, in turning out his jolly representation of the Carrick farmer.

Thom could not have been driven to the

Mr Paterson's story

will hardly hold water, and we still prefer the assurance of the writer

of the notice of Thom in the National Dictionary of Biography, that "William Brown, Trabboch Mill, about six miles east of Ayr, sat as the model for Tam o' Shanter."

JAMES M'BAIN.

SOUTAR JOHNNY'S SNUFF MULL.

The interesting relic depicted, the snuff mull of John Davidson, immortalised by Burns as the " ancient, trusty, drouthy crony of Tam o' Shanter, is in the possession of Mr Jas. France, 5 Balmoral

Terrace, Tollcross, Glasgow.

There is no doubt regarding the authenticity of the little box. Its genealogical tree as given by its owner is as follows:-" Mr France married the daughter of Matthew Biggar Walker; the said Matthew Walker was the son of Agnes Davidson or Walker. She was the daughter of John Davidson, shoemaker, Kirkoswald, known to fame as Soutar Johnny." When the Soutar died his daughter inherited the snuff mull. It in turn passed to her son, Matthew Walker, who on his deathbed, over twenty years ago, handed it to his son-in-law, the present possessor, at the same time telling him, "Tak guid care o't, Jamie. It's the Soutar's box." The box is of dark wood. There is a horn panel on the lid, which bears a small silver plate with the name in much-worn lettering, "John Davidson." The workmanship is first-class, the fitting of the hinge being very fine.

-Evening Times, Glasgow, 8th Nov., 1916.

"Pro

Than Mr J. C. Ewing no one is better informed on matters that relate to Burns's Bibliography. Hence when we read that he knows of one copy only of the "Proposals for Printing" the first Edinburgh edition, 1787, of the Poems there seems little likelihood of another being recorded. The statement appeared in Messrs Sotheby's catalogue entry of the almost certainly unique copy of the posals" for the Kilmarnock edition of the Poems, which, as the property of the late Mr J. J. Greenshields, realised £275 some days ago. The one example of the 1787 Prospectus there alluded to was lent by Lord Rosebery to the Burns Memorial Exhibition of 1896. It is inserted in the Edinburgh Poems, to secure support for which it was issued, and bears the names of nineteen subscribers thereto. On a fly-leaf is a note in the autograph of John Dillon, donor of the Thomson portrait of Burns to the National Portrait Gallery. The octavo, with its very rare additional item, occurred in the sale of the second part of the library of the Rev. William Edward Buckley in April, 1894, when it was bought by Messrs Pearson for £12 15s. There seems to be little doubt, however, that the 1787 “Proposals" exists in at least two copies. On March 28th, 1887, when of five Gibson Craig sales took place at Messrs Dowell's in Edinburgh, four lots belonged to another property." One of these, No. 93, was a volume of Burns's MSS., &c., the contents of which had been brought together by Robert H. Cromek. Included was a copy of the 1787 Prospectus. The upset price for the volume, fifty guineas, does not seem to have been reached, the same holding good apparently of the other three lots. It is possible of course that Lord Rosebery's Prospectus is identical with that in the Cromek If, as seems more probable, the two are distinct, the second can doubtless be traced.

one

volume.

66

The spoil belonging to the late James T. Gibson Craig (17991886) he was a friend of Scott, and of most of the prominent Scottish artists and antiquaries of his time-offered in Edinburgh on the date named, March 28th, 1887, included the remarkably fine letter Clarinda" to Burns which last Friday in Wellington Street produced the phenomenal sum of £66. Twenty-nine years ago it was valued at nine guineas.

from

I hear, by the way, that since the sojourn in America of the Glenriddel MSS. several collectors in the United States have shown a particularly keen desire to obtain important Burns manuscripts and books.

This desire takes the

eminently practicable form of commissions to buy, and at prices already falling little below those that ardent Scottish collectors

are

prepared to pay.

Glasgow Herald, July 27th, 1916.