to ascribe any deviation from the paths of sobriety of this noble and exalted genius; but to the scenes of dissipation. into which he was afterwards led by the wits and choice spirits of Edinburgh, to the unsettled and irregular life into which he was driven by his profession, as an exciseman; and to the killing kindness of friends and strangers after he settled at Dumfries, who could see no other way of honouring the Bard, enjoying his society, and gratifying their curiosity, than by alluring him into the tavern, and urging him on to debasing excess, and the prostration of his gifted intellect.

This last view, I find, is also taken by Carlyle. In his critique on Burns, he says:-" Picturesque tourists, all manner of fashionable danglers after literature, and, far worse, all sorts of convivial Mæcenases, hovered around him in his retreat; and his good, as well as his weak, qualities secured them influence over him. He was flattered by their notice, and his warm social nature made it impossible for him to shake them off, and hold on his way apart from them. These men, as we believe, were proximately the cause of his ruin. Not that they meant him any ill; they only meant themselves a little good; if he suffered harm, let him look to it. But they wasted his precious time and his precious talents; they disturbed his composure, and broke down his returning habits of temperance and assiduous contented exertion." I have no wish to palliate the intemperance of Burns, but certainly the accounts of his conduct, in this respect, appears, in many cases, to be vastly exaggerated. He does not seem to have been a miserable solitary tippler; but, at the very worst, to have occasionally forgotten himself, and gone to undue lengths in the enjoyments of the tavern, only when surrounded by jovial and applauding companions. A man, who, till he went to Edinburgh, never had a higher wage than seven pounds a year; who, in the latter part of his life, maintained himself and his family on an annual income never exceeding seventy pounds; who discharged all the duties of his profession with diligence and credit;

who personally attended to the education of his children; who carried on an extensive epistolary correspondence; who wrote a great number of the most pure and exquisite lyrics ever given to the world; and who, after all, left this world without owing almost any one a single penny, could hardly, by any possibility, be a habitual and confirmed drunkard. The generous vindication of his character, given by the Rev. James Gray, of Dumfries, and Mr Findlater, supervisor of Excise, both of whom knew him intimately, ought for ever to silence the base calumniators, who strive to blacken his reputation in respect to intemperance, and who are bold enough to ascribe to Freemasonry the excesses in which he was found, occasionally, in his last years, to indulge.

Burns, beyond question, derived considerable advantages from Masonry. It is evident from the statements which he has placed on record, that it contributed greatly to his happiness in admitting him into close and intimate, fellowship with the wise, intelligent, and social, and furnishing him with opportunities for enjoying the "feast of reason and the flow of soul" in the most rational and ennobling manner. It presented him, also, with one of the best fields that he could find for the improvement of his mind and the display of his talents. In no other society are all the members treated with so much indulgence, and placed on a footing of so much equality. In the Mason's Lodge, merit and worth are sure to be appreciated, and to meet with approbation and respect. When the young and humble ploughman of Lochlea joined the Lodge of Tarbolton, he was still in a great measure unnoticed and unknown; but no sooner did he receive the stamp of Freemasonry, than he took his place with Sir John Whitefoord of Ballochmyle; James Dalrymple of Orangefield; Sheriff Wallace of Ayr; Gavin Hamilton, writer, Mauchline; John Ballantine, Provost of Ayr; Professor Dugald Stewart, of Catrine; Dr John Mackenzie of Mauchline; William Parker, of Kilmarnock; Ayrshire worthies, high and low.

and a whole host of By coming in contact

with these men, his manners were refined, his intellectual energies stimulated, and his merits acknowledged and applauded. Nay, Wood, the tailor; Manson, the publican; Wilson, the schoolmaster; Humphrey, the "noisy polemic"; and all the meaner brethren, seem very soon to have discovered his high intellectual qualities, for they were not long in raising him to the second highest office in the Lodge-an office that caused him, on ordinary occasions, to occupy the master's chair, and perform the work of initiation. In the school of the Lodge, he must, in a great measure, have acquired that coolness of demeanour, that dignity of deportment, that fluency and propriety of expression, and that acquaintance with philosophy and humanity, which so astounded and electrified the sages and nobles of Edinburgh, and made his advent in that capital one of the most remarkable incidents in literary history. Instead of a clownish, bashful, ignorant rustic, the most learned and exalted citizens found that he was able and ready to take his place by their side; and that, in everything in which intellect was concerned, he was in some respects their equal, and in others greatly their superior.

Burns was principally indebted to Freemasonry for any little gleam of prosperity that shone on his earthly pilgrimage. It was the Freemasons of Ayrshire who invited him to their tables; who furnished him with advice; who read his productions into fame; and purchased and circulated the Kilmarnock edition of his poems. It was by the advice of his brother Mason, John Ballantine, of Ayr, to whom he inscribed his poem, entitled "The Brigs of Ayr," that he repaired to Edinburgh, and not, as is generally said, by the letter of Dr Blacklock to the Rev. George Lawrie of Loudon, which says not one word of his coming to Edinburgh; but merely suggests the desirableness of publishing a second edition of his poems. His brother, Gilbert, expressly states that, when Mr Ballantine heard that the Poet was prevented from publishing a second edition, from the want of money to pay for the paper, he "generously

offered to accommodate Robert with what money he might need for this purpose (L.27); but advised him to go to Edinburgh as the fittest place for publishing." When Burns, acting on this advice, set out for Edinburgh, he had not, as he himself states, a single letter of introduction in his pocket, and we would be quite at a loss to know how he was able to form so sudden an acquaintance with the nobility and literati of the Scottish capital, were we not assured, on good authority, that he owed this, in a great measure, to his appearance among the Masonic brethren. It was they who introduced him into the best circles of society; who put money in his purse to supply his wants; who procured subscribers for the new edition of his poems; who formed his companions in his tours; who were his chief epistolary correspondents; who gave him accommodation in their houses; who obtained his appointment in the Excise; and who, last of all, put him in possession of a farm-the chief object of his desire. As Masons, we are proud that Robert Burns was enrolled in the ranks of our Order, and while we should strive to avoid the "thoughtless follies that laid him low and stained his name,' we should, at the same time, endeavour to imitate his ardent zeal, his open and generous disposition, and his manly and lofty independence.

WILLIAM HUNTER.

(From a rare pamphlet, of date 1858. Mr Hunter was R.W.M. of Lodge Journeymen Masons, Edinburgh, No. 8).

By way of answering many questions put to us every year by the Brethren everywhere, we have reprinted this excellent and exhaustive article.-[ED.].