A GREAT BURNS DINNER ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. TH HOSE who care to turn up the files of the Edinburgh Evening Courant or the Caledonian Mercury of just one hundred years ago will find in dingy print and paper a fairly luminous account of a great dinner held in Edinburgh in honour of our National Poet. It was an event which is now of historical and literary interest. The exact date of the issues is Saturday, January 27th, 1816, i.e., two days after the celebration, for these papers appeared then on three days of the week only, viz., Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Their price of sevenpence per copy, with the humble four pages, and largely taken up with advertisement matter, must surely have ranked them amongst the luxuries, more especially at a time which, like our own, had seen a terrible upheaval in Europe owing to the mad dream of world-dominion, and which left behind it terrible distress in the countryin this respect unlike our own, let us hope. What is specially claimed for this dinner is that, in the grandiloquent language of the Courant report, since Burns "must be proclaimed with the sounds of exultation and of triumph," the feelings of admiration universally entertained for his genius had "at length been exhibited in the metropolis of the country which gave him birth, in a manner somewhat worthy of that country and of himself." These words, "at length," are significant. Clearly, priority is not claimed for Edinburgh in exhibiting true admiration for Burns, and it is unnecessary to discuss her general treatment of him here it is now generally admitted she has been rather unjustly blamed. Let it suffice to say, that from 1786 onwards there had certainly been no want of appreciation in Edinburgh, or elsewhere in Scotland. The general effect on the public mind of the first appearance of Burns's poems is well reflected in the testimony of Robert Heron. "With his poems," says he, "old and young, grave and gay, learned and ignorant, were alike transported. I was at that time resident in Galloway, and I can well remember how even plough-boys and maid-servants would have gladly bestowed the wages they earned the most hardly, and which they wanted to purchase necessary clothing, if they might procure the works of Burns.” Similarly, critical appreciation was not wanting, and in this the Edinburgh printing houses took an active part from the first. Following upon the Kilmarnock edition of the Poems, in June, 1786, there appeared in October of that year a highly favourable notice the first of its kind-in the Edinburgh Magazine or Literary Miscellany. Then followed, on December 9th, the celebrated review in the Lounger heralding the Poet's fame and presence in Edinburgh, and written by the scholarly Henry Mackenzie, author of "The Man of Feeling," to whom Scott dedicated Waverley. These early appreciations were succeeded by innumerable tributes. Again, it is certainly true that many meetings of the friends and admirers of the Poet had been held to commemorate his memory previous to this dinner of 1816. Burns Clubs had been in existence for several years; that of Alloway is stated to have held its first anniversary on 25th January, 1801, in the cottage where the Poet was born; the first minute-book of the Greenock Burns Club begins its entries on 21st July, 1801; and the Paisley and Kilmarnock Burns Clubs were founded in 1805 and 1808 respectively. Occasional commemorations, therefore, had already been fairly numerous. In Edinburgh itself there was such a meeting in 1815. Robert Ainslie, W.S., was president, and Gilbert Burns croupier, and it was well attended. It was on this occasion that, "at a late hour, Burns's well-known marble bowl was introduced and placed with propriety before Mr Hogg, who filled and refilled it with the Poet's favourite liquor, whiskey punch." It was at this commemoration of 1815 that office-bearers were appointed for the present assembly: Alexander Boswell was to be Chairman; Messrs Wilson, Sedgewick, Thomson, Drummond, and Burnett were to be Stewards; and John Ballantyne was to be Secretary. We can scarcely wonder, therefore, at the distinguished success which attended this meeting of 1816. The dinner in question was specially notable because, in the words of the Courant report, "it was not till the present commemoration of the Poet that his memory was celebrated in a manner which could be considered as the indication of a general national feeling." It was attended by some of the most famous Scotsmen of the day, high in rank and high in literary fame; and so great was its success that it was resolved to have a similar public celebration of the Poet's birthday in Edinburgh every three years thereafter. Although it cannot be claimed, therefore, that we have here the genesis of the numerous Burns Clubs throughout the world, it may still be asserted that this remarkable assembly gave to the national admiration for Burns the most tangible expression hitherto known, and imparted more general attention to the debt which Scotland owed to him whose fame has as yet been undimmed by time. As there appear to be no other sources of information, we look to the newspapers of the day for an account of the meeting. Had Scott begun his Journal (1825-32) at an earlier period-and he says he had all his life regretted he had not done so-he would doubtless have given us some interesting details and comments, for he took a very important part in the events of the evening. Accounts of the dinner are to be found in at least four newspapers; the Edinburgh Evening Courant, the Caledonian Mercury, the Weekly Journal, and the Advertiser. The first and second are the earliest in point of time, and have been already referred to-they give independent reports; as we might expect, the Journal has an exact reprint of the Courant report; the Advertiser combines the reports of the Courant and Mercury. The Courant account, though not the longest, is here produced, as it is, upon the whole, the most descriptive; it is in fairly small type, and takes up almost exactly a column-a very considerable amount of space, for the entire issue has only four pages, and much room is required for advertisements and similar matter. A few supplementary details can be added from the Mercury. It may be remarked here that in none of the accounts is there any indication that a speech was made in submitting the toast of the Immortal Memory; it was drunk in silence, and then followed Alexander Boswell's verses in praise of Burns. When we remember that-besides Boswell-Scott, Jeffrey, Christopher North, and Thomson were present, it cannot have been due to the want of sufficient literary talent; it must have been of set purpose. The method was much simpler than that now in vogue; and in view of the great difficulty, if not impossibility, in our day, for any but the most highly gifted to say anything new about the Poet or his works, it is a method which might well be commended to the various Burns Clubs, at least for a season. From the "Edinburgh Evening Courant," of date THE MEMORY OF BURNS. We rejoice to find that the feelings of admiration universally entertained for the genius of Burns have at length been exhibited in the metropolis of the country which gave him birth in a manner somewhat worthy of that country and of himself. We do not mean to say that the compositions of this illustrious Poet have not received the full measure of applause which is their due, or that that applause has been either tardily or restrictedly bestowed. Scotland has long gloried in the fame of her divinest son; and, equally in the cottage and the castle, his strains have imparted the most glowing and varied delight. But this silent, this involuntary and inevitable tribute of admiration is too humble for the genius of Burns. He, to whose renown the gratitude and the pride of his country are erecting monuments in every quarter, must be proclaimed with the sounds of exultation and of triumph; and it is to this mode of announcing the feelings of Scotland towards her Bard that we allude when we say that they have at length been exhibited in a manner somewhat worthy of his country and of himself. A meeting of the friends and admirers of Burns was held in this city last year, which was attended by a number of most respectable individuals; but it was not until the present commemoration of the Poet that his memory was celebrated in a manner which could be considered as the indication of a general national feeling. We now think that the country at large is fairly enlisted in this tribute to departed genius, a tribute as much more honourable than that which is paid to the idol of a party as the memory of the Poet is more enduring than that of him who in the more ostentatious walks of life may have carried his blushing honours thickest upon him. Every one remembers one Milton, a blind man," but very few recollect the name of the worthy Prime Minister who bestowed this exquisite epithet upon the Poet of Earth and Heaven, of Time and Eternity. 66 The Meeting was held on Thursday last at MacEwan's Tavern, in the Royal Exchange, where an extremely good dinner, and plenty of good wine, was given to the guests for a guinea per head. The company exceeded one hundred in number, and comprised a respectable proportion of rank and fashion, and a high display of literary talent. Amongst the former we remarked the Earl of Leven; the Honourable Ramsay Maule, M.P.; Charles Forbes, Esq., M.P.; Alexander Boswell, Esq. of Auchinleck; Honourable Captain Napier, R.N.; Captain G. C. Mackenzie, R.N.; Captain Gordon, R.N.; Lieutenant the |