reminiscent of European hothouse and pharmacy were the trees named by my guide, from the palm beside the surf upward past pimento, logwood, orange, breadfruit, and mango. Negro women toiled up or tripped down on bare feet, stately in gait as duchesses, with their burden on the head. Round a turn came a mule with bananas, recalling to my friend the Jamaican story of the old darky, riding up such a steep till the stubborn mule, careless of thwacks, stopped dead, seemingly for ever, and the rider was heard to say, chuckling—“ Well! if I ever does have to gwine to Helly, I'd like to go on dis yar mule ! " Up the umbrageous lane, past straggling houses of negro cultivators, our horses toiled till we arrived on a plateau, on the top whereon stood "There! a square wooden house. said my friend, that is Springbank, now owned by a Stonehaven Scotsman, and built on part of the foundations of the great house of the planter, Charles Douglas, an Ayrshire man, to whom Burns engaged himself, and where he'd have resided or frequently been." 66 What a home for the Poet of the Braes of Ballochmyle and the bosky dells of Ayr and Doon ! From the landward rim we saw the ridge fall, shaggy with trees, precipitously down hundreds of feet into the deep Rio Grande Valley, where Golden Vale lay, part of which plantation was then owned by Burns's master. The river itself gleamed in silver links among the dark wooded foothills, and these in billow on billow rolled up into the great Blue Mountain masses, over 7000 feet high, with white clouds brushing their crests and tumbling down their glens. Eastward, deep below us, lay the land-locked harbour and town of Port-Antonio, with the Caribbean stretching away towards Cuba into blue infinitude. As we rode, along the ridge open glades and vistas of stately trees reminded one of West of England scenery. Passing a fine creeper dangling its fifty feet of green cordage down from a tree, like Tennyson's "long convolvuluses," I seized it overhead with both hands, and the elastic rope lifted me out of the saddle, whereupon, the horse moving, I swung clear to and fro like a pendulum till, the creeper breaking, I fell laughing on the grass. Then we descended by another route. Into the question of the social environment awaiting Burns in Jamaica, and its influence on his career, this article cannot enter. The writer aims only at depicting the tropical form and colour on which the Poet would have gazed with such curious, questioning eyes. J. R. Glasgow Evening Times, 19th July, 1911. REVIEWS. THE WORLD'S MEMORIALS OF ROBERT DURNS (Illustrated). Collected and described by Edward Goodwillie. The Waverley Publishing Coy., Detroit, Michigan. (Paisley Alex. Gardner.) : THIS is a collection of photographs of all the Burns Statues and Memorials which have been erected to the memory of the Bard since his dust was consigned to St. Michael's Churchyard, Dumfries. The collection is accompanied by descriptive letterpress, giving the particulars of each, in the order of their erection. The result is a most interesting gallery of sculpture in photogravure, which supplies a felt want in Burnsian illustration. The portraits of Burns have had every justice done to them by skilled writers, whose opinions are quoted by Mr Goodwillie as fitting introduction to the various likenesses of the Poet which have from time to time been executed in marble and bronze. Concerning these, Mr Goodwillie gives no opinion of his own, wisely contenting himself by quoting what has been said of them by others presumably better qualified to judge of their merits. Speaking for ourselves, we do not agree with a great deal of what has been written about Burns Statues, collectively and individually. They are a motley lot-good, bad, and indifferent-the proportion of qualities in each case being too hazardous a subject to tackle within the limits of a short review. But we venture to say that some of them which have been accorded prominent positions would never have recommended themselves, even as passable presentments of Burns, but for the names of their executants. Every sculptor apparently deems it incumbent on him at some period of his career to have a trial at Burns, and not a few burlesques have been the result. The pages of Mr Goodwillie's book have only to be turned over to convince one that much bronze and marble have been wasted in many vain attempts to immortalise the Bard. To particularise would be invidious and uncalled for in the present connection. For reference purposes, Mr Goodwillie's book should be in the hands of every Burns student. It contains much information not easily obtainable elsewhere, presented in most handy form. The letterpress, we may say, is everywhere pointed with apt quotations which eloquently testify to Mr Goodwillie's knowledge and appreciation of the best of Burns's poetry. སྙན་ BURNS IN MASONIC COSTUME. MESSRS J. W. Watt & Coy., of 17 London Street, Edinburgh, are in a fair way of constituting themselves the leading Burns portraiture firm in Scotland. Last year we called attention to their excellent etching of Stewart Watson's painting of the Inauguration of Burns as Poet Laureate of Cannongate Kilwinning Lodge, in which the Poet is one of the principal figures. The excellence of this figure as a portrait of the Bard was concealed by its small dimensions and the crowd of celebrities in which it formed a mere unit. The idea therefore struck the publishers to isolate and enlarge the figure so as to bring its merits into greater prominence. The working-out of the idea has been most successful, and the result is a portrait of the Bard which recalls the Walker & Cousin's engraving more vividly than any likeness which has been issued since the date of that most meritorious plate. Some years ago Messrs Watt & Coy. published an etching of the Poet by the late George Aikman, an original work of exceptional merit, which followed more closely the lines of the original Nasmyth, upon which the engraving of Walker & Cousins was an acknowledged improvement. Watson apparently preferred the latter when introducing Burns into his famous picture of his Inauguration as Poet Laureate. Being in full dress as Depute Master, the new portrait is bound to appeal to the "brethren of the mystic tie " everywhere as a most appropriate adornment for the walls of their lodge; and the ordinary Burns Club cannot procure a better or more imposing portrait at a moderate outlay. It is the first reproduction of the kind ever published, and comes as a relief from the hackneyed presentments of the Bard everywhere presented to the eye. It has all the merits of the Walker & Cousins at less than a tenth of the cost, and is, moreover, a full-length with original pose. We cordially recommend it to all desirous of possessing a new and perfectly reliable portrait of Burns. THE LAND OF BURNS: MAUCHLINE-TOWN AND DISTRICT. Written and published by John Taylor Gibb, Mauchline. MR GIBB has been long known as an authority on the topography of Mauchline as well as the Burnsiana of the district down to its minutest detail. On more than one occasion he has contributed most interesting and instructive articles on his favourite theme to the columns of the Chronicle, and the cordial reception accorded to these have, we town venture to guess, prompted him to extend and preserve them in the beautiful brochure issued from the Glasgow press in the spring of the present year. That he had a good subject to begin with goes without saying, and that he has made the best of it is not saying more in the way of praise than Mr Gibb's performance deserves. The book is essentially a vade mecum of all that is interesting in the and neighbourhood. With an archæological preface he introduces the reader to the Town, the Churchyard, the Tower, and Mossgiel, with all their stirring memories, making everything plain by letterpress and a profusion of half-tone blocks which greatly enhance the value of the book. These number close on seventy, and, being executed in the highest style of the photogravure art, leave nothing to be desired in the way of an illustrated guide-book, which enables the visitor to dispense with all other aid in investigating the Burnsiana of this far-famed centre of attraction. Mr Gibb goes farther afield than the town and its environment. He takes the traveller to Barskimming, Ballochmyle, Montgomery Castle, Willie's Mill, Lochlea, Catrine, and Ochiltree, discoursing pleasantly by the way, and leaving out nothing in the landscape which has the slightest tale to tell connected with the Bard or his Ayrshire friends. Mr Gibb has done his work thoroughly. Once and for all, the topography of Mauchline has been set forth in type and illustration in a style that betokens finality. Even as an album of high-class photographs, the volume is worth the modest shilling asked for it. Every Burns lover should be in possession of a copy. CLUB NOTES. [COMMUNICATED.] SUNDERLAND BURNS CLUB. ANNUAL MEETING. The Annual Meeting of last year was not so well attended as some of its predecessors. At the outset the President referred to the loss the country had sustained by the death of His Majesty the late King Edward VII., and the following telegram was forwarded to King George V. : To His Majesty the King, Marlborough House, London. "The Members of the Sunderland Burns Club desire to express their deep sympathy with your Majesties, with Queen Alexandra and the Members of the Royal Family in the great loss sustained by them through the death of the late King Edward." M. MACLENNAN, President. The reply received was : Buckingham Palace, London. To M. MacLennan, President Burns Club, Sunderland. "Their Majesties sincerely thank the members of the Burns Club for their kind sympathy." The various reports submitted were encouraging. EQUERY. The alteration of Rule XI. to admit all admirers of the Poet, etc., was adopted. This is a step in the right direction. Why should we confine ourselves to Scottish descent ? Burns belongs to the world. Let us therefore welcome to our midst all enthusiastic admirers. DINNER. We were The Anniversary Dinner of 1911 was most successful. honoured by having as our Guest Dr G. Roy Fortune, Newcastle. It is somewhat unique to have a father and son in this position. You will remember how ably in 1907 David Fortune, J.P., of Glasgow, proposed the Toast, and certainly Dr Fortune upheld the traditions of his worthy father. |