PREFACE. THE increasing interest taken in the Chronicle by Burns Clubs everywhere is a great encouragement to all concerned in its publication. While its circulation amongst the general public is still well maintained, it must ever be kept in view that its continued success depends primarily on the support it receives from those to whom it specially appeals as the only official organ of the Burns Cult in existence. To all who have assisted in this issue the Editor presents his most grateful thanks. BENRIG, KILMAURS, December 25th, 1911. D. M'NAUGHT. A SKETCH OF SCOTTISH LITERATURE FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES. CHAPTER. VIII THIS EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. HIS sketch of Scottish literature and Scottish writers might have concluded with the preceding chapter, for, with the exception of Alexander Wilson and Carolina Oliphant, it contains no writer of any extraordinary merit. It certainly contains no epoch writer who has influenced the destinies of the national literature in any other direction than that in which the tendency had already been determined. By itself considered, the rise and growth of Scottish literature is almost as remarkable a historical phenomenon as the rise and growth of Scottish philosophy, which has already been noticed in the course of this sketch. Like Scottish philosophy, too, in the process of national development it has not been without influence on British literature in general. principal distinction between the two, however, is that Scottish philosophy has made itself felt in a more marked degree beyond the confines of Great Britain; but without further generalisation I shall proceed to deal with the few remaining writers and poetasters who followed in the wake of Burns. The One of the first names which falls to be mentioned here is that of Gavin Turnbull. The exact date of his birth and death cannot be given, but he first became known to the publi as an author in 1788. He was the son of a dyester from Hawick, and was born at Kilmarnock, where he was apprenticed to the trade of a carpet weaver. From want of inclination rather than capacity he does not seem to have become proficient in his trade, and rather than exert himself to improve his position, he lived in the meanest fashion, without furniture or any domestic comforts, content to squat on a bed of straw. He was not naturally idle, for he had a large store of intellectual energy, but spent too much time in writing verses, and studying and reciting Shakespeare, which ultimately induced a passion for the stage. In course of time he moved with the rest of his family from Kilmarnock to Glasgow, where, in 1788, he published a volume of poetical essays, which has long disappeared past recall. If report is correct, the loss may be deemed a misfortune, for the work had the reputation of being of more than ordinary merit. It is not certain whether Turnbull came to realise that a casual litterateur in anything but the first ranks was but a lean and hungry profession, but it ended by his going on the stage to disport himself behind the footlights. Thus it was in the character of a comedian when a resident in Dumfries that he became acquainted with the poet Burns, who was not ashamed to claim him as a brother bard. Moreover, Burns sent several of Turnbull's unpublished songs to Thomson's collection, which says much for their merit. In 1794 he published a small pamphlet of additional poems bearing the title, Gavin Turnbull, "Comedian." He is mentioned in Campbell's History of Scottish Poetry, published in 1798. He subsequently went to America, where he is believed to have died. At anyrate nothing further was heard of him, either in literature or in connection with the stage. The impression conveyed by his poem entitled May," is the spontaneity with which he could command the muse, and also his keen appreciation of nature, as the following lines will show :- 66 Again, his joyous song entitled Nancy 66 conveys the idea of one who could be a Merry-Andrew, and on occasion could sing, dance, hoogh, and snap his thumbs in the most hilarious fashion; but the versification of his poem entitled "Genius "scarcely appears congenial to his muse, and reveals a sedateness of thought and reflection rather than an inspired pen. About two years previous to the publication of Turnbull's volume appeared a poem of rural description entitled "The Har'st Rig," the author of which is unknown. It is generally believed that it is from the same pen as The Farmer's Ha'," which was published some twelve years before, and which purports to have been written by an Aberdeen student. Genius cannot be claimed for The Har'st Rig" by any means-its value rather consists in that it is a most realistic description of a Scots harvest field in the eighteenth century, with a graphic characterisation of the gleaners, both Highland and Lowland. The Doric employed is quaint, yet expressive and is frequently quoted in Jamieson's Dictionary as a forcible example of the Scots vernacular. 66 Another of the same coterie of small poets who with Burns contributed to Johnson's Scots Musical Museum was John Hamilton, 1761-1814. In his own day he was better known as a music-seller in Bridge Street, Edinburgh, but he was a composer of Scots airs of some merit. and wrote several fine songs, some of which are |