heart of the Teacher of Nazareth.

Possibly Burns never

expressed it better than in these words :

"The cleanest corn that e'er was dight

May hae some pyles o' caff in ;

So ne'er a fellow-creature slight

For random fits o' daffin."

With "New Light" or "Old Light" the Poet had no concern. He was not interested in theology. He was vitally alive to all that was human. For that reason his voice lives when Russell's is silent, and his verses are remembered when M'Gill's treatise is forgotten. The humble cottar has rendered a greater service to the nation than the august Presbytery of Ayr. He has preached, too, a truer gospel than those who thundered their denunciation from pulpit, tent," and Session-House.

66

REV. N. FARQUHAR ORR, B.A.

MISDATES IN BURNS LITERATURE.

The Poet was born Thursday, 25th January, 1759;
Died Thursday, 21st July, 1796,

And was buried Monday, 25th July, 1796.

M

ANY are the mistakes regarding dates to be found in editions of the Works of Burns and other volumes relating to the Poet. Currie, in his first edition, 1800 (vol. I., page 58), said: "Robert Burns was born on the 29th day of January, 1759." He corrected the mistake in his second edition, 1801 (vol. I., page 57), changing the date to the "25th." However, the correction was leaden-footed, and the error seemed to have wings. Indeed, for many years the 29th was popularly celebrated as Burns's natal day. Paisley Burns Club held its Anniversaries of Burns on the 29th of January, year after year, till they discovered their error in 1818. In that year R. A. Smith, who had gone from Paisley to Ayr to open music classes, wrote to a Paisley friend that he had discovered the real birthday of the Bard to have been on the 25th of January. He also mentioned that the 29th was still on the cottage wall where the Poet was born, and likewise on the painting of his likeness kept inside of the house; but it would be altered soon. Smith became acquainted with the Session-Clerk, who had shown him the Register of Births. The following extract was made :—

"Robert Burns, lawful son of William Burns in Alloway and Agnes Brown, his spouse, was born on the 25th of January, 1759, and baptised the 26th by the Rev. Dr William Dalrymple. Witnesses--Jno. Tennant and James Young."

"Extracted from the Register of Births and Baptisms in the Parish of Ayr for the Paisley Burns Club-R. A. Smith being present--at Ayr, this 19th day of August, 1818."

Smith thought Burns was responsible for the error, but we have the evidence of his Autobiographical Song to the contrary:

"Our monarch's hindmost year but ane
Was five-and-twenty days begun,
'Twas then a blast o' Janwar win'
Blew hansel in on Robin."

We have further proof that Burns knew his own birthday on the cover of the Edinburgh Common-place Book, on which he wrote:

"R. Burns was born 25 Jan., 1759.

See this book, pa. 3, note."

The note refers to "There was a Birkie born in Kyle,” which is the version of the song therein inscribed, and the note reads:

66

Jan. 25th, 1759, the date of my Bardship's vital existence.”

Scott Douglas omits the note written on the cover in printing the Common-place Book in his Edinburgh Edition, but it is recorded in Macmillan's Magazine for 1879, which first printed this important manuscript.

Possibly the popular mistake was largely due to the fact that many of the editions which followed Currie, ignorant of his correction, repeated the error of his first edition. The following is a list (comprehensive but not complete) of editions of Burns which give the birthday as the

At least two editions vary the mistake by saying Burns was born on the

"20th January."

W. F. Pratt: Howden. 1838.

London: Walker & Co. (Newcastle printed), 1840.

I have noted two instances where wrong dates are given for the death of the Poet. The first occurs in a very rare Burnsiana item, without date, but printed almost certainly in 1800. The title page reads:

LIVERPOOL TESTIMONIALS

TO THE

DEPARTED GENIUS

OF

ROBERT Burns,

THE SCOTTISH BARD.

:

Printed and Sold by Merritt and Wright, Castle Street,
Liverpool.

It consists chiefly of poetic tributes to the Poet, and gives a list of Liverpool subscribers to the fund for Burns's family, beginning with Dr Currie, £10 10s; and including the father of W. E. Gladstone, "Mr John Gladstone, £5 5s"; the next name, and for a like amount, being that of his friend Mr William Ewart, after whom the great statesman to be was named. In the notice of Burns comes this sentence: "The celebrated Ayrshire Plowman, whose genius reflects so much honour on his age and country, died at Dumfries, on the 8th of July, 1796, in the 38th year of his age."

In Davenport's Dictionary of Biography (London: Tegg, 1831, page 137) there is a nice woodcut of Burns, and a sketch of his career which tells us that, "Worn out with vexation, and the consequences of his love of inebriating liquors, he died on the 26th of July, 1796, leaving his wife and family in an unprovided state."

Another great blunder was set agoing by Currie in his first edition (vol. I., page 227), when he said: "On the evening of the 25th of July the remains of Burns were

removed from his house to the Town Hall, and the funeral took place on the succeeding day." All students of Burns know that this is wrong. The Dumfries Journal of Tuesday, 26th July, says the coffined remains were conveyed to the Town Hall "on the evening of Sunday, 24th July," and that the funeral was "the following day." The Edinburgh Advertiser of 29th July says: "The remains of Burns were interred on Monday." One of Brash and Reid's poetical tracts (1796), No. 2 of the second volume of Poetry: Original and Selected, is entitled "Verses to the Memory of Robert Burns ; with an account of his interment at Dumfries, on Monday, the 25th of July, 1796, also his Epitaph written by himself."

Oliver's two-volume edition, 1801, repeated Currie's misdate. As far as I am aware the first edition of Burns to give the correct date of his funeral is the two-volume edition of Robertson & Denholm and Dick, Edinburgh, 1802, which on page 174 of the second volume gives an "Account of his Interment," and says, "His remains were interred on Monday, the 25th July, 1796."

The funeral error got the backing of another great authority, careless of verification, in Lockhart's Life of Robert Burns, 1828. On page 281 of the Constables' Miscellany Life, and on page 402 of the library edition of the same date, the biographer says: "On the 25th of July

the remains of the Poet were removed to the Trades Hall, where they lay in state until next morning.”

Scott Douglas, in dealing with this matter (vol. VI., page 208) says: "We are thus particular in order to correct an error of date committed by Currie, Lockhart, Cunningham and others." Here Scott Douglas blames Allan Cunningham unjustly, and, evidently on his authority, the indictment is again served on Allan Cunningham in the Annual Burns Chronicle of 1918. "Honest Allan" did many worse things in his editing (save the mark !) of Burns, but as it happens, he is "not guilty" on this particular count. In his volume I., page 345 (eight-volume edition, 1834), A.C., speaking of Burns, says "His interment took place on the 25th