(Laughter and applause.) Now I said in the first part of my remarks it was here Burns first looked out on the world with his eyes burning with the passions of love, and of faith, of poetry and independence. Of poetry I need say very little. He wrote here "The Jolly Beggars" and "The Cottar's Saturday Night," the two supreme productions of this period of his life, and perhaps of his whole life. (Applause.) But I would only ask you to note the affluence of genius shown by Burns writing “The Jolly Beggars," which to many of us is his masterpiece-(hear, hear) as a peasant behind the plough in Ayrshire, and then tossing it aside as unworthy of being printed, so that it was not published until after his death. Many of us would give half of our lives to have been able to write "The Jolly Beggars," and we should have lost no time in publishing it for the appreciation of the world. (Applause.) To Burns it was merely an incident, tossed into a drawer and found after his death. That seems to me a very striking feature as regards his genius. As regards his piety, which I think commentators of Burns sometimes lose sight of in consequence of the occasional laxities of his life which he paraded with perhaps too great a freedom and frankness, we have the testimony of that letter which I have quoted to his religious bringing up and his religious creed, and we have the supreme testimony of the "Cottar's Saturday Night" to show what expression he could give to his faith. And as for lovethat of course is a delicate subject. (Laughter.) The fact is that as far as I can ascertain Burns fell in love with every girl he met at that period of his life. (Laughter.) He saw them through the eyes of his imagination, and in consequence he became enamoured of them all. I really do not know that it is much use following them all up, as some of his biographers have done, because I imagine that the passion of love with him on these occasions was rather an imaginative one than anything more definite and practical. I have sometimes wondered, if we could see all those ladies whom Burns honoured with such magnificent epithets in his impassioned odes, if we should not be a little disappointed. (Laughter.) I am inclined to think that he saw

them with the glamour of his great imagination, and that we, without that glamour and without that imagination, should be greatly disappointed in their appearance. That again is a topic which I offer to commentators of Burns for their forthcoming annual. (Laughter.) But his independence was perhaps a less noticed but not a less striking part of his career than other passions which I have noted. His independence-in those days he faced the world with an undaunted front, partly from youth, partly, I think, from inexperience. He was afraid of nothing and nobody. The greatest tyranny that then existed in these isles was the domestic and inquisitorial tyranny exercised by the Church in Scotland at that time. It is incredible to us that it is not more than one hundred years ago since Burns's landlord, Gavin Hamilton, was subjected to the severest ecclesiastical censures because he had ordered his gardener to dig a few potatoes on Sunday for dinner, and that there was not an incident of life at that time which was not made a subject of inquisition and of severe inquisition, and received ecclesiastical censure. Well, that was a reign of terror, and Burns was not afraid to lift up his voice and boldly denounce that reign of terror. Those blistering satires that he wrote in Ayrshire on the persons whom he knew or whom he believed he knew to be guilty of hypocrisy and cant are the most memorable perhaps of all his writings. He did not scruple, indeed he raised his voice against other institutions or bodies which he also believed to be wanting in duty to the public. He was moved by a birthday ode to King George III. to write a birthday ode of his own to the royal family very different in texture and spirit to the ode of the Poet Laureate, one of the most remarkable ever addressed, I should think, to a royal family, not ill natured, but good naturedly rebuking them for their shortcomings. He did a thing that was even more daring perhaps. He addressed the Scottish Members of Parliament of his day--(laughter)-pointing out their shortcomings. I do not know-I see Mr Younger here I must touch on this subject with delicacy. 'Burns thought that Scottish Members thought more of Scotland at the time they were

canvassing their constituencies than when they got to Westminster. (Laughter.) He begged them to speak up a little more for poor old Scotland at Westminster than they did. (Applause.) He thought that more could be done for Scotland at Westminster than is done if Scottish members remained faithful to the pledges they gave at the elections. (Applause.) He begged them to be more independent of powerful influences, such as those of the Government, and to pursue a path unguided by the hope of patronage or preferment, and to do their duty to old Scotland in spite of all. (Hear, hear.) are superfluous now.

(Hear, hear.) All these exhortations (Loud applause.) Our Members of Parliament are very different now from what they were then. (Laughter.) I will not point out to-day the essential points of difference. (Laughter.) But I will simply indicate that we have the Members whom we desire and deserve. (Laughter.) But if these censures, if these attacks on the Church, on the royal family, and on the Scottish Members are, as I believe in my soul and conscience, superannuated now-certainly as regards the Church and the royal family, and Mr Younger must answer for the members himself—I am not quite sure that all Burns's denunciations are superannuated now. (Hear, hear.) His great horror was of anything which savoured of hypocrisy and cant, but what he had mainly in his mind then was religious hypocrisy and religious cant. Cant survives, though religious hypocrisy and cant are but little in fashion now. They do not pay as they did then. But are we quite sure that in avoiding one kind of cant we are absolutely free from any other? Are we absolutely certain that our public characters in these days are as free from cant as Burns wished them to be? There are a thousand forms of cant

which form the dry rot of our country. It is not my task to-day to point them out. I might introduce division where I only wish to leave a united Ayr behind me. (Laughter.) I do ask you, ladies and gentlemen, to apply to yourselves the touchstone of Burns's diatribes against cant, and I prophesy for you that you will find yourselves none the worse for it. Now, Mr Provost, I must apologise for having detained you so long, but when one is

given the freedom of Ayr one cannot but touch upon Burns, and when one touches upon Burns one cannot put a check upon oneself. As I have said before, I am quite aware that you are only giving us this freedom to-day because we are living admirers of Burns, and because you cannot give it to the dead man himself. To speak the honest truth, Burns never seems dead to me. Of all dead men he is the most living to me, much more living than many men who to-day are alive. I know no man who has impressed his individuality, his vitality so strongly on his fellow creatures as this man who was born here 150 years ago. His blood still courses warm and strong through the veins of Scotland. His spirit is abroad in all our country, and from our country it has passed over the world, but its home, its original source, its favourite region is this county of Ayr, and I trust that in the long days to come, when people remember with shame and almost with terror that there was once a risk of the Old Brig being demolished, they will also remember in turn their responsibility, that the connection between Burns and Ayr is indissoluble and eternal. (Loud applause.)

In introducing Mr Oswald, the Provost said that though differing from Lord Rosebery in some respects, he was at one with his lordship in his love for the Auld Brig. (Hear, hear.) Than Mr Oswald no one had worked more earnestly and successfully in getting the material help necessary to carry on the preservation work. They now felt it to be a fitting time to express their appreciation of what he had done, but it did not begin and end in what he had done for the Brig. (Applause.) The debt was of much longer standing. Both the town and county owed much to him for what he had done and was still doing in their midst. As Convener of the County he displayed great business ability in the conduct of its affairs. He had done much for the success of the Ayrshire Agricultural Association. A patron of music and art, he had always taken a keen interest in their local advancement. He was a director of the County Hospital and of many other institutions. In asking him to become a burgess they were honouring the burgh. It was the

unanimous wish of the Council that his name be added along with that of Lord Rosebery to the honoured roll. (Loud applause.)

The burgess ticket, which was read by the Town Clerk, was then presented to Mr Oswald, the document being placed withina casket the exact replica of that presented to Lord Rosebery.

Mr Oswald, in reply, said it was a very difficult task for him to follow Lord Rosebery, who was perhaps the greatest orator that we had at the present time in Great Britain. (Applause.) Having referred to the indebtedness of Burns lovers to those who had taken principal parts in the restoration movement, Mr Oswald went on to say that not only had they been met everywhere in this country with most liberal subscriptions but all over the world, from Canada, from Australia, from New Zealand they had large sums sent them with every sort of good wish that the Auld Brig should be preserved. (Applause.) It was only the other day, looking over the list of subscribers, that he realised how the admirers of Burns and Burns societies all over the world came to the front. Without them he had no hesitation in saying they would not have been able to have found the money to carry out the work which they had done. (Applause.) Mr Oswald also paid a tribute to Lord Rosebery's efforts in connection with the restoration.

Lord Rosebery and Mr Oswald afterwards signed the burgess roll amid applause.

On the motion of Dean of Guild Meikle a cordial vote of thanks was awarded the Auld Brig Preservation General Committee and the Executive Committee for their work. Mr Walter Neilson, Vice-Chairman of the Executive, acknowledged. A similar compliment was accorded the Chairman on the call of Mr George Younger, M.P., and the proceedings terminated.

CORPORATION LUNCHEON.

The "youngest burgesses" were afterwards entertained at luncheon in the Council Hall. Provost Hunter presided, and the croupiers were Bailie Ferguson, Bailie Vincent, Bailie