CONTENTS. PAGE. A Sketch of Scottish Literature from the Earliest Times - Wm. M'Ilwraith 5 The Restoration of the Auld Brig o' Ayr-James A. The Auld Brig o' Ayr: Re-opening Ceremony "Doctor Hornbook "— William Young, R.S.W. 27 34 51 Ayr Auld Brig List of Subscriptions by Burns Clubs, : PREFACE. THIS number marks the completion of twenty years since the Chronicle came into existence, for the greater part of which period its success was the result of the work of few hands. Now that the publication is in the hands of the Federation as a whole, it is incumbent on the Clubs to look to its future from both the commercial and literary points of view. The Editor again thanks his contributors and the members of the Special Committee who have taken such a lively interest in the present issue. BENRIG, KILMAURS, January 17th, 1911. A SKETCH OF SCOTTISH LITERATURE FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES. CHAPTER VII. H EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. AVING now brought this sketch to the threshold of the renowned Poet who exercised so great an influence on the poetical literature of Scotland, I shall briefly revert to one of his poetic contemporaries who was born in the same year, and survived him for the long period of forty years. John Mayne, John Mayne was born in Dumfries in 1759, but had left that town some time before Burns took up his abode there. In his youth Mayne went to Glasgow as a compositor's apprentice, subsequently removing to London, where he became proprietor and jointeditor of the Star newspaper. When eighteen years of age he published the nucleus of his chief poem, the "Siller Gun," in a quarto page of twelve stanzas, which he continued to reconstruct and improve up to the time of his death in 1836. The final edition, in five cantos, was published in that year, and it has continued to be the standard edition ever since. The "Siller Gun" is a witty descriptive poem, after the style of " Peblis to the Play" and Fergusson's "Leith Races," and has long been valued as a record of an ancient custom once popular in the author's birthplace. The poem describes a shooting competition for a little silver gun, which had been presented to Dumfries by James VI. Sir Walter Scott thought it superior to Fergusson, and that it came nearer to Burns than any of the efforts of his immediate predecessors; and to Mayne's further credit his poetical efforts did not begin and end here. He wrote some spirited verses on the time-honoured customs of Hallowe'en, which were first published in Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine in 1780, the same periodical which brought the early efforts of Robert Fergusson before the Edinburgh public some ten years previously. In "Hallowe'en " Mayne delineates in humorous fashion the superstitious and halfforgotten customs in use amongst the young of both sexes on Hallow Eve respecting their matrimonial prospects. language of the author In the This poem, which is still well worth perusal, is believed to have suggested to Burns his witty and vivacious poem bearing the same title in which he, too, sets forth in happiest vein the merriment and superstitious credulity connected with an old-time institution which is rapidly dying out. Mayne also wrote a poem entitled " Glasgow," which was published in 1803, and which was at one time exceedingly popular. These constitute the author's principal narrative poems, but it is evident from the "Winter Sat Lang" and "Logan Braes" that he was not devoid of lyrical gifts. His best and most popular poem is Logan Braes," set to the tune of "Logan Water." The tune of " Logan Water" is thought to belong to the seventeenth century, and was originally attached to verses of a rather indelicate character. Upwards of four years after the appearance of "Logan Braes," Burns, who had heard the tune, adopted the musical form, and was induced to write for it his well-known stanzas of "Logan Water." Robert Burns, 1759-1795. Having noticed the more important individuals comprising the dynasty of vernacular poets, we now come to the one Scottish Poet who is best known to those who may not have closely investigated the complete circle of Scottish writers and poets. In most countries which have a literary reputation there is usually one poet who stands out above the rest, as Shakespeare in England, Molière in France, Dante in Italy, Goethe in Germany, Burns in Scotland; but perhaps in none of these countries has the dominant poet so completely overshadowed all the rest as this Poet of Scotland. This has given rise to the popular fiction so frequently found in the mind of the average Englishman that Burns is the only Poet of whom Scotland can boast. Indeed, this idea seems to have been one which loomed largely in the mind of the late W. E. Henley, till the reverse was revealed to him in the course of his researches into Scottish literature while assisting to prepare the Centenary Edition of the Poet's works. From his famous, but erratic and ill-balanced essay entitled "Burns's Life, Genius, Achievements," it is evident that though face to face with historical facts his preconceived notions on the subject died hard, for instead of frankly acknowledging this new revelation he did not hesitate to wound the susceptibilities of Burns's countrymen by giving expression to covert insinuations against the character of their dead hero. From no other critic, perhaps, was uncharitableness less becoming, and none knew better than he that in the case of authors it is specially true "that the evil they do lives after them-the good is oft interred with their bones." As Henley's essay has already been dealt with in the Burns Chronicle, no detailed criticism of it need be made here. Suffice it to say that the mere fact of Burns being able, on his literary side, to eclipse so many writers in the same field who have been dealt with in previous chapters, is sufficient evidence of his unrivalled originality and force of genius. The principal facts in the life of Burns are so well known that they need not be dwelt on at length. Indeed, the literature which has grown up in the wake of Burns is of such huge dimensions that it is apt to confuse and render concentration perplexing and difficult. The Poet was born on the 25th of January, 1759, at Alloway, in the vicinity of Ayr, amid the frost and snow of a Scottish winter, and in a cottage built by his father, who was a farmer of the poorest class. A few days after the child was born the gable of the auld clay biggin' fell, and the mother and child had to take refuge in a neighbour's house. The storm which then broke upon the |