Lord Rosebery was seated

Watson, and Dean of Guild Meikle.

After

at the Chairman's right hand, and Mr R. A. Oswald at his left. The company numbered about one hundred gentlemen. the toast of "The King " had been honoured,

Provost Hunter said that while they had no toast-list there was a duty which courtesy demanded, and which must on no account be omitted. That was to drink the health of their youngest burgesses. (Applause.) They had consumated that day an event which would long be remembered in Ayr, but although the Auld Brig had been restored they need not yet sit down to weep, for there were still other worlds to conquer. Their Mercat Cross, which was one of the most picturesque in the kingdom, had yet to be restored. It was destroyed many years ago by the ruthless hands of vandalism, and some of the most beautiful carved stones were scattered here and there. In preserving the town's relics of antiquity their youngest burgesses had set them an example worthy of imitation-(cheers)—and it would be but becoming if they made an effort themselves in the same direction. (Hear, hear.) He asked them to drink to the health of their youngest burgesses. (Applause.)

Lord Rosebery, in responding, said:-Mr Provost and gentlemen,--I did not anticipate that the pleasure of this banquet would be at all impaired by having to return thanks again for my health, but to-day at this meal I feel that having made a very long speech this morning, and my colleague in the freedom having made a very short one (laughter)-I may very fairly hand over to him the task of returning thanks for us both and place upon him the brunt of the present proceedings. (Laughter.) Of course I quite agree that in all respects but one I am inferior to Mr Oswald on this occasion. He has done much more for the Brig than I have. He is a good neighbour to Ayr. He is locally honoured and respected, and justly. But he has not gone through the sacrifices that I have in order to be present on this occasion. As I came to Glasgow last night I bought an evening paper, and I saw that war was ravaging the part of the country which I immediately inhabit-that the Isle of

May had been captured, Inchkeith had surrendered, the Port of Leith was being held by the enemy, and Edinburgh itself was said to be held to ransom. In these circumstances, although I hold several important offices in that country, I yet sacrificed everything in order to be present to-day. (Laughter and applause.) It is very kind of you to applaud my conduct, but I am not at all sure that it may not be viewed in a different light by my neighbours in the East. (Laughter.) What you appreciate as devotion to Burns may be characterised by a more ignominious term as a retreat from the enemy in the face of overwhelming disaster. (Laughter.) This afternoon I shall learn the worst. (Renewed laughter.) For all I know, Dalmeny may be the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the invading army. I may return to find all the Lothians in the occupation of the Blue Army or of the Red Army-I forget which I have to fear —(laughter)—but in any case, whatever the disasters may be, should they equal those which Russia was compelled to make in resisting the French Army in 1812, whatever my Lothians may be obliged to suffer under the pressure of this foreign invasion, I regard myself as having been richly repaid by having been present to-day. (Applause.)

Mr R. A. Oswald, who also responded, said that he was again placed in a difficult position. To follow Lord Rosebery in his serious mood was difficult, to follow him when he was amusing was still more difficult. (Laughter.) He thought they had had a very pleasant day and that things had gone extremely well. He thanked them most heartily for the way in which they had received him and for the kind things which the Provost and other speakers had said. He should always look upon that day as one of the happiest and a day of which he should be proud for the rest of his life. (Applause.)

The proceedings thereafter terminated with the singing of "Auld Lang Syne."

"HORNBOOK'S" AUTOGRAPH.

"DOCTOR HORNBOOK."

N opposite page appears a photographic reproduction of the marriage lines of two relatives of the writer who were united in the holy bonds of matrimony in the Gorbals of Glasgow nigh a hundred years ago. The document, written in a clear and excellent hand, attests "that James Grandison and Agnes Mitchell, both in this parish, were three times proclaimed in the Church here in order to Marriage and no objections made." It is dated Gorbals, 31st May, 1813, and signed by John Wilson, Session Clerk. What brings it into the pages of the "Chronicle" is the fact that this John Wilson was no other than Burns's "Doctor Hornbook." In a heavy and somewhat clumsy hand is added:-" Hutchesontown, June 1st, 1813. The above parties were married by me.-Wm. Thomson, Minr.” Although a poor penman, this minister was from all accounts the esteemed pastor of the old Relief Kirk, now Hutchesontown United Free Church, and still standing at the junction of Rutherglen Road and Hospital Street.

On an evening in 1785 Wilson and Burns, who by this time had entered in company with his brother Gilbert on the occupancy of Mossgiel Farm, met, it is said, in debate at the Masonic Lodge of Tarbolton. Wilson was at this time schoolmaster in the village, and to eke out his income had started a grocery shop, and added simple medicines to his stock. To assist their sale he put a placard in his window, intimating that "Advice would be given in common disorders at the shop gratis." On the night in question he aired his medical attainments to such a degree that Burns felt annoyed and irritated. He thought the matter over on his night-tramp home to Mossgiel, and, according to the testimony of his brother Gilbert, read out to him on the following evening his now world

renowned "Death and Doctor Hornbook,' which had been seemingly forged at one heat. A legend which appears in several editions of the Poet's works indicates that the ridicule thrown on Wilson by Burns in this poem caused its subject eventually to shut up both shop and school and leave the village. This, however, is not so, for Mr F. K. Macpherson, Schoolhouse, Tarbolton, in a communication to the "Burns Chronicle" of 1895, states that he finds from reliable documents that Wilson was session clerk to Tarbolton parish as late as 1793. He was also secretary to the Tarbolton Lodge from 8th August, 1782, till sometime in 1787. He wrote many of the minutes, and signed two of them as Master pro tempore, and a third as M.P.T. It is said that Wilson left Tarbolton in consequence of a dispute with the heritors regarding his salary.

Despite the ridicule showered upon him by Burns's clever satire, his record remains that of a good and worthy man, who, after leaving Tarbolton, earnestly prosecuted his work, first as master of a "Commercial Academy " in Buchan Street, Gorbals, Glasgow, and thereafter as session clerk of that parish, occupying this honourable post until his death in his home at 64 Portland Street, Laurieston, on 13th January, 1839, at a ripe old age.

There are in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, two small quarto MS. volumes, entitled "Lectures on Moral Philosophy delivered at the College of Glasgow. By Mr Arthur. Written by John Wilson, Schoolmaster in Tarbolton, in the year of our Lord, 1790." These were gifted to the Library by the late Mr W. G. Blackie, LL.D., the well-known publisher. The Doctor's letter, of date 30 Oct., 1883, which accompanied the volumes, and is now neatly attached to one of them, is addressed to the late Bailie William Wilson, at that time Convener of the Mitchell Library Committee of the Corporation. It runs thus:

"Some time ago I sent you a few volumes printed by the brothers Foulis of this city. To render your collection more complete, I now send other two volumes which I discovered a few days ago on the back shelf of my bookcase. Along with.