collector, the late John Whitefoord Mackenzie, W.S., Edinburgh, was his son.

As a convincing proof that the doctor's interest in Burns had not cooled after he left the atmosphere of Mauchline and its neighbourhood, it is recorded of him that, on the founding of the Irvine

a

Burns Club in 1827, the year of his retiral, he presided at the opening dinner on 25th January, with the well-known David Sillar, brither poet,' as vice-chairman."

The following letter speaks for itself:

THOMAS YULE, Esq., to Mr J. JEFFREY HUNTER.

16th February, 1916.

DEAR SIR, I am favoured with your letter of yesterday inform

ing me that your committee have accepted Dr John Mackenzie's Portrait as a gift from me, and conveying the thanks of the Association for the donation. I can assure you and the Association that it is with the greatest of pleasure that I have handed over the portrait, as I feel that it is now in safe keeping and will be carefully preserved.

It may be of interest to the Association to know the history of this portrait. The original portrait by James Tannock was for many years in the possession of Mr John Whitefoord Mackenzie, W.S., Edinburgh (the only son of the doctor), until his death in November, 1884. It was, upon the division of his effects, delivered to his two surviving daughters, Misses Helen Miller Mackenzie and Elizabeth Mackenzie. Before it was handed over to them, a copy was made for Mr John Mackenzie, W.S., Edinburgh, the only son of Mr Whitefoord Mackenzie, and it hung in his dining room at 16 Royal Circus, Edinburgh, till his death in April, 1911. This copy

is the portrait gifted by me. It was made in 1885 by Mr James Douglas, a well-known Edinburgh artist of his day, and it was considered in every way an excellent copy, fully as good and artistic as the original. On the death of Mr John Mackenzie, who was my partner in business, I took over the portrait rather than allow it to be put up to auction. Mr Mackenzie left no relatives who had any interest in it. It has remained in my possession since. The original portrait continued to be the property of the Misses Mackenzie, and latterly of the survivor, who died in 1911. Her executors sent it for sale, by auction, to Dowell, Edinburgh, and it was sold shortly afterwards, being catalogued as Portrait of a Gentleman." I saw it by the merest chance in a saleroom. I preferred my copy to it.

66

The sketch which is prefixed to Dr William Findlay's work on Robert Burns and the Medical Profession purports to be after the oil painting in the possession of the Misses Mackenzie. This statement is scarcely accurate, as I know that the sketch was made from a photograph of this copy. The Misses Mackenzie, I was informed by Mr John Mackenzie, were applied to for permission to have the sketch made from the original, but they did not see their way to comply with the request.

The account of Dr John Mackenzie's life given in Dr Findlay's work is somewhat brief, but I fear very little further information can now be obtained regarding him. There is one mistake made, I notice. He is said to have died on 11th January, 1837, but he died at 4 Shandwick Place, Edinburgh, on 4th January, 1837, and was buried within the new Calton Burying-ground, Edinburgh, on 9th thereafter. There is one additional fact which I have ascertained regarding him which may be of interest to your Association and to Mauchline. It is the reason for his leaving Mauchline

to go to reside and practice in Irvine.

This is contained in a Bond of Annuity by the Right Hon. Hugh Montgomerie of Skelmorlie, Earl of Eglinton, which is dated 19th January, 1801. This deed proceeds on the narrative "that Mr John Mackenzie, surgeon in Mauchline has for these several years past attended as my family surgeon, and that I have had the greatest reason to be highly satisfied with the professional abilities and the very great care and attention which the said John Mackenzie has shewn to me in a dangerous and critical indisposition, and that therefore, anxious

to have the benefit of the said Mackenzie's assistance, I proposed to him to remove from his present residence at Mauchline and settle himself and family in Irvine in my immediate neighbourhood, which he has accordingly agreed to do upon my making him a fair and reasonable compensation for the loss of his practice in Mauchline and the risk he runs in settling in a new place."

Therefore the Earl binds himself to pay Dr Mackenzie during all the days of his life a free life-rent annuity of £130 sterling, which annuity Dr Mackenzie agreed to accept in full of all fees, &c., for giving professional advice and assistance to the Earl and his family whenever called upon.-Yours faithfully,

(Signed) THOMAS YULE.

JOHN SYME AND THE 'CINDER' LIBEL.

I

N Mr Henley's essay on Burns (page 336), he says:

Syme, who knew and loved him, said that he was burnt to a cinder' ere Death took him; we can see for ourselves that the Burns of the Kilmarnock Volume and the good things in the Museum had ceased to be some time before the end; there is evidence that some time before the end he was neither a sober companion nor a self-respecting husband."

In a foot-note on the same page he thus expatiates on the above text :

"It has been said, I believe, that Syme's evidence is worthless, inasmuch as it tends to discredit Burns. But one eye-witness, however dull and prejudiced (and Syme was neither one nor other), is worth a wilderness of sentimental historians; and Syme's phrase, howbeit it is so picturesque that it conveys what is, perhaps, too violent an impression, probably means no more than that Burns had damaged himself with drink."

66

And he goes on to cite Currie as corroboration, whose utterances, "though a fanatic in this matter," he sees no reason to question, as he was also an honest man from which we are led to infer that the prejudiced evidence of Currie is to be received without question "inasmuch as it tends to discredit Burns." Since Mr Henley gave circulation to the expression attributed to Syme we have searched every available record and made enquiries in every likely quarter for information regarding the authority on which the implied charge was based, without obtaining the feeblest ray of light on the subject. We were consequently most unwillingly driven to the conclusion that Mr Henley's sole and only authority was a gossiping triviality to be found in Paterson's edition of Scott Douglas, regarding which one wonders why that enthusiastic and painstaking editor deemed it worth chronicling.

At page

239, Vol. III., of the edition referred to, amongst some notes inspired by an epigram addressed by Burns to Syme, occurs the following :—

"An aged gentleman now living has mentioned to us another remark of Syme that was uttered during a private conversation he had with him about Burns. To the common expression of regret for the early death of one who might still further have enriched our literature, he replied, No, no, he could have done nothing more; he was burnt to a cinder.'"

This is surely a most flimsy foundation for any biographer to build upon. Taken as it stands, it is not Syme but the anonymous "aged gentleman" who is primarily responsible for the utterance of a proverbial phrase alleged to have been heard by him some half a century before. If actually used by Syme, the first question suggested is what he meant by the words employed. It suited Mr Henley's special-pleading method to understand them only in the physical sense, but the context does not bear this out. Whatever conversation took place between the "aged gentleman" and Syme turned evidently upon the literary side of Burns, and the equivocal, mischief-making phrase was applied, rightly or wrongly, to a supposed exhaustion of his literary creative powers. That is the logical inference from the words; any other appears to be strained for a purpose, and we feel convinced Mr Scott Douglas so understood them when he set them down. The "eye-witness" here (ear-witness rather) is a second-hand one; it is, besides, a common belief that the fairy tales of the "aged" or "oldest inhabitant everywhere ought to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Allowing Mr Henley to have his way however, it is well enough known that Syme had a chronic habit of what is called, in sporting phrase, shooting on the wing." Chambers says, "Syme, like many other men of lively temperament, could not boast of historical accuracy in his narration of events." Gilbert Burns uses stronger language, unmistakably pointing to Syme. He had removed to Dumfries about the date of his brother's

66