the manuscripts, or the name of their possessor, I have not been able to obtain any definite information, but I have received a hint from another generally well-informed quarter that the manuscripts are now well furth of the country."

MSS. IN AMERICA.

As a matter of fact it can be stated with confidence, that the leading Burns authorities in Glasgow have been aware for some days that the manuscripts had been taken to America, and that the finding of a purchaser was only a question of time. Conflicting stories have been published regarding the fate of the manuscripts. It was said that they had passed into the hands of a London agent who was acting on behalf of an American millionaire, and that the price of purchase was £5000. Again, the statement was made that the manuscripts were being held in London, that the Liverpool Athenæum had refused to conceal the sale, but that Messrs Sotheby & Co. had undertaken that if an action was raised they would implement whatever the Court decided. From this explicit statement it was understood and believed that the manuscripts were still in this country and amenable to the orders of our Courts.

THE MILLIONAIRE STORY.

We have sound reasons for believing that the foregoing stories do not exactly represent the true facts of the case. There are good grounds for stating that the Liverpool Athenæum parted with the relic, not to an American millionaire or his agent, but for a financial consideration, to the auctioneers in London, who speculated in the hope of a purchaser turning up. The MSS. are supposed to have been taken to America, where their disposal would be a comparatively easy matter.-Evening Times, November 8th, 1913.

THE GLENRIDDEL MSS.

Mr Leiper Gemmill, agent for the Burns family, stated to an Evening Citizen representative that the supporters in Scotland of the movement for the recovery of the Glenriddel Manuscripts refuse to believe that they are beyond recall, as reported to-day. Immediately on the proposed sale by the Liverpool Athenæum being made public, formal notice was sent by Mr J. Leiper Gemmill to Messrs Sotheby & Co., the intermediaries in the sale, intimating that the title of the Liverpool Athenæum was defective, and would be disputed, and warning Messrs Sotheby & Co. not to part with the manuscripts, or give delivery to the purchaser, until the question

of title and ownership of the manuscript was adjusted or settled in Court.

either amicably

Later on fuller particulars of the history of the manuscripts and the claims of the Burns family to the ownership of these was sent to Messrs Sotheby & Co., with the intimation that if the matter was not amicably adjusted legal proceedings would, in due course, be taken for the recovery of the manuscripts. To that letter Messrs Sotheby & Co. replied that if legal proceedings were taken and an order of Court obtained, they would be prepared to comply with the orders of the Court.-Evening Citizen, November 8th, 1913.

THE GLENRIDDEL MSS.

Leading literary agents here are strongly disposed to believe that the sale of the Glenriddel MSS. was carried through by Messrs Sotheby on behalf of the Liverpool Athenæum several months ago, and there was no delay in delivery. I understand that the matter was completed at the end of July, and that the MSS. are now in the United States. I am able to confirm what I guardedly announced in July, namely, that some ten years ago a London agent who is no longer in business offered several thousand pounds for the Glenriddel treasures, but negotiations were broken off. Glasgow Herall,November 11th, 1913.

GLENRIDDEL MSS.

From a source which I know to be absolutely trustworthy, I have to-day obtained some further information with regard to the Glenriddel MSS. I can state authoritatively that Messrs Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, acting as agents for the Liverpool Athenæum, months ago sold the volumes not to a private client in the United States or elsewhere, as has been widely surmised, but to a London dealer of high repute. At this moment the MSS. are in America. Whether they have there been purchased for some private or public library, or whether they are still in the market, I am as yet unable to say.

Through a different channel I learn that the London buyers are now in communication with an influential citizen of Glasgow. This may be taken to indicate that the Glenriddel MSS. may still be obtained for Scotland.

[We are authorised by Lord Provost Stevenson to state that he has a letter from the London buyers of the Glenriddel Manuscripts confirming the statement of our London correspondent that in his

belief these manuscripts are not beyond recall.]—Glasgow Herald, November 12th, 1913.

I am able to state definitely (the London correspondent of the Scotsman says) that there is yet a possibility of the valuable Glenriddel MSS. of Robert Burns being saved for Scotland. It will be remembered that the documents were sold by the Committee of the Liverpool Athenæum in July last, through Messrs Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge. The purchaser was Mr J. Hornstein, the well-known bookseller, of 110 Victoria Street, London, who has sold many precious Burns MSS. to America. It is true that he has sent the Glenriddel MSS. across the Atlantic, but since they left this country strong representations have been made to him from Scotland. Mr Hornstein has listened with sympathy to the earnest Scottish appeal, and he is doing everything in his power to secure for Scotland the option of acquiring the collection, the proper resting-place for which is in some museum North of the Tweed-preferably the Burns Museum at Alloway. If this can be effected, it will remain with Scotsmen to buy the MSS. at a reasonable market price.-Evening Citizen, November 13th, 1913.

THE GLENRIDDEL MSS.

The special committee appointed at the annual meeting of the Burns Federation met last night in the Rooms of the National Burns Club, Douglas Street, Glasgow, to consider the latest phase of the question regarding the Glenriddel manuscripts. Mr Duncan M'Naught, President of the Burns Federation, presided, and others present were Dr William Wallace, Dr George Neilson, Mr Thomas Amos, Secretary of the Burns Federation; Mr Geo. A. Innes, Treasurer of the Federation; Mr J. C. Ewing, Mr Alex. Pollock, President of the Burns Clubs' Association of Glasgow ; and Mr J. Jeffrey Hunter, Secretary of the Association. The meeting was held in private. At the close it was intimated that on the suggestion of the President the meeting stood adjourned in view of the present position of affairs in connection with the MSS. It was announced that the two volumes of manuscripts were sold by Messrs Sotheby, the auctioneers in whose hands the books were placed by the Directors of the Liverpool Athenæum, to Mr Joseph Hornstein, bookseller in London. By him they were despatched to the United States, where he has several clients for literary manuscripts,

and the books are still there.

It is understood that they still await

a buyer, though the name of a prominent American millionaire has been mentioned in connection with the transaction.-Glasgow Herald, November 15th, 1913.

CHASING THE GLENRIDDEL MSS.

There is as yet no development with regard to the Glenriddel MSS. Shortly after he procured them through Messrs Sotheby, Mr Hornstein, the well-known book-dealer of Victoria Street, sent the volumes to his agent in New York, who at once tried to place them before an important client particularly interested in Burns items. The client was travelling in Western America, and time being of consequence, a messenger with the Glenriddel MSS. speeded after him. Now Mr Hornstein is doing all in his power to meet the views of the committee, over which Lord Provost Stevenson presided, by intercepting the messenger before an offer has actually been made, or, failing that, again to obtain an option on the MSS. In a few days he expects to be in a position to give further information.-Glasgow Herald, November 21st, 1913.

BURNS AND THE PRESS.

OST eminent literary men, whether novelists, poets,

M or essayists, are intimately associated with the

periodical press. In its columns their productions are frequently offered to the public for the first time, and their subsequent embodiment in books often depends on the approval which has been given to them on their appearance in this form. The connection of authors with journalism is no new thing; it is as old as journalism itself, and one can hardly conceive of things having ever been otherwise. Litterateurs find in newspapers and magazines a ready means of disposing of such of their writings as are of current interest, and the editors of the principal journals are quick to invite contributions from distinguished authors, whose names, outside altogether of the subjects which they consider, are sufficient to attract, and perhaps to retain, new readers. Burns shared in this general experience of those who have gained distinction in literature, except on the one important point of payment for work done, a phase of the subject which will be dealt with in its proper place. His connection with the press, and also with pressmen, began when he first visited Edinburgh in 1786, and it continued, though never in a regular way, during the remaining years of his life. It is the object of this article to show what that connection was. The subject is not an easy one to deal with adequately, and though all the biographers of Burns have said something about it, I am not aware that any writer has hitherto devoted exclusive attention to it. "The difficulty of writing the story of his connection with the periodical publications of his day," says Dr William Wallace, himself a journalist of great repute, "is due