December, January, February, and March, at 7 o'clock p.m., on which dates we should be pleased to see any member of a Federated Club.

W. PARKER, Hon. Secy.

BRISTOL CALEDONIAN SOCIETY.

REPORT OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE TO THE NINETY-FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING OF MEMBERS.

The General Committee have the pleasure to submit their Ninety-fifth Annual Report, together with accompanying accounts, as audited, for the year ending September 30th, 1916.

Six new members joined the Society during the year.

The total disbursements for Benevolent purposes amount to £139 16s 4d; made up of grants distributed in annuities and charity, £131 8s 4d, and donations to Charitable Institutions, £8 8s.

The Committee are grateful for the valuable support of subscribers to the Benevolent Fund, which so far has enabled the Society to maintain the amounts granted to annuitants.

There is to be noted a gratifying increase in the membership, and a considerable increase in the amount of subscriptions received therefrom. The working expenses of the Society have been reduced; in fact, the total expenditure incurred last year is less than £10, for which result thanks are due to the care and attention of the Hon. Secretary and Treasurer.

Signed on behalf of Committee,

JOHN TURNBULL, Chairman.

HULL BURNS CLUB.

SECRETARIES' REPORT.

During the Session the Club suffered a severe loss in the death of the wife or our President. Mrs Hakes had regularly supported the President at our meetings, and was affectionately and gratefully esteemed by the members.

In view of the continuance of the conditions prevailing during the previous Session, the Council decided to follow the precedent then established, by arranging a somewhat restricted syllabus.

This course received the approval of the members, as is testified by the satisfactory attendances at the various lectures and concerts.

The following gentlemen contributed highly interesting papers, and the Club is greatly indebted to them for their excellent contributions, viz. :

Rev. E. J. B. Kirtlan, B.A., B.D.-" Robert Burns and Liberty." Rev. P. Duncan, M.A., B.D.-"The Message of Ian MacLaren." Through unforeseen circumstances, it was found necessary to abandon the Short Papers night in March, upon which occasion the President had kindly promised to relate a few "Short Stories," and Mr Barry, who is one of our oldest members, had prepared a paper entitled Glimpses of the Past, with a Special Glance at the Hull Burns Club." We trust that an opportunity will be found to enable the members to hear these papers during the forthcoming

session.

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The Celebration of the Burns Anniversary took the form of a Smoking Concert at the City Hotel.. The expenses of this concert were met out of the Club funds, and the whole of the proceeds, amounting to the gratifying sum of £23 5s 6d, was handed to the Lord Mayor for the benefit of British Prisoners of War in Germany. "The Immortal Memory of Burns was proposed by J. Downs, Esq., J.P., in an excellent speech, which earned for him the appreciation and gratitude of the Club.

Nine new members were elected, and the membership now totals 243, compared with 256 at the commencement of the year.

A Roll of Honour of Members who have joined the Colours has been prepared and suitably framed as a permanent record. We very much regret to have to record the loss of one of these members, Mr A. Moss, who laid down his life for his Country.

Since the adoption of the above by the Council, the Club has suffered further misfortune by the death of two of its oldest and most valued members. In Mr G. W. Richardson and Mr W. Barry the Hull Burns Club had two ardent supporters, and these gentlemen had both for many years held the position of Vice-president. SYLLABUS FOR SESSION 1916-1917.

1916.

Oct. 13. Smoking Concert-Grosvenor Hotel.

Nov. 10. Lecture :

"Humour "-H. P. Bailey, Esq.

Dec. 8. Lecture: "Irish Poets and Poetry "--Mrs E. J. B. Kirtlan. 1917.

Jan. 12. Anniversary Celebration.

Feb.

Mar.

9. Concert Lecture: Glimpses of Gounod's Life and Work " -W. Bolton, Esq.

9. Short Papers by Members.

DENNISTOUN JOLLY BECGARS.

ANNUAL REPORT.

The year just finished has been a very trying one for the Club. With some of our members in the Army, and many others engaged on war work in the evenings, the attendance naturally fell considerably below its previous high standard. In spite of adverse circumstances, however, we kept the fires of Burns enthusiasm burning throughout the year, and always managed a quorum at least. The Poet's Anniversary was celebrated by a Supper in the Loudon Arms Hotel, on Saturday, 29th January, at which thirty-one members and friends were present-the "Immortal Memory being proposed by the Vice-President. Papers were given by various members during the year, on such subjects as The Evolution of Liberty," "Some Thoughts on the National Poet," "" Tom Campbell,' Glasgow Cathedral," &c., and an appropriate ode on "Robert Burns" was recited by the Club Bard. J. MACDONALD, Secy.

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

BURNS'S GRANDSIRE.

In view of the interest taken by Scotsmen all the world over in everything that concerns Burns and his family, we venture to reproduce a facsimile of a legal document that contains the signature of the Poet's grandfather, who also bore the name of Robert Burns. The signature is thought to have some resemblance to that of the Poet himself, whose handwriting is familiar to most people.

It appears that the grandfather, then described as residing in Falside of Kinneff, was summoned to the Sheriff Court at Stonehaven on 18th December, 1746, to answer the following charge at the instance of George Stephen, sub-tenant in Pitcarry ::

:

"That is to say, the said Robert Burnes, defender, to hear and see himself decerned and ordained by decreet of Court, order of law and Justice, to pay and deliver to the said pursuer the sum of three pounds ten shillings Scots money as the worth and value of two firlots of corns, cropt 1745 years, that grew on Falside belonging to the pursuer, eaten and destroyed by a calf and a foal belonging to the defender that went among the pursuer's corns the whole time they were on the ground, And that by the custom of the country a firlot of corn is due for each of them in name of Calf and Foal Maill, And that the pursuer got seven pound Scots for each boll of his corns and cropt; Item, fourteen pound Scots more beside the above for two bolls eaten corn cropt forsaid on the said town eaten and destroyed by the defender's Bestiall over and above the above calf and foal maill, etc."

It will be seen from the document that the Poet's grandfather duly appeared before the Sheriff on 8th January, 1747, and swore in open court that his bestiall did not skaith the Pursuer's corns in manner lybelled," and was, in legal language, duly "assoilzied."

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Robert Burns, senior, succeeded George Stephen as tenant of Falside at Whitsunday, 1745. His tenancy of that holding was very brief as he was unable to pay the rent, for which he was sued shortly afterwards in the same Court by his laird, George Kinloch of Kair.

-Caledonian Medical Journal,

per Mr W. A. MACNAUGHTON, M.A., Co-Editor.

DAVID AULD AND TAM O' SHANTER.

Subsequently to the appearance of the notice on James Thom, the self-taught sculptor, and his statues of Tam o' Shanter and Souter Johnnie, in the last number of the Burns Chronicle, a very curious paragraph in the Autobiographical Reminiscences of James Paterson, author of the History of the County of Ayr and other works, has come under the notice of the writer. In his book, which was published in 1871, Paterson has a good deal to say about all that concerns Burns, and naturally Thom's statues came under review, and it occurred to me that what he says about them might be of interest to those readers who have not access to the book in question. It is necessary to note that Paterson was editor of the Ayr Observer. Here is the extract :

"While I was in the Observer, Fillans, the sculptor, used frequently to visit Ayr. He was enthusiastic about Burns and the Monument. He generally drove or walked out to the grounds every time he came. I forget the occasion, but I recollect going into the house at the Monument in which the figures of Tam o' Shanter and Souter Johnnie are kept. The figure of Tam had often struck me as out of all proportion, and I was dilating on the subject, surprised that Fillans did not enter more warmly into it, for it seemed as if it were one peculiarly his own. But I noticed frequently that he was reluctant to find fault with works not his own. By and by, however, I went into the Monument Inn, kept at the time by the proprietor himself (Mr David Auld). Mr Auld happened to be in the way, and at once offered to join us. The conversation quickly turned on what Fillans and I had been formerly speaking about. 'Od, man,' said Mr Auld, 'it was me that sat for Tam o' Shanter's body, in place o' big Affleck, the carter, wha sat for the legs.' Fillans could not contain himself longer, but burst into an immoderate fit of laughter. The idea of Mr Auld's attenuated body, superinduced upon Affleck's herculean limbs, was one of the best practical illustrations of what I had remarked. Mr Auld was good authority, for it was he who first employed Thom, the sculptor."

Is this pretended conversation with Mr Auld an invention of the narrator, or is Mr Auld the inventor of the insinuation attributed to him? We should hesitate to believe that the statue, as we know it, is of the composite order hinted at, and that two models entered into its fabrication. Thom could not have been driven to the expedient of reproducing the legs of one individual, and the body of another, to say nothing of somebody else's head, in turning out his jolly representation of the Carrick farmer. Mr Paterson's story will hardly hold water, and we still prefer the assurance of the writer