suggested and, with fewer things to engage attention, the Kirk, and all that related to it, occupied more of the thoughts and the conversation of the people. There is more of the Kirk than of the State in Burns, and that though he was probably more interested in politics than most men of his day. To him the Kirk and its doctrines were an engrossing theme, and thus he apologises for departing from the subject of his dedication to Gavin Hamilton :—

"Your pardon, sir, for this digression ;
But when divinity comes 'cross me,
My readers still are sure to lose me."

The Kirk had a hold on the people of which we of the twentieth century have no experience, and in supervising their moral and spiritual well-being it could strike fear into the hearts of all but the utterly abandoned. It compelled those who were guilty of moral impurity to mount the cutty stool before the congregation and atone for their offence :

"When I mount the creepie chair,

Wha will sit beside me there?
Gie me Rob, I seek nae mair,

The rantin' dog, the daddie o't."

The Kirk also took cognisance of offences, such as breaches of the peace and drunkenness, which are now dealt with by the petty criminal courts. Thus Merry Andrew, in "The JollyBeggars," sings :—

"I ance was tied up like a stirk

For civilly swearing and quaffing,"

which is equal to saying that he had been punished by being placed in the jougs.

One of the main themes of ecclesiastical conversation in the eighteenth century was patronage, with which we in these latter times are happily not troubled, and it was part of the enjoyment of poor folk to

"Talk o' patronage and priests

Wi' kindling fury in their breasts."

The Kirk was long divided on the question whether the minister should be presented by a patron, usually the laird, or whether he

should be appointed by the people themselves. was a bitter one, as witness :

Lang patronage wi' rod o' airn

Has shor'd the Kirk's undoin'."

The controversy

The Calvinists, or Auld Lichts, were opponents of patronage, and, as Burns satirically put it in "The Twa Herds," they sought to

"Get the brutes the power themsel's

To choose their herds."

Rather curiously, the Moderates, or New Lichts, who believed in the saving power of a moral life (and to which party Burns, of course, belonged), were supporters of patronage, which, as all with any knowledge of Church history must know, was the cause of the Disruption in 1843. The system lingered on till 1874, when it was abolished by Act of Parliament.

In nothing is the change which has come over the Kirk more apparent than in the administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Now it is a simple and reverent observance; then it was what Burns truly called it, a "Holy Fair." This is a part of the subject on which one is tempted to dwell; but while there is such a wide difference between the new way of celebrating the Communion and the old way, the narrative of the Poet is so explicit that it seems needless to unduly extend this article by any attempt at interpretation.

In bringing these notes to a close, several other matters must be dealt with very briefly. The allusions of Burns to the currency of the day must be explained. The Scots penny was equal in value to only one-twelfth of a penny sterling, so that the arles of the ploughman--a small sum given by the farmer to bind the bargain-was very small indeed :

:

while a plack was worth only one-third of a penny :

"Awa' ye selfish warl❜ly race,

Wha think that havins, sense and grace,

Ev'n love and friendship should give place
To catch the plack."

Many readers will remember the groat, or silver fourpenny piece, which was withdrawn from circulation not more than a generation ago :-

"He will win a shillin'
Or he spen' a groat."

The tester was of the value of 6d sterling :

"Your sair taxation does her fleece

Till she has scarce a tester."

Another coin, of which we read occasionally in the newspapers when a delinquent juryman is fined, was the mark, worth 133d sterling.

"He gied me thee o' tocher clear,
An' fifty mark,"

said the farmer to his auld mare, Maggie, so that the actual cash which he received from his guidfather was £2 15s 6d, and no one will be disposed to dispute the observation that the tocher was sma"." A pound Scots was the equivalent of 20d sterling. The guinea has already been referred to at the beginning of this article.

In "The Farmer's Salutation to his Auld Mare we are informed of Maggie's prowess at brooses :

"At brooses thou had ne'er a fellow

For pith and speed;"

and this recalls a merry custom, now quite extinct. After the performance of a wedding ceremony, the young horsemen of the party had a race-riding off to the old tune, "She's yours, she's yours nae mair, she's ours"—from the house of the bridegroom to that of the bride, and the winner had the privilege of receiving the young wife with certain old-world ceremonies into her new home. The custom has been observed both in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire within living memory.

Newspapers were few, and they were also costly, owing to the tax, which was not removed till the middle of the last century, and the printed sheet had to serve a great many families, or groups of people, before it was finally disused, being passed round with the utmost care. Burns got the reading of a newspaper, and returned it after a more careful perusal than such publications are likely to get nowadays—

"Kind sir, I've read your paper through;

Sae gratefu' back your news I send you."

The hangmen used a whip besides a rope, it being part of his duty to flog as well as to hang :

"The fear o' hell's a hangman's whip."

As late as 1822 an offender against the law was whipped by the hangman on the streets of Glasgow.

A visitor to a house announced his arrival by tirling at the pin :-

"Sae light's he jimped up the stair

And tirled at the pin."

"On the back of a house door there used to be attached a risping pin, i.e., a notched rod of iron, with a loose string attached. This made a loud noise on being drawn up and down (tirled)."-[Note to Dr Wallace's edition of Chambers' Burns.] A burglar was so rarely seen in the country that the peasants did not need to go to the trouble of trying to keep him out of their houses. The doors were loosely fastened with a snick, a small bar of iron resting on a catch, and raised by pulling a string:

"Click the string the snick did draw,

And jee the door gaed to the wa'."

I close this article with an elucidation of a pretty eighteenth century custom now quite forgotten, viz., that of drawing lots on the eve of St. Valentine's Day :

:

Misson, a traveller, who lived in the early part of the century, described this custom as follows:-"On the eve of St. Valentine's Day the young folks in England and Scotland, by a very ancient custom, celebrate a little festival. An equal number of maids and bachelors get together, each write their true or some feigned name upon separate billets, which they roll up and draw by way of lots, the maids taking the men's billets and the men the maids'; so that each of the young men lights upon a girl that he calls his 'Valentine,' and each of the girls a young man whom she calls hers. Fortune having thus divided the company into so many couples, the valentines give balls and treats to their mistresses, wear their billets several days upon their bosoms or sleeves, and this little sport often ends in love."

From these notes, imperfect though they may be, it will be seen how important it is to a proper understanding of the text of Burns-who, not being a philosophical Poet, found his material in the things around him—to know what were the social conditions under which he lived. But while the notes are intended to help those who have difficulty in grasping the meaning of the Poet, because of a lack of this knowledge, and inducing them to turn with fresh interest to his pages, I am not without hope that they will be read with interest by those who do not need such instruction.

ANDREW M'CALLUM.