which he wrote himself be true as to him: "An honest man has nothing to fear. If we lie down in the grave, the whole man a piece of broken machinery, to moulder with the clods of the valley,-be it so; at least there is an end of pain, care, woes and wants. ... He goes to a great unknown Being, who could have no other end in giving him existence but to make him happy; who gave him those passions and instincts, and well knows their force."

TONNY DAA,

Stud. Mag., Assistant Royal Library of

Copenhagen.

CHRONICLES BY THE KHAN.

A Poem which appeared in a Hamilton Newspaper (Canada), dated 25th January, 1910.

ROBERT BURNS.

It's Burns anniversary, or near it, I am told:

An hundred weary years or more have o'er his ashes rolled.
The man who taught the people how to smile and how to weep
Is dead? I don't believe it; he's even not asleep.

To-night, outside my window, where the bull-mouthed blizzards blow,
He's singing, singing, singing-I can hear him in the snow.

I fain would ask him in to sit beside my cheerful fire;

My Pharisee gets angry-the proposal lights his ire.

He says

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'Twould never, never do! What would the public think ? It's rumoured in society that Robert used to drink."

Ah! friends, he's gone a hundred years-a long, long time to dwell For wine and women, and a song down deep in muckle hell!

I grabbed the croaking Pharisee, and flung him through the door'; His sanctimonious features, may I see them never more!

I have no fear of Robert Burns; a noble life was his;

I want to spend eternity where the splendid ploughman is—
No matter where that place may be, I'm very little carin',
E'en though it be the place where they'll roast me like a herrin'.
The Pharisees will not be there : he'd give the rascals fits!
Wherever Robbie makes his home there are no hypocrites.
Where'er the place may be, I know the time is never long;
There's pretty girls, a cup of wine, and many a noble song!
He's got a farm up somewhere outside the golden toun,
Where he needna plough the mousie out or plough the daisy doon
Where Mailie raises decent lambs that do her teaching proud,
Afar from Holy Willie an' Holy Willie's crowd.

The angels ken him richtly, this tenant on their fairm,

For Rob's a man for a' that, they ken he'll do nae hairm.
Where'er his little home is built, where'er that farm may be,

O Robert Burns, I'd like to spend eternity with thee!

They've built you splendid monuments; they're towering aboon.
You'll see them there an' yonder in almost every toun.
But long before the people appreciated thee,

Sad, and broken-hearted, you laid you doon to die.

Man, dear! you need no statues, no monuments on high,
For in our loyal hearts, dear Rab, your name shall never die.
The spirits of your lovers before your shrine keep watch;
You leavened all the nations an' civilized the Scotch!
To-night, your land o' Scotland's the proudest land on earth,
Because she rocked your cradle-the country of your birth.
Come ben the house, my Robbie; my welcome's frank and free,
Mak' yerself at hame, my lad, an' sing this sang with me:
"Shall auld acquaintance be forgot, an' never brought to min'?
Shall auld acquaintance be forgot, and the days of auld lang syne?

NOTES ON BURNS IN SWEDEN.

[We have interfered as little as possible with the verbiage of the translator.-ED.j

WEDISH literature has been specially influenced by the English authors of the Augustan age: first of all by Addison and Pope. In second place, as regards influence, comes Milton; later on Ossian, Macpherson, Byron, and Scott. Evidently Shakespeare need not be mentioned, everybody knowing him to be the most-read, admired, and beloved of all English poets here, and, I should think, everywhere.

Burns has been known comparatively late in Sweden, a fact that may seem strange enough, when a poet, such as for instance Gray, was already translated in the later years of the 18th century, and Moore, who is certainly much less original than Burns, has been much earlier and oftener translated. No doubt the Scottish dialect has been an obstacle to the knowledge of Burns's poetry by wider circles. [Here Dr Steffen evidently means: Burns's poetry having reached Sweden by way of England, the Scots tongue used by Burns may account for his being long unknown in Sweden. Otherwise the strong resemblance in many instances between Scotch and Swedish dialects must rather have been favourable to Burns.-Remark by A. G. D.].

Burns was translated the first time in 1854, and though addressed to Swedists and by Swedish-speaking men, not in Sweden but in Helsingfors, Finland, where an edition, Songs and Ballads by Robert Burns, translated by K. H. von Becker and C. R. Mannerheim,* was issued, con

* K. H. von Becker, man of letters; born 1834 (living). Baron Carl Robt. Mannerheim; born 1835 (living); man of business and titular chamberlain.

taining thirty-eight poems by Burns, among others "Tam o' Shanter."

In 1872 another collection of Burns's poems was edited in Stockholm with the title: Some Poems by Robert Burns, translated by E. and M. G. Retzius,* with a preface by the latter, who says, and quite truly too: Burns is only very little known in our country."

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The next translator was Carl Rupert Nyblom,† in his Songs of Foreign Countries (Upsala, 1876), where he gives five of Burns's songs, among others an excellent version of "For a' that, and a' that.” But it was the poet Gustaf Fröding who made Burns widely known through a small popular pamphlet (1892): Folkskalden Robert Burns and his Life, according to English sources,‡ in which he also gives twelve songs in translation. In a later issue of poems some more of Burns's songs are rendered by Fröding. complete the list the version of "Tam o' Shanter," by H. B. Romberg (1903),|| may be mentioned.

To

From these naked facts it will be seen that Burns can hardly have influenced Swedish poets very much. The only one who has certainly learned much of Burns is the poet Fröding. But even if Burns's influence may be limited to this single writer, it must be considered as an impulse of very great consequence, Fröding being, if not our very first lyrical poet-who dare say that this or that man is in all respects the first one ?-at any rate one of the very first, and of all Swedish poets the one who is most generally read and loved at the present moment. There are many and obvious resemblances between Burns and Fröding. Both show, as personalities, the

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*The renowned anatomist, Professor Gustavus Retzius, and his sister, Elizabeth.

† Professor of Literature, Upsala, poet (dead).

Re"

'the English sources," compare what G. Fröding wrote later on, when he himself knew more about Burns and his life, as translated by A. G. D. in last letter.-(Remark by Translator.)

Upper teacher.

same love of freedom, the same proud manliness, and also the same irregular habits. (However, these were decidedly sickly with Fröding, who, at certain periods, was mentally deranged.*)

A striking feature in the poems of both is their unlimited intelligibility, which enables everybody to find something specially appealing to his mind: there is humour for the humourist, pathos for the pathetic nature. And both have, each with absolute originality, drawn the people in their simplicity. Their popular rhymes and rhythms -popular in the best meaning-are a true expression of the joys and sorrows of the children of the native soil. However, it must be noted that Burns made use of the metre and melodies of old songs, and sometimes, to a certain extent, of their words, which was not the case with Fröding. A detailed study of Burns and Fröding in connection would no doubt afford many interesting views and throw a light on the real nature of the visa," the people's song," as it existed and still exists.

Another comparison which is certainly very tempting is Burns and Bellman, who were contemporaries, the former dying 1796, one year after Bellman. The great resemblance

lies in their dissimilarity to all other poets of their epoch; both were altogether independent and fully original lyrical poets, while the pervading French taste of the period bound all other writers' song in chains of rules and reasoning. Bellman is less comprehensive than Burns, in so far that he is exclusively the skald of the pleasure and pain of living, of "the sorrow in rose"-though in this realm of his he is of course immensely above not only Burns but

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* It must be remembered, Fröding's descent was of an altogether other nature than Burns's. Fröding was of the higher bourgeoisie," the family being narrowly related with certain noble families of noted eccentricity. Fröding also was an erudite-to a degreehaving studied at Upsala, and many other differences may be marked which make the resemblance of their doings the more striking.-(Remark by A. G. D.)