the bosom of humanity."

said; here he has no rival.

Of no other man can this be

I now proceed to unveil the statue which Montrose has erected in memory of the Immortal Bard, tenderly

wrapping him, as it were, in the folds of this last unrivalled tribute, which passes to-day unchallenged, for it is indeed. true that "Burns of all men that ever lived nestles to-day closest to the bosom of humanity." Citizens of Montrose, you honour yourselves in honouring the man who has proved himself the Poet-Prophet of his age.

Subsequently a large and distinguished company returned to the Municipal Buildings, where a cake and wine banquet was provided. Ex-Provost Foreman proposed the toast of the afternoon, "The health of Mr Carnegie," and asked his acceptance, as a souvenir of the occasion, of a beautiful photograph of the statue enclosed in a massive silver frame.

Mr Carnegie, in reply, said he loved to think they were about the most patriotic people in the world. He was delighted to have their gift, which would be sacredly preserved among the most treasured possessions he and Mrs. Carnegie had. He was delighted in passing through their country by motor yesterday to see their fields so admirably cultivated, and he wondered why it was that farming was not more prosperous than he heard it was among them. The sentiment of "The health of Mrs Carnegie was submitted by Provost Stone, and accepted by Dr Ross. Councillor J. G. Milne gave "The Sculptor, Mr W. Birnie Rhind, Edinburgh," and Mr David Lackie, president of the Burns Club, "The Chairman."

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In the evening a large company of public gentlemen dined in the Municipal Buildings, when a lengthy toast list was submitted. Provost Stone proposed "The Burns Statue Committee," to which ex-Provost Foreman, who acted as chairman, responded. Mr G. Bruce Small, Arbroath, gave The Burns Club," which was acknowledged by Mr David Lackie, president. 'Modern Scottish Poets" was given by Mr D. Nairn, and replied to by Mr D. H. Edwards, Brechin. Mr Alexander Marr, secretary of the Statue Committee, and Mr John Yorston, secretary of the Burns Club, were respectively the recipients of a magohany writing table and a case of fish eaters and carvers, in recognition of the services which they had rendered in their respective offices as hon. treasurer and hon. secretary to the Bazaar Committee.

The Town Band discoursed a programme of selection.s from Burns's works in the Bandstand immediately after the unveiling ceremony, and again occupied the Bandstand

(which faces the statue) in the evening, while the band of the Fechney Industrial School, Perth, played on the Links in the afternoon.

THE STATUE.

A sheaf

The statue has been carved in two blocks of Binnie freestone from a half-size model, and stands nine feet high. The Poet is represented standing on his right foot, with his left slightly in advance. In his left hand he holds a scroll, and in his right, which hangs by his side, a pencil, as if in the act of composing. He wears the knee-breeches and long vest and full-skirted coat of the period. of wheat and a portion of a plough support the figure as symbols of his calling. The figure is well designed, and arranged to be viewed from all points. The pedestal, which is twelve feet high, has been carefully designed of good proportions, panels on each of the four sides bearing a figure subject in bas-relief, symbolical of the Poet's sympathies with the "Labourer," the "Fair Maiden," "Love of Animal Life," and an ideal figure suggesting Scotia's Muse on the main front. The pedestal has been executed in black pasture freestone. Both design and workmanship reflect the greatest credit on their eminent sculptor, Mr W. Birnie Rhind, R.S.A., Edinburgh.

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FERGUSSON AND BURNS: THE

SHAPING OF A POET.

(Read before the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 22nd March, 1911.)

THA

His

HAT which immediately moved me to the preparation of this paper is contained in the following passage from J. A. Manson's prefatory essay to his edition of Burns's Poems:-" Oddly enough Burns has been charged, in connection with this work (The Cottar'), with having plagiarised Fergusson's 'The Farmer's Ingle,' but it is difficult to answer the accusation seriously. Certainly the subjects of the two poems are somewhat similar, though by no means identical, and the form of versification is in both the same. But clever as 'The Farmer's Ingle' undoubtedly is, it is no more to be compared with 'The Cottar's Saturday Night' than Tupper is with Tennyson. Rob. Fergusson is now chiefly, if not solely, remembered because of Burns's excessive admiration of him. poems showed high promise, and, had he lived, he might have written some really great work. His fate, however, was more hapless even than Burns's, for he died in the cell of a madhouse at the age of twenty-four. His admirers, therefore, may be pardoned, if, in pity of his luckless life, they magnify his merits; but when they go out of their way wantonly to malign Burns-the best and most unselfish friend the memory of poor Fergusson ever had—it is time the plain truth were told, and the tongue of calumny stayed." The foolish comparison with Tupper and Tennyson is not the only unfortunate thing in this piece of special pleading, but the passage has a certain value for me in its suggesting a new way in which personally to re-read Burns,

viz., in the light of the men on whose work he laid literary hands.

First of all, then, I turned to his famous letter to Dr Moore. Besides the influences of birth, of family training, and of environment, those that shaped him as a man and as a poet may be said to have been his schooling, his social intercourse, and his private reading. these I wish to confine my attention.

It is to the last of The Poet's reading,

as given in this autobiographical letter, is as follows :— Masson's Collection of English Prose and Verse for use in Schools.

The Life of Hannibal.

The History of Sir William Wallace (Hamilton of
Gilbertfield's paraphrase of "Blind Harry ").

[“" Hannibal gave my young ideas such a turn, that I used to strut in raptures up and down after the recruiting drum and bagpipe, and wish myself tall enough that I might be a soldier; while the story of Wallace poured a tide of Scottish prejudice into my veins, which will boil along there till the flood-gates of life shut in eternal rest."]

Guthrie & Salmon's Geographical Grammar.
Some numbers of The Spectator.

Pope's Works.

Some plays of Shakespeare.

Books on Agriculture and Gardening.

Locke "On the Human Understanding."

The History of the Bible.

Dr Taylor's Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin.

Hervey's Meditations.

Allan Ramsay's Tea-table Miscellany.

The Lark, being a collection of the most celebrated

and newest songs, Scotch and English.

We have internal evidence that he also read Gray's Poems at a fairly early age.

Some of these titles are of considerable interest to us. To the Geographical Grammar we owe all his references to ancient history and mythology. The Spectator copies