Wert thou cottager or king? 5. The Epistle to R. G. Esq. of F. that is, to R. Graham, Esq. of Fintra, also urderwent considerable alterations, as may be collected from the General Correspondence. The style of poetry was new to our poet, and, though he was fitted to excel in it, it cost him more trouble than his Scottish poetry. On the contrary, Tam o' Shanter seems to have issued perfect from the author's brain. The only considerable alteration made on reflection, is the omission of four lines, which had been inserted after the poem was finished, at the end of the dreadful catalogue of the articles found on the "haly table," and which appeared in the first edition of the poem, printed separately-They came after the line, Which even to name would be unlawfu’, and are as follows, Three lawyers' tongues turn'd inside out, These lines which, independent of other By the alteration in the printed poem, it may be questioned whether the poetry is found means to introduce the shades of much improved; the poet however has Dryburgh, the residence of the Earl of Buchan, at whose request these verses were written. but what are already offered will satisfy These observations might be extended, curiosity, and there is nothing of any importance that could be added. THE FOLLOWING LETTER Of Burns, which contains some hints relative to the origin of his celebrated tale of "Tam o' Shanter," the Publishers trust, will be found interesting to every reader of his works. There appears no reason to doubt of its being genuine, though it has not been inserted in his correspon dence published by Dr. Currie. TO FRANCIS GROSE, ESQ. F. A. S.* AMONG the many witch stories I have heard relating to Alloway kirk, I distinctly remember only two or three. Upon a stormy night, amid whistling squalls of wind, and bitter blasts of hail; in short on such a night as the devil would 6. The Address to the shade of Thom-chuse to take the air in; a farmer or farson, began in the first manuscript copy in mer's servant was plodding and plashing the following manner: homeward with his plough-irons on his shoulder, having been getting some repairs on them at a neighbouring smithy, His way lay by the kirk of Alloway, and being rather on the anxious look out in approaching a place so well known to be This Letter was first published in the Censura Li teraria, 1786, and was communicated to the Editor of that work by Mr. Gilchrist of Stamford, accompanied with the following remark. "In a collection of miscellaneous papers of the Antiquary Grose, which I purchased a few years since, I found the following letter written to him by Burns, when the former was collecting the Antiquities of Scotland: When I premise it was on the second tradition that he afterwards formed the inimitable tale of 'Tam o' Shan ter,' I cannot doubt of its being read with great interest. It were 'burning day light' to point out to a reader (and who is not a reader of Burns?) the thoughts he afterwards transplanted into the rhythmical narrative. O. G. a favourite haunt of the devil and the de- | all alive with the power of his bagpipe. vil's friends and emissaries, he was struck The farmer stopping his horse to observe aghast by discovering through the horrors them a little, could plainly descry the of the storm and stormy night, a light, faces of many old women of his acquainwhich on his nearer approach plainly tance and neighbourhood. How the genshowed itself to proceed from the haunted tlemen was dressed, tradition does not say; edifice. Whether he had been fortified but the ladies were all in their smocks: from above on his devout supplication, as and one of them happening unluckily to is customary with people when they sus- have a smock which was considerably too pect the immediate presence of Satan, or short to answer all the purposes of that whether, according to another custom, he piece of dress, our farmer was so tickled, had got courageously drunk at the smithy, that he involuntarily burst out, with a I will not pretend to determine; but so it loud laugh, "Weel luppen, Maggy wi' was that he ventured to go up to, nay into the short sark!" and recollecting himself, the very kirk. As good luck would have instantly spurred his horse to the top of it his temerity came off unpunished. his speed. I need not mention the universally known fact, that no diabolical of a running stream. Lucky it was for power can pursue you beyond the middle the poor farmer that the river Doon was his horse, which was a good one, against so near, for notwithstanding the speed of he reached the middle of the arch of the the stream, the pursuing vengeful hags, bridge, and consequently the middle of were so close at his heels, that one of them actually sprung to seize him; but it the stream but the horse's tail, which imwas too late, nothing was on her side of mediately gave way at her infernal grip, the farmer was beyond her reach. Howas if blasted by a stroke of lightning; but ever, the unsightly, tailless condition of the vigorous steed was, to the last hour of The members of the infernal junto were all out on some midnight business or other, and he saw nothing but a kind of kettle or caldron depending from the roof, over the fire, simmering some heads of unchristened children, limbs of executed malefactors, &c. for the business of the night. It was in for a penny, in for a pound, with the honest ploughman: so without ceremony he unhooked the caldron from off the fire, and pouring out the damnable ingredients, inverted it on his head, and carried it fairly home, where it remained long in the family, a living evidence of the truth of the story. Another story which I can prove to be the noble creature's life, an awful warnequally authentic, was as follows: On a market day in the town of Ayr, a farmer from Carrick, and consequently whose way laid by the very gate of Alloway kirk-yard, in order to cross the river Doon at the old bridge, which is about two or three hundred yards farther on than the said gate, had been detained by his business, till by the time he reached Alloway it was the wizard hour, between night and morning. Though he was terrified with a blaze streaming from the kirk, yet as it is a wellknown fact that to turn back on these occasions is running by far the greatest risk of mischief, he prudently advanced on his road. When he had reached the gate of the kirk-yard, he was surprised and entertained, through the ribs and arches of an old Gothic window, which still faces the highway, to see a dance of witches merrily footing it round their old sooty blackguard master, who was keeping them Ee ing to the Carrick farmers, not to stay too late in Ayr markets. The last relation I shall give, though equally true, is not so well identified, as the two former, with regard to the scene; but as the best authorities give it for Alloway, I shall relate it. On a summer's evening, about the time that nature puts on her sables to mourn the expiry of the cheerful day, a shepherd boy belonging to a farmer in the immediate neighbourhood of Alloway kirk, had just folded his charge, and was returning home. As he passed the kirk, in the adjoining field, he fell in with a crew of men and women who were busy puiling stems of the plant Ragwort. He observed that as each person pulled a Ragwort, he or she got astride of it, and called out, " up horsie!" on which the Ragwort flew off like Pegasus, through the air with its ri der. The foolish boy likewise pulled his Ragwort, and cried with the rest "up horsie!" and, strange to tell, away he flew with the company. The first stage at which the cavalcade stopped was a merchant's wine cellar in Bourdeaux, where, without saying by your leave, they quaffed away at the best the cellar could afford, until the morning, foe to the imps and works of darkness, threatened to throw light on the matter, and frightened them from their carousals. The poor shepherd lad, being equally a stranger to the scene and the liquor, heedlessly got himself drunk; and when the rest took horse, he fell asleep, and was found so next day by some of the people belonging to the merchant. Somebody that understood Scotch, asking him what he was, he said he was such-a-one's herd in Alloway, and by some means or other getting home again, he lived long to tell the world the wondrous tale. I am, &c. &c. END OF THE LETTERS. APPENDIX. No. I.-Note A. See Life, p. 2. THE importance of the national establishment of parish-schools in Scotland will justify a short account of the legislative provisions respecting it, especially as the subject has escaped the notice of all the historians. By an act of the king (James VIth) and privy council of the 10th of December, 1616, it was recommended to his bishops to deale and travel with the heritors (land proprietors,) and the inhabitants of the respective parishes in their respective dioceses, towards the fixing upon "some certain, solid, and sure course" for settling and entertaining a school in each parish. This was ratified by a statute of Charles I. (the act 1633, chap. 5.) which empowered the bishop, with the consent of the heritors of a parish, or of a majority of the inhabitants, if the heritors refused to attend the meeting, to assess every plough of land (that is, every farm, in proportion to the number of ploughs upon it) with a certain sum for establishing a school. This was an ineffectual provision, as depending on the Consent and pleasure of the heritors and inhabitants. Therefore a new order of things was introduced by Stat. 1646, chap. 17, which obliges the heritors and minister of each parish to meet and assess the several heritors with the requisite sum for building a schoolhouse, and to elect a school-master, and modify a salary for him in all time to come. The salary is ordered not to be under one hundred, nor above two hundred merks, that is, in our present sterling money, not under £5 11s. 14d. nor, above £11 2s. 3d. and the asjority of them, should fail to discharge sessment is to be laid on the land in the same proportion as it is rated for the support of the clergy, and as it regulates the payment of the land-tax. But in case the heritors of any parish, or the mathis duty, then the persons forming what is called the Committee of Supply of the county (consisting of the principal landholders,) or any five of them, are authorized by the statute to impose the assessment instead of them, on the representation of the presbytery in which the parish is situated. To secure the choice of a proper teacher, the right of election by the heritors, by a statute passed in 1693, chap. 22, is made subject to the review and control of the presbytery of the district, who have the examination of the person proposed committed to them, both as to his qualifications as a teacher, and as to his proper deportment in the office when settled in it. The election of the heritors is therefore only a presentment of a person for the approbation of the presbytery; who, if they find him unfit, may declare his incapacity, and thus oblige them to elect anew. So far is stated on unquestionable authority.* The legal salary of the schoolmaster was not inconsiderable at the time it was fixed; but by the decrease in the value of money, it is now certainly inadequate to its object; and it is painful to observe, that the landholders of Scotland resisted the humble application of the schoolmasters to the legislature for its increase, a few years ago. The number of parishes in Scotland is 877; and if we allow the salary of a schoolmaster in each to be on The authority of A. Frazer Tytler, and David Hume, Esqrs. an average, seven pounds sterling, the amount of the legal provision will be £6, 139 sterling. If we suppose the wages paid by the scholars to amount to twice the sum, which is probably beyond the truth, the total of the expenses among 1,526,492 persons (the whole population of Scotland,) of this most important establishment, will be £18, 417. But on this, as well as on other subjects respecting Scotland, accurate information may soon be expected from Sir John Sinclair's Analysis of his Statistics, which will complete the immortal monument he has reared to his patriotism. clared as follows: "There are at this day in Scotland, two hundred thousand people begging from door to door. And though the number of them be perhaps double to what it was formerly, by reason of this present great distress (a famine then pre vailed,) yet in all times there have been about one hundred thousand of those va gabonds, who have lived without any re gard or subjection either to the laws of the land, or even those of God and Na ture; fathers incestuously accompanying with their own daughters, the son with the mother, and the brother with the sister." He goes on to say; that no magistrate ever could discover that they had The benefit arising in Scotland from ever been baptized, or in what way one the instruction of the poor, was soon felt; in a hundred went out of the world. He and by an act of the British parliament, accuses them as frequently guilty of rob4 Geo. I. chap. 6, it is enacted, "that of bery, and sometimes of murder: "In the moneys arising from the sale of the years of plenty," says he, 66 many thouScottish estates forfeited in the rebellion sands of men meet together in the mounof 1715, £2,000 sterling shall be convert-tains, where they feast and riot for many ed into a capital stock, the interest of days; and at country weddings, markets, which shall be laid out in erecting and burials, and other public occasions, they maintaining schools in the Highlands. are to be seen, both men and women, The Society for propagating Christian perpetually drunk, cursing, blaspheming, Knowledge, incorporated in 1709, have and fighting together."* This highapplied a large part of their fund for the minded statesman, of whom it is said by same purpose. By their report, 1st May, a contemporary "that he would lose his 1795, the annual sum employed by them, life readily to save his country, and would in supporting their schools in the High- not do a base thing to serve it," thought the lands and Islands, was £3,913 19s. 10d., evil so great that he proposed as a remein which are taught the English language, dy, the revival of domestic slavery, acreading and writing, and the principles of cording to the practice of his adored rereligion. The schools of the society are publics in the classic ages! A better readditional to the legal schools, which medy has been found, which in the silent from the great extent of many of the lapse of a century has proved effectual. Highland parishes, were found insuffi- The statute of 1696, the noble legacy of cient. Besides these established schools, the Scottish Parliament to their country, the lower classes of people in Scotland, began soon after this to operate; and where the parishes are large, often com- happily, as the minds of the poor received bine together,and establish private schools instruction, the Union opened new chanof their own, at one of which it was that nels of industry, and new fields of action Burns received the principal part of his to their view. education. So convinced indeed are the poor people of Scotland, by experience, of the benefit of instruction, to their children, that, though they may often find it difficult to feed and clothe them, some kind of school-instruction they almost always procure them. The influence of the school-establishment of Scotland on the peasantry of that country, seems to have decided by experience a question of legislation of the utmost importance-whether a system of national instruction for the poor be favourable to morals and good government. In the year 1698, Fletcher of Salton de At the present day there is perhaps no country in Europe, in which, in proportion to its population, so small a number of crimes fall under the chastisement of the criminal law, as Scotland. We have the best authority for asserting, that on an average of thirty years, preceding the year 1797, the executions in that division of the island did not amount to six annually; and one quarter-sessions for the town of Manchester only, has sent, according to Mr. Hume, more felons to the plantations, than all the judges of Scot* Political Works of Andrew Fletcher, octavo Lon don, 737 144 |