a common influence. He thought that the last words before unveiling the tablet should be of gratitude, which could be no better expressed than in the words of Alexander Smith, that "If we admire the emperor who found Rome brick and left it marble, what shall we say of the poet who found the songs of his country indelicate and left them pure?"

The company included Sir Joseph Dobbie, Vice-president of the Burns Federation, and Lady Dobbie; Mr. John Hogben, President of the Edinburgh Burns Club; Mr. George W. Melville, President of the Ninety Burns Club; and Mr. John Service, President of the Ayrshire Association,

BURNS'S WRITINGS.

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE POET'S TRUSTEES AND CADELL AND DAVIES, BOOKSELLERS, LONDON.

By the very kind permission of Mrs. Charles R. Cowie, Woodend, Partickhill, Glasgow, there is printed here the agreement relative to the property in Burns's writings made in 1800 between the Poet's Trustees, on the one hand, and Cadell and Davies, booksellers in London, on the other. The seals and the signatures to the agreement are also reproduced in facsimile: special attention may be directed to the signature of Jean Armour, and to the resemblance it bears to her autograph (1788) in the Records of Mauchline Kirk-Session. (See Burns Chronicle, 1893, plate facing page 57.)

This very interesting document is frequently referred to in the correspondence regarding the preparation, by Dr. James Currie of Liverpool, of the official edition of the Works of Burns (1800, 4 vols., 8vo). It was drafted by William Roscoe, historian of Lorenzo de' Medici and friend of Currie; submitted for revision to Burns's Trustees; and a copy forwarded on 1st March, 1799, by William Thomson, agent for these Trustees, to Cadell and Davies, with the following letter—

"The trustees for the family of the late Robert Burns lately received from Liverpool a draught of the deed of agreement to be entered into by you and them. A copy thereof, with such amendments as occurred to us to be proper, I now inclose for your perusal; and I hope it will meet with your approbation, in which case it may be immediately extended on the proper stamp and executed by you, and, upon its being sent down, the parties here will readily do the same. Should any alteration

be wished or explanation desired, be so good as to communicate the same to me, and I will consult with those interested with myself in this concern of the infant family of the author."

The document is particularly referred to in later letters from Thomson to Currie (16th December, 1799) and from Currie to Cadell and Davies (21st December, 1799). The late Dr. D. M'Naught, when dealing* with The Earnock Manuscripts," stated that "neither draft nor formal contract appears in the Earnock collection."

66

Students of Burns were quite unaware that either of the documents was in existence, and so were agreeably surprised to find the completed document included in a very fine “collection of relics, manuscripts, letters, and family documents of Robert Burns, the joint property of the children of his nephew, Gilbert Burns," which was offered for sale at Messrs. Sotheby's rooms in London on 12th July, 1921. The last item of the collection was the "Indenture referring to the copyright of the works of Robert Burns deceased; with 12 signatures, including Jean Armour (the poet's wife), and his brother Gilbert, Wm. Maxwell, John Syme, W. Thomson, Thomas Cadell, Wm. Davies, and others; double folio,t February 25th, 1800." It greatly interested the late Mr. Cowie, and he acquired it to add to his splendid library of Burns manuscripts and printed books. It is now in the possession of Mrs. Cowie.

Briefly stated, the terms of the "indenture" provide that Cadell and Davies undertake to purchase the property in Burns's writings, and that in return they would

(1) Provide 500 copies of the first edition

of the Works of Burns, free from

* Burns Chronicle, 1899, pp. 5-45.

The agreement is engrossed on a sheet of paper 30 by 21 inches, and is mounted on cloth.

all expense to the family. These 500 copies @ 31s. 6d. per copy, (2) Pay to William Thomson as Factor, within three months after publication of the first edition of the Works, (3) Pay to William Thomson as Factor, within three months after publication of a second edition of the Works,

(4) Pay to William Thomson as Factor, within three months after publication of a third edition of the Works,

TOTAL,

£787 10 0

250 0 0

200 0 0

150 0 0

- £1387 10 0

The anticipated second and third editions were called for and were published, the one in 1801, the other in 1802, each of them in four octavo volumes. Thus the total amount which Burns's family received was £1387 10s.; Cadell and Davies getting in return "the entire Copy right of all the works of the said Robert Burns." The London booksellers acted most generously. Yet the transaction must have been an excellent one for them, too, for they published numerous other editions of the Works between 1803 and 1823: these are detailed in the Memorial catalogue of the Burns Exhibition held in Glasgow in 1896.

The Memoir of Dr. James Currie records that "the obtaining £1200 from the booksellers for the family of Burns amply compensated for many a sleepless night and weary hour" spent by the Poet's first Editor. The summary of the terms of the "indenture" shows the result to have been even better than that, and it was the one fortunate feature of an unfortunate publication.