feld is evidently the one sent to Johnson for insertion in his work, for at the foot of it Burns has written: "Set these words to the tune in M'Gibbon's Collection called Gordon Castle. The tune is inclosed." [MS. xxii] SONG. "O wat ye wha's in yon town." [MS. xxiii] SONG. Sweet fa's the e'en on Craigieburn." [MS. xxiv] Letter to William Stewart, dated "Dumfries, 15 Jan. 1795." (See Chambers-Wallace Burns, vol. iv., p. 189.) [MS. xxv] Letter dated" Newcastle, 29th May 1787," addressed to Mr. Robert Ainslie, at Mr. Samuel Mitchelson's, W.S., Carruber's Close, Edinburgh. It begins "Mon cher Compagnon de voyage," and will be found on page 117 of the second volume of the Chambers-Wallace Edition. [MS. xxvi] Letter dated " Edinburgh, 17th April 1787," written to George Reid, Barquharie. It begins, "My Dear Sir, The fewer words I can tell my story in," and refers to manuscripts "stolen from my room. See ChambersWallace Edition (vol. ii., p. 93). [MS. xxvii] List of Songs-the manuscript facsimiled in J. C. Dick's Songs of Robert Burns, 1903. [MS. xxviii] Mr. Law owns a most interesting copy of Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion. It was shown at the Glasgow Burns Exhibition in 1896, "Lent by William Law." In the Books section of the Memorial Catalogue it is item 1404, and it is there stated that "This copy of Oswald was presented by Robert Burns to Nathaniel Gow. has a few remarks on the different airsall in his handwriting." . . When it was inserted I do not know, but there is now with the book an incomplete manuscript of Burns. (a) On one side there is written : "These lines will set to the tune sooner than as they are printed. To the song in the first Volume, 'Here awa, there awa,' must be added this verse, the best in the song 'Gin ye meet my love, kiss her & clap her, "For the tune of the Scotch queen, in Oswald, take the two last stanzas of the poem entitled The Lament, in Burns' Poems; which (On the reverse: b) "C TO DAUNTON ME. "The blude red rose at yule may blaw, Chorus To daunton me, to daunton me, An auld man shall never daunton me.' "The chorus is set to the first part of the tune, which just suits it when once play'd or sung over." This fragment seems to be identical with what J. C. Dick calls "Gray's MS. Lists." He quotes partly from it in the note on page 399 of his Songs of Robert Burns, and in another note on page 411 he says: "The Memorandum written by Burns in his copy of the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1743, i, 16, runs," &c. The fact is that this double-sided fragment is a separate manuscript and was not inserted in the volume by the poet; it was added by some subsequent owner, who did so because of the reference to Oswald. Incidentally it is interesting to note Burns's treatment of the possessive-" Burns'." I do not remember another example of his own handling of what is to many a petty problem. [MS. xxix] THE POET'S FIRST COMMONPLACE BOOK. Although we are naturally, for various reasons, specially interested in the unpublished and incorrectly and incompletely printed Burns manuscripts in the great Law Collection, there can be no question about which is the greatest treasure among the nine and twenty Holographs in the Honresfeld Library: that distinction undoubtedly belongs to the original manuscript of the Poet's First Commonplace Book, dating from April, 1783, to October, 1785. This most interesting manuscript figured as item 203 in the great 1861 dispersal catalogue, when it fetched £36, the name of the lucky purchaser being entered in the British Museum priced copy of the catalogue as Toovey," no doubt the bookseller of that name. The volume was afterwards in the possession of Mr. John Adam of Greenock who, lest anything untoward should befall the manuscript, had 150 copies privately printed in 1872. It was shown at the 1896 Burns Exhibition-" Lent by William Law"-and was 66 number 1095 in the list of manuscripts in the Memorial Catalogue of that notable show. Burns's second Commonplace Book-the Edinburgh volume—is in the Cottage Collection at Alloway, and Scotland may cherish the hope that the companion volume may one day find a permanent home in the place that above all others is meet for such a treasure. NOTES. MS. xiii was item 81, priced £18 188. in the Pearson catalogue. MS. xv is docketed "From Gibson Craig's Sale," and is identical with item 78 in the Pearson catalogue, where it is priced £31 10s., and described as "a letter of the highest interest throughout." MS. xvii also is included in the Pearson catalogue, in which it is quoted at £35. MS. xx was listed at £25 in Pearson's catalogue. DAVIDSON COOK. B BURNS MANUSCRIPTS: THE GRAHAM OF FINTRY COLLECTION. There has lately been placed on exhibition in the Museum of the Burns Cottage at Alloway a magnificent collection of manuscripts of Robert Burns, all of them addressed by the poet to his friend and patron, Robert Graham (12th) of Fintry, to Mrs. Graham, or to Miss Graham. The manuscripts have been in the continuous possession of the family since they were received, between 1788 and 1794, from Burns, and are now held by Mr. Robert Graham (of London), eldest son of Sir John James Graham, K.C.M.G., 15th of Fintry, who resides at Cape Town, South Africa. They have been loaned by the Graham Family to the Trustees of the Burns Monument and Cottage, and are now displayed at Alloway in two handsome cases which have been generously provided by Sir James Bell, Bart., of Montgreenan, Ayrshire. 66 The collection includes 11 prose letters and 12 poetical compositions, and a copy of the "First set" of George Thomson's Original Scotish Airs," with presentation inscription by Burns. There is added a most valuable letter, written in 1790, recommending Burns for promotion in the Excise, from Supervisor Alexander Findlater of Dumfries to the General Supervisor-William Corbet -at Stirling. LIST OF THE MANUSCRIPTS. Letters from Burns to Robert Graham. (1) Undated, but written from "St. James' Square, Monday morn.' [January, 1788]; 2pp., quarto. 66 (2) Dated from Ellisland, 10th September, 1788 "; 3pp., quarto. (3) Dated from "Ellisland, 13th May, 1789"; 3pp., quarto. |