REVIEWS OF NEW BOOKS.

Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect. By Robert Burns. (Kilmarnock, 1786: Facsimile edition issued by John Smith & Son, Ltd., Glasgow, 1927, 7/6.)

The first edition of Burns's Poems, the famous octavo volume published at Kilmarnock in 1786, appears to have a considerable attraction for the publisher, as well as for the collector, of books. It frequently appears in the auction room and in the second-hand bookseller's catalogue, and invariably brings a big price: on 6th April, 1925, an uncut copy in the original blue-grey wrapper was sold in Messrs. Sotheby's rooms in London for £1750; while early last year a" cut copy that was described as in "good condition was sold for nearly 700 guineas. It has also on several occasions had the honour of being reprinted "in facsimile."

The latest of these has lately been published by Messrs. John Smith & Son, of Glasgow, in association with Messrs. Werner Laurie, of London. The volume was recently announced as in preparation, and intimation was made that very careful attention has been given to the choice of paper and type "-a notice that pointed to "type-facsimile," like that issued by James M‘Kie, of Kilmarnock, in 1867. We are glad to note, however, that the volume has been photographically produced: a type-facsimile is an impossibility and, to the student of text, unreliable. The Smith-Laurie volume is a very attractive book, printed on fine paper and sewn in a blue wrapper which closely resembles that of the original publication. It is enclosed in a cardboard case (which, unfortunately, does not fit so closely as it might) and is moderately priced, at about a third of the cost of the facsimile issued nearly twenty years ago.

Robert Burns: the poems, epistles, songs, epigrams, and epitaphs. Edited by Charles S. Dougall. (London: A. & C. Black, Ltd., 1927, 6/-.)

This new edition of Burns's poetry is founded on the late James A. Manson's beautiful two volumes issued by Clement Wilson, of London, in 1896, the plates and the rights of that work having been acquired by Messrs. Black. Some pieces previously attributed (in error) to Burns have been

withdrawn in favour of others which have been verified or have come to light within the last thirty years, and an "Appendix of Additional Poems, Songs, and Fragments (46 pp.) has been added. A good glossary extends to nearly forty pages; a new index of over twenty pages follows the Chambers-Wallace model. Manson's text has been corrected in numerous places, a new Biographical Sketch" of the poet has been substituted for the previous one, and a few of the notes have been rewritten.

Journal of a tour in the highlands made in the year 1787, by Robert Burns. Reproduced in facsimile from his original manuscript, in the possession of Mr. William K. Bixby; with introduction and transcript by J. C. Ewing. (London and Glasgow: Gowans & Gray, Ltd., 1927, 12/6.)

Like other poets and men of letters, Burns left records of tours which he made through Scotland, but these have not attracted so much attention as have the records of the journeys of Johnson and Boswell, Gray, Keats, and the Wordsworths. Probably this has been due as much to the want of a satisfactory text as to anything else. The original manuscript describing the Highland tour of 1787 was not considered by Dr. Currie, Burns's first editor, as worthy of print in 1800, and only fragments of an extended transcript were published by Lockhart in 1828 and by Allan Cunningham in 1834. It was not until 1878 that the original manuscript was first printed, by William Scott Douglas. In the present volume, produced under the ægis of the editor of the annual Burns Chronicle, Burns's Journal is, for the first time, set forth with adequate editing and explanation.

The distinctive feature of the book is an excellent pagefor-page facsimile of the Journal, which appears also in typography, with the Lockhart and Cunningham additions. The need for an authentic text of the diary is shown by a comparison of the manuscript with Scott Douglas's print. As a result we find his text to be riddled with inaccuracies: for example, Linlithgow's "royal palace" of the manuscript becomes rough palace" in Scott Douglas's print; and by reading " eyes for "hair" he makes the poet describe Neil Gow" with his grayish eyes shed on his honest social brow." By correcting and modernising place-names mentioned in the diary, the present editor has made it a serviceable addition to the literature of travel. Thus, Loch Fruoch is revealed as Loch Freuchie, Daldecairoch and Pitnim

become respectively Dalnacardoch and Pitmain, and Endermay is identified as Invermay. When omitted by Burns dates are supplied, as by Scott Douglas, often from the 66 sup or "lie" of the diary.

On its own merits the Journal repays the care it has received, and justifies the quotation chosen for the title-page -"Half a word fixed upon or near the spot is worth a cartload of recollection." Its abrupt, staccato style, often descending to mere jottings, still has the freshness of daily life. "Cold reception at Aberuchill" is suggestive. And Burns has the gift of mirroring people in phrases of lasting vitality as witness, "Forrester, a merry, swearing kind of man, with a dash of the sodger," and "Mr. Falconer, a spare, irascible, warm-hearted Norland." There is humour too viewing a monument erected in memory of his wife by Bruce, the African traveller, the poet comments-" N.B. -he used her very ill, and I suppose he meant it as much out of gratitude to Heaven as anything else." Brief as it is, the Journal gives a vivid picture of the tour and of the tourist himself. Sometimes it is the poet who speaks, sometimes it is the agriculturist. His rapid comments on a host of passing acquaintances show clearly his attitude to people— how his admiration goes out to strong sense and just remark," to amiability, gentleness, courtesy, and warmth of heart. That is, he applies to people the standards of cultured life, and is " easy and happy during his two days' stay with the Duke and Duchess of Atholl, and "charmed" with the Duke and Duchess of Gordon, simply because they represent that standard at its best. The vividness and intimacy of all this make the Journal an important contribution to Burnsiana.

One is struck by the fact that Burns says little of the concluding portion of his journey, but the reason is given in a letter to his brother Gilbert-" Warm as I was from Ossian's country, where I had seen his very grave, what cared I for fishing-towns or fertile carses?" This delight in wild nature was a distinct feature of the romantic movement, and it gives the Journal a wider interest as a contribution to the literature of Burns's day. Enthusiasm for "the wild grandeur" of Killiecrankie, for "uninclosed, half-improven country," for scenery which is "romantic, wild, and magnificent," echo Gray. The Wartons and Horace Walpole would have shared Burns's admiration of Linlithgow's" rude, decayed, idle grandeur," and of its pretty good old Gothic church."

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In a concise and informative introduction the editor explains the aim and circumstances of the tour, the substance

and history of the Journal. A beautiful silhouette of Burns by George Bruce-which came to light only a few months ago-appears as frontispiece to the volume, which is admirably produced by Messrs. Gowans & Gray.-From The Glasgow Herald, 5th January, 1928.

Who's who in Burns. By John D. Ross, LL.D. (Stirling: Eneas Mackay, 1927, 10/6.)

The industry of that well-known Scoto-American, Dr. Ross, appears to increase with years: he is now over the three-score-and-ten, yet this is the second book that he has published within a year. In our last issue we noticed his Little book of Burns lore; now we have Who's who in Burns -an alphabetical dictionary of the names of men and women who were related to the poet, who claimed his friendship, or who have secured immortality through his writings. The editor claims that its 335 pages contain, in concise form, "all of the authentic information obtainable and accepted by the latest annotators and editors of the poet." The volume is on the lines of the late Dr. Charles Rogers's Book of Robert Burns, though the sketches, if more numerous, are not so lengthy; certain of them, indeed, might have been longer and more informative. Dr. Ross, however, should not ask his readers to believe that the younger Miller of Dalswinton was born in 1796-the year in which Burns died; that Gilbert Burns received £500 for re-editing Currie's Works of Burns; or that the Glencairn who patronised the poet married a sister of that Earl of Buchan who was wrong in the head half his life," for Glencairn died unmarried in 1791. The volume, with its map of the Burns country, will no doubt prove most useful to many students and readers.

The Hamilton Burns Club, 1877-1927. (Glasgow: Printed for private circulation by William Hodge & Co., Ltd.)

Hamilton can boast of three clubs of its citizens formed to keep green the memory of Robert Burns and to encourage the study of his poetry and of Scottish vernacular literature in general. The oldest of the three-known as "The Hamilton Burns Club": to distinguish it from the other two, "Hamilton Mossgiel " and "Hamilton Junior "-had its origin in a successful concert held on the anniversary of the birth of the poet in 1877, and celebrated its jubilee in January of last year. On that occasion Mr. John Buchan,

LL.D., proposed "The Immortal Memory," taking "Burns's relation to the Covenanting tradition " as the text of his oration.

An account of that jubilee celebration has been printed in a handsome volume of fifty pages, forming a permanent record of the proceedings of the evening. The book is beautifully printed by Messrs. William Hodge & Co.; and contains several illustrations, including portraits of the Presidents of the Club in 1877-Provost J. Clark Forrest-and in 1927-Sir Henry S. Keith-and of Dr. Buchan.

Burns and the Bible. Selected by W. D. Fisher. New and enlarged edition. (Glasgow: W. McLellan & Co., 240 Hope Street, 1927, 1/6.)

The first edition of this little book of parallels-reviewed in the 1927 Burns Chronicle-having been sold out, a new and enlarged edition has been issued. New subjects have been added, extending the volume to 64 pages. As an example of these subjects may be mentioned "On Mutability," introducing Burns's "To a Mouse," the Scripture parallel being from Job. The Mouse and Job had suffered a similar catastrophe, and the approximation of ideas in the lament in each case is striking, illustrating Burns's proverbial line on "mice an' men." Another of the additions is "Wise-but not for Himself." The man who knows his Burns will expect to find here the "Bard's Epitaph," of which three stanzas are given; opposite are appropriate words from St. Paul's Epistles. Mr. Fisher's book, by its parallels, makes the message of Burns, and the message of the Bible he admired, each a help and an interpretation of the other.

The Scots year book, 1927-1928. Edited by A. Bain Irvine and J. E. McLachlan. (Published at 96 Farringdon Street, London, E.C.4, 1/-.)

The new volume of the Scots year book contains several interesting articles, besides the usual Scottish calendar and a sixty-page "World list of Scottish societies." In one of these, on "The rehabilitation of Burns," Mr. Bain Irvine reviews Sir James Crichton-Browne's recent volume on Burns from a new point of view, and finds material in the "evidence of the songs written during the last phase" to prove the absurdity of the charge that Burns misspent the closing years of his life at Dumfries.