the ninth in his collection intitled The Forest. I will take the liberty of inserting Jonson's translation, and compare it with the original, stanza by stanza." The " original is given in the Greek of Philostratus. We give only the translation : DRINK TO ME ONLY WITH THINE EYES. (Compared with the Greek original). I. Drink to me only with thine eyes, ORIGINAL PROSE. Or if thou wilt, putting the cup to thy with kisses and so bestow it upon me. II. ps, fill it (Letter XXIV.) The thirst that from the soul doth rise Demands a drink divine; But might I of Jove's nectar sip, I wou'd not change for thine. ORIGINAL PROSE. I, as soon as I behold thee, thirst, and taking hold of the cup, do not indeed apply that to my lips, for drink, but thee. (Letter XXV.) III. I sent thee late a rosy wreath, ORIGINAL PROSE. I send thee a rosy wreath, not so much honoring thee (though this also is in my thoughts) as bestowing favor upon the roses, that so they might not be withered. XXX.) IV. But thou thereon did'st only breathe, And sent'st it back to me; Since when it grows, and smells, I swear, (Letter ORIGINAL PROSE. If thou would'st do a kindness to thy lover, send back the reliques of the roses (I gave thee), for they will smell no longer of themselves only, but of thee. (Letter XXXI.) 66 This was read by Burns at his own fireside without note or comment of any kind. This is to be regretted, for such a splendid opportunity of recording his opinion of the cuckoo poet and "stall-artist" thief perhaps never occurred in the course of his extensive reading. It may be that he did not consider it much out of the way as an original production, but what Mr Henley's opinion would have been goes without saying. If Burns had pillaged the letters of old Philostratus in such wholesale fashion, he would certainly have had a good word to say of him either to Johnson or Thomson. EDITOR. OBITUARY NOTICES. THREE ADMIRERS OF BURNS. A MONG men and women of note in various stations of life and in various parts of the world who have died within the last year or so were not a few who had this in common-a sincere liking for Burns and his poetry and a large measure of admiration for his genius. These were men like the late Rev. J. C. Carrick of Newbattle; the novelist, Crockett; James Ballantyne of Glasgow; and others whose names and whose worth will not soon be forgotten. But there were in the recent obituary lists three more notable names whose memory deserves special notice, and as they did no little honour to our Bard, we may seek to do them some honour in turn. A SCOTO-AMERICAN GENERAL. Early in February, 1914, there died at New York, & distinguished Scoto-American who was equally prominent in war and in letters, and who is to be numbered amongst Burns's admirers. The name of the late General James Grant Wilson ought to be better known than perhaps he is in Scotland as the compiler of two excellent volumes, The Poets and Poetry of Scotland, published in 1876, giving a very full and reliable account of Scottish bards, great and small, from Thomas the Rhymer to Robert Buchanan. His sketch of Burns is brief but satisfactory. Wilson begins by comparing the fame of three great lyric poets-Beranger, Moore, and Burns. 'Beranger and Moore both survived the Scottish singer for many years, yet they bequeathed to the world no more tender or patriotic poems, no sweeter or sadder strains. What writer delineates more beautifully the emotions of love and youth, of joy and sorrow, abounds in racier humour or bitterer satire, strikes nobler blows against false theology, sings weightier songs in praise of freedom, or more vividly describes the beauties of field and flower?... His productions are the property and solace of mankind." The world-wide popularity of Burns, he concludes, was abundantly demonstrated by the universal homage paid to the Poet's memory at the Centenary celebrations. James Grant Wilson was born in Edinburgh on April 28th, 1832, and was the eldest son, by his second marriage with Jane Sibbald, of William Wilson, a minor Scots poet and a friend of Hew Ainslie, whose history is in itself interesting. The elder Wilson was born in Crieff in December, 1801, and wrote good verse at ten. When he was twenty-two he settled in Dundee, where he edited the Literary Folio, and contributed himself in prose and verse. He afterwards went to Edinburgh to begin business as a commission agent. Here his literary output was continued, and in less than three years he contributed no fewer than thirty-two poems to the pages of the Literary Journal, then edited by Henry Glassford Bell. Among others he made the acquaintance of Robert Chambers and Mrs Grant of Laggan; the lady he first met while on a visit to the Ettrick Shepherd. Wilson's son was named after the Rev. James Grant of Laggan, husband of the poetess. In the year 1833, his son being little more than a year old, William Wilson emigrated to America and settled at Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where he succeeded in setting up a prosperous business as a printer and bookseller, and died on August 25th, 1860. The future historian of the Scottish poets received a good education, chiefly at the hands of tutors, which was finished off by European travel. He adopted a literary career, and in his twentyfifth year founded and edited The Chicago Record, a journal of the arts and literature. When the Civil War broke out Wilson joined the ranks of the Union Army. At the end of 1862 he was appointed Major in the 15th Illinois Cavalry, and in the following year he became Colonel of the 4th U.S. Coloured Cavalry. He served till the close of the war. He retired in 1865 as Brevet Brigadier-General of Volunteers, and immediately resumed literary work. Settling in New York he took a prominent part in intellectual pursuits, holding high office in several learned societies, and acquiring a considerable reputation as a popular speaker. He took a leading part in the erection of monuments in New York City to his poet friend, Fitz-Greene Halleck, and to Christopher Columbus. For the latter service he was knighted by the Queen-Regent of Spain. In the same year, 1894, he received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from St. Stephen's College, Dublin. Whether as author or as editor, Wilson must always have kept himself very busy, for he has a large number of volumes to his credit. Here we can take notice of only a few of his works. In 1868 he edited the poems of Fitz-Greene Halleck, the American poet, who visited Alloway in 1822, and who wrote one of the finest poetical tributes ever paid to Burns. After Halleck's death, in 1869, Wilson wrote the biography of the American bard. In 1886 he published a book on Bryant and his Friends ; in 1897 a Life of General Grant; in 1902 a work on The American Presidents; in 1904 a book (in two volumes) on Thackeray in the United States (second edition 1909). It was in 1896 that he issued his two volumes on The Poets and Poetry of Scotland. In the first volume he speaks of a visitor to Alloway having had a conversation in the summer of 1855 with the Poet's youngest sister (Mrs Begg), who remarked of Fitz-Greene Halleck's verses that " nothing finer has been written about Robert," and handed the visitor-who was probably Wilson himself—some rosebuds and ivy leaves from her cottage door on the banks of Doon to give to the American bard who had so admired and praised her brother. A GREAT ENGLISH CRITIC. 66 On June 6th, 1914, there passed away at Putney Hill, London, in his eighty-second year, Theodore Watts-Dunton, the famous critic, poet, and novelist, best known as the author of that delightful gipsy romance, Aylwin. Like his bosom friend, the poet Swinburne, with whom he lived in the outskirts of London for over thirty years, and who once described Dunton as the first critic of our time, perhaps the largest-minded and surest-sighted of any age,” the author of Aylwin had the highest appreciation of the genius of Burns. One of the late critic's best pieces of work was an article .on Poetry " contributed to the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. There he refers to Burns as the greatest absolute humorist in English poetry," and, discussing the lyrical writers of the North, adds: 66 66 "Of Scottish song-writers Burns is, of course, the head; for the songs of John Skinner, the heartiest song-writer that has appeared in Great Britain (not excluding Herrick) are too few in number to entitle him to be placed beside a poet so prolific in heartiness and melody as Burns. With regard to Campbell's heartiness, this is quite a different quality from the heartiness of Burns and Skinner." The great critic was born at St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, on October 12th, 1832. He was baptised Walter Theodore Watts, but in later life he added his mother's name, Dunton. His father, a solicitor by profession, was a keen student of natural history, greatly interested in geology, and an early advocate of evolution. At Cambridge Walter received an elaborate private education, comprising music, art, and the physical sciences, especially biology. Early in life he practised as a solicitor, devoting his leisure time to literature. When he was thirty-six he went to London, and soon |