Obviously the "very near relative" was Cromek's sister Ann. Fortunately for our hopes of following this master-clue, Ann did not marry a "nobody." husband was John Black, editor of The Morning Chronicle,

Her

who retired in 1843, sold his books in 1844, and died at Snodland, near Maidstone, on June 15th, 1855. Ann was ten years older than Black, and probably pre-deceased him. The Stothard drawings do not figure in Black's Book Sale Catalogue, and the question is, Were they in Black's possession-and if so, what happened to them

when he died in the cottage of his benefactor, Walter Coulson ?

Black was a friend of James Gray of the Edinburgh High School, a friend of the Poet, who taught his children in Dumfries. Two long letters from Gray to Cromek figure in the Memoir. One vital quotation must suffice. Cromek wrote confidently: "As for Jean, I do not doubt of her." But in a letter dated 19th March, 1810, Gray writes: "I saw Gilbert Burns a few days ago. He was sorry to learn that Jean had refused to sit to Stothard. He said he thought she owed this to Cadell & Davies; and had he suspected it, he would have written to her on the subject."

Though the writer of the Cromek Memoir says he could not ascertain why his father engaged Stothard to make these drawings, surely the fact that Gilbert Burns thought that Bonnie Jean owed it to Cadell & Davies to sit to Stothard is a sufficient indication that the publishers were behind Cromek's scheme, and to some extent, if not altogether, responsible for the ambitious tour; but why the illustrations actually used were restricted to twelve, and why the sketches of the Burns folk, including that "most delicate sample of Human Nature," the Poet's mother, never emerged at all, is a mystery which needs elucidation.

Further on in the MS. there is a letter from Roscoe to Cromek, dated 24th October, 1811, one sentence of which strengthens the idea that the "key" lies in the archives of Cadell & Davies, and implies that even at that date, the precise use to be made of the sketches, and the scope and extent of the projected publication, had not yet been defined. Roscoe queries: "Have you yet adjusted your plans with Cadell & Davies for the Illustrations of the Bard.'" ?

Possibly the fact that Cromek died soon after, in March, 1812 (at forty years of age-not forty-five as given in the Burns Calendar), nearly two years before the issue of the volume of illustrations, may have some bearing on the

mystery. Cromek may have magnified his mission, or Cadell & Davies may have "lost notion," and whittled down the "grand object" of the tour, the engraver's demise and preceding ill-health being factors, facilitating the emasculation of "the undertaking." So far the sketches have not eventuated.

DAVIDSON COOK.

By courtesy of "The Bookman," to whom we are also indebted

for the blocks illustrating the article.

DEATH OF A GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER

OF ROBERT BURNS.

A

NOTHER link with the Poet has been broken

by the death of his great-granddaughter, Miss Margaret Constance Burns Hutchinson, at Cheltenham, on

Saturday, 8th December, 1917, after a brief illness. Her mother, Sarah Burns, was the elder daughter of the Poet's fourth son, Lieutenant-Colonel James Glencairn Burns, who, after many years' service in India, settled at Cheltenham, and died there in 1865. Her mother married Dr W. B. Hutchinson, and lived for some time in Australia,

but after Dr Hutchinson's death in 1862 she and her young children returned to the family home at Cheltenham. There Miss Burns Hutchinson was brought up, and since her mother's death in 1909 she and her aunt, Miss Annie B. Burns, have lived together. In 1896 Miss Burns Hutchinson and her aunt visited Scotland in connection with the Burns Centenary celebrations, and had places of honour at the great gatherings at Dumfries, Glasgow, and Mauchline. The National Burns Memorial and Cottage Homes at Mauchline specially appealed to them. During their stay in Glasgow they visited the Burns Exhibition and the cottage and monument at Alloway. Miss Burns Hutchinson came north again on several occasions. Among her intimate friends she was called Daisy, perhaps because

the poem To a Daisy was one of her mother's favourites.

Well educated and widely read, of a singularly frank, happy temperament, with much of the Poet's intellectual power, she was a delightful personality. She had also a striking resemblance to the Poet in feature as represented in the Nasmyth portrait. She is survived by two sisters, Mrs Burns Scott, of Adelaide, and Mrs Burns Gowring, wife of the principal of St. Bede's School, Eastbourne; by her brother, Robert Burns Hutchinson, British Columbia, and by her aged aunt, Miss Annie B. Burns, now in her 83rd year, the only surviving granddaughter of the Poet, to all of whom the warmest sympathy of lovers of Burns is certain to be extended. Miss Margaret Constance died A portrait of her appeared in Chronicle No.

unmarried.

IV., 1895.