It is that of a strong Calvinist who dangled his hearers continually over "A vast, unbottom'd, boundless pit, Filled fou o' lowing brunstane, Whase raging flame, an' scorching heat, Wad melt the hardest whunstane!" 66 And, indeed, "Black" Russell seems to have been very much like his portrait. 'His countenance was dark and forbidding, his voice like thunder, his frame coarse and massive. Children fled from him, and the sound of his staff on the street was the signal for the closing of doors." With such a man Burns had no sympathy. They were at opposite poles of thought. But a truer estimate would have done justice to the courage, the conviction, and the force of a character which might have found its place in the roll of "Scots Worthies of former generations. Russell was a true descendant of the Covenant. 66 In justice to the Poet we must also say that he could be generous to those who came nearer to his idea of religion. Of M'Gill he writes that he was one of the worthiest, as well as one of the ablest, of the whole priesthood of the Kirk of Scotland.” And we have the authority of Burns for the statement that his father was a great admirer of Dalrymple and of his strain of preaching and benevolent conduct, and that he attended Dalrymple's ministry with diligence and profit. Burns's relations with the Church were not of the happiest character. It was impossible for so conscientious a minister as Auld to look lightly upon the irregularities of the Poet. And the severity of the punishment administered by this stern"Apostle" may possibly have aggravated the Poet's dislike for the Church as it was then constituted. We hasten to add, however, that Burns had the utmost reverence for all true religion. He caricatured the form which it assumed in the Church, and not the spirit. And the truth for which he contended lay very near to the He was concern. He was not interested in theology. vitally alive to all that was human. For that reason his voice lives when Russell's is silent, and his verses are remembered when M'Gill's treatise is forgotten. The humble cottar has rendered a greater service to the nation than the august Presbytery of Ayr. He has preached, too, a truer gospel than those who thundered their denunciation from pulpit, "tent," and Session-House. REV. N. FARQUHAR ORR, B.A. MISDATES IN BURNS LITERATURE. The Poet was born Thursday, 25th January, 1759; And was buried Monday, 25th July, 1796. M ANY are the mistakes regarding dates to be found in editions of the Works of Burns and other volumes relating to the Poet. Currie, in his first edition, 1800 (vol. I., page 58), said: "Robert Burns was born on the 29th day of January, 1759." He corrected the mistake in his second edition, 1801 (vol. I., page 57), changing the date to the "25th." However, the correction was leaden-footed, and the error seemed to have wings. Indeed, for many years the 29th was popularly celebrated as Burns's natal day. Paisley Burns Club held its Anniversaries of Burns on the 29th of January, year after year, till they discovered their error in 1818. In that year R. A. Smith, who had gone from Paisley to Ayr to open music classes, wrote to a Paisley friend that he had discovered the real birthday of the Bard to have been on the 25th of January. He also mentioned that the 29th was still on the cottage wall where the Poet was born, and likewise on the painting of his likeness kept inside of the house; but it would be altered soon. Smith became acquainted with the Session-Clerk, who had shown him the Register of Births. The following extract was made :— "Robert Burns, lawful son of William Burns in Alloway and Agnes Brown, his spouse, was born on the 25th of January, 1759, and baptised the 26th by the Rev. Dr William Dalrymple. Witnesses-Jno. Tennant and James Young." "Extracted from the Register of Births and Baptisms in the Parish of Ayr for the Paisley Burns Club-R. A. Smith being present at Ayr, this 19th day of August, 1818." Smith thought Burns was responsible for the error, but we have the evidence of his Autobiographical Song to the contrary :— "Our monarch's hindmost year but ane We have further proof that Burns knew his own birthday on the cover of the Edinburgh Common-place Book, on which he wrote: "R. Burns was born 25 Jan., 1759. See this book, pa. 3, note." The note refers to "There was a Birkie born in Kyle," which is the version of the song therein inscribed, and the note reads: Jan. 25th, 1759, the date of my Bardship's vital existence." Scott Douglas omits the note written on the cover in printing the Common-place Book in his Edinburgh Edition, but it is recorded in Macmillan's Magazine for 1879, which first printed this important manuscript. Possibly the popular mistake was largely due to the fact that many of the editions which followed Currie, ignorant of his correction, repeated the error of his first edition. The following is a list (comprehensive but not complete) of editions of Burns which give the birthday as the At least two editions vary the mistake by saying Burns was born on the "20th January.” W. F. Pratt: Howden. 1838. London: Walker & Co. (Newcastle printed), 1840. I have noted two instances where wrong dates are given for the death of the Poet. The first occurs in a very rare Burnsiana item, without date, but printed almost certainly in 1800. The title page reads: LIVERPOOL TESTIMONIALS TO THE DEPARTED GENIUS OF ROBERT BURNS, THE SCOTTISH BARD. Printed and Sold by Merritt and Wright, Castle Street, It consists chiefly of poetic tributes to the Poet, and gives a list of Liverpool subscribers to the fund for Burns's family, beginning with Dr Currie, £10 10s; and including the father of W. E. Gladstone, "Mr John Gladstone, £5 5s"; the next name, and for a like amount, being that of his friend Mr William Ewart, after whom the great statesman to be was named. In the notice of Burns comes this sentence: 'The celebrated Ayrshire Plowman, whose genius reflects so much honour on his age and country, died at Dumfries, on the 8th of July, 1796, in the 38th year of his age." In Davenport's Dictionary of Biography (London: Tegg, 1831, page 137) there is a nice woodcut of Burns, and a sketch of his career which tells us that, "Worn out with vexation, and the consequences of his love of inebriating liquors, he died on the 26th of July, 1796, leaving his wife and family in an unprovided state." 66 Another great blunder was set agoing by Currie in his first edition (vol. I., page 227), when he said : On the evening of the 25th of July the remains of Burns were |