APPENDIX A.

CONCERNING THE POET'S FAMILY.

THE children borne by Jean Armour, and who survived mere infancy, were:—

Of these, it will be observed that only three- ROBERT, WILLIAM NICOL, and JAMES GLENCAIRN-reached the years of manhood.

ROBERT was first of all trained at Dumfries Grammar School; then attended two sessions at Edinburgh, and one at Glasgow, University. He received an appointment in the Stamp Office, London, from which he retired in 1833, on a modest pension. Returning to Dumfries, he resided there until his death in 1857, aged 71 years. When 22 years of age he married Anne Sherwood, who died in 1835. Robert and his wife were buried in the Burns Mausoleum in Dumfries Churchyard.

That the Poet's care in the education of his eldest son was not quite thrown away, is evident from the fact that, both in London and Dumfries, Robert was able to increase his income by giving private lessons in classics and mathematics. his illustrious father, however, he was not strong in finance or self-control.

Like

His only surviving daughter, Eliza, became the wife of Dr. Everitt, of the East India Company's Service. Widowed in

1840, she died in 1878, survived by an unmarried daughter, Martha Burns Everitt.

WILLIAM NICOL, educated at Dumfries Grammar School, sailed, in his 16th year, as a midshipman, to India. Serving for 33 years in the Madras Infantry, he at length attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He retired from the army in 1843, returned home, and resided with his younger brother at Cheltenham. He died in 1872, aged 81, and was buried in the Mausoleum. In 1822 he married Catherine Crone, who died, childless, in India, in 1841.

JAMES GLENCAIRN, educated at Dumfries Grammar School, and at Christ's Hospital, London, joined the 15th Bengal Native Infantry, and attained the rank of captain. He came home on a visit in 1831, and on his return to India in 1833, was appointed Judge and Collector at Cahar. Retiring in 1839, he lived in London till 1843, then took up house with his brother, William Nicol, at Cheltenham. In 1855 he attained brevet rank as lieutenant-colonel. In 1865 he died, and was buried in the Mausoleum.

In 1818 he married Sarah Robinson, who died in 1821, leaving a daughter, Sarah, who was married to Dr. B. W. Hutchinson, and bore to him three daughters and a son, Robert Burns Hutchinson, the only legitimate male descendant of the Poet.

In 1828 James Glencairn married his second wife, Mary Becket, who died in 1844, leaving one daughter, Ann Becket.

THE POET'S Two ILLEGITIMATE DAUGHTERS.

ELIZABETH, wee image of his bonnie Betty,"-borne by Betty Paton, at Largie-side, Tarbolton, in 1784, was brought up under the care of the Poet's mother. At 21 she received from a fund raised in London a dowry of £200. Married to John Bishop, overseer, Polkemmet, she bore him several children. She died in 1817, aged 32, and was buried in Whitburn, Churchyard, where a monument stands to her memory.

ELIZABETH, borne by Anne Park, at the Globe Tavern, Dumfries, in 1791, was reared by Bonnie Jean as one of her own family. At 21 she also received £200 from the abovementioned fund. Married to John Thomson, Pollokshaws, she

bore him two sons-Robert Burns and James—and five daughters-Jean Armour, Agnes, Eliza, Sarah, and Maggie. Robert Burns Thomson inherited a certain measure of poetic gift, and wrote some excellent pieces.

In June 1879 Maggie Thomson, the youngest daughter, was married to David Wingate, the well-known Scotch poet. From 1859 until her decease in 1873 Mrs. Thomson received £30 per annum from a fund raised in Glasgow for her behoof.

Jean Armour lived on in comfortable circumstances in the house in Burns Street, wherein the Poet breathed his last. She died on 26th March 1834, in her 69th year, and in the 38th year of her widowhood. Her remains were placed in the Mausoleum, near to the coffin of her immortal husband, to whom she had proved a wife most faithful, long-suffering, and affectionate.

Agnes Brown, the Poet's mother, continued to reside with her son Gilbert, till her decease in 1820, in her 88th year, and in the 36th year of her widowhood.

APPENDIX B.

MANUAL OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF.

THE following is the text of this remarkable compendium, compiled by worthy William Burnes, and used by him in the instruction of the Poet, in common with the rest of the family circle at Lochlea.

Son. Dear father, you have often told me, while you were initiating me into the Christian religion, that you stood bound for me, to give me a Christian education, and recommended a religious life to me. I would therefore, if you please, ask you a few questions that may tend to confirm my faith, and clear its evidences to me.

Father. My dear child, with gladness I will resolve to you (so far as I am able), any question you shall ask, only with this caution, that you will believe my answers, they are founded in the Word of God.

Question. How shall I evidence to myself that there is a God?

Answer. By the works of creation: for nothing can make itself; and this fabric of Nature demonstrates its Creator to be possessed of all possible perfection, and for that cause we owe all that we have to him.

Q. If God be possessed of all possible perfection, ought not we then to love Him as well as fear Him?

A. Yes; we ought to serve Him out of love, for His perfections give us delightful prospects of His favour and friendship, for if we serve Him out of love, we will endeavour to be like Him, and God will love His own image, and if God love us, He will rejoice over us and do us good.

Q. Then one would think this were sufficient to determine all men to love God; but how shall we account for so much wickedness in the world?

A. God's revealed Word teaches us that our first parents brake His Covenant, and deprived us of the influences of His grace that were to be expected in that state, and introduced sin into the world; and the Devil,

that great enemy of God and man, laying hold on this instrument, his kingdom has made great progress in the world.

Q. But has God left His own rational offspring thus, to the tyranny of His and their enemy?

A. No: for God hath addressed His rational creatures, by telling them in His Revealed Word, that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the Serpent, or Devil, or in time destroy his kingdom; and in the meantime, every one oppressed with the tyranny of the Devil, should, through the promised seed, by faith in Him, and humble supplication, and a strenuous use of their own faculties, receive such measures of grace, in and through this method of God's conveyance, as should make them able

to overcome.

Q. But by what shall I know that this is a revelation of God, and not a cunningly devised fable?

A. A revelation of God must have these four marks. 1. It must be worthy of God to reveal; 2. It must answer all the necessities of human nature; 3. It must be sufficiently attested by miracles; and 4. It is known by prophecies and their fulfilment. That it is worthy of God is plain, by its addressing itself to the reason of men, and plainly laying before them the dangers to which they are liable, with motives and arguments to persuade them to their duty, and promising such rewards as are fitted to promote the happiness of a rational soul. Secondly, it provides for the guilt of human nature, making an atonement by a Mediator; and for its weakness by promising the assistance of God's Spirit; and for its happiness, by promising a composure of mind, by the regulation of its faculties, and reducing the appetites and passions of the body unto the subjection of reason enlightened by the Word of God, and by a resurrection of the body, and a glorification of both soul and body in heaven, and that to last through all eternity. Thirdly, as a miracle is a contradiction of known laws of Nature, demonstrating that the worker has the power of Nature in his hands, and consequently must be God, or sent by His commission and authority from Him, to do such and such things. That this is the case in our Scriptures is evident both by the prophets, under the Old, and our Saviour under the New Testament. Whenever it served for the glory of God, or for the confirmation of their commissions, all Nature was obedient to them; the elements were at their command, also the sun and moon, yea, life and death. Fourthly, that prophecies were fulfilled at a distance of many hundreds of years is evident by comparing the following texts of Scripture:-Gen. xlix. 10, 11; Matt. xxi. 5; Isa. vii. 14; Matt. i. 22, 23; Luke i. 34; Isa. xl. 1; Matt. iii. 3; Mark i. 3; Luke iii. 4; John i. 23; Isa. xlii. 1, 2, 3, 4. A description of the character of Messiah in the Old Testament Scriptures is fulfilled in all the Evangelists. In Isa. 1. 5, His sufferings are prophesied, and exactly fulfilled in the New Testament,