of Burns, some great meeting had been called to celebrate the heroes whom he idolized and almost worshipped-I mean Wallace and Bruce (applause)—had a meeting been called for such a purpose when Burns lived and was in the zenith of his fame, I ask you, would it have been possible to have called 2,500 persons together in a hall like this, where they had nothing stronger to drink than tea and water? (Renewed applause.) Those who read the contemporary history of that time know that, much as he is blamed for some parts of his conduct-for the bacchanalian sentiments to be found in many of his songs, and for the effect which these in some instances have produced, he must be measured by the men amongst whom he lived; and if you look at contemporary history and inquire into the customs which then prevailed, by reading the lives of men who lived in those times-take, for example, the glimpses which are given of life in Edinburgh at the beginning of the present century in that interesting work of Lord Cockburn's-you will find that men far more elevated, in a worldly point of view, than Burns-men most distinguished on the bench and at the bar-indulged as much, I fear some of them even more, in those bacchanalian orgies for which Burns became, unfortunately, so distinguished. (Cheers.) Other three meetings are held in this city to-day of the same character as this. In all of them the utmost propriety of conduct meeting in honour of a man who was preeminently the man of the people should the door be barred against the people by a large price being charged for admission. (Applause.) On that ground, and with these feelings alone, this meeting was projected; and the committee soon found that they had struck the right chord; and when the tickets were all disposed of, and thousands could not obtain admission, then other meetings were organised, until this evening there are four large meetings in the four largest halls in Edinburgh to celebrate the centenary of Robert Burns. (Applause.) It is not for me to depict the character of that distinguished individual in all its parts. His merits as a poet speak to the heart, I am sure, of every one present; and anything that is to be said upon that subject will far more aptly come from the learned Lord Neaves, who is to address you this evening-(applause)-than from the humble individual who now addresses you. I will only say that the poetry of Burns has sunk into the character and hearts of the people of Scotland. Every one knows more or less of it. Every one knows so much of it, that I have no doubt whatever that if, by some extraordinary event, the writings of Burns were to be all burnt, they could be reproduced from the memories of the people of Scotland. ("Hear, hear," and applause.) The power of his writings is something extraordinary. They have, as it were, been woven into the thoughts and feelings of the people. His whole char-will be observed; and from all of them the acter seems to have been imbued with the most parties will go home, I have no doubt, without intense love of country-with the most ardent anything occurring that will require the cenpatriotism. I know many people blame us for sure of the public of Edinburgh to-morrow. coming here to celebrate the Centenary of (Cheers.) This state of things could not have Burns, because, as they justly say, he was not existed in any town in Scotland during the last an immaculate character. Few men, unfortu- century, and such considerations should oblige nately, are so; and I don't suppose that those us to make very great allowances in judging of who originated this meeting did so with any the character of Burns. (Cheers.) There is view of justifying much that he wrote or did. one part of his character which I should like to All have their own opinions on these questions, notice the deep and heart-felt sympathy which and it is not necessary for me minutely to he had for everything calculated to elevate man analyse his character. We are here to do hon---(cheers)—his ardent love of liberty; his our to him as the great poet of Scotland-the man of all others by whom Scottish poetry is best known,-whose name and fame are better known throughout all the countries in the world to which Scotchmen and Englishmen emigrate than any man of modern times, with the exception of Shakspere. (Applause.) No doubt, ladies and gentlemen, many things could be pointed out which are deserving of severe criticism; but, when we consider the character of the man, we must consider it in reference to the times in which he lived. (Applause.) We must not measure a man like Burns by the gauge of the customs and sentiments of the present day alone. For example, if, in the days sympathy with every just and good cause; his utter abhorrence of everything like obsequiousness, or falling down and worshipping the rich and the great, in whatever society he was placed. (Cheers.) When he came, for example, to this great city to have the second edition of his poems published, he was taken into the highest circles. He was almost idolized; no man could have been more noticed and petted (if I may say so) than was Burns. (Hear.) And yet, from all that we know of that period of his life, we have every reason to believe that he took his place amongst the highest of the land, standing erect and calling no man master. (Cheers.) He tells us himself in a short sketch of the early period of his life which is preserved, that the first books which he ever read after he left school were the Life of Hannibal, and the Life of Wallace by Blind Harry; and that the effect of the reading of the last of these works upon his mind was extraordinary. He says "The story of Wallace poured Scottish prejudices into my veins which will boil and run over until the floodgates of life shut in eternal rest." (Cheers.) This was unquestionably the case. This may be regarded as the key to his character. To his intense love of country as a Scotchman, his intense admiration of his patriot hero, and of all those who, like him, stood up in defence of liberty, we are no doubt indebted for that beautiful and heart-stirring song, "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled." (Cheers.) In no circumstance of his life did he forget that self-respect to which he was entitled from his talents and genius. When he came to Edinburgh, he met with an amount of kindness which, I think, has been greatly under-rated. (Hear, hear.) Many people say he did not get justice from the more distinguished men who lived in his time. My impression is that he could hardly have expected to meet with greater attention, greater respect, or greater patronage (as it was then called) than he did when he came to Edinburgh. (Hear, hear.) After referring to what had been done for the success of Burns' second edition of his works by the gentlemen of the Caledonian Hunt, who subscribed for one hundred copies, at a guinea each, and to the fact that 2,800 copies were subscribed for at lower prices, Mr. M'Laren said-In the dedication to that edition of his works we do not find that fawning, flattering, cringing to the great which we find in the dedications of many works of that period by distinguished literary men. In that dedication he says, in words never to be forgotten-"I was bred to the plough, and am independent." (Cheers.) That was Burns' idea of independence. Burns was one of the people. He knew that to every man health and strength, united with industry, gave real independence, for by these he could earn his bread; and that independence he would not have exchanged for the most distinguished position which the world could give. (Applause.) That is the kind of man with which the people had to deal; and hence the ardent love of liberty which is to be found woven into the very heart of all his poetry, and which has done so much, in my opinion, to nourish and cherish the love of liberty which exists to so great an extent amongst the people of Scotland. (Great cheers.) I believe that, next to the spirit that was infused into this country by the Covenanters (to whom we can never be sufficiently grateful), to Burns we are more indebted than to any other single individual for cherishing, and preserving, and increasing that intense patriotism and love of country and that love of liberty which characterise Scotchmen, not only in their own country, but in every other country in the world to which it may be their fortune to go. (Great cheers.) The LORD PROVOST then addressed the assemblage, and was received with loud cheers. He said-Often since the close of the short but brilliant career of our great national poet has the day of his birth been celebrated by his countrymen in proud remembrance of his genius. An epoch has now been reached which more emphatically than hitherto marks and brings the event to our remembrance. (Applause.) Let me congratulate you on your assembling as you now do, in order to mingle your homage along with that offered by your fellow countrymen to the memory of one whose genius has shed a halo of glory around our native land and her people. (Loud cheers.) The source of the intense admiration cherished towards Burns by his countrymen is to be traced partly, perhaps chiefly, to the vivid delineation given by him in his writings of our national character, and of the virtues which made the peasantry of his country in his day stand out in bold relief, as distinguished from those of every other country in the world. (Applause.) No poet ever identified himself more fully with his class than did Burns. The lofty tone of self-respect maintained by him, and in which he invariably spoke of his brother man, sustained that elevation of thought and of action amongst his class, of which he was the true exponent. He furnishes in himself a noble specimen of the spirit of self-reliance, which is so strongly inculcated in his writings. (Cheers.) He enjoyed the inestimable blessing of the education which, in bygone times, was furnished to the people of Scotland by their parish schools, and which has done so much to form our national character. (Applause.) It was there that he imbibed a thirst for knowledge, and such was the value attached by him to its acquisition that he established-and it is believed he was the first who established in Scotlanda village library, and who evinced a desire to diffuse, in this form, a taste for reading amongst the humbler classes of his countrymen. (Cheers.) But there was another fountain whence he derived the education which no school can give, and without which all other instruction is comparatively valueless: I refer to the example which he was privileged to enjoy under the parental roof-(applause)-which lighted up the flame of piety that glows with solemn fervour in what we all admit to be his greatest work, "The Cottar's Saturday Night"-(ap- | which he gives utterance being those of the plause) of which I know that I express your human heart, find an echo in every breast. sentiments when I give utterance to the ardent (Cheers.) It is, I know, unnecessary for me wish that, perpetuated and handed down, as to say to you that these remarks do not apply it is sure to be, to all succeeding ages, it may to his entire writings, amongst which are to be ever be found exerting a benign influence on found some which we could wish had never the people of our country-an example which been written; and others which, though they makes the memory of the sire as dear to us may be palliated, cannot be excused even by as is that of his gifted son. (Great cheer- the vitiated taste of a bygone age. Casting ing.) Who can tell the amount of good which aside the dross which is to be found in the has not only been sustained but produced by works of Burns-as, alas! it is to be found inthe tone of religious and moral sentiment-the termingling itself with the works of almost scene of pure domestic bliss depicted in that every writer of his time-we this day fix our immortal work! (Applause.) The sentiments exclusive attention on those emanations of his there expressed must have been felt before they genius where all that is best in our common were described; and bitter, therefore, the an- nature is so beautifully and faithfully depicted guish at a departure from them. If we turn -where the domestic altar, love of country to his lyrical compositions, which form an im- and of his brother man, manly independence, portant and valuable portion of his writings, and unsullied integrity, are held up to our adhow strongly are all our best feelings and emo- miration and respect. (Loud cheers.) At the tions evoked when listening to his songs, known age of thirty-seven he closed a life of varied to us from childhood, and the more admired enjoyment and suffering, which has left behind the longer they are known. (Great applause.) it many lessons. More than sixty years have Who does not know some exile whose fond re- elapsed since he was consigned to an early grave. collections of country and of home have been His fame survives-a fame which, we believe, soothed and sustained by the songs of Burns, will never die, because he gave utterance to whose works find a place in the library of thoughts that are immortal. (Great cheering.) every Scotchman who leaves his native land? (Cheers.) The source of our admiration of Burns, however, has its rise from a foundation deeper than any feeling which is merely national. While to his countrymen his delineations of character have an interest and value which one would think could scarcely be preciated by those who are unacquainted with our vernacular and unversed in our national usages, we find that in all lands where his works are known they have commanded the same homage as at home-(cheers) and for this reason that they are delineations of the human mind, and therefore they secure a sympathy which is universal and has no limits. (Applause.) Hence it is that his works, when translated into other languages, are almost as much appreciated by others as by ourselvesthe sentiments and feelings which they convey being intelligible to all. Where will you find patriotism described in colours so glowing as in the works of Burns?-(applause)-where are pure love and disinterested affection—where is manly independence more warmly inculcated-and when are we induced more ardently to long after the possession and the exercise of the nobler affections and duties, than in rising from a perusal of those of his writings which bear on these all-important topics. (Loud applause.) The subject immediately described may be an individual, and that individual a countryman of his own, and the scene may be in his own country; still the sentiments to Mr. THOMAS KNOX was the next speaker. He said-Mr. chairman, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to say in all sincerity that I never stood up to address my fellow-citizens more conscious of the difficulty of the task I had undertaken than I do now; and I am only susap-tained by this conviction, that no man ever does his best, in the best spirit, before an Edinburgh audience, without having the best construction put upon his efforts. I feel that this is indeed a very great occasion, and that it may well task our powers, for it is no other than the celebration of the hundredth birthday of Scotland's national bard-Robert Burns. In the words of the great-hearted Robert Nicol "This is the natal day of him Who, born in want and poverty, "Arose to tell the watching earth What lowly men could feel and do, It seems to me that we sometimes speak of Burns as our national bard without adequately realizing how transcendently glorious the title is; for only think how big that soul of his must have been whose influences fill up the great spaces of a century-I might even say of the wide, wide world of civilization itself; for where is the habitable nook of creation that "Does haughty Gaul invasion threat? "Oh let us not, like snarling curs Maun British wrangs be righted! "The kettle o' the kirk and state Perhaps a clout may fail in't; Shall ever ca' a nail in't. "The wretch that wad a tyrant own, That wretch, his true-born brother, the enterprising and daring feet of our country- | strings of his great heart the same sublime WE'LL NE'ER FORGET THE PEOPLE!" So you see that the last line is made all of a "An honest man, though e'er sae poor, "God hath made all men of one blood" was sion of all classes of society. It were an impossibility, indeed, to despise the great order of industry from which he sprung, and which he so grandly represented. That order of industry is made properly aspiring and confident by those words of Nicol's "Burns, thou hast given us a name To shield us from the taunts of scorn; The plant that creeps amid the soil A glorious flower hath borne. "Before the proudest of the earth We stand with an uplifted brow! Like us, thou wert a toil-woru man, And we are noble now!" The rich and the poor are now harmoniously seeking a truer and happier platform on which they can meet and co-operate for the great ends of life on earth. I glory in this day, not only because of Burns, but because it serves to remind us all of that great idea of universal brotherhood for which he lived and sung, and which, amid the conventionalism and artificialism of high civilization, we are all so apt to forget. This day proves that nature is too strong to be partitioned off by sectarianism and conventionalism. Nature loves fusions, and loathes isolations. Nations, too, are strong by the fulness of their class-fusions, and weak in proportion to the extent of class-isolations. We are all of one blood to-night, let us strive to realize this great truth more and more, not only poetically, but practically. Let the wrongs of all men be ours, their rights ours, their elevation ours, their joys ours, their sorrows ours, and by so making one indivisible humanity everywhere, life shall become for all a more glorious inheritance. It was in looking through all those shams and pretensions which alienate man from man, that made him pen his most immortal poem, "A man's a man for a' that." Mr. Knox here recited with great effect the whole of that inspiring poem, and then said-Since the Bard fell asleep, what mighty forces have leapt into the world's arena, impatient almost to fulfil his prophetic longings. The penny-postage unseals its myriad-lips to proclaim his prophecy, "It's coming yet for a' that." The printingmachines, with their ceaseless energies and enterprises, chorus out by night and by day the beautiful strain-"It's coming yet for a' that." The railways, bounding and careering along the valleys of Great Britain, along the valleys of Europe, ay, along the valleys of every continent in the world, merrily whistle the strain, "It's coming yet for a' that." The fleets of steamships scudding along the highways of the sea, beat paddle-time as they bear to every shore the same millennial music, "It's coming yet for a' that." And the Electric Telegraph, impatient with the progress of its great compeers in civilization, speeds a lightning-footed courier from city to city, shore to shore, and continent to continent, proclaiming the same heaven-born message to all the world, "It's coming yet for a' that, When man to man the warld o'er, In the name of our National Bard-Robert Burns; in the name of his and our "dear auld mither," Scotland; in the name of universal humanity; and in the name of our universal Father-God, Amen, so let it be, even so let it universally and quickly be! (Loud and prolonged cheering, with waving of handkerchiefs.) The CHAIRMAN read a letter from Lord Ardmillan, apologising for the unavoidable absence of that nobleman. He also stated that the Lord Provost had been authorised to apologise for the absence of Lord Neaves. The Rev. ALEX. WALLACE of Glasgow then addressed the large audience. He said,―This is, in some respects, one of the most remarkable nights in the history of Scotland. The country is stirred to its very depths; and not only so, but a sympathetic chord is struck which vibrates in the breast of every Scotchman on the face of the earth. (Cheers.) What is it that has led to such a national demonstration on the part of a people not easily moved to such meetings as the present? The gatherings in every town and village to-night, from John o' Groat's to Maidenkirk, are not sectional or party gatherings, but national. They breathe the spirit of an entire people; for Robert Burns was the most intensely national poet that ever lived. (Cheers.) The Supreme Giver of all good gave Scotland a rich and a rare gift,—we may never see the like of it again,—in that immortal genius which, when it rose to the high purpose for which it was given, men felt,—as they feel still, and must ever do so long as human hearts can feel the power of genius,that this gift was truly the "touch of nature that makes the world kin." His "native woodnotes wild" were so sweet, so simple, so full of nature, that men felt that a voice was given to feelings which they had all experienced, but which they could not utter, and that new life, and beauty, and attraction, were thrown around the most commonplace objects, and the most familiar incidents of everyday life. It is but simple justice to our national poet to say, that his brilliant genius should be looked at apart from the dark cloud through which, alas! that genius often shone and struggled into glorious light. The splendour of his genius made the dark spots of his life all the more visible. would look upon these through tears,-the We |