stranger. Mr. Lover then read the following "Frae man's ain side God made his wark Mr. Lover concluded by saying-After this, of Mr. ROBERT BURNS BEGG said-The toast which I am to propose to you, is the health of our distinguished Chairman, Sir Archibald Alison. (Cheers.) You all know the Chairman well. As a historian his fame resounds | throughout all Europe. He writes a history of heroes, and I understand he is the father of heroes. (Loud applause.) And though last, not least, he has been the excellent Chairman of this splendid meeting. "Health and happiness to Sir Archibald Alison." (Cheers.) The band played "Scots wha hae." The CHAIRMAN, in reply, said—At this late hour of the night the first merit of speaking will be brevity. I shall therefore only say that I deeply feel the more than kindness with which you have received the feeble efforts I have made to-night to do honour to our immortal bard; and the recollection of this night will never be erased from my mind. (Cheers.) Mr. DAVID M'CUBBIN proposed "The Croupiers," which was drunk with enthusiasm. The vocalists sang "Auld Langsyne," the chorus being given by the company standing, accompanied by the band and organ, which concluded the gramme. The proceedings, which commenced a few minutes past five o'clock, did not terminate till about halfpast eleven, by which time many persons had left the hall, and many of those who remained had become rather confused in their jollity. festival got up under the auspices of the Ayrshire young men resident in Glasgow-who are "jamais arriere," (never behind,) in any loyal or patriotic demonstration-in the Merchants' Hall, which was gaily decorated with flags and wreathes of evergreens, and presented to the eye a very animated aspect. The honest men (as the immortal bard hath called them) have, in a way worthy of all praise, celebrated the Burns festival. The company present numbered nearly 600, and were, during their assembling, welcomed with strains of music from the band of Mr. M'Cann. The chair was ably occupied by John M'Gavin, Esq.; and amongst the gentlemen on the platform were Thomas Brown, Esq.; George Troup, Esq. (of the Daily Bulletin); Thomas Bishop, Esq. (great-grandson of the poet); Messrs. Robert Young, Wm. Roxburgh, Jas. Forrester, Wm. Lockhart, Thornhill, John M‘Gregor, David M‘Lure, James Young, John Craig, Wm. Walker, jun., John Walker, Thomas Arnot, Wm. Gilchrist, John M'Turk, William Smith, John R. Wylie, J. R. Pickering, Gavin Laurie, James Middleton, David Clure, jun., &c. &c. Divine blessing having been implored by Mr. Gilchrist, the company partook of an excellent tea, and abundance of good creature comforts. Thanks having been returned by singing two verses of Burns' poetry appropriate for the occasion, The CHAIRMAN read a letter of congratulation from the "Auld Langsyne Society of New York," and proceeded to address the meeting: Ladies and Gentlemen-Although I can boast some experience in presiding over social meetings, yet I wish some one else had occupied the chair this evening. I make this statement without any affected self-depreciation. On all ordipro-nary occasions I might deem myself quite able to perform the requisite duties of a chairman; but to-night, met as we are to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Scotland's greatest poet, I feel that certain powers are required-powers to which I lay little claim. For the last halfcentury and more, some of the most eloquent tongues have discoursed of Burns, and some of the ablest writers have criticised his genius and his life; and for me, therefore, to attempt anything more than what may simply suggest itself to all of you, would be out of place. The first thought which occurs to me in connection with the present meeting is this-the impartiality with which the inheritance of genius falls to different classes of men. Not to the high and noble alone is the award, but out of all classes the sons of genius have been elected. The structure of the world's greatness is the combined contributions of every class, an arrange [We may mention that in the course of the evening there was handed round for inspection, the veritable silver-mounted snuff box which belonged to the bard when he was in the Excise, the somewhat worn inscription being " Robert Burns, of the Excise." This interesting relic is now the property of Mr. Reid, of Port-Glasgow.] THE MERCHANTS' HALL. Tuesday evening-bringing the echoed cry, "Ubique, et ab omnibus," of the great celebration of the birth of Scotland's noblest and immortal bard—was characterised by a grand ment which only could give stability and com- | tion if now such a poem as Hallowe'en or Tam pactness to the whole. The loves, the joys, the o' Shanter could have been written, and I doubt sorrows, and the wrongs of the humblest grades if Burns himself could now have penned Bruce's have found fervid utterance through the genius address on the field of Bannockburn. Our of their own fellows; and the utterance of these habits are altered to a great extent, our feelexperiences have become in many instances the ings of nationality are modified; like a dissolvbrightest pages in the national literature. The ing view we only see the outlines of these old poorest amongst us, as well as the most exalted, pictures, but Burns saw them in more clear can thus claim a share in the nation's glory, and light, felt them with poetic force, and has find themselves affiliated by spiritual as well as imaged them before us in the real shapes and by material ties to the true greatness of the colours of the very things themselves. There land of their birth. Another thought that is a distinctness, an individuality in the creastrikes me in connection with the meeting is- tions of Burns, about which there can be no what a solemn possession is that of poetical doubt; the characters stand out from the pages, genius! How wide and deep-reaching in its full of life; you see them, you fancy you have influence; how permanent in its duration! been long familiar with them, you know their Allied to no material wealth nor civic dignity look, their walk, their dress; they are the "old -its possessor, it may be, poor and despised- familiar faces" of your boyhood, and they mingle it yet breathes on the heart of a nation, and themselves with your intellectual being-an directs and controls, to a large extent, its social unfading imagery. (Applause.) The beautiand political destinies. The poet himself may ful episode in the history of the poet that probe weak and wandering, but the children of cured for him the notice and friendship of Mrs. his brain are strong and immortal. Empires Dunlop, exhibits this very clearly. That lady, pass away, but the songs of the bards remain. the lineal descendant of Wallace, was one of We know little or nothing of old Troy, and the the first amongst the higher classes who recogglories of the Cæsars have waned for long cen- nised the merits of Burns, and it was his naturturies, but the works of Homer, of Virgil, and │alness that attracted her attention, and secured of Horace are read in our schools, and have for him one of the most valuable friendships operated on every succeeding civilized people. which he ever enjoyed. I do not pretend to And so will it be with our poets and their be a judge, but to me this power of writing, so works; for whether our country continue to that you can see the object clearly and distinctly rise or to fall, the works of our British bards will before you, seems to be one of the highest; I be known in all ages. Our meeting this even- confess that I cannot enjoy poetry of that mysing, and the countless assemblies that are being tic kind that requires a great effort to guess at held throughout our own country, as well as in its meaning, and which sometimes leaves you in other lands, in honour of Burns' birthday, be- doubt even after you have done your best to speak the powers of his genius-tell us how decipher it, whether you really understand it. deeply his writings have moved the heart of his With the perusal of the pages of Burns there countrymen, and foreshadow their permanent mingles no such incertitude; whatever chord he influence. How changed, in many respects, is strikes, it is with a bold steady hand, and the the state of Scotland since Burns was born; response is free and spontaneous. He breathed how changed in its material resources, its agri- not a foreign atmosphere, but the air around culture, its manufacturing and commercial in- him; he looked at the men and objects by dustry; how altered even in its social habits which he was surrounded; and they were and political status; and yet the writings of mirrored back from his own soul with all the the poet are ever young and ever fresh. We realities of life, of form, and of figure. Besides, listen to his songs with unwearied pleasure; we through his writings there runs a strong vein read his descriptions of Scottish life with the of common sense, evincing that the poet had delighted feeling of their beauty and their in him capacities of the most valuable kind, truth; and though the interval has widened that would have fitted him for the most imporour sympathies as a nation, we yet enter with tant positions in the world. (Applause.) His enthusiasm into his intense nationality. It conversational powers are known to have been seems to me as if Burns had been born to be of the highest order, and his prose writings are the poetical historian, so to speak, of Scotland. marvels of composition when looked at in the (Applause.) The old forms of Scottish life had light of his opportunities of culture. That begun to fade, and a new dispensation of social there are a few of the poet's writings which are and political life had begun to dawn. In the objectionable, I suppose few are prepared to transition hour the ploughman of Ayrshire was deny; I, for my own part, would cut off unendowed with the power to paint the passing sparingly his praises of drink and his drinking figures, and make them live for ever. I ques- songs, and possibly one or two others; but wo can look at these now as reflecting, not the sober judgment of the man, but the colour of the times in which he lived; and as time moves on, these will be viewed more and more as historical illustrations of Scottish life in the eighteenth century, rather than incentives to imitation. I have ventured these few observations on the poet; I should wish your indulgence in making a remark or two about the man. Burns has been a subject of study to some of the highest intellects of the present century; the people have taken up their respective sides in the controversy, and still the fierce debate goes on. Whilst on one side the fire of his genius, it may be, has blinded the one party to his faults; on the other, the very same genius has tended to distort the vision so as to exaggerate his failings. I think that, in referring to the life of such a man as Burns, we ought never to overlook the singular constitution of the man, and the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed. Take, for instance, that weakness which is most frequently dwelt on, and which cost him so much-his jovial habits-and say how far he was the sinner, and how far he was sinned against. I daresay no one in this meeting will accuse me of leniency to the use or abuse of drink, but to me it seems no marvel at all that Burns should have sometimes fallen before such a temptation. Consider his impulsive spirit, and the occasional physical depression to which from boyhood he was more or less subject; take into account the customs of the times in which he lived, the imperiousness of those customs, remembering that drink was held to be the symbol of friendship, having mingled itself with the most pleasant experiences, as well as the most solemn occurrences of life, and say what was the likely result of such an ordeal operating on an organism such as that of our national poet. I do not know how you may conclude in your judgment, but to me it would have seemed more strange if Burns had escaped. I cannot resist the temptation of saying that at least the strong condemnation of Burns seems to me to come with a bad grace from any man who now, with clearer light and less temptation, supports those customs which proved so disastrous to the poet. (Applause.) Whilst we condemn any habit in others, I think we should as far as possible mingle with our reproof the spirit contained in Burns' own immortal lines: "Then gently scan your brither man, And just as lamely can ye mark How far perhaps they rue it." (Applause.) I sometimes speculate what Burns might have been if he had lived under better influences. Had he lived, for example, in our own times, when the facilities for physical and intellectual enjoyment are so largely increased compared with what they were sixty to one hundred years ago, when his great powers would have had more ample scope-flowing in channels more akin to his better nature. Had he had platforms from which to pour out the eloquence he possessed, or the field that the press now offers to talent, there can be little doubt that his life would have been a brighter and a happier one. We know his aspirations were after a higher order of enjoyment for his humble brethren-(applause)—and that in his best days he evinced this by his connection with that society in Tarbolton, of which he was the founder and the principal support, and by the use he made of the slender opportunities he had. But all such speculations are idle, except in so far as they may indicate our own duty. No Scotchman can look back to the closing years of our greatest national poet without feeling that his country might have done better for such a man-might have smoothed his rugged fortune, and brightened his closing days. The lesson speaks of the past, but it speaks also to ourselves. It has been said that it requires a century to produce such a man as Burns, and so even now there may be born such another in our native land; and the question may be put practically to us, how will you treat him? With the proud swell of independence in his heart, will he be left in his days of weakness to brood over the neglect of his countrymen; or will the kindly eye visit him, and the kindly hand assist him? If we have not so learned, then we have mistaken the lesson, and our present meetings are but hollow show. (Applause.) Songs were then sung by Miss O'Connor, Mr. Locke, and Mr. Imrie. THOMAS N. BROWN, Esq., next addressed the meeting, and said-When the clouds which hung lowering and portentous over the fortune and the fate of our national bard burst asunder in the blaze of his Edinburgh fame, we find Burns writing to Gavin Hamilton in these terms:-"I am in a fair way of becoming as eminent as Thomas à Kempis or John Bunyan, and you may expect henceforth to see my birthday inscribed among the wonderful events in the Poor Robin and Aberdeen almanacs along with the Black Monday and the battle of Bothwell Bridge." The poet's earliest patron must have been eminently gratified to learn the conquest Burns had made of the élite of Edinburgh society. What swift and sudden contrast of situation did that epistle disclose to the warm-hearted Mauchline writer! But a few months ago and the name now on all lips, i should fail to exert at once a potent and saluwhether of the great, the learned, or the fair tary influence upon modern society. The sinin the Scottish capital, seemed likely to become cerity of that homage will be best discovered by a name more intimately associated with a negro interrogating ourselves whether it is simply a plantation than a nation's minstrelsy. Few fashionable idol we follow the multitude to honbetter knew or better appreciated the powers our, or Robert Burns as he lived, laboured, loved, of the bard than Gavin Hamilton, yet it is pro- sung, and suffered, to whom the incense of our bable even Gavin Hamilton inly smiled at the admiration spontaneously arises. On the honhalf jest, half earnest association of his name est answer to that question it depends whether with the world-famous names of a Kempis and it is a star among the stars of mortal night, or Bunyan. Nor need we marvel that he should merely a will o' the wisp risen from out the have done so. Friendship veils faults and ex-fens of death, to which we have surrendered aggerates excellencies; but the most compre- ourselves. I know there are those ready to hensive and far-reaching sagacity is needed tell us that in doing honour to Burns we lift fully to appreciate genius;-only to anointed our eyes rather to a baleful meteor than a light eyes does genius reveal itself. Över the me- from heaven. But on a night such as this we thods by which it works the common under- have little taste for either quarrelling or argustanding is unable to cast a plummet. To ing with these good people. If it affords them single out from among the mass of men all liv- any gratification to think and speak as badly as ing for their generation, and all destined to die possible of their brother man, then by all means with their generation, the one man of whom it let them cherish their antipathies. Only this may be truthfully predicted this man is not for caution we give them, and give them in the an age, but for all time, is a task to which few kindliest spirit-have a care not to confound are equal. The heart knoweth its own bitter- envy, malice, and uncharitableness with holy ness, and often genius alone knoweth its own zeal. (Cheers.) During the last few weeks greatness. In that seemingly random selection some things have been said and some things of names by which to illustrate his future celeb- have been written of our national bard which rity, Burns very exactly foreshadowed the char-indicate that malice with its mask, and venom acter of his renown. Thomas à Kempis and with its dart, are not yet wearied with assailJohn Bunyan, the mystic of the middle ages ing his reputation. The tirade of one of the and the marvellous dreamer of Elstow, are most self-complacent of the clergy of the Scotfound alike in the mansion of the noble and tish metropolis-a report of which I presume the sheiling of the peasant, but as the people's most of those I am now speaking to have seen prophets are they specially honoured. The in the newspapers-is worthy of no serious ansongs of Burns resound in castle and in hall, | swer. It would be doing the Church of Scotbut as the poet of the people the memory of the bard is encircled with a wreath that shall be green for ever. Since the day those three ragged and straggling volleys from the carbines of the gentlemen volunteers of Dumfries announced all that was mortal of Burns had been committed to its kindred dust, the fame of the bard has so grown and broadened on the po. etical horizon, that all must feel how little such assemblies as this, or even such a day as this, is needed to diffuse or perpetuate his renown. (Cheers.) That voice which, a hundred years ago, rose in lowly cadence in yon auld clay biggin' by the banks o' bonny Doon, is heard on every wave and sounds on every sea. Fame so universal can receive but little expansion. Indeed all now left to even the most enthusiastic admirers of our national bard is simply to cast a few insignificant pebbles on the mighty cairn already towering to his glory from out the rock of humanity. (Applause.) But though the memory of the poet cannot possibly profit, we may profit much by this centenary. If the homage this night offered to his shade be not a hollow mockery, it is impossible it land the grossest injustice to suppose that rev. "The spell by nature bound Around the voiceless dead- I (Cheers.) But this, it appears, would have been expecting too much in such a quarter. Very well. Be it so. We are, after all, not greatly alarmed at the reverend man being so very irreverent as to lose his temper. The 66 city where, in other days, a Blair, a Blacklock, | thropy. (Laughter and cheers.) The period and a Dugald Stewart did homage to Coila's has not very long since gone by-its echo bard, and where, in our own day, a Wilson, a rings through Scotland to this hour-when our Miller, a Chambers, and an Aytoun, have been Scottish forefathers were inspired with an all prompt to offer him the profoundest homage, but universal passion for what they called "teswhether of their genius or their toil, is not to timony bearing." Few things were then done be disgraced by the diatribes of a Nisbet. or said that at all either ruffled their spirits, or (Loud applause.) History tells how the temple jarred with their preconceptions, against which of Ephesus was fired to render a fool famous. a testimony was not uplifted. To exonerate Has the Doctor of Divinity taken a hint from their consciences, they deemed it necessary to the ancient incendiary? (Laughter.) Pity it denounce nearly every shade of opinion not is we cannot congratulate him on his success. found in exactest harmony with their ownHis utmost virulence is, after all, but a tooth- testimony not borne in most precise and specific less satire. The Bard of Rydal Mount sung of phrase, duty had not been done. Not until Burns as him who walked in glory and in joy the heresy had been raked fore and aft, with behind his plough upon the mountain side. all the force and formality of a modern indictNisbet's drunken ploughman" is but a poor ment, could the inward monitor rest in peace. companion picture to that noble image of the The passion for testimony bearing has passed hierophant of Scottish song the genius of away. A man or a body of men is not now Wordsworth has enshrined in all hearts. And supposed to have homologated a heresy, simply with your leave, friends, we shall turn the rev. because they have not been heard denouncing gentleman's picture to the wall, more in pity it from the housetops. Cannot the same rathan contempt for the bungling draftsman. tional rule of action and the same temperate (Loud cheers.) It is difficult for ordinary hu- mode of judging be extended to scenes and ocmanity to comprehend the pleasure certain sple- casions such as this? The rule once fairly renetic natures find in depreciating the good and cognized, none would have the hardihood to great by evoking on every occasion, whether assert that in honouring genius there was any in season or out of season, the foibles and the indifference to virtue. Until the world is a frailties with which that goodness or that great- much better world than it is now, there will ness may have been associated. Once for all, always be a sufficiently numerous class to rewe tell these people they may save themselves member the errors of those whom fame has the trouble of setting the errors of Burns in eternized in her long and lasting scroll. Small array before us. Little, very little, of the evil harm, therefore, as we think, can come of it, if he did was done in a corner. Quite as well as to-night we agree to forget the spots in the these candid friends can reckon it, we know the splendour of the luminary on which we gaze. sum of his iniquity. But what then? Are An age which seriously contemplated a statue we, therefore, because Burns was no "faultless to King Hudson will not be the worse but the monster," are we to refuse to mingle our voices better for having, on this 25th day of January, in a nation's anthem to incomparable genius, or paused in the mad whirl of business and of eye askance the spontaneous tribute of the pleasure to look for a little on a glory and a children of our people to his transcendent success altogether sequestered from the mereworth? (Cheers.) Verily, verily, we envy ly material glory and material success after not the men who offer us such counsel. And which it wonders. In this stock-jobbing era, before bidding these cynics a long good night, with the tone of the eternal melodies all but we beg of them not to part company with us silenced in the din of the scramble for scrip, it under any misapprehension. Let them not sup- is for our souls' health that we should occasionpose, because we love and honour Burns that, ally look on other triumphs than the triumphs therefore, we are ready to call good evil and of upholstery. There are so many circles in evil good, put bitter for sweet and sweet for which man is valued rather by what he has bitter. No, no! The distinction between than what he is, that some people have a very right and wrong is still realizable by us. We great difficulty in recognizing any merit not can therefore distinguish between the merits found enjoying a fortune of something like a and the shortcomings of the Bard so greatly thousand a-year. (Laughter.) I hope I shall beloved. In honouring genius we offer no not be so misunderstood by any present as to tribute to vice. But while this is so, we have have it supposed I either envied or was the no notion in laying our votive wreath on the enemy of any man enjoying that modest comshrine of Burns that we are under any obliga- petency-quite the contrary. The assurance tion to pause there to deliver a homily upon of our bread and butter, which a thousand a human frailty simply to keep some moody soul year brings with it, is not to be lightly esteemed. from becoming the victim of his own misan- But it is one thing not to undervalue wealth, |