THE ANNUALS.-In the last number of that excellent family periodical, The Spirit and Manners of the Age, conducted by Mr S. C. Hall, the editor of the " Amulet," there is some curious information respecting"The Annuals." It seems that the enormous sum of L.90,000 is actually put in circulation by the publication of these books. Westley, the bookbinder in Friars Commons, has no less than 250 men at work: and it is calculated that 2000 people are kept in employment for two or three months by the Annuals alone. EDITORIAL WARFARE.-The Editors of two of the Edinburgh newspapers have gone to loggerheads; and rather a curious duel has been fought, of which we suspect the parties concerned have not yet heard the last, for the London and provincial Editors are apt to wax rather waggish upon these occasions. For our own part, we prefer pursuing the even tenor of our way, without meddling with these bold and bloody deeds. THE LITERATURE OF THE LATE FLOODS.-Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, a literary baronet of the north countrie, is busily engaged in recording the devastations of the autumnal floods in that district, measuring and calculating the extent of the individual losses, and chronicling all the anecdotes and traits of character to which they gave rise. As the interest attaching to such narratives is in some degree evanescent, Sir Thomas should remember the advice of Macbeth," "Twere best 'twere well done, and done quickly." We regret to learn that Mr Fraser of Relig, Inverness-shire, the accomplish. ed traveller, and able author of the "Kuzzilbash," has lost above £500 by these disastrous floods. MUSICAL NOTATION.-The Greeks and Romans expressed the notes in music by letters of the alphabet, which they placed above the text; and their duration was indicated by the length of the syllables above which they were written. Guido Aretinus, a Benedictine Monk of a cloister in the district of Ferrara, invented the system of linear notation, and the practice of singing the notes with the syllables ut, re, mi, &c., about the year 1028. The idea of marking the different duration of the notes by the form of the points employed, originated with John de Murs, a Parisian doctor, who flourished during the first half of the 14th century. Guido arranged a gamut of twenty-two diatonic notes, which he composed of seven hexachords. He chose for the syllables on which his scholars were to exercise the gamut-ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, the initial syllables of the first six lines of a hymn to St John, which was then in frequent use. This new system of notation was shortly after introduced at Bremen, by Bishop Herman, to whom it was communicated by the in ventor. LETTER PROM THE EDITOR OF ACKERMANN'S JUVENILE FORGET ME NOT. To the Editor of the Edinburgh Literary Journal. London, Nov. 6, 1329. SIR, The number of your Journal for October 31st, has just been put into my hands. I there find, in your review of Ackermann's Juvenile Forget-Me-Not, some remarks which seem to demand an explanation from me as editor of that work; and indeed, were it not given, you might have some ground to "suppose that silence im. plies culpability." I hope, however, to convince you that your conclusions are not less erroneous than the premises on which they are founded. I take it for granted that you will not dispute my friend Ackermann's right to the title Forget-Me-Not. You must be aware, The conse too, of the success of the work to which he gave that title before any publication resembling our present Annuals existed. Speculating upon this success, a bookseller thought fit to usurp this title in the Juvenile Forget-Me-Not, not only without Ackermann's consent, but without giving the slightest intimation of his intention. quence was, that many purchased that work under the impression that it was Ackermann's publication; and some, still more uninformed on such matters, bought it instead of his original Forget-Me-Not. He, naturally enough, felt himself aggrieved, and intimated as much to Mr Hall, who, on his own behalf, and that of Mrs H., merely disclaimel any participation in the choice of the title. Ackermann at length determined to apply the only remedy in his power, and to give to the world a work with his own title, and stamped with his own name, to prevent the possibility of its being mistaken for the other. A ridiculous threat of proceedings in Chancery was thrown out to deter him from his purpose, and, as that had no effect, his conduct is now publicly proclaimed to be neither " fair nor honourable," and, indeed, to be "unjustifiable." For my part, I conceived it to be such as to need no apology; and I can assure you, that had there appeared to me, in this interference, any thing in the least degree "harassing and injurious," or "unfair and dishonourable," you should not have seen my name coupled with it. At any rate, with the lady's prerogative of scolding, I shall not interfere; and whether the public impeachment of my friend proceeds from Mrs Hall or her publishers, it only furnishes one more proof of the truth of the remark, that when a person has done you an injury, however patiently you may endure it, you must expect it to be followed up by slander and abuse.-Without meaning to criticise your criticism, I shall jus observe, that Wilkie's opinion of the manner in which Graves has performed his part in the plate of "The Spanish Princess," differs so widely from yours, that he has, in consequence of the talent there displayed by that artist, engaged him to work exclusively for himself. -I wish I could satisfy your enquiries respecting the Howitts of Nottingham. All I know of them, excepting from their published eos. tributions in the Annuals, is, that William is the husband of Mary, and brother of Richard. They belong to the Society of Friends, and are, I believe, engaged in trade. You are at perfect liberty to make what use you please of this communication, or of any part of it, and if printed, to affix or not the name of, Sir, yours, most obediently, F. SHOBERL [The remarks to which the above letter refers, occur in No. 51 of the LITERARY JOURNAL. They were dictated by no feeling but a de ire to do justice to all parties, and with the same feeling we insert Mr Shoberl's letter precisely as we have received it. For Mrs Hall, however, we beg to say, that we believe her to be a lady who would, upon no occasion whatever, exercise any "prerogative of scolding." As to the manner in which Wilkie's painting of the "Spanish Pr.cess" is engraved, we are inclined to think that the impression we saw was not one of the best, and that Graves is entitled to more praise than we were at first disposed to allow him, though we are stil of opinion that the work might have been better executed.-Ed. Lit. Jour.] Theatrical Gossip.-At Drury Lane, a new comic piece called "Snakes in the Grass," has been successfully produced. It is writen by Mr Buckstone, an actor.-Nothing very new has been going on at Covent Garden.-Matthews and Yates have produced another clever trifle at the Adelphi, called "The Bold Dragoon."-Some discussion has taken place in the London papers, 1st, concerning the proper pronunciation of the word Rome, which Young still calls Room, in opposition to what is now the established use and wont; and 2d, as to the proper spelling and pronunciation of the word Shakspeare, which his own autograp, preserved in Doctor's Com mons, proves should be spelt as we have now written it, and which, in good society, is now invariably pronounced as if there were an e after the k-notwithstanding the attempt which has been recently made at Covent Garden by Charles Kemble and others to pronounce it Shaxpeare, perhaps the original way, but altered by modern usage. -Dowton, probably the purest and most natural comedian living, is about to perform at the Coburg Theatre.-Kean, junior, and Miss F. H. Kelly are going to play at Amsterdam.-Morton's comedy of "The Dramatist," has been translated into Spanish, and has had a run of fifty nights at Madrid.-We are informed that Macready will appear here as soon as Miss Paton leaves us. Miss Paton is to be 10 Glasgow for three nights.-A new piece, called "The Robber's Bride," has this week been transferred with success to our boards from London. Miss Jarman plays the heroine. TO OUR CORRESPONDENTS. CONTRIBUTIONS pour in upon us so thickly that it is difficult for us even to read them all, much less to give them all a place. Communications from many of our most esteemed Correspondents are at this moment in types, which, for some weeks back, we have in vain endeavoured to find room for. During the present influx of new works, we are obliged to limit the space we allot to miscellaneous literature. The articles, however, both in prose and verse, by the Ettrick Shepherd, William Tennant, Esq., Dr Gillespie, and Dr Memes, shall appear at our very earliest convenience. "Scenes from the Portfolio of a Traveller,"-" Letters from India,"-" The Legend of the Rival Giants," and "Anecdotes," lie over for early insertion.-We shall not be able to find room for the "Rambles among the Hebrides."-" Caledonia Aonia," and the communication from Mrs Grant, Duthil, are under consideration." Extracts from my unpublished Life," lie for the author at our Publisher's.-A Notice of the Ant" in our next.-We shall attend to the subject mentioned by our friend in Dundee, and will write to him. The Verses to "Ailsa Craig" and "To Alison," shall have a place. -The Lines by "Bernard," and by "P." of Glasgow, will not suit us. We advise "J. S." and " Z. Z." of Glasgow, to give up rhyming. The materials for a very interesting notice of some unpublished remains of Robert Burns have so much increased upon our hands, that we find it necessary to postpone qur article concerning them till next Saturday. The unpublished verses of the poet Finlay shall also be given in our next. LITERARY CRITICISM. UNPUBLISHED REMAINS OF ROBERT BURNS- We have always considered Mr Lockhart's Life of "How many lesser romances of this order were evolved and completed during his residence at Mossgiel, it is need PRICE 6d. less to enquire; that they were many, his songs prove, for And leave auld Scotia's shore?- Burns says, In my early years, when I was thinking of "Ye banks, and braes, and streams around Green be your woods, and fair your flowers, There summer first unfaulds her robes, For there I took the last farewell he adds, After a pretty long trial of the most ardent reSunday of May, in a sequestered spot by the banks of Ayr, ciprocal affection, we met by appointment on the second where we spent a day in taking a farewell before she should embark for the West Highlands, to arrange matters among her friends for our projected change of life. At the close of the autumn following, she crossed the sea to meet me at Greenock, where she had scarce landed when she was seized grave in a few days, before I could even hear of her illness;' with a malignant fever, which hurried my dear girl to her and Mr Cromek, speaking of the same day of parting love,' gives, though without mentioning his authority, some farther particulars which no one would willingly believe to be apocryphal. This adieu,' says that zealous enquirer into the details of Burns's story, was performed with all those simple and striking ceremonials, which rustic sentiment has devised to prolong tender emotions, and to impose awe. The lovers stood on each side of a small purling brook-they laved their hands in the limpid stream-and, holding a Bible between them, pronounced their vows to be faithful to each other. They parted-never to meet again.' It is proper to add, that Mr Cromek's story, which even Allan Cunningham was disposed to receive with suspicion, has recently been confirmed very strongly by the accidental discovery of a Bible, presented by Burns to Mary Ardrossan. Upon the boards of the first volume is inscriCampbell, in the possession of her still surviving sister at bed, in Burns's handwriting, And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, I am the Lord.-Levit. chap. xix. v. 12.' On the second volume,- Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.-St Matth. chap. v. 33. And, on a blank leaf of either, Robert Burns, Mossgiel,' with his mason mark." "That noblest of all his ballads, To Mary in Heaven, was, it is on all hands admitted, composed by Burns in September 1789, on the anniversary of the day on which be heard of the death of his early love, Mary Campbell. But Mr Cromek has thought fit to dress up the story with circumstances which did not occur. Mrs Burns, the only person who could appeal to personal recollection on this occasion, and whose recollections of all circumstances connected with the history of her husband's poems are represented as being remarkably distinct and vivid, gives what may at first appear a more prosaic edition of the history. 6 According to her, Burns spent that day, though labouring under a cold, in the usual work of his harvest, and apparently in excellent spirits. But as the twilight deepened, he appeared to grow very sad about something,' and at length wandered out into the barn-yard, to which his wife, in her anxiety for his health, followed him, entreating him in vain to observe that frost had set in, and to return to the fireside. On being again and again requested to do so, he always promised compliance-but still remained where he was, striding up and down slowly, and contemplating_the sky, which was singularly clear and starry. At last Mrs Burns found him stretched on a mass of straw, with his eyes fixed on a beautiful planet, that shone like another moon,' and prevailed on him to come in. He immediately, on entering the house, called for his desk, and wrote, exactly as they now stand, with all the ease of one copying from memory, the sublime and pathetic verses— "Thou lingering star, with lessening ray That lovest to greet the early morn, Again thou usherest in the day My Mary from my soul was torn. O, Mary! dear departed shade, Where is thy place of blissful rest? See'st thou thy lover lowly laid, Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast?' &c. The following simple and touching verses refer to the approaching separation of the lovers. They ought immediately to be set to music, and are well calculated to take their place among the popular songs of their lamented author: The pride of my bosom, my Mary's no more. No more by the banks of the streamlet we'll wander, No more shall the soft thrill of love warm my breast, We may here mention, that we are aware of the existence, and have perused, in his own handwriting, one other unpublished poem by Burns. It is addressed to Clarinda, and was lately in the possession of Mr Syme of Dumfries. It is not, however, one of the poet's most successful efforts. Mr Lockhart has likewise recovered an interesting poetical epistle, by Burns, which has never before been given to the public, and which will form not the least valuable addition to his new volume. He thus introduces it to the notice of his readers: "It was at this time, (1787,) I believe, that Burns indited a lively copy of verses, which have never yet been printed, and which I find introduced with the following memorandum, in a small collection of MSS., sent by the poet to Lady H. Don. Mr Chalmers, a gentleman in Ayrshire, a particular friend of mine, asked me to write a poetical epistle to a young lady, his dulcinea. I had seen her, but was scarcely acquainted with her, and wrote as follows:' “MADAM,— "Wi' braw new branks in mickle pride, And eke a braw new brechan, My Pegasus I'm got astride, And up Parnassus pechin; In the version of this stanza already published, this word is printed dimpled. We prefer rimpled, as more expressive and less commonplace.-ED. Whiles owre a bush wi' downward crush, "I doubtna, lass, that weel-kenn'd name May cost a pair o' blushes; I am nae stranger to your fame, And faith ye'll no be lost a whit, Tho' waired on Willie Chalmers. "Auld Truth hersell might swear ye're fair, "I doubtna Fortune may you shore, Some mim-mou'd pouther'd priestie, Fu' lifted up wi' Hebrew lore, And band upon his breastie; But oh! what signifies to you His lexicons and grammars; The feeling heart's the royal blue, And that's wi' Willie Chalmers. "Some gapin' glowrin' countra laird Sic clumsy-witted hammers, "Forgive the Bard! My fond regard To Mr James Burnes, of Montrose, the poet's cousin. Mr Lockhart has been indebted for five unpublished let ters of Burns. Two of these we shall extract. The first was written in 1789, just after his marriage and establishment at Elliesland. Considering the circumstances which led to his union with Miss Jean Armour, and the scandalous stories which were circulated at the time, it cannot fail to be read with much interest: "(Elliesland, 9th Feb. 1789.)-Why I did not write you long ago, is what, even on the rack, I could not answer. If you can in your mind form an idea of indolence, dissi pation, hurry, cares, change of country, entering on untried scenes of life-all combined, you will save me the trouble of a blushing apology. It could not be want of regard for a man for whom I had a high esteem before I knew him-an esteem which has much increased since I did know him; and, this caveat entered, I shall plead guilty to any other indictment with which you shall please to charge me. "After I parted from you, for many months my life was one continued scene of dissipation. Here, at last, I am be come stationary, and have taken a farm, and—a wife. The farm lies beautifully situated on the banks of the Nith, a large river that runs by Dumfries, and falls into the Solway Frith. I have gotten a lease of my farm as long as I pleased; but how it may turn out is just a guess, as it is yet to improve and enclose, &c.; however, I have good hopes of my bargain on the whole. "My wife is my Jean, with whose story you are partly acquainted. I found I had a much-loved fellow-creature's happiness or misery among my hands, and I durst not trifle with so sacred a deposit. Indeed, I have not any reason to repent the step I have taken, as I have attached myself to a very good wife, and have shaken myself loose of a very bad failing. 41 ine. "I have found my book a very profitable business, and ther company in the same tavern, Burns immediately adith the profits of it have begun life pretty decently. dressed himself to the chair, and demanded a bumper. The hould Fortune not favour me in farming, as I have no president thought he was about to dedicate his toast to the reat faith in her fickle ladyship, I have provided myself in distinguished absentee: I give,' said the Bard, I give you nother resource, which, however some folks may affect to the health, gentlemen all,-of the waiter that called my espise it, is still a comfortable shift in the day of misfor- | Lord · out of the room.' In the heyday of my fame, a gentleman, whose name t least I daresay you know, as his estate lies somewhere ear Dundee, Mr Graham of Fintry, one of the Commisioners of Excise, offered me the commission of an Excisefficer. I thought it prudent to accept the offer; and acordingly, I took my instructions, and have my commission Whether I may ever do duty, or be a penny the etter for it, is what I do not know; but I have the comortable assurance, that, come whatever ill fate will, I can, n my simple petition to the Excise-Board, get into emloy." y me. The other letter is of a later date, and of a more melan-holy nature. It was written to Mr Burnes shortly before the poet's death, when he was alike oppressed by sickness, poverty, and the pride of independence: A "My dearest Cousin,-When you offered me money as sistance, little did I think I should want it so soon. rascal of a haberdasher, to whom I owe a considerable bill, taking it into his head that I am dying, has commenced a process against me, and will infallibly put my emaciated body into jail. Will you be so good as to accommodate me, and that by return of post, with ten pounds? O, James! did you know the pride of my heart, you would feel doubly for me! Alas! I am not used to beg! The worst of it is, my health was coming about finely. You know, and my physician assures me, that melancholy and low spirits are half my disease; guess, then, my horrors since this business began. If I had it settled, I would be, I think, quite well in a manner. How shall I use this language to you? O, do not disappoint me! but strong necessity's curst command! I have been thinking over and over my brother's affairs, and I fear I must cut him up; but on this I will correspond at another time, particularly as I shall want your advice. Forgive me for once more mentioning, by return of post. Save me from the horrors of a jail! My compliments to my friend James, and to all the rest. I do not know what I have written. The subject is so horrible, I dare not look it over again. Farewell! "R. B. "July 12th, 1796.” In addition to these relics of one so dear to his native country, and so much admired everywhere, Mr Lockhart has collected a good number of new anecdotes concerning him, some of which he has given in a cluster, and others are scattered up and down the volume. We have gleaned the most of these, and shall now place them all in juxta-position for the benefit of our readers: ANECDOTES OF ROBERT BURNS. "It may naturally excite some surprise, that of the convivial conversation of so distinguished a convivialist, so few specimens have been preserved in the memoirs of his life. The truth seems to be, that those of his companions who chose to have the best memory 'for such things, happened also to have the keenest relish for his wit and his humour when exhibited in their coarser phases. Among a heap of MSS. memoranda with which I have been favoured, I find but little that one could venture to present in print; and the following specimens of that little must, for the present, suffice. "A gentleman who had recently returned from the East Indies, where he had made a large fortune, which he showed no great alacrity about spending, was of opinion, it seems, one day, that his company had had enough of wine, rather sooner than they came to that conclusion: he offered another bottle in feeble and hesitating terms, and remained dallying with the corkscrew, as if in hopes that some one would interfere and prevent further effusion of Bourdeaux. 'Sir,' said Burns, losing temper, and betraying in his mood something of the old rusticity- Sir, you have been in Asia, and for aught I know, on the Mount of Moriah, and you seem to hang over your tappit-hen as remorsefully as Abraham did over his son Isaac-Come, sir, to the sacrifice!' "At another party, the society had suffered considerably from the prosing of a certain well-known provincial Bore of the first magnitude; and Burns, as much as any of them, although, overawed, as it would seem, by the rank of the nuisance, he had not only submitted, but condescended to applaud. The Grandee being suddenly summoned to ano "He often made extempore rhymes the vehicle of his sarcasm: thus, for example, having heard a person, of no very elevated rank, talk loud and long of some aristocratic festivities in which he had the honour to mingle, Burns, when he was called upon for his song, chanted some verses, of which one has been preserved : 'Of lordly acquaintance you boast, And the dukes that you dined wi' yestreen, Yet an insect's an insect at most, Though it crawl on the curl of a queen.' "I believe I have already alluded to Burns's custom of carrying a diamond pencil with him in all his wanderings, and constantly embellishing inn-windows and so forth with his epigrams. On one occasion, being storm-stayed at Lamington, in Clydesdale, he went to church; and the indignant beadle, after the congregation dispersed, invited the attention of the clergyman to this stanza on the window by which the noticeable stranger had been sitting: 'As cauld a wind as ever blew ; A cauld kirk, and in't but few; As cauld a minister's ever spak; Ye'se a' be het or I come back.' "Sir Walter Scott possesses a tumbler, on which are the You're welcome, Willie Stewart; Come, bumpers high, express your joy, The tappit-hen gae bring her ben, May foes be strang, and friends be slack, May woman on him turn her back, That wrangs thee, Willie Stewart.' "Since we are among such matters, perhaps some readers will smile to hear, that Burns very often wrote his name on his books thus- Robert Burns, Poet;' and that Allan Cunningham remembers a favourite collie at Elliesland having the same inscription on his collar. "Even to the ladies, when he suspected them of wishing to make a show of him, he could not help administering a little of his village discipline. A certain stately peeress sent to invite him, without, as he fancied, having sufficiently cultivated his acquaintance beforehand, to her assembly. Mr Burns,' answered the bard, will do himself the honour of waiting on the provided her ladyship will invite also the learned pig.' Such an animal was then exhibiting in the Grassmarket. of "One of the Dumfries volunteers thought fit to affect particular civility to Burns, and inter alia seduced him one day into his house, where a bottle of champagne was produced, and a small collection of arms submitted to the bard's inspection. Burns well knew the gentleman's recent hos tility, and appreciated the motives of his courtesy. Do tell me, Mr Burns,' said he, what do you think of this pair of pistols? Why,' said Burns, after considering them with all the gravity of a half-tipsy connoisseur-'I think I may safely say for your pistols what nobody would say for the great majority of mankind-they're a credit to their maker.' "I may mention here, that during the later years of his life, his favourite book, the usual companion of his solitary rambles, was Cowper's Task. It is pleasing to know that these illustrious contemporaries, in spite of the widely dif ferent circumstances under which their talents were developed, and the, at first sight, opposite sets of opinions which their works express, did justice to each other. No English writer of the time eulogised Burns more generously than Cowper. And in truth they had much in common, The stamp and clear impression of good sense;' countenance. the love of simplicity; the love of nature; sympathy with | in Nasmyth's sketch, given as a vignette in Lockhart's the poor; humour; pathos; satire; warm and manly Life, is on the head, and casts a partial shade over the hearts; the pride, the independence, and the melancholy of genius. Some readers may be surprised to find two such and as to the likeness, means have been taken to obtain The colouring is soft and harmonious; names placed together otherwise than by way of contrast. Let it not be forgotten, that Cowper had done little more the opinions of those persons best qualified to judge, and than building bird-cages and rabbit-hatches, at the age when their sentiments are decisive upon the point. We have the grave closed on Burns." seen letters from Sir Walter Scott, Mr Syme of Dumfries, Mr Peter Hill, Mr Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Mr David Bridges, junior, Mrs Burns, Mrs Maclehose (Clarinda), Mrs Janet Thomson (formerly Miss Jess Lewers), and Miss Dunlop, all of whom agree in speaking of this portrait as amazingly like the original. Sir Walter Scott expresses himself in these terms: Our readers will now perceive that Mr Lockhart has not trifled with his new edition, but that it is a bona fide enlargement and improvement of the two which have preceded. As such, it will meet with a ready sale whereever the name of Burns is held in the estimation it de serves. "Sir, I was much gratified by the sight of the por only once, and that many years since, and being a bad "Edinburgh, 14th Nov. 1829. "P. S.-I will accept of the inscription which you tell me the Proprietors intend putting to the engraving, as a great honour." The postscript refers to the intention to dedicate the Portrait, when engraved, to Sir Walter Scott. In like manner Mrs Burns says,-" I am requested to give my opinion regarding the Portrait of my late husband, painted by P. Taylor. I was not aware that another original portrait had been taken but the one in my possession by Nasmyth. After seeing this one, I have no hesitation in stating my belief that it is original. The likeness to the upper part of the face is very striking."—The letter from Clarinda is still stronger. We subjoin it: Passing from this subject to one not less interesting and intimately connected with it, we have no small plea-trait of Robert Burns. I saw the distinguished port sure in being the first to announce the existence of a genuine and original portrait of Burns, which has hitherto remained altogether unknown, but which there is every reason to believe is a still more striking likeness than the only portrait of him with which the public has been yet made acquainted-that, namely, which was taken by Nasmyth. The new portrait was painted by the late Peter Taylor, an artist of considerable celebrity at the time Burns made his first appearance in Edinburgh in the year 1786. Mr Taylor was then a very young man, but was looked upon by competent judges as destined soon to rise to the very head of his profession as a portrait-painter. Buchan, Bonnar, and Nasmyth, were his contemporaries, and entertained the highest respect for his abilities. He fell into bad health, and was ordered to the south of France, where he died at an early age. He was of an enterprising spirit, possessed of fine taste, and celebrated for the accuracy of his likenesses. It is recorded of him, as a collateral circumstance, that he was the first who introduced the waxcloth manufactory into Scotland. Taylor and Burns were very intimate, the latter often visiting the artist and his wife. We have it on the authority of Mr William Taylor, merchant in Leith, the present possessor of the portrait, that on one occasion, when Burns was at the painter's house, Taylor said to him," Robie, if you'll sit to have your picture drawn, I will do it." The poet agreed, and the picture, after a good number of sittings, was completed. It is a reminiscence of the Ettrick Shepherd, that upon one occasion, when calling on Mrs Taylor, along with Gilbert Burns, she informed them that Burns used to come pretty frequently to breakfast, on which occasions the picture in question was produced. The portrait, it appears, never went out of the artist's hands, and upon his death became the property of his widow. She had an extraordinary regard for it, and would scarcely permit any one to see it, much less to borrow it. Once, however, she allowed it to go out of her custody for a short time, on the earnest application of the Earl of Buchan, who, about sixteen or eighteen years ago, was anxious to show it to the late Duchess of Gordon. His Lordship afterwards offered forty guineas for the loan of it a second time; but Mrs Taylor, having been displeased by his keeping it a day or two longer than he bargained for before, refused to listen to any terms. All applications from other quarters for permission to have it copied or engraved were uniformly negatived. In 1828, Mrs Taylor bequeathed the portrait to her relative Mr William Taylor, of Leith. Our readers will do us the justice to believe that we state these facts thus minutely, from a full conviction of their fidelity. The portrait does not come to us from the hands of any professional picture-dealer, in which case, aware as we are of the practices of such people, we should have looked upon it with more suspicion. We have ourselves seen it, and as far as our opinion goes, can safely pronounce it an exceedingly interesting, wellpainted, and delicately-finished portrait, in a fine state of preservation. It is a cabinet picture, and is what painters call a two-third likeness. The hat, of a broad-brimmed clerical shape, similar to that which the poet wears "Sir,— I return you the fine portrait of Burns, taken from the life by the late Mr Peter Taylor, his early friend. In my opinion it is the most striking likeness of the poet I have ever seen; and I say this with the more confidence having a most perfect recollection of his appearance. With best thanks for your polite attention in calling to show it to me, and your obliging present of the second edition of the Life, I remain, sir, your obliged servant, "AGNES MACLEHOSE. 66 · Edinburgh, 14, Calton Hill, 28th October, 1828.” After perusing such testimonials in favour of this portrait, our readers will be glad to learn that it has at length been put into the hands of Horsburgh, one of the best of our Edinburgh engravers, and very little inferior to some of the best in London. He will require about six months to do it full justice; and as soon as it is ready, it is to be published by Messrs Constable & Co. For our own parts, we sincerely rejoice that a treasure of this kind should thus be brought to light; for, by tending to perpetuate that feeling of individuality which we are ever anxious to attach to the illustrious dead, it cannot fail to give to the genius of Burns a more lasting and endearing dwelling place in our bosoms. Memoirs of the Life and Times of Daniel De Foe; containing a Review of his Writings, and his Opinions upon a variety of Important Matters, Civil and Ecclesiastical. By Walter Wilson, Esq. of the Inner Temple. 3 vols. 8vo. Pp. 482, 527, and 685. London. Hurst, Chance, and Co. 1830. THE greater part of these volumes is filled with reviews |