It is Her een were o' the siller sheen, "And wha are ye, my winsome dear, Their bonnie blinks should gie, Frae dool this day.' "I dwell among the caller springs, terrified to preach before him. It is no doubt a reckless piece of satire, but it is a clever one, and one that must have cut to the bone. a masterpiece of the kind, for in it satire keeps its own place, and is made subservient to the poetry of Burns. No partisan of any sect could insinuate that malice had formed its principal inspiration, or that its chief attraction lay in the boldness with which individuals, accustomed to respect and veneration, were held up to ridicule. It was acknowledged, even amidst the sternest breathings of wrath, that national manners were once more in the hands of a national poet. That could not be denied by those who shook their heads most gravely over the indiscretions of particular passages, or even by those who justly regretted a too prevailing tone of levity in the treatment of a subject essentially solemn. It is devoutly to be wished that he had taken up the subject in a different light: how many pure and holy feelings had then pre- [The transactions described in this poem are sented themselves to the bard of the Cotter's those which attended a rural celebration of the Saturday Night. And to him who drew so communion in Scotland till a very recent period, powerfully from the feelings of a sensitive if not till the present day. But it is important heart, what a field was opened! It is, how-to notice that the rite itself, and even the ever, an admirable piece, and I would recommend every reader to peruse the eleventh stanza as the best description that ever was given; "unkenn'd that day" surpasses all. THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD.] [The names in the text are supplied from a copy of the first edition, in which they were written by the poet himself; and the variations are from a copy in his own handwriting. The scene is laid in the churchyard of Mauchline: the clergyman of the parish, with his assistants, are exhibited on the stage, while the lay members of the congregation, swelled by auxiliary weavers from Kilmarnock, compose the numerous persons of the under-plot of the piece. Fergusson, in his Hallow Fair of Edinburgh, I believe, furnished a hint of the title and plan of the Holy Fair. The farcical scene the poet there describes was often a favourite field of his observation, and most of the incidents he mentions had actually passed before his eyes.-GILBERT BURNS.] [The opening of the poem bears a nearer resemblance to Fergusson's Leith Races than to his Hallow Fair. In Leith Races, the Edinburgh bard is conducted to the festive scene by an imaginary being, whom he names MIRTH, exactly as Burns is conducted to the Holy Fair by FUN; but the poetical painting of the Ayrshire bard far distances that of his predecessor. The following three stanzas of Fergusson, however, are excellent: In July month, ae bonnie morn, They ca' me MIRTH: I ne'er was kenn'd, But blithe wad be a lift to lend, Gif ye wad see my power And pith this day.'"] place where it was administered, form no part of the picture. Burns limits himself to the assemblage, partly composed of parishioners, and partly of strangers, which always takes place on such occasions, in some open space near the church, where a succession of clergymen, usually from the neighbouring parishes, give, from a tent or moveable pulpit, a succession of services, while a lesser body are attending the more solemn service with.. doors. "In That this scene is not exaggerated, in any particular, is rendered very certain, by the following passage from a pamphlet published in the year of the poet's birth, under the title of A Letter from a Blacksmith to the Ministers and Elders of the Church of Scotland. Scotland, they run from kirk to kirk, and flock to see a sacrament, and make the same use of it that the papists do of their pilgrimages and processions; that is, indulge themselves in drunkenness, folly, and idleness. Most of the servants, when they agree to serve their masters, in the western parts of the kingdom, make a special provision that they shall have liberty to go to a certain number of fairs, or to an equal number of sacraments; and as they consider a sacrament, or an occasion (as they call the administration of the Lord's Supper), in a neighbouring parish, in the same light in which they do a fair, so they behave at it much in the same manner. I defy Italy, in spite of all its superstition, to produce a scene better fitted to raise pity and regret in a religious, humane, and understanding heart, or to afford an ampler field for ridicule to the careless and profane, than what they call a field-preaching upon one of those occasions. At the time of the administration of the Lord's Supper upon the Thursday, Saturday, and Monday, we have preaching in the fields near the church. At first, you find a great number of men and women lying together upon the grass; here they are sleeping and snoring, some with their faces towards heaven, others with their faces turned downwards, or covered with their bonnets; there you find a knot of young fellows and girls making assignations to go home together in the evening, or to meet in some ale-house; in another place, you see a pious circle sitting round an alebarrel, many of which stand ready upon carts for the refreshment of the saints. The heat of the summer season, the fatigue of travelling, and the greatness of the crowd, naturally dispose them to drink; which inclines some of them to sleep, works up the enthusiasm of others, and contributes not a little to produce those miraculous conversions that sometimes happen at these occasions; in a word, in this sacred assembly, there is an odd mixture of religion, sleep, drinking, courtship, and a confusion of sexes, ages, and characters. When you get a little nearer the speaker, so as to be within the reach of the sound, though not of the sense of the words (for that can only reach a small circle), you will find some weeping, and others laughing-some pressing to get nearer the tent or tub in which the parson is sweating, bawling, jumping, and beating the desk; others fainting with the stifling heat, or wrestling to extricate themselves from the crowd: one seems very devout and serious, and the next moment is scolding and cursing his neighbour for squeezing or treading on him; in an instant after, his countenance is composed to the religious gloom, and he is groaning, sighing, and weeping for his sins;-in a word, there is such an absurd mixture of the serious and comic that, were we convened for any other purpose than that of worshipping the God and Governor of Nature, the scene would exceed all power of face." Happily, the above description is no longer applicable to Scotland. The satiric pen of the poet has effected miracles in the way of reformation.] ["There are traits of infinite merit in 'Scotch Drink,' The Holy Fair,' 'The Hallow E'en,' &c.; in all of which it is very remarkable that the Poet rises occasionally into a strain of beautiful description or of lofty sentiment, far * Kilmarnock was then a town of between three and four thousand inhabitants, most of whom were engaged in the manufacture of carpets and other coarse woollen goods, or in the preparation of leather. A tavern near the church kept by a person of this name. Alluding to a scoffing ballad which was made on the admission . the late reverend and worthy Mr. Lindsay to the Laigh Kirk. R. B. [This note by Burns is far from sufficient to explain his allusion to a modern reader.-Mr. Lindsay, ordained to the Laigh Kirk in 1764, was the first moderate clergyman known in the place. He was supposed to have obtained the appointment through the interest of his wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Lauder, who had been housekeeper to the Earl of Glencairn, patron of the kirk:-hence the scoffing ballad to which the poet refers. The general meaning of the stanza is, that Common Sense, in other words, Arminian doctrine, was introduced into the church of Kilmarnock by Mr. Lindsay; that Oliphant and Russell, two zealous Calvinists, had often attacked her; but that now Mr. Mackinlay, the new entrant, was likely to effect her complete extrusion. We obtain a notion of the general feeling of Kilmarnock, respecting the moderate doctrine, from the fact that Mr. Lindsay's induc tion had to be effected by the use of force, and that his friends of the Presbytery were on that occasion so pelted as to be obliged to fly from the town. Genesis ix. 22. ROBERT CHAMBERS.] If mair they deave us with their din, Like oil, some day. [This boisterous satire was written on the admission of the Rev. Mr. Mackinlay as one of the ministers of the Laigh or Parochial Kirk of Kilmarnock-an event which took place on the 6th of April, 1786. As Mr. Mackinlay was highly orthodox, and succeeded a moderate, the occasion was one of some triumph to the Auld Lights; hence the bitter ironical strain of the poem. Mr. Mackinlay still (1838) survives, being now in the 82d year of his age, and still officiates in the pulpit of which Burns so much grudged him the possession. On the 6th of April, 1836, when he completed the fiftieth year of his ministry, the chief inhabitants of Kilmarnock assembled to the number of two hundred, and treated him to a public dinner: at that time only three or four of those who had met him at his first celebration of the communion survived, and the venerable gentleman was stated to be now associated with his seventh colleague. It is not to be doubted that he has long forgiven this satire, and learned to regard it, as the general public must now only in the light of a literary curiosity."-CHAMBERS.] [Death has been dealing-to use the language of the old bard-with all the clergymen of the west whom the poet lampooned or praised, save one, and that one is Mackinlay, one of the characters in the "Ordination." He is a good and venerable man: was the friend of Auld, minister of Mauchline, and it was his practice, when he called at his reverend brother's house, to shake hands, kneel down, and unite in asking a blessing from above on their ministry, and on the flocks committed to their charge. There is something apostolical or primitive in this.-A. C.] The Calf. TO THE REV. MR. JAMES STEVEN. On his text, MALACHI iv. 2.-"And they shall go forth, and grow up, like CALVES of the stall." RIGHT, Sir! your text I'll prove it true, And should some patron be so kind I doubt na, Sir, but then we'll find, Tho', when some kind, connubial dear, And in your lug, most reverend James, And when ye're numbered wi' the dead, Wi' justice they may mark your head "Here lies a famous bullock!" ["The origin of 'The Calf' is singular. The preacher was the Rev. James Steven, afterwards one of the Scottish Clergy in London, and ultimately minister of Kilwinning, in Ayrshire. It was his fate at this time to preach in the church at Mauchline, from the text which introduces the poem. From a memorandum by Burns himself, it would appear that there had been a wager with his friend Gavin Hamilton as to his producing a poem within a certain time, and that he gained it by producing The Calf. The Poet,' says Gilbert, had been with Mr. Hamilton in the morning (Sunday), who being confined with the gout, could not accompany him, but said jocularly to him, when he was going to church (in allusion to the injunction of some parents to their children), that he must be sure to bring him a note of the sermon at mid-day; this address to the Reverend Gentleman on his text was also produced. Burns, who appears to have been but little edified, remembering his promise to Mr. Hamilton, composed a rhyming satire on the minister from his own text, and repeated the same when he returned to dinner. The verses are clever, but certainly too severe. The Poet had no personal dislike to his victim-and desired his lampoon might be looked upon merely as a poetic sally. The appellation of 'The Calf' however, seems to have stuck to the preacher; -for in one of the letters to Burns from his younger brother, who died in London, the following passage occurs, dated 21st March, 1790:-"We were at Covent Garden chapel this forenoon to hear the 'Calf' preach: he is grown very fat, and is as boisterous as ever."] [Among the Poems of David Sillar are the following Verses, occasioned by a "Reply to Burns' Calf, by an unco Calf," with this motto:- "A preachin' Ca'f-a Poet wearin' cloots. Are surely ferlies 'mang the natʼral brutes. "WERE father Adam now to rise, An' view us face to face, I'm sure he'd scarce believe his eyes, That he begat our race. Tho' in his days mischief there was, Balaam, 'twas strange, an ass he heard, An' preachin' calves, are stranger. For Gude's sake, Sirs, your flytin' cease, Misca' na ane anither; Lest calves an' stirks, by keepin' peace But if ye winna cease to rair, Gie satire vice; let men alone, I'm sorry, Sirs, I hae't to say, Our passions are sae strong, But, Sirs, mair sorry I am still, Then for the future let's be mute, Sae rout or no, just tak your will, Epistle to James Smith.* "Friendship! mysterious cement of the soul! Sweet'ner of life, and solder of society! I owe thee much!- "-BLAIR. DEAR SMITH, the sleest, paukie thief, [The individual, to whom this admirable epistle is addressed, was a merchant in Mauchline during the Poet's sojourn in the west: not succeeding there, he established a calico-printing manufactory at Avon, near Linlithgow; and while there we find Burns, in April, 1788, informing him of having married" a certain clean - limbed, handsome, bewitching young hussey" of his acquaintance, and desiring him to send one of his best printed shawls, as he had a wish that This while my notion's ta'en a sklent, Something cries "Hoolie! "There's ither poets much your betters, Now moths deform in shapeless tatters Then fareweel hopes o' laurel-boughs, |