The punch-bowl
of Burns, now the property of Mr. Hastie, stood before the chair, and
beside it, a drinking quaigh, formed from the Wallace Oak of the Torwood,
brimmed with silver, and bearing on the bottom the grim visage of the
northern hero."
"Sir John Malcolm having consumed some time in introductory toasts, which
the company received with impatience, proceeded to propose 'the Memory of
ROBERT BURNS:' he dwelt less on his history than on the wide influence of
his works, and recited many verses with taste and feeling. He related how
deeply his fame had taken root in the East, and instanced the admiration
of Byron in proof of his wonderful genius: but no such testimony is at all
wanting; the songs of Burns are sung in every quarter of the globe, and
his poems are treasured in millions of memories, so that his fame may set
fate at defiance. All this was rapturously received; nor was the
approbation of the company less coldly manifested when the chairman
proposed 'the health of the ETTRICK SHEPHERD;' it appeared, however, that
he was much less familiar with his works than with those of Burns, and
though a native of a pastoral district, made sad work among the romances
and ballads of the imaginative shepherd.
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