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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
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 led b» Chj-xio^-W.-
 
 SIE GEOKGE BURNS, 
 
 BART. 
 
 HI8 TIMES AND FBIENDS. 
 
 EDWIN HODDER, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE AND WOBK OF THJE SEVENTH EAEL OF SHAFTESBUEY, K.ri, 
 "THE LIFE OF SAMUEL MOELEY," ETC. 
 
 JI777/ ETCHED POIiTBAIT. I!Y H. MASESSE. 
 
 I.'onbou : 
 HOD DEB AND STOUGHTON, 
 
 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 MDCCCXC.
 
 ar 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTKODUCTION 
 
 THE BURNS FAMILY 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 BOYHOOD — SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DAYS, 1795-1812 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN THE OLD HOME .... 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 STARTING IN LIFE .... 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WITH DR. CHALMERS 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 IN BUSINESS .... 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SHIPPING ; AND OTHER MATTERS 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONCERNING THINGS SOCIAL, DOMESTIC AND RKLIGIOUS 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FOUNDING OF THE CUNARD COMPANY 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IN LONDON AND ELSEWHERE 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ENGLISH EPISCOP.VLIANS IN SCOTLAND 
 
 PAOB 
 5 
 
 84 
 
 65 
 77 
 120 
 13!) 
 1G4 
 189 
 204 
 223 
 
 J9in.dfQo
 
 4 CONTENTS. 
 
 PERSONAL THAITS AND CIIAKACTKRISTICS 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 NEW ENTERPRISES 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 LKillTS AND SHADOWS 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE BURDEN AND HEAT OF THE DAY 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 , LIFE AT WEMYSS BAY . 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SOME NOTABLE FRIENDSHIPS 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE CARE OF THE CHURCHES 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WITH LORD SHAFTESBURY 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 IN THE GLOAMING 
 
 CHAPTER Xir. 
 
 . 243 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 A BRIGHT OLD AGE 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF A NONOGENARIAN 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 HONOURS .... 
 
 APPENDICES .... 
 
 259 
 
 276 
 
 290 
 
 318 
 
 342 
 
 359 
 
 387 
 
 418 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 "the DARKNESS DEEPENS" ..... 434 
 
 449 
 
 469 
 
 488 
 505 
 513
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 Thousands of persons, every year, and from every 
 part of the civilized world, visit the Highlands of 
 Scotland. They wander among the romantic 
 beauties of the Trossachs and Loch Lomond ; they 
 gaze upon the wild Pass of Glencoe ; they stand 
 amid the ruins of lona ; they explore the won- 
 derful recesses of Staffa; they sail along the mag- 
 nificent line of lakes to Inverness ; they penetrate 
 into the wildernesses and picturesque glens of the 
 mainland ; lake and river, moor and forest, sea and 
 island — all are known to them. But, perhaps, when 
 after a lapse of time they recall their "impressions," 
 there are few things that stand out with more vivid 
 distinctness in their memories than the steam 
 voyage down the Clyde. 
 
 Let us take that journey, in imagination, now. 
 We leave the rush and roar of mercantile life at 
 the Broomielaw of Glasgow — the focus of the 
 commerce, wealth, and enterprise of Scotland — and 
 amid ships and shipping and beside crowded
 
 6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 wharves we steam along until, after a few miles, we 
 find om-selves in the comitry with villages and parks 
 and handsome mansions on either hand. 
 
 It is the early sunnner, when the rich foliage is 
 wearing its garh of tenderest green, and the first 
 faint blush of the heather is colouring the distant 
 hills. 
 
 As the river widens into the Firth, we pass the 
 isolated rock of Dumbarton, with its emerald slopes 
 casting their shadows into the sea ; while in the far 
 background rise the blue ranges of high-peaked 
 mountains which encircle Ben Lomond. We see 
 the red and purple hills where Holy Loch and Loch 
 Long cut their way in among the statelier mountains, 
 and follow with our eyes the long line of shore on 
 our right hand wdiere the sunbeams light up the 
 white houses of Dunoon and Innellan, set in their 
 framework of woods and gardens and backed by 
 gently sloping hills. Passing the spectral Cloch 
 Lighthouse and the charming little village of 
 Inverkip embow^ered in luxuriant foliage on our left, 
 we round the promontory on which, beautiful for 
 situation, stands Castle Wemyss, and then there is 
 spread before us one of the finest panoramas in 
 Scotland. Behind the coast-line of Bute rise the 
 glorious Alpine ranges of Arran ; the Great and 
 Little Cumbrae, lying low on the horizon, are before 
 us ; to our right stretches the coast of Ai'gyleshire 
 down to Toward, and on ou}- left is the coast of 
 Ayrshire down to Largs and the reaches beyond.
 
 INTliODUCTION. 7 
 
 We are in Wemyss Bay, and here let us tarry 
 awhile. 
 
 Near to the shore is a handsome house, standin<4- 
 in the midst of lawns and shrubberies, and backed 
 by a cliff of exquisite beauty, with winding walks 
 leading to terraced gardens. 
 
 Upon the lawn in h-ont of the house, there 
 sits an old man of ninety - four, singularly hand- 
 some, with finely-cut features, clear, penetrating 
 eyes, a massive head, and beautiful snow-white 
 hair. No covering is on his head, and he is accus- 
 tomed to sit thus in the open air in all kinds 
 of weather ; he wears no spectacles ; his sight, 
 which a few years ago had become dim, has grown 
 strong and vigorous again. A book is in his hand, 
 for he is still a diligent reader, and enjoys, with a 
 keen relish, the best literature of the day. 
 
 But he is not reading now ; he is meditating. It 
 has been a life-long habit that has helped his judg- 
 ment, wisdom, and faith. Many an hour of holy 
 solitude has he spent in that garden overlooking 
 the sea, but rarely has he passed an hour of loneli- 
 ness there. Every spot within the range of his 
 vision is peopled with memories. As he gazes on 
 that wondrous panorama of sea and mountain, there 
 is another panorama unrolled before him which no 
 other eyes than his can see, and there are voices 
 around him which no other ears than his can hear. 
 Old age has been called " the holy place of life," 
 and he is in a vast sanctuary where he holds
 
 H INTBODUCTION. 
 
 communion with the hving and the dead, and with 
 the Spirit of the Lord. 
 
 From childhood to old age he has heen more or 
 less a " dweller hy the sea," and it has never lost 
 its charm for him. He was familiar with it when, 
 as a child, " he laid his hand upon its mane," and 
 through life it has had the ])0WTr to " stir his soul 
 with thoughts profound." Now, in the evening 
 time, as he gazes upon the broad l)osom of the 
 Firth, stirred only by a gentle ripple, his thoughts 
 go back to early times, to the day of small things, 
 to his boyish pastimes and the labour of his man- 
 hood on the banks of the Clyde. Life to him has 
 been like a river, ahvays in motion, always gliding 
 along to its destiny, sometimes thi'ough bowers of 
 beauty and in the midst of delectable mountains, 
 sometimes through weary wastes and dull, mono- 
 tonous tracks ; never rushing into roaring cataracts 
 or plunging into abysmal depths, but always 
 widening as it flowed. And now^, in the broad 
 expanse before liim, he sees the emblem of that 
 wide ocean upon which, under the pilotage of the 
 Great Captain, he is soon to set sail. 
 
 As he gazes, ships pass to and from Glasgow — 
 the city of which he has been one of the " Makers " 
 — and they carry his memory back to the time 
 when he was engaged in mighty shipping enter- 
 prises, which helped to revolutionise the trade of 
 the whole country and its relations with other 
 countries. A splendid man of business has he
 
 INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 been in his day ! He has trodden the pathway 
 which all must take who acquire affluence and 
 position. A " son of the Manse," by industry and 
 frugality and the right use of his talents, he has 
 lived to amass wealth and to become the centre of 
 a wide-spreading and beneficent influence. In the 
 midst of the strife and fierce competition of business, 
 he has never forgotten that he is a servant of God, 
 and has never soiled his hands or his garments 
 by contact with anything that could defile. Nor 
 in his most hard-working days have the commercial 
 activities in which he has engaged ever made him 
 neglect the wider claims of life. 
 
 A man of cultivated taste, he has always loved 
 and cherished everything that is elegant and refined 
 — the companionship of nature, the beautiful in 
 art, in literature, and in all the products of 
 genius. 
 
 A lover of home, he has been wont to throw open 
 all the casements to let in the hght and every- 
 thing bright and beautiful and winsome, so that 
 wife and children and hiends* might find there the 
 mirth and gladness of earth, as well as the peace 
 and the sweetness of heaven. 
 
 Gentleness and aftability have been the very spirit 
 of his social life — kindliness and cheerfulness its 
 natural outgrowths. He has retained through life 
 that grand old-fashioned courtesy that will neither 
 hurt another man's character nor injure his in- 
 terests, nor give pain to his feehngs, and that has
 
 10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 caused him to treat rich and poor, his own servants 
 and the nohlenien who have dined at liis hoard, 
 with equal kindness and consideration. 
 
 There is not a goodher sight in the workl than 
 a bright, cheerful, and heautiful old age — the hoary 
 head found in the way of righteousness ; and while 
 we gaze upon this patriarch of Wemyss Bay, 
 children and grandchildren and fiiends break into 
 his meditations to sit beside him and enjoy his 
 society. There is no quiver in his voice, no tremor 
 in his hand, no dimness in his eye. His conversa- 
 tion is bright and sprightly ; the world is still full 
 of interest to him ; he loves its social joys, and has 
 never found that life is less earnest and solemn, or 
 less full of glorious purpose because it has had its 
 proper and apportioned place for innocent and 
 healthful recreation. A merry peal of laughter 
 rings from the little group upon the lawn as they 
 hear him tell, in his owm inimitable way, one of the 
 stories of long ago. 
 
 No wonder that he is a man of many friends. 
 Never in his life has he known anything of the 
 theory that the heart has room for only one true 
 friend ; his has been large enough for hundreds — 
 not mere acquaintances, but fjiithful, true, and 
 intimate fiiends, wlio have instinctively turned to 
 him in their hours of special joy. or sorrow, certain 
 that he would wee}) with them real tears, or rejoice 
 with them with real joy. The '' connnunion of 
 saints " never meant to him simply the Lord's
 
 INTBODVCTIOK. 11 
 
 Supper ; it included that wider and grander meaning 
 of holy, human fellowship. 
 
 A multitude of hiends has he had, and still has 
 — men and women of all ranks and conditions, who 
 have left their mark in the world's history, and not 
 in one department only, hut in many ; whose actions 
 have been the basis of action in others, and whose 
 words he has treasured up in letters, as well as in 
 memory, that they may still be transmitted from 
 soul to soul, and perchance become centres of ever- 
 unfolding thought. 
 
 Echoes of many voices long since hushed ring in 
 the old man's ears as he sits upon the lawn in the 
 calm of life's evening. 
 
 The shadows are lengthening ; the bells of the 
 churcli near at hand — built as a memorial of one 
 who was the sharer of his life for much more than 
 half a century — ring out their peal. A thousand 
 memories flash through his mind, but there is no 
 sign of sadness upon his face. He has passed 
 through many sore trials in his life, but he looks 
 back upon them now, not to weep again, hut to 
 see in them landmarks around which, long since, 
 sweet flowers have grown. His faith has always 
 been strong enough to trust God in the dark, and 
 if now we see his lips move, and his head bow, it 
 is not that he is repining for the past, but that 
 with great thankfulness he is giving praise for the
 
 \-A INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mercies of the present, for praise has ever been the 
 spirit of his Hfe. 
 
 He comes of a long race of God-fearing men, and 
 the energy of moral suasion, the silent beauty of 
 holiness, the eloquence of holy living, have been 
 handed down from generation to generation — a 
 priceless legacy of hallowed remembrances and 
 associations. 
 
 There is nothing better to express the religion of 
 this venerable man than the grand old phrase of 
 Scripture, " He walked with God "—not in fear, but 
 as a child with his parent, with a heart ready to 
 lind all enjoyment in Him, with a reverence which 
 made submission to His will easy, with a pride 
 which made him feel that everything else was poor 
 and insufficient compared with this honour and 
 supreme joy. 
 
 He has drunk deep at the fountain-head of 
 spiritual things ; he has had an all-absorbing 
 personal affection for the Master of his life, while 
 the Word of God, which he has read without cavil 
 or suspicion, has ever been to him one of the 
 sources of his keenest enjoyment. 
 
 The sun is hovering upon the verge of the 
 horizon, the islands are gilded by his farewell 
 beams, the ships sail on like aerial things over the 
 sea which gleams like polished silver, the birds in 
 their umbrageous homes upon the terraces sing
 
 INTBODUCTIUN. ly 
 
 their evening hymn, the hght clouds in the western 
 sky are tinged with purple and gold. The day is 
 passing away, but the morrow will dawn. In the 
 calm of the twilight hour, and in the calm of life's 
 eventide, that aged man enters his house, and, as 
 he retires to rest, places his life back in the hands 
 of God, to take it again in the morning, it may be, 
 as a fresh gift from Him. 
 
 This patriarch of Wemyss Bay is he whose life- 
 story will be told in these pages. He never kept a 
 diary, for he was far too self- forgetful for that, 
 but he treasured up the letters of friends, and 
 preserved records of his business, social, family, 
 and religious associations ; moreover his memory was 
 as reliable as that of a man in the fullest vigour, 
 and from these, and contemporaneous sources, there 
 is ample material to construct his biography. 
 
 I can never be sufficiently thankful that it was 
 my privilege to know and love George Bums, and 
 it is no exaggeration to say that I never knew 
 one who took a fuller share in the commercial, 
 social, controversial, and philanthropic movements 
 of his times wdth greater honour than he ; or who 
 more completely embodied the ideal of Christian 
 hving. 
 
 EDWIN HODDER. 
 St. Aubyns, Shoetlands, Kent.
 
 CHAPTEll I. 
 
 THE BURNS FAMILY, 
 
 Geoege Burns was born on the 10th of December, 
 1795. He came of an old and long-lived family, 
 which for many generations had occupied an honom*- 
 able position in the West of Scotland. The life of his 
 grandfather carries us back to the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century, and that is far enough in history 
 for us to travel in this narrative. 
 
 Old John Burn has left on record, among his 
 early remembrances, the fact that he saw from his 
 father's house the soldiers crowding past with their 
 wounded from the battle of " Shirra Muir " * in the 
 Jacobite rising of 1715. 
 
 The family was originally named Burn, and John 
 Burn, the grandfather of the subject of our narrative, 
 was a Stirling man, where he owned the little pro- 
 perty of Corntown. He was an author, a man of 
 considerable learning, and of deep piety. 
 
 There lies before the present writer " the contract 
 of marriage betwixt Mr. John Burn, of Stirth, and 
 
 - Shcrift" iNIuir.
 
 16 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. I. 
 
 Janet Young, youngest daughter of the deceas'* 
 William Young, of liisk, and Jean White, his relict 
 spouse — at St. Ninians, February 9, 1741." 
 
 Janet Young had been a staunch adherent of the 
 Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, of Stirling, one of the four 
 " outed ministers" of 1733, and she continued a 
 Seceder for some time after her marriage to John 
 Burn, who was an Established Churchman, although 
 in course of time she, like many others, seceded from 
 the Secession. 
 
 An episode of this period is furnished by Dr. 
 William Blair in a letter to George Burns, dated 
 February 13, 1888. 
 
 " I am writing a sketch of the U. P. Church, 
 and among other interesting things I find that 
 Ebenezer Erskine, of Stirling, to whom we look 
 up, as the Jews of old did when they said, ' We 
 have Abraham to our father,' was so loyal to 
 the Hanoverian dynasty, that in 1745 he formed a 
 regiment of Seceders to defend Stirling against the 
 rebels. ' One night,' as the story goes, ' when the 
 rebels were expected to make an attack on the town, 
 Ebenezer Erskine presented himself in the guard- 
 room fully accoutred in the military garb of the times. 
 Dr. John Anderson, late Professor of Natural 'Philo- 
 sophy in the University of Glasgow, and Mr. John 
 Burn, father of the Rev. Dr. Burns, Barony parish, 
 in that city, happened to be on guard the same 
 night, and, surprised to see the venerable clergy- 
 man in this attire, recommended him to go home to
 
 1715-95.] JOHN BURN ''GRIPS THE TIWTHr 17 
 
 his prayers, as more suitable to his vocation. '' I 
 am determined," was his reply, "to take the hazard 
 of the night along with you, for the present crisis 
 requires the arms as well as the prayers of all good 
 subjects." ' I am pleased to think that your grand- 
 father, now 143 years ago, was on the same watch- 
 tower with my ecclesiastical father." 
 
 John Burn was a simple. God-fearing man, and 
 when he had got " a grip o' the truth," he did what 
 people of that day were wont to do — he sat down 
 one Sabbath afternoon and wrote out " a covenant" 
 in accordance with the theological notion that the 
 promises of God, as recorded in the Scriptures, are 
 conditional on certain terms on the part of man. It 
 need not be said that the first bond, or oath, drawn 
 up by the Scottish Reformers, and signed in 1557, 
 was a covenant ; that the " Confession of Faith," 
 drawn up in 1581, was also a covenant, the subscrip- 
 tion to which was renewed fi*om time to time ; and 
 that when the General Assembly of the Church of 
 Scotland contracted with the Commissioners of the 
 English Parliament in 1643 for uniformity of doc- 
 trine, worship, and discipline throughout Scotland, 
 England, and Ireland, " according to the Word of 
 God, and the example of the best reformed churches," 
 the instrument was " the Solemn League and 
 Covenant." 
 
 The idea of a covenant, as distinct fi'om a contract 
 (the former having no civil penalty necessarily 
 following the infraction of it), being ingrained in 
 
 2
 
 18 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. L 
 
 the Scottish miud, it is not surprising that when a 
 man found himself in an attitude to " accept salva- 
 tion on God's own terms," as the j^hrase went, he 
 should, taking the written Word of God as the first 
 part of the covenant, enter into a written engage- 
 ment to fulfil the second part — namely, his own 
 moral and religious obligations. And as subscrip- 
 tion to the "Confession of Faith" was renewed 
 from time to time, so with these " covenants with 
 God," — or dedications as they were in later times 
 called — it was customary to keep them constantly 
 in remembrance, and at recurring intervals, or at 
 great crises in the history of those who made them, 
 to officially " recognise " the covenant. It may 
 interest those who are not familiar with this quaint 
 old notion in religion to read the covenant of John 
 Burn. 
 
 Lxjss, June 25, 1788, Sabbath afternoon. 
 Lord God Almighty, I would in Thy presence humbly confess 
 that iniquities greatly prevail against me, the power of conquering 
 which, O Lord, Thou knowest is far beyond my feeble strength ; but 
 in Thee alone is my sufficiency. perfect Thy strength in my 
 weakness, and deliver me from the love, the power, the stain, and 
 the guilt of all sin, original and actual. Alas ! with what aggra- 
 vated transgressions of Thy Holy Law do I stand chargeable ! 
 How I have indulged Atheism, hatred of Thee, despising Thy 
 people, disregarding the institutions of Thy Word, impurity of heart 
 and life, lasciviousness, variance, strife, hatred, malice, and perjury, 
 inasmuch as I have not lived up to the baptismal engagements 
 and vows undertaken for me by my parents, in which I have been 
 instructed, nor have I lived up to the present vows which I have, at 
 sundry times, solemnly come under to renounce the devil, the world,
 
 1738.] THE COVENANT OF JOHN BURN. 19 
 
 and the lust of the flesh. The breach of all these vows and resolutions 
 to forsake all sin and unrighteousness is heinously aggravated by 
 breaking them so often against light and knowledge. To these I 
 have added unbelief of the truths of the glorious Gospel of Thy 
 well-beloved and ever blessed Son, have indulged pride, self-seeking, 
 self-esteem, and self-exaltation. Besides, I have, times and ways, 
 Lord, without number, broken all Thy Commandments, for which I 
 deserve Thy wrath and fury to be poured out upon my soul and 
 body to all eternity ! But now, most merciful God, I desire this 
 afternoon to renounce the love and practice of every wicked way, 
 and in Thy name and strength to devote myself, soul and body, to 
 Thee, that I may be Thine in prosperity or adversity, in health or 
 sickness, in time and through eternity ! I desire to believe in God 
 the Father, who sent the Son into the world on the gracious errand 
 of man's redemption, as my God and Father, and in Jesus Christ 
 as my only Lord and Eedeemer, whom I desire to embrace as the 
 Lord my righteousness ; and in the Holy Ghost as my sanctifier, 
 and the applier of all Christ's purchase to my defiled and polluted 
 soul, and whose quickening influences and Divine illumination I 
 beseech Thee, Holy Father, to shed abroad into my soul, through 
 the infinite merits of Jesus Christ, Thine only and well-beloved Son, 
 in whom Thou art ever well pleased. Thou hast said, " Come unto 
 Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 
 Good Lord, in obedience to Thy gracious invitation, I dcdre to cowe 
 to Tliee for rest to my weary soul. I am polluted. I desire to fly 
 to the blood of Christ which cleanseth from all filthiness of the 
 flesh and spirit, that I may be made a fit temple for the Holy Spirit. 
 let the peace-speaking blood of Christ cleanse me from the filth 
 and stain of sin — give me freedom from the power of it, and save 
 me from the curse due to me on account of it. Blessed Jesus ! 
 Thou art every way qualified to save such a vile, guilty wretch as I 
 am. love me freely, receive me graciously, notwithstanding my 
 great vileness by nature and practice. I am a sinner, but Thou, 
 Lord Jesus, earnest not to call the righteous, but sinners to repen- 
 tance ; for sinners Thou hast procured redemption by the shedding
 
 20 Slli GEOBGE BUIiNS. [Chap. I. 
 
 of Thy precious blood. give me faith in Thy blood, give me an 
 interest in Thy perfect righteousness. Let the blessing of my soul, 
 ready to perish, come upon Thee, almighty Saviour, -svho art the 
 Prophet, Priest, and King of Thy Church. Be Thou from this 
 moment my Prophet, Priest, and King, to teach me, to intercede for 
 me, and to rule over me and in me, that henceforth I may have no 
 will l)ut Thine. make me wihing in a day of Thy power to be 
 entirely governed by Thy will. Heavenly Father, I humbly 
 implore the continual supplies of Thy grace and Spirit to enable me 
 to stand stedfast in the iaith of Jesus Christ as the Lord my 
 righteousness, wisdom, and everlasting strength. perfect a work 
 of sanctification on my defiled and polluted soul, and keep me, 
 keep me, by Thy mighty power, through faith in Jesus Christ unto 
 eternal life ; for without Thee this, like all my former resolutions 
 and engagements, will become as the morning cloud and early dew, 
 which soon passeth away. Lord, renouncing all my own 
 righteousness, all I have done or ever can do, I desire to embrace 
 Thee in all Thy mediatory character, and henceforth desire to walk 
 in Thy strength, making mention of Thy righteousness, even of 
 Thine only. John Burn. 
 
 Recognized at Stirling, M(nj 12, 1750. 
 
 Again, Jnh/ 2-5, 17G0. — Lord, with shame and confusion of face 
 I must confess the obligations which I had bound upon my own 
 soul many years ago have been often totally neglected or forgotten. 
 Cast me not off in Thine anger. Let not Thy wrath burn against 
 me for ever, let the blood of Jesus wash out these deeper stains 
 of guilt. Be, most merciful Father and exalted Piedeemer, recon- 
 ciled to my guilty soul, or rather reconcile my heart unto Thyself 
 and to Thy blessed will. John Burn. 
 
 Glasgow, April 11, 1767. — Lord, wash me with clean water 
 and I shall be clean from all my filthiness and from all my idols ; in 
 the multitude of Thy tender mercies do Thou cleanse me. A new 
 heart (according to Thy promise, Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 20, 27) do Thou
 
 17(37.] JOHN BURN COMES TO GLASGOW. 21 
 
 also give unto me, and a right spirit put within me. And take 
 away the stony heart out of my tiesh, and give me a lieart of flesh. 
 Put Tliy Spirit within me, and cause me to walk in Thy statutes ; 
 then shall I keep Thy judgments and do them. All I ask is in the 
 name of Christ, to whom with Thee, Holy Father and ever blessed 
 Spirit, be all glory, honour, dominion, power, and praise, ascribed 
 now and for evermore. Amen. John Burn. 
 
 Glasgow, April 8, 1780. — Lord, turn me and I shall be turned, 
 draw me and I will run after Thee, for I have gone astray like a lost 
 sheep. seek and find me. In the midst of deserved wrath 
 remember me with rich, undeserved mercy and free grace. Say 
 unto me. Live, and I shall live; for nothing can resist Thy command. 
 I desire to account it a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, 
 that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I 
 am the chief. Upon Thy infinite merits I desire to cast myself for 
 grace to help me in every time of need while here, and for complete 
 deliverance from all sin hereafter. Not unto me, not unto me, but 
 to Thee be all the glory. Amen. JohxX Burn. 
 
 In 1744, there was born to John Burn and Janet, 
 his wife, an only child, who afterwards became Dr. 
 Burns of the Barony Church, and the father of 
 George Burns. 
 
 In course of time John Burn sold the property 
 of Corntown in the county of Stirling — which had 
 been long in the family, Thomas Burne having 
 held it in 1538, by Crown Charter — and came to 
 reside in Glasgow, probably in 1767, one of the 
 dates on which his covenant is " recognized." 
 Here he wrote an English Grammar, which bore his 
 name and was highly popular as a school-book in 
 the West of Scotland. He was also the author
 
 22 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. I. 
 
 of a good English Dictionary, and of several other 
 educational works of considerahle repute in their 
 day. On October the 20th, 1768, he was admitted 
 Burgess and Guild Brother of Glasgow, and on 
 September 1, 1781, Burgess of Kilmarnock. In 
 both the burgess tickets he is described as "John 
 Burn." Some years prior to the date of this latter 
 document, however, viz., in 1774, his son was 
 ''created a free Burgess of the Burgh of Paisley," 
 and his name is inserted therein as John Burns. 
 
 The exact date of the alteration in the surname is 
 not known ; the occasion for it was, that certain 
 property had been left to John Burn, who, in the 
 legal documents transferring it to him, had been 
 incorrectly described as Burns. To save the com- 
 plications and expenses of the law, that name was 
 henceforth adopted by him, and in the first Glasgow 
 directory, published in 1783, he is described as 
 '' John Burns." He died at the age of eighty-four, 
 at his house in Duncan's Land, High Street, 
 Glasgow, but not until he had seen his own piety, 
 virtue, and diligence reproduced in his only son. 
 
 Of that son, the father of the subject of this 
 narrative, we shall have much to tell hereafter, but 
 some account of his earlier life and of his family may 
 be introduced appropriately in this place. 
 
 He was born at Stirling on the 13th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1744 (old style), and remembered having 
 seen the Hessians encamped on Corntown, when 
 a rising was expected. They were dressed in blue
 
 17C(3.J JOHN BUBNS, MINISTEli. 23 
 
 uniforms, and impressed the people by their quiet 
 manners and sobriety. 
 
 Early in life he developed great earnestness of 
 character, and gave evidence of considerable talent ; 
 more than this, he worshipped the God of his fathers 
 with a deep sincerity, and chose as his lot in life the 
 work of His ministry. At the age of twenty-two he 
 made his written covenant, as his father had done 
 before him — a singularly thoughtful and spiritual 
 dedication of himself to God. We will not quote it, 
 as there is a certain family likeness in all such 
 documents ; but on the same evening that he signed 
 it, viz., the 6th of April, 1766, he wrote the following 
 prayer, which shows the attitude of his mind and the 
 tendency of his theology : — 
 
 Heavenly Father, Thou knowest the instability of my heart, 
 and how ready I am to draw back. Therefore, Thou who settest 
 bounds unto the spacious sea, and who art the Absolute Governor 
 of the whole universe, of all things and creatures in heaven and 
 on earth, I beseech Thee, in the prevailing name of Jesus, keep me 
 from drawing back, keep me steadfast in Thy covenant, keep me 
 after vows from making inquiry how I may elude the obligation of 
 them. Of Thine infinite mercy give me strength to persevere unto 
 the end in the righteous ways of God, without wearying or distrac- 
 tion, that I may receive the end of my faith, even the salvation of 
 my soul. Lord, I renounce everything that I have done, or can do, 
 as the ground, or procuring cause, of my salvation, but desire only 
 to seek eternal life and salvation through Jesus Christ, and the 
 merits of His blood, death and sufferings, and intercession. 
 
 Lord most holy, just, and righteous, bring up my heart to 
 comply willingly with the scheme of salvation in the new covenant 
 upon Thine own terms. Ratify in heaven, O Goil, what I have
 
 24 Sin GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. I. 
 
 this evening been essaying in Thy name and strength on earth, and 
 grant at all times, and in all circiunstances, heart-establishing 
 grace, that I may abide in Christ, as the branch abideth in the 
 vine, and may bring forth much of the fruits of holiness in my life 
 and conversation to the praise of Thy free grace and mercy. Let 
 the engagements which I have this day entered into be as a 
 standing bar against prevailing sin, through the Divine operations 
 and benign influences of the Holy Ghost. Enable me by Thy 
 grace to be fervent and diligent in the use of those means Thou 
 hast appointed for bringing men off from a state of sin and misery 
 to a state of holiness and happiness, that I may be found in Christ 
 Jesus in the day when Thou makest up Thj' jewels, restored to more 
 than a state of primitive rectitude of heart and nature. Lord, 
 my waiting eyes are toward Thee. Let me never be put to shame. 
 Say to my soul, ' I am thy salvation,' and to Thine adorable name. 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God, be the glory and praise of 
 all, both now and throughout the endless ages of eternity. Amen 
 and Amen. 
 
 In course of time John Burns was appointed 
 assistant to tlie Eev. Laurence Hill, minister of the 
 Barony Church. He died on the 3rd of Octoher, 
 1773, and John Burns was chosen as his successor. 
 
 At the Ordination of " the Eev. Mister John 
 Burns," Minister of the Barony, the sermon was 
 preached in the High Church Yard, Glasgow, on the 
 26th of May, 1774, the subject being " Sober and 
 Beligious Conference Considered and Eecommended." 
 In the charge, delivered by the Eev. William Thom, 
 M.A., minister of Govan, Mr. Burns was congratulated 
 that in his settlement he had " been presented by 
 the patron, the Crown, and had also been the choice 
 of the congregation, and that all of them had had
 
 1775.] THE BARONY CHURCH. 25 
 
 experience of his gift of prayer and talents in 
 preaching." 
 
 It was not a brilHaut appointment from a worldly 
 point of view, for, in a letter written many years 
 later, Mr. Burns says that " from the death of Mr. 
 Hill, in October, 1773, till Candlemas, 1775, several 
 months after my induction, I did not receive a 
 shilling of salary or stipend." From that time, and 
 for many years afterwards, his stipend averaged only 
 .£111, besides which he had an allowance of c£30 in 
 lieu of a manse, and he let the glebe to a gardener, 
 one Duncan Mc Arthur, for £25 ; so that for the first 
 nineteen or twenty years of his ministry his income 
 amounted to only .£166 per annum. He should have 
 received the stipend of a bishop if his work could 
 have been measured by any sordid calculations, for 
 it was carried on in what we of to-day must regard 
 as a most unpromising sphere. 
 
 In the course of this narrative we shall have to 
 refer man}^ times to the Barony Church, and it will 
 assist the imagination of the reader if we give a short 
 account of it here. 
 
 The Presbyterian form of Church government, as 
 everybody knows, was established in Scotland soon 
 after the Eeformation, but it gave place occasionally 
 to the Episcopal mode, and it was not until 1688, at 
 the Revolution, that it became formally and finally 
 fixed. 
 
 The Cathedral or High Church of Glasgow, named 
 in honour of its founder, St. Kentigern, or Mungo
 
 26 Sin GEORGE EVENS. [Chap. I. 
 
 (" The Beloved "), was made to accommodate the 
 cougregations of three separate parishes, and was 
 divided into the High Kirk, the Laigh Kirk, and the 
 Crypt. The latter, a weird, uncanny place, was the 
 spiritual home of the parishioners of the Barony 
 parish, and here John Bmiis ministered for twenty- 
 eight years. 
 
 It might have been that the Barony parishioners 
 would not have had even the Crypt to worship in if 
 the attempt, made in 1578 with the sanction of the 
 magistrates, to demolish the Cathedral and build 
 little churches with the materials had been carried 
 into effect. The attempt was made, and " a number 
 of quarriers, masons, and other workmen were 
 conduced," but the crafts of the city rose in tumult 
 and vowed that he who would cast down the first 
 stone should be buried under it. But why attempt 
 to describe the incident when Sir Walter Scott has 
 given it in " Eob Koy " ? 
 
 " Ah, it's a brave kirk — nane o' yere whigma- 
 leeries, and curliewurlies, and opensteek hems about 
 it — a' solid, weel-jointed masonwark, that will stand 
 as lang as the warld, keep hands and gunpowther aff 
 it. It had amaist a douncome lang syne at the 
 Keformation, when they pu'd doun the kirks of St. 
 Andrews and Perth, and thereawa', to cleanse them 
 o' Papery, and idolatry, and image worship, and 
 surplices, and sic like rags o' the muckle hure that 
 sitteth on seven hills, as if ane wasna braid eneugh 
 for her auld hinder end. Sae the commons o' Pen-
 
 1775.1 A RAID ON THE HIGH KIBK. 27 
 
 frew, and o' the Barony, and the Gorbals, and a' 
 about, they behoved to come into Glasgow ae fair 
 morning to try their hand on purging the High Kirk 
 o' Popish nick-nackets. But tlie tounsmen o' G-las- 
 gow, they were feared their aukl edifice might shp 
 the girths in gaun through siccan rough physic, sae 
 they rang the common bell, and assembled the train- 
 bands wi' took o' drum. By good luck, the worthy 
 James Eabat was Dean o' Guild that year (and a 
 gude mason he was himsell, made him the keener to 
 keep up the auld biggin'), and the trades assembled 
 and offered downright battle to the commons, rather 
 than their kirk should coup the crans, as others had 
 done elsewhere. It wasna for luve o' Papery — na', 
 na' ! — nane could ever say that o' the trades o' 
 Glasgow. Sae they sune came to an agreement to 
 tak' a' the idolatrous statues of saints (sorrow be on 
 them) out o' their neuks. And sae the bits o' stane 
 idols were broken in pieces by Scripture warrant, 
 and flung into the Molendinar Burn, and the auld 
 kirk stood as crouse as a cat when the flaes are 
 kaimed aff her, and a' body was ahke pleased." 
 
 Thus the Cathedral was preserved, and in 1596 
 the Synod appointed Mr. Alexander Kowatt " to 
 minister to the parishioners without the burgh." 
 
 " Joceline's Crypt," in which Dr. Bimis (as we 
 shall call him, although he did not receive his degree 
 for many years afterwards) ministered, though the 
 finest in the three kingdoms and the lightsomest, 
 could not make a very cheerful church. But it is a
 
 28 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. I. 
 
 fairy bower now to what it used to be. In old 
 Barony days the damp floor w^as packed below with 
 recent heritors ; scutcheons mouldered on the dripping 
 walls, the columns were smeared with lamp-black, 
 and the roof was covered with death-emblems. The 
 pulpit stood near the south door, with a great pillar 
 to intercept what light the narrow windows might 
 have given it ; the Elders were dimly seen on a 
 raised platform round Ebenezer Allen, the precentor; 
 and great box-pews stretched in the gloom from 
 column to column. Once a year at the "Preach- 
 ings" (or annual connn union time) the Barony folk 
 emerged from their gloomy fane into the light of 
 day. On the preaching ' Sunday " the tent " (or 
 covered wooden pulpit) made its appearance for use 
 on the great day of the feast. It was set up in the 
 corner of the High Kirk yard, on the right as one 
 enters the gate, and the people stood about or "sat 
 on the through-stanes, or on chairs an' stools." 
 The communion itself (" f//e Sacrament"), and the 
 services specially connected with it, were held in 
 the crypt, but the tent was used for simultaneous 
 overflow services of sermons, addresses, prayer and 
 praise. The whole work of the day, in the crypt 
 and at the tent — including "Action Sermon," "De- 
 barrings " (or " Fencing of the Tables "), " Table 
 Addresses" before and after each Table, singing 
 between each two Tables, " Evening Directions," 
 Evening Sermon — lasted h'om nine in the morning 
 till nine at night without a break. As these Sunday
 
 1775.] IN JOCELINE'S CliYI'T. 29 
 
 services were preceded by two full sei'vices on the 
 Thursday, a sermon on the Friday evening for young 
 communicants, and a service on the Saturday 
 afternoon of tw^o sermons and the address oddly 
 knowm as " pirliecuing," and were followed on 
 the Monday by one or, it might be, two sermons at 
 one diet, it is easy to see how the Scottish Bctraite 
 was called " the preachings." * 
 
 It was at the Barony, not long before the time 
 when Dr. Burns was minister, that Frank Osbaldi- 
 stone; when about to meet Eob Eoy, according to the 
 fiction of Sir Walter Scott, dropped in u2)on the 
 worshippers. This is the scene he is represented as 
 having witnessed : — 
 
 ''We entered a small, low-arched door, secured by 
 a wicket which a grave-looking pers()n seemed on the 
 point of closing, and descended several steps, as if into 
 the funeral vaults beneath the church. It was even so; 
 for in these subterranean precincts — why chosen for 
 such a purpose I know not — was established a very 
 singular place of worship. Conceive an extensive 
 range of low-browed, dark and twilight vaults, such as 
 are used for sepulchres in other countries, and had 
 longbeendedicatedto the same purpose in this, a portion 
 of which was seated with pews and used as a cliurch. 
 The part of the vaults thus occupied, though capable 
 of containing a congregation of many hundreds, bore 
 
 ■•' Note affixed to an article on "James P.nins," b.y J. 0. 
 Mitchell, in " Memoirs and Portraits of One Hundred Glasgow 
 Men."
 
 30 SIB GEORGE EVENS. [Chap. I. 
 
 a small proportion to the darker and more extensive 
 caverns which yawned around what may be termed 
 the inhabited space. In those waste regions of obli- 
 vion, dusky l)anners and tattered escutcheons indi- 
 cated the graves of those who were doubtless 'princes 
 in Israel.' . . . Surrounded by these receptacles of 
 the last remains of mortality, I found a numerous 
 congregation engaged in the act of prayer." 
 
 We must try and picture to ourselves what good 
 Dr. Burns was like, because he will pass before us 
 many times in the course of this narrative. 
 
 His portrait hangs in the Library of the Univer- 
 sity of Glasgow, and we see him there depicted with 
 a broad, open, genial face, a quick penetrating eye, a 
 massive forehead, an intellectual brow, a connnanding 
 figure, and — a wig ; and thereby hangs a tale. 
 
 In February, 1888, a complimentary banquet was 
 given to the Rev. Dr. Smith, of Cathcart, on the 
 comx3letion of the sixtieth year of his ministry in the 
 Church of Scotland. George Burns (who has only 
 been dimly introduced to the reader as yet) was 
 unable to be present, but he sent a letter of con- 
 gratulation and apology, in the course of which he 
 said : — 
 
 Many a time I have heard my father speak of yoi; when you met 
 at the Presbytery dinners in the Black \^\\\\ Inn. He used to teh 
 of a custom the reverend brethren practised on one another in the way 
 of a fine of a bottle of wine, got up by any plausible pretext, such 
 as their discovering that my father had got a new wig, or some other 
 equally important event. You, as Clerk to the Presbytery, no doubt
 
 1775.] CONCERNING WIGS. 31 
 
 "\voi;l(l consider it your duty to insert the incident in the minutes of 
 proceedings. 
 
 In acknowledging the letter on the following day, 
 Dr. Smith, who, after the Disruption, was Clerk to 
 the Presljyteiy, said : — 
 
 I do not find tlie anecdote of your venerable father's change of 
 wig, and its penal consequences, recorded in our minutes — through 
 some criminal negligence of the clerk. But I find much recorded 
 there Avhich gives proof of louhtnii/eahlc qualities icithin that 
 reverend head — devotion to the Master whom he so long, so faith- 
 fully, and so successfully served. 
 
 Even the wig was a new-fangled fashion. When 
 Dr. Burns was assistant to Mr. Hill, he had occasion 
 to preach in the " tent," and when forcing himself 
 through the crowd he heard one woman say to another, 
 ^' Did ye ever see sic a head for a Fast-day ! " It was 
 at that time the custom for ministers to have their 
 heads powdered ! 
 
 The years rolled by, and the heritors of the Barony 
 parish, taking into consideration the ruinous condition 
 of the seating and the deficiency of accommodation 
 in their church, resolved to abandon the crypt of the 
 High Kirk as a place of worship. Dr. Burns was the 
 last minister who preached in the old Barony, and 
 one of the last, if not the last, Glasgow minister who 
 kept up the old " Tent-preaching." 
 
 When an official inspection of the old Barony was 
 made, the Surveyor in his report gravely wrote that 
 ^' very little light came from the pulpit ! " Literally
 
 32 Slli GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. I. 
 
 this was true, but metaphorically it ^Yas not. ])r. Burns 
 was considerably in advance of his times, and when 
 men were lifting up their hands in holy horror at that 
 wonderful innovation "The British and Foreign Bible 
 Society " ; when ministers deprecated fi'om the pulpit 
 the "extravagant notion " of converting the Heathen 
 by missionary agency ; when they even held aloof from 
 the x\nti- Slavery Society, using in support of their 
 position arguments which shock the moral sense of 
 to-day, he stood forth, almost alone in the Presbytery, 
 as an advocate of these institutions. His preaching 
 was of the Evangelical stamp ; his living was of that 
 simple and earnest type which distinguished the men 
 who were reckoned as " sound in faith," and by this 
 dual ministry he was as a light shining in a dark 
 place and in a dark dRj. 
 
 We have said he was in advance of his times : the 
 assertion may be further proved by an illustration. 
 
 There are many claimants to the honour of origi- 
 nating Sunday schools. Ludwig Hacker is said to 
 have commenced one between 1740 and 1747 at 
 Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, among 
 the German Seventh-day Baptists. It is stated that a 
 Sunday school existed at Catterick, in Yorkshire, in 
 1763. Certain it is that Eobert Eaikes, conjointly with 
 the Rev. Thomas Stock, planned and instituted Sunday 
 schools in Gloucester in 1780-82 ; but it is equally 
 certain that in 1775, the year after entering upon his 
 ministry. Dr. Burns was successfully working Sunday 
 schools at Calton, in Glasgow, which was included in
 
 1775.] FIRST SUNDAY SCHOOLS IN SCOTLAND. 83 
 
 his parish. These, so far as is known, were the first 
 Sunday schools instituted in Scotland, and they were 
 in a vigorous condition, under the personal superin- 
 tendence of Dr. Burns, five years before that memor- 
 able Sunday in July 1780, when, at the house of Mr. 
 King, in St. Catherine's Street, Grioucester, the so- 
 called first Sunday school met under the superinten- 
 dence of Mrs. King, who was engaged as the first 
 teacher " at a salary of one shilling and sixpence 
 per Sunday, of which sum Mr. Raikes contributed a 
 shilling and Mr. Stock sixpence." 
 
 In that same year, 1775, Dr. Burns married Eliza- 
 beth Stevenson, daughter of John Stevenson — of 
 the family now represented by Stevenson Hamilton 
 of Fairholm and Braidwood. Seven sons and 
 tW'O daughters were the fi'uit of this marriage, the 
 youngest of the family being George, of whose life 
 and times and friends we now proceed to write.
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 BOYHOOD— SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DAYS. 
 171)5—1812. 
 
 George Bukns was born on tlie 10th of December, 
 1795, in the "Holy Land" — not in Palestine, but 
 in a part of Glasgow which had been so named 
 from the fact that a number of notable and godly 
 ministers had congregated in one locality — a 
 piece of' land on the north side of George Street, a 
 little west of North Portland Street. These good 
 men were Dr. Burns of the Barony and Dr. Balfour 
 of the Outer Church, Mr. Macleod of the Chapel 
 of Ease, Mr. Williamson his colleague, and Mr. 
 Mushet of Shettleston. 
 
 What George thought of being born in the midst 
 of such overpow^ering surroundings there is no evi- 
 dence to show% but that they had no depressing effect, 
 and that he took very kindly to life, there is abundant 
 proof. He grew up to be a bright, happy, thoughtless 
 ]Qoy — as every boy should— and, being the youngest 
 of the family, he came in for his full share of affection 
 and regard. As far as possible, w^e shall allow him to 
 tell his own story in his own words, and it will in-
 
 17i)r,-1812.] MEMOUIhlS OF BOYHOOD. 35 
 
 terest the reader to know that the autohiographical 
 fragments scattered throughout these pages are the 
 remmiscences of a nonogenariau, and that the inci- 
 dents recorded are the floating memories of a man in 
 his ninety-fourth year, rehited without the assistance 
 of any notes or diaries. Sometimes these flashes of 
 memory start from a foundation in the present and 
 reach to a period at the very beginning of the century, 
 and vice versa ; sometimes they touch pier aftei' pier 
 of this bridge over the Gulf of Time ; but they are 
 singularly clear, and are given in the exact words of 
 the speaker. 
 
 My first school was a private one, under a tutor named Angus, 
 who was held in the highest repute as a teacher of grammar in 
 preparation for a full classical education. No girls attended his 
 school, but boys and girls went together to the writing-school, under 
 the conduct of Mr. Adam Stevenson. In the writing-class there were 
 ^^dth me two girls of the name of Mac Nab ; their father was a well- 
 known merchant in Glasgow, of the Clan Mac Nab ; they were on 
 most friendly family terms with Dr. Cleland, the father of my wife, 
 and the intimacy was kept up as long as life was spared to us alL 
 The last of the Mac Nabs had a pretty house in Dunblane, where, 
 when passing through to Crieft' to visit my son James Cleland, who 
 lived at Ferntower, which was the residence at the beginning of the 
 century of the famous warrior. Sir David Baird, I always went to 
 see my old school-fellow. She told a friend of mine that I was a 
 great talker as a boy ; but she did not tell the other side of the 
 question, how for talkativeness I was punished by the writing- 
 master, who took me by the ear and paraded me down the long 
 room into the coal-hole ! 
 
 Angling, from the days of Izaak Walton downwards^
 
 36 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. II. 
 
 has always been the " contemplative man's recrea- 
 tion," and it lias had not a little to do with the form- 
 ation of character in boys before they have become 
 contemplative men. 
 
 In my very early days I was fond of catcliing Hounders in the Clyde 
 in a shallow part of the river where now large steamers — to Avit, the 
 Cunarders of upwards of 8,000 tons — float easily. All down the 
 banks of the river Avere huts beside the " runs " that were let out to 
 fishermen. I well remember the fishers' huts along the banks of 
 the Clyde at Govan, below the Broomielaw, the harbour of Glasgow. 
 Salmon was in those days abundant, and was an important source of 
 revenue, but paper mills, chemical works, and other things have long 
 since banished it. When I was a boy there were myriads of small 
 fish in the shallow pools of the river opposite Mauldslie Castle, 
 formerly belonging to the Earls of Hyndford, now the property of 
 Colonel Hozier. These small fish were generally called " parrs" by 
 the boys of my time, and also by scientific writers. But there has 
 l)een a long dispute about them, and some have said that they were 
 salmon fry. In my father's early days, in his native town of 
 Stirling, it was a customary stipulation by servants that they should 
 not be fed on salmon more than twice in the week. 
 
 Among the earliest family recollections of George 
 Burns was the removal of the Barony congregation, in 
 1801, from the crypt of the cathedral to the Barony 
 Church. It must have been a relief to the w^or- 
 shippers, no less than to the minister, to leave that 
 dark, damp crypt — w^hich was again converted into a 
 1)urying-place, as it had originally been — and to wor- 
 ship God in the light of day. 
 
 In that same year, too, his eldest brother, John,
 
 1795-1812.] DAVID DALE, OF liOSEBANK. 87 
 
 was married to Isabella, daughter of the Rev. Jolm 
 Duncan, of Alva, near Stirling. 
 
 Another of his earliest recollections was the funeral, 
 in 1806, of the '' Benevolent Magistrate of Glasgow," 
 as he was called — David Dale, of Rosebank, on the 
 Clyde, the founder of the New Lanark Cotton Mills, 
 and one of the most well-known men in the city. 
 He was buried in the churchyard of the Ramshorn — 
 of which, aii^of David Dale, we shall have more to 
 tell hereafti^i— and it was a grand and impressive 
 funeral. Enormous crowds followed in the proces- 
 sion to witness the interment, and all the magistrates 
 and town officers were there, with their halberds and 
 insignia of office. 
 
 Little did George Burns think, as he mingled 
 among the crowd that day, that he, " the poorly- 
 endowed minister's son," would make his start in life 
 in the office of the New Lanark Cotton Mills ; and 
 still less did he think that some day he would have 
 Rosebank — one of the loveliest places on the Clyde — 
 as his summer residence. 
 
 George did not know the benevolent magistrate 
 personally, but, in after life, he used to tell some 
 good stories of him. Here is one : — 
 
 David Dale was a short, thick-set man. He had 
 an assistant named David Black. One day when 
 the High Street was slippery with ice, David Dale 
 fell ; and when he entered his office he said to 
 Black, "I've fallen all my length on the ice!" 
 "No great length to fall," said Black. " Ah I but
 
 38 SIB GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. II. 
 
 I've liiiit the small of my back/' said Dale. "And 
 whar's that ? " asked the impertm'bable Black. 
 
 In the years 1805-6 there was great excitement in 
 the minister's lionse. His second son, Allan, who 
 was fourteen years the senior of George, had at an 
 early age developed an ardent passion for a medical 
 career, as his brother John had done before him. 
 When a mere boy he entered the medical classes, 
 where his diligence and proficiency were so remark- 
 able that at the age of sixteen he was able to under- 
 take the entire direction of the dissecting-rooms of 
 his brother John, who w^as then giving lectures on 
 anatomy and surgery in a room at the head of Vir- 
 ginia Street, on property belonging to Dr. Cleland, 
 behind the present Union Bank. He was the first 
 private teacher of anatomy in Glasgow, and at a time, 
 too, when, and for many years afterwards, subjects 
 for dissection could only be obtained by violating the 
 repose of the dead. Opportunities of extending and 
 perfecting his knowledge w^ere abundant ; and in a 
 short time Allan Burns, though still a youth, enjoyed 
 a high reputation among the practical anatomists of 
 his day. Among his intimate friends was Sir Astley 
 Cooper, the celebrated surgeon, who entertained a 
 very high opinion of his abilities. 
 
 Allan had been advised to turn his attention to 
 medical practice in the army, and in 1804 he went to 
 London for the purpose of obtaining a commission ; 
 but his plans were altogether set aside by an offer to 
 repair to St. Petersburg to undertake the charge of a
 
 179;3-1812.1 ALLAN BUIiNS GOES TO liUSSL-l. 89 
 
 hospital which the Empress was desirous of establish- 
 ing in her capital upon the English system, and 
 whicli it was proposed should be called the Empress- 
 Dowager Hospital. Sir Astley Cooper recommended 
 Allan Burns to organize it ; and Dr. Crichton,* who 
 had much influence at the Eussian Court, promised 
 to exert it to the full in his favour, and proposed that 
 the surgical department of the hospital should be 
 committed to his charge. It was arranged that he 
 might make a six months' trial before finally closing 
 w^ith the offer. 
 
 Great, therefore, was the interest excited in the 
 home circle when Allan announced his intention of 
 going to St. Petersburg ; and George, the youngest 
 boy — then ten years of age — entered into the subject 
 with all a boy's eagerness. Allan went on board at 
 Leith, on the 27th of September, 1805. In a farewell 
 letter, written just before sailing, he says : — 
 
 " We, my dear father, have parted for a time, and 
 I assure you that it cost me much exertion to bring 
 myself to leave all my friends, but it was a necessity 
 which I had to submit to, and I did it with the best 
 graoe I could assume ; but, had you seen what passed 
 in my mind, you would have perceived a very bad 
 agreement betw^een my appearance and my senti- 
 ments. I forbear to add more, as it will only be a 
 :SOurce of mental aggravation of the separation which 
 I sincerely hope ma}^ not be of long continuance." 
 
 * Afterwards Sir Alexander Crichton ^l.D.. F.K.S., Physician 
 in Ordinary to the Emperor of Russia, &c.
 
 40 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. II. 
 
 Anxiously the members of the home chcle waited 
 to hear of his movements. He was a dihgent and 
 faithful correspondent, and a few extracts from his 
 letters will be of interest. Ai-rived at St. Petersburg, 
 Allan Burns, until he should acquire the language, 
 became the guest of Dr. Crichton, whose sister. Miss 
 Crichton, is described as, "without exception, the 
 most accomphshed lady in St. Petersburg : she 
 speaks four languages fluently, and is possessed of a 
 most extensive knowledge." " The Doctor," he adds, 
 "was highly pleased with my * ^^reparations,' and 
 carried two of them to the Empress, who examined 
 them, and has j)romised to accept them. Her 
 Imperial Majesty is very solicitous to improve the 
 state of medicine in this country, and for that pur- 
 pose has founded a superb hospital for instructing 
 candidates. By the advice of Dr. Crichton she has 
 ordered a dissecting-room, thirty feet by about twenty, 
 to be l)uilt instantly, for making ' preparations ' in. 
 We have already made two, and have soon the pros- 
 pect of working upon a larger scale." 
 
 Within a fortnight, however, it was found desirable 
 to go more slowly. In his next letter he says : 
 " Already I have been in a scrape with regard to 
 dissection, and so has Dr. C, who had requested 
 H. I. M. to permit me to dissect the bodies of such 
 as were come-at-able in the Imperial Hospital, which 
 was at once granted. In consequence of that per- 
 mission, I went along with Dr. C. to the hospital, 
 and at different times removed parts from tliree
 
 1795-1812.] HOSPITAL WORK IN RUSSIA. 41 
 
 subjects — decapitating one of them, who iinibr- 
 tunatel}' turned out to be a Euss. I had it brought 
 home, where I injected and prepared it. All this 
 went on very well ; but, in the course of a few days 
 afterwards, a German died, and Mr. Beverley, one of 
 the surgeons to the hospital, not knowing that the 
 person had fi-iends, very deliberately set to work upon 
 him. His relations instantly made a bustle about 
 it, and were only (piieted b}^ the Empress, who her- 
 self gave them twenty-five roubles, and forbad for the 
 future the removal of an}" external part of any body 
 except Tartars and Jews, who are here looked upon 
 as fair game, and their dissection authorized by 
 Government wherever they can be found. . . . Dr. 
 C. expects that H. I. M. will establish a complete 
 anatomical school in her own hospital, which she 
 visits almost daily in person, and the appoint- 
 ment he intends to request for me. . . . With a 
 view to that, I am studying Latin and Euss, and 
 devote from six to eight hours daily to this pur- 
 suit." 
 
 He asks for "Englisli books, for none are to be had 
 in this city, give what you please for them." He 
 says, " The Empress is veiy fond of anything which 
 tends to improve the knowledge of science in this 
 country, which is b}^ no means so destitute of good 
 svu-geons as was reported in Scotland. . . . There 
 are many difficulties to encounter here, none more 
 powerful than the env}" of one's competitors." 
 
 No arrangement had been made as to the re-
 
 42 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. II. 
 
 muneration he ^Y;ls to receive for his services. He 
 was far from rich, aud his expenses were heavy. He 
 had not heen a month in Russia before he discovered 
 that " the salary of sm-geons is here very trifling — 
 the pay of Government surgeons is not more than 
 M90, or, if they liokl two situations, it amounts to 
 about ^145. You will naturally inquire how they 
 live, and I will readily reply that they depend upon 
 private practice — which is not much more easily 
 procured here than in Britain : there are many 
 competitors, and there is much jealousy." 
 
 Allan Burns had no intention of running into 
 financial difficulties for the sake of securing high 
 Court patronage ; and when he found that there was 
 little hope of his obtaining a satisfactory emolument, 
 he laid his case before Count Strogonoff, in order 
 that he might know exactly his position before 
 committing himself finally after the six months' 
 trial. 
 
 The result was unsatisfactory, and before the ex- 
 piration of the six months he was on his way to 
 Scotland. On the eve of his departure he was 
 aroused at one in the morning by a special messenger 
 from the Empress, who sent him her parting thanks 
 and a singularly large and handsome ring — a topaz in 
 tlie centre, encircled with diamonds. On his return, 
 he prosecuted his profession with great success, and 
 became a highly popular lecturer on anatomy. He 
 always wore the ring, presented to him by the 
 Empress, when delivering the introductory lecture of
 
 1795-1812.] THE DEATH OF NELSON. 43 
 
 a course, but not on other occasions, hs it was too 
 large to be convenient.* 
 
 In one of his letters home, while resident in 
 Eussia, he refers to a great historical event : — 
 
 " St. Petersbukg, Nov. 28, 1805. 
 " We have, a few days ago, received an account 
 of the brilliant victory obtained over the combined 
 fleets, but the death of Nelson has cast a gloom over 
 the pleasure ; and his loss is, I will venture to say, as 
 sincerely lamented in this distant clime as it is at 
 home^ — so much so, that the English here go into 
 mourning for him, and a sermon is to be preached on 
 the occasion by Mr. Pitt. You see, therefore, that 
 though far fi*om the theatre of action, we can feel an 
 interest in the affairs of our native country, and 
 deplore the fall of that great and distinguished cha- 
 racter who w^as its guardian and its ornament. We 
 have also, for the last two days, had vague reports 
 of the destruction of the Boulogne gunboats by Sir 
 Sidney Smith, and the Eussians have done wonders, 
 as you will have heard by the official reports." 
 
 The death of Nelson helps us to tix in our minds 
 the period in history in which George Burns spent 
 his early days. He was a boy of ten years old when 
 the battle of Trafalgar was fought ; he was a youtli 
 
 '•' It is now in the possession of ]\Ir. John AVilham ])nrns, of 
 Ivihnahew aiid Cumbernauld.
 
 44 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. II. 
 
 of eighteen when the battle of Leipsic gave hberation 
 to Germany and decided the fate of Europe ; and he 
 was a young man of twenty when the battle of 
 Waterloo brought in the History of the Peace. In 
 his school days the talk among the boys would be of 
 the cro^\Tiing of Buonaparte as emperor ; the battles 
 of Austerlitz, Maida, and Jena ; the exciting incidents 
 and varying fortunes of the Peninsular War ; the 
 burning of Moscow, and the horrors of the retreat. 
 These last events — among the most terrible In 
 modern history — occurred in the j^ear that he made 
 his preparatory start in mercantile hfe. 
 
 The second school to which George was sent was 
 the Grammar School of Glasgow, now called the 
 High School. It is of remote antiquity — probably 
 coeval with the erection of the Cathedral. In 
 1449 King James II. requested Pope Nicolas V. to 
 grant a Bull to constitute a university in Glasgow, 
 and in 1450 it was founded, but there are records 
 of the Grammar School prior to that date. In Dr. 
 Cleland's " Historical Account of the Grammar 
 School"* it is recorded that on the 16th of 
 December, 1591, the Kirk Session, which was para- 
 mount to all local authority, gave orders " that a 
 connnodious place should be looked out in the 
 Quire of the Hie Kirk for the Grammar School 
 })airns on Sunda5^" 
 
 We cannot follow the vicissitudes of the Grammar 
 
 * Re-issued, with additions to date and a memoir of the author, 
 bv Mr. James Cleland Burns, in 1877.
 
 1795-1812.J CANDLEMAS OFFEKINGS. 45 
 
 School here, but one curious custom, in existence in 
 George Burns' school days, must not be omitted. 
 
 Every February a gratuity, or, in the well-known 
 words, " a Candlemas Offering," was given to the 
 masters. On that occasion the scholars were con- 
 vened in the common hall. When the masters 
 were seated in their pulpits, the boys in all the 
 classes were expected to walk up, one by one, to the 
 rector and give him an " offering " ; having done 
 so, they then went to their own master and gave 
 him also an offering. Wlien the sum given to either 
 master was under five shillings no notice was taken, 
 but w^hen it amounted to that sum the rector said 
 " Vivaf" ("Let him live ") ; on this the w^hole school 
 gave one "ruff" * with their feet. For ten shillings, 
 "FlorecW ("Let him flourish"), when two ruffs 
 were given. For fifteen shillings, " Floreat his " 
 (" Let him twice flourish "), when four ruffs were 
 given. For a guinea and upwards, " Gloriai " f 
 (" Let him be glorious "), when six ruffs were given. 
 When the business was over, the rector stood up, and 
 in an audible voice declared who was the victor, 
 by mentioning the name of the boy who had given 
 the largest sum. On tliis being done, the victor 
 was hailed by the whole scholars with thunders of 
 applause. Wealth carried the day ! The custom 
 
 * " Ruff" (Scotch), beating with the feet as expressive of applause. 
 Vide Jameson's Scottish Dictionary. 
 
 t Although the word " Gloriat " may not be good Latin, it was 
 regularly used at Candlemas.
 
 40 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. II. 
 
 was not abolished until Candlemas, 1826, when the 
 Grammar School was merged into the present High 
 School. 
 
 In the Gniiniuar School (says George Bums) I was under 
 ]\Ir. Alhson, a famous tutor ; the first lesson I was put through was 
 to read in English, and of all the boys who read, I was the only 
 one he asked under whose teaching I had been, and was pleased to 
 say 'I read very distmctly.' I told him I was indebted for all my 
 education up to that point to Mr. Angus. 
 
 For writing I was under Mr. Stevenson, a popular man, and a 
 good mathematician. When I was in the writing-school, it hap- 
 pened that when the Clyde was frozen over one of the boys of a 
 well-known family, named Eeid, was drowned through the ice 
 breaking under him. On the announcement, Mr. Stevenson spoke 
 very impressively and religiously to the class ; and in the course of 
 his address said that young Reid was, he thought, a very promising 
 boy, whereupon one of the pupils sprang up, and said, ' Yes ; he 
 jrrommd before he went out that he wouldn't go upon the ice.' 
 Then Mr. Stevenson asked, in general terms, what was the mean- 
 ing of the word ' promising ' ; and I replied, ' It means a boy who 
 has the prospect of good success before him in life,' and I was 
 much pleased when he applauded me for the answer. 
 
 When George was at the Grammar School his. 
 father provided a tutor for him, one Mr. Manson, 
 a licentiate of the Church of Scotland. In those 
 days gentlemen of tliat class were simj^ly called 
 "preachers of the Gospel;" they did not assume, 
 as they do now, the title of reverend, nor did they 
 wear hands until such time as they were appointed 
 to their churches as ministers. Mr. Manson was a 
 kind-hearted, good-natured man, and he must have
 
 1792-1812.] SCHOOL-FELLOWS AND SCHOOL PliANKS. 47 
 
 had his troubles with his pnpil, who, upon his own 
 confession, was " play-rife." 
 
 Among his school-fellows were Jaines G-ardner 
 (who afterwards became Colonel Gardner, the great 
 friend of Sir Henry Havelock), and tw^o brothers 
 named James and Cornelius Brown, whose father 
 lived in the upper part of the High Street, com- 
 monly called the Bell o' the Brae — an excellent 
 man, and an Elder of the Outer High Church under 
 Dr. Balfour. To these school friends reference is 
 made in the following reminiscences : — 
 
 When I was in the Grammar School the community was quite 
 aHve to the talk of invasion by Buonaparte. Volunteers were 
 mustered everywhere, and called after the name of their occupa- 
 tions or districts, such as the Grocers' Corps, or Drapers' Corps. 
 I, following the feeling of the day, boy as I was, got up a regiment 
 of my fellow- students and became their captain, and I have no 
 doubt James Gardner was under my command, but from the lower 
 grade I never rose, whilst he became a colonel in the army. 
 
 I was very fond of skating, and with great pleasure practised 
 it much on Hoggan-field Loch, about two miles to the north of 
 Glasgow. Furthermore I was a play-rife boy, and I might say a 
 mischievous one. There was a row of hoiises occupied by hand- 
 loom weavers (there were no power-loom weavers in those days) 
 not far from my father's house, and I rememl^er getting some other 
 boys to go with me to a weaver's cottage, where we pretended to 
 break his windows, but m reality only broke some glass we had 
 taken with us. It startled the weaver, who tried to catch us, 
 thinking his property was much damaged, but we scampered off 
 and escaped. 
 
 When George Burns was verging towards old
 
 48 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. II. 
 
 age, James Brown, liis class-fellow in the Graiiniiar 
 School, whom he had not seen since they were boys 
 together, wrote to liim, and in the course of his 
 letter said : — 
 
 I may remind you that when my late brother Cornelius and 
 myself were in the Grammar School along with you, you asked us 
 up to tea in your father's manse, and amused us by making in- 
 flammable gas with iron filings and sulphuric acid, and then, after 
 darkening the room, you rubbed your face with phosphorus and 
 appeared as a ghost ! 
 
 Among the stirring incidents of his schoolboy 
 days was the jubilee of George III. 
 
 It was celebrated in Glasgow on the 4th of June, 1810, and was 
 connected with the introduction of water to the city by a reservoir 
 in pipes from the Clyde a few miles away. Previous to that time 
 Mr. Harley, of Willow Bank, supplied spring water, carted in 
 butts, for which he received a remmieration from such families as 
 chose to take it. Now, water is supplied from Loch Katrine. 
 I was present with several members of my family at the opening 
 of the supply from Loch Katrine by the Queen and Prince Albert 
 in 1859. 
 
 I well remember the festivities in celebration of the jubilee of 
 George IIL in 1810, for I was then in my fifteenth year. Tlirougli- 
 out the country there was great loyalty, and in Glasgow all the 
 cart-horses were busked vniii hawthorn blossoms. The custom in 
 those days was to come out upon a balcony in the old Tolbooth 
 on the king's birthday to drink his health, and, having done so, 
 each magistrate threw his empty glass among the vast crowd below 
 — a proceeding which caused a great shout of merriment and 
 a scramble for it, as a memorial to be kept. This custom was 
 observed at the jubilee, but on a much grander scale. I may 
 mention, by the way, that the said balcony was also used for a
 
 1795-1812.] STABTING IN LIFE. 49 
 
 very ignominious pvirpose. A gallows was erected upon it for the 
 execution of criminals, and I have often seen enormous crowds 
 waiting for the horrible show, long since abolished. 
 
 In 1812, at the age of seventeen, George Burns 
 left school and started in his preparatory mercantile 
 career ; but before we follow him into his business 
 life, w^e must see him in his father's house and among 
 his father's hiends.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN THE OLD HOME. 
 
 De. Burns had no mause, but he had a most delight- 
 ful house, which he had huilt for himself on the 
 Barony glebe, then a pleasant, out-of-the-way country 
 place, although now standing in the midst of a popu- 
 lous neighbourhood. 
 
 One of the most unselfish and simple-hearted of 
 men, he had brought up a large family upon a very 
 small stipend, refusing for a long time to ask for any 
 augmentation, until his scruples were overborne by 
 the pressing entreaties of his " heritors." * 
 
 How Dr. Burns " got his augmentation" in 1826, 
 is worth the telling, because it gives us a ghmpse 
 into a curious phase of Church life and history. 
 
 The tiends f of the Burgh and Barony of Glasgow 
 
 - " Heritor " is, in Scots law, the proprietor of a heritable subject ; 
 a proprietor or landholder in a parish. 
 
 t " Tiend," in Scotland, is a tithe or tenth part paid from the 
 produce of land or cattle. After the Reformation the whole tiends 
 of Scotland were transferred to the Crown, or to private individuals 
 called titulars to whom they had been granted by the Crown, or to 
 feuars or renters from the Church, or to the original founding
 
 1795-1812.] DIL BUliNS GETS HIS ''AUGMENTATION." 51 
 
 belonged at one time to the Church, and subsequently 
 to the Crown, which, ever since the abohtion of 
 Episcopacy in 1690, granted leases to the magis- 
 trates of Glasgow, renewable every nineteen years. 
 For a long period the ''tack duty"* was merely 
 nominal, but at Martinmas, 1798— the year when the 
 ciypt in which Dr. Burns preached was pronounced 
 unfit for public worship, and it was resolved to build 
 a Barony Church — a lease of nineteen years was 
 given to the magistrates '' on the following terms, 
 viz. (1) To pay the stipends of the ministers of the 
 Cathedral and Barony Churches ; (2) To furnish 
 Communion elements for both Churches ; (3) To pay 
 one thousand marks (£55 lis. l^d.) for repairs on 
 the Cathedral; and (4) Two hundi'ed pounds Scots 
 (£16 13s. 4d.) as tack duty." 
 
 Wlien the new tack for nineteen years was obtained, 
 Dr. Burns was too modest to think of asking for an 
 increase from the tiends of the parish, but Principal 
 Taylor, of the Inner High Church, who had hitherto 
 been paid his stipend out of the Corporation Funds 
 in common with the other Glasgow ministers, made 
 application for an augmentation. Then a wise coun- 
 cillor uprose and said, " Why does Dr. Taylor apply to 
 us ? He is only one of the Barony parish ; let him go 
 to the heritors and get what he wants from them." 
 
 patrons, or to colleges or pious institutions. Tiends are now under 
 the administration of the C'ovu't of Session as a fund for the 
 " stipends " of clergymen. 
 
 ''' In Scots law, rent reserved on a " tack " or lease.
 
 52 Slli GEOBGE BVIiNS. [Chap. III. 
 
 This put the heritors of the Barony parish on their 
 mettle. Forthwith they called a meeting, and, after 
 the manner of the times, their trumpets gave no 
 uncertain sound. They said, '' Here is ' our own 
 minister ' " (as they were pleased to call Dr. Burns) 
 ^' who has never in his life asked for an augmenta- 
 tion. Why should we pass him by for Dr. Taylor ? 
 No, fair is fair; whatever Dr. Taylor succeeds in 
 getting, Dr. Burns shall have." Then James Hill, 
 a descendant of the Kev. Laurence Hill, the pre- 
 decessor of Dr. Burns, being learned in the law, rose 
 to his feet and said, " No man has a higher respect 
 for Dr. Burns than I have ; but he is getting to be an 
 old man, and although he will never trouble you as 
 long as he lives, his successor may, and may come 
 upon you and claim fi'om the tiends what you give, 
 or even more than what you give, to Dr. Burns. 
 My advice, therefore, is this, raise an amicable suit 
 in the Court of Tiends, and that will fix the period 
 to nineteen years before another increase can take 
 place." 
 
 This course was approved ; Dr. Taylor and Dr. 
 Burns both went into Court, and both got an equal 
 augmentation. Later on Dr. Taylor obtained a further 
 addition, but Dr. Burns did not apply again, being 
 content with the first decision of the Tiend Court. 
 
 Since that time great changes have taken place. 
 The Barony Glebe became eligible for feuing,* the 
 
 * A " feu," in Scots law, is a right to tlie use and enjoyment of 
 lands, houses, or other heritable subjects, in pvrjwtnitij, in consider-
 
 1795-1812.] HOME LOVE. 6» 
 
 presbytery of Glasgow approved of the proposal to 
 feu, and obtained an Act of Parliament, unopposed, 
 to carry it through. Now the income of a Barony 
 minister may rise to ^800 or .£1,000, but in Dr. 
 Burns' day it never exceeded ^€400. 
 
 Whether the income of Dr. Burns was larger or 
 smaller, his home was always the brightest and 
 happiest place in the world to his children. When 
 George was a youth, it was undergoing the inevitable 
 changes experienced in family life. Of Dr. Burns* 
 nine children, four had died young. John, the eldest 
 son (Dr. John Burns, F.E.S., the first Professor of 
 Surgery in the University of Glasgow), was married 
 and living in a house in Spreull's Land* in the 
 Trongate ; Elizabeth was married to a well-known 
 citizen, Mr. David MacBrayne ; Allan was lecturing 
 on anatomy, writing the books that made him 
 famous, and spending much of his time in travel- 
 ing, on account of his failing health ; while James 
 and George were at home. 
 
 But, in one sense, the whole family was always 
 at home : their affections and memories clustered 
 round it, all their interests were centred in it, and 
 they loved, as they had ever loved, its pleasant and 
 
 ation of agricultural services, or an annual payment in grain or 
 money called feu-duty. 
 
 '■'■' Named after John Spreull, a worthy citizen of Glasgow, who 
 died in 1722 — the last of those who suffered imprisonment in the 
 Isle of the Bass Rock, for his defence of religious lilierty in the 
 times of Claverhouse.
 
 54 SIB GEOBGE BVBNS. [Chap. III. 
 
 helpful associatious. A more imited family it would 
 have been difficult to find anywhere ; they loved one 
 another " with pure hearts fervently," they took un- 
 selfish delight in each other's successes, they sought 
 to help one another in their multifarious under- 
 takings, and all their affection was based on Chris- 
 tian principle. 
 
 Although George was so much the junior of his 
 brothers and sisters, they took him into their full 
 confidence even as a boy, and as there were elements 
 in his character that theirs lacked, they were apt, 
 even in his youthful days, to consult him. John was 
 contemplative — although in conversation abounding 
 in forcible expression, and at times indulging in great 
 humour and jocularity — Allan was erudite, James 
 w^as gentle and easy-going, while George w^as brisk, 
 energetic, and business-like, with a shrewd judgment 
 of men and things. 
 
 Every member of the family delighted in the home 
 life and in the company at the Barony Glebe. It w^as 
 a "house of call" for all the ministers and notable 
 men of Glasgow, wdio w^ere sure of a pleasant 
 "crack"* wdienever they dropped in. 
 
 Hospitality has been a characteristic of the Burns 
 family from the earliest tunea of their history — that 
 good old-fashioned hospitality which, as Washington 
 Irving says, is " an emanation of the heart breaking 
 through the chills of ceremony and selfishness, and 
 thawing every spirit into a genial flow." 
 
 * Scotcli — a chat; a free and familiar talk.
 
 1795-1812.] SOME MINISTERIAL BBETHREN. 55 
 
 There was no standing in tlie hall, hat in hand ; no 
 waiting in the drawing-room for some one to arrive 
 and coldly discuss the weather ; but, almost simul- 
 taneously with the knock at the door, there was the 
 genial " Hey man, come awa','' the warm welcome, 
 and the snug corner by the fireside. 
 
 Such hospitality died in England years and years 
 ago ; it still survives in Scotland, and it is possible, 
 even now, to get a flavour of the good old sort 
 that was common in Dr. Burns' day. 
 
 There was much more enjoyment in company in 
 those times than in these. Men were not spoiled by 
 newspapers and reviews and magazines. They talked 
 over the events of their day, and thought out for 
 themselves the j^roblems of current history, instead 
 of having all their thinking done for them by the 
 penny press. They told good stories one to another 
 with a hearty relish impossible in these days of so- 
 called " comic " papers. 
 
 Let us take a glance at some of the frequent 
 visitors, old and young, who enjoyed the hospitality 
 of Dr. Burns when George was a boy ; and first of all 
 the " ministerial brethren." 
 
 There w^asDr. Balfour of the Outer High Church, 
 an erudite, but withal a genial, pleasant man ; and 
 Dr. Love, very eminent but very sombre. Attached 
 to the Barony parish were four chapels-of-ease, but 
 there was no seat carried by them at that time into 
 the Ecclesiastical Court. Dr. Love ministered at 
 ^ne of these chapels. Afterwards lie lal)oiu-ed for
 
 56 SUi GEOIiGE BUBNS. [Chap. III. 
 
 some years in London, unci had a principal hand in 
 the formation of the London Missionarj^ Society. His 
 sermons, which were puhhshed in two volumes in 
 1829 — four years after his death — were considered 
 vahiahle. Although they went deeply into theo- 
 logical lore, they w^ere anything hut interesting to 
 ordinary hearers or readers. George Burns tells of 
 a man coming out of Dr.' Love's church and saying 
 to his neighbour, " Was not that sermon deep ? " 
 " Yes," answered the other, ''as deep as a dungeon, 
 and about as gloomy." No circle of friends w^ould 
 be complete without a sombre man in it, and Dr. 
 Love was a capital foil. 
 
 One day he and Balfour and others were dining at 
 Dr. Burns' house, and W'hen the guests rose to go, 
 Love sat still and silent. Seeing that he did not 
 move, Balfour went up to him, and throwing his arms 
 about him said, "Let brotherly Love coniimie f '' 
 
 Dr. Burns was ver}^ intimate with Dr. Balfour, and 
 they spent much of their time together. Once thej^ 
 went on an excursion to England in company, and 
 chanced to be in AMiitehaven, where thej' heard a 
 Scotch minister, named Mushet, preach. They kept 
 as much as possible out of sight, neither of them 
 wishing to take any part in that or in any other 
 service while they were travelling. But Mr. Mushet 
 had his eye upon them, and in his concluding prayer 
 asked " that the Lord might bless the preaching of 
 one of the ministers who had popped in amongst 
 them, and who would take the service in the after-
 
 1795-1812.] SACIiAMENTAL FASTS AND FEASTS. 57 
 
 noon!" He carried his point, and "one of tlie 
 ministers " (Dr. Balfour), preached. Strange to say, 
 this same Mr. Mushet was afterwards appointed to 
 Shettleston, one of the four chapels-of-ease in the 
 Barony parish. One of the heritors, Mr. MacNair, 
 said to a neighbour, " I wish you'd come and hear 
 our new minister; he's a strange mixture of grace 
 and giaikitry." * It was an accurate description, 
 and Mr. Mushet became a vahiable acquisition, as 
 possessor of these quahties, to the ministerial circle. 
 
 It was the practice in the early Church of Scot- 
 land on sacramental occasions for the ministerial 
 brethren to assist one another. Thursday was the 
 Fast Day, Saturday the Preparation Day, Sunday 
 the Sacramental Day, Monday the Thanksgiving 
 Day. There was a "running dinner" on all the 
 days, but on Monday there was something special ; 
 and the " Monday dinner " was always looked forward 
 to as an occasion when there should be free, haj^py, 
 and unrestrained conversation and innocent amuse- 
 ment. On these days every minister was supposed 
 to tell his best anecdotes. 
 
 Few things delighted young Burns more than to 
 hear the stories told on these occasions. Here are a 
 few of the crumbs which fell from that table : — 
 
 At one of these dinners I remember there was present the Eev. 
 George Logan, of Eastwood, who related how at a similar Monday 
 dinner they had cold punch — a great Glasgow drink — and the beadle 
 
 Scotch — meaning "wit and humour."
 
 58 SIB GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. III. 
 
 attended as servant. When he Avas carrying in the punch he had 
 the ill-kick to let it fall, whereupon George Logan exclaimed, ' 8ic 
 transit i/laria Monday ! ' 
 
 Another minister who was always present at my father's sacra- 
 mental time, the Rev. Adam Foreman, of Kirkintilloch, told how on 
 one occasion when he had his ministerial friends staying with him, 
 they had, as usual, prayers at breakfast-time. Just as they were 
 about to kneel down to prayers, a parrot, which had been taught to 
 speak, remarked sententiously, ' That's good boys ! ' which upset 
 the gravity of those Scottish ministers ! 
 
 My father used to tell many stories of the minister of Balfron, 
 near Loch Lomond, showing how strong the feeling of Scotch 
 people was regarding the sanctity of the Sabbath and its strict 
 observation, which prevented many from shaving on that holy 
 day. One was that the minister was shaving late on a Satur- 
 day night, when the clock gave warning that it was about to strike 
 twelve. Running to the top of the stairs, he called out hurriedly to 
 the servant, ' Betty, Betty, put back the clock five minutes ! ' 
 
 Another story of the same man was this : — A farmer came to him 
 with a beautiful dog as a present. The minister asked him why he 
 was parting with it? 'Oh!' said he, 'whenever we " tak' the 
 books " * the dog always sets up a howling.' ' Ay,' said the 
 minister, 'and ye think that I don't "tak' the books" and ye may 
 give the beast to me.' 
 
 We must not leave the ministers without intro- 
 ducing the session clerk and parish schoolmaster for 
 the Barony parish — Mr. Clugston.f He was a good- 
 looking, well-informed old man of most gentlemanly 
 
 '^^ Prepare for family worship. 
 
 t The name of his niece. Miss Beatrice Clugston, the founder of 
 the Glasgow and Dunoon Convalescent Homes, the Broomhill Home 
 for Incurables, and other philanthropic institutions, is known uni- 
 versally in Glasgow. She died in June, 1888.
 
 1795-1812.] DR. BURNS' LIBERAL SENTIMENTS. 59 
 
 bearing, and very highly esteemed. He kne^Y a good 
 sermon when he heard it, and he could recognize a 
 sermon that he had heard before. His son was com- 
 missary under Wellington in the Peninsular War, 
 and on one occasion young Clugston took the old 
 gentleman to London to see the sights and to hear 
 some of the great preachers. Coming out of one 
 church the commissary said to him, "That was a 
 good evangeUcal sermon ; did you not enjoy it ? " 
 " Very much, very much. A most excellent, sound, 
 gospel sermon, but I read the whole of it in the 
 Christian Observer as we came in the smack from 
 Leith to London ! " 
 
 The circle of Dr. Burns' ministerial friends was 
 not limited to any section of the Church. Although 
 of the Evangelical type, he was a very liberal-minded 
 man. In his day there was no evening service in the 
 Church of Scotland — only morning and afternoon 
 — and he took the opportunity of worshipping at 
 the Episcopalian chapel whenever there was any 
 eminent English clergyman preacbing in the even- 
 ing. This was an unusual mark of liberality of 
 sentiment, and it was accentuated by the fact that 
 he took his young son George with him. This was 
 a privilege and a pleasure felt both then and after- 
 wards, for it gave the youth the opportunity of 
 hearing such men as Mr. Simeon, of Cambridge ; 
 Mr. Saunders, of St. Ann's, Blackfriars ; Henry 
 Venn, the Secretary of the Church Missionary 
 Society, and many other celebrated Evangelicids.
 
 60 Sin GEOEGE BUBNS. [Chap. III. 
 
 Dr. Burns had known Toplady, the hymn writer, 
 who had given him a hst of the supposed Evangehcal 
 clergymen iu his day in the Church of England, and 
 the number was under forty ! 
 
 But we must not linger with the ministers. There 
 was another and even a wider circle of frequent 
 visitors at the Barony Glebe. 
 
 Amongst the oldest and most intimate friends were 
 Dr. Cleland and his family. He w^as a man of great 
 abihty, and was rising into eminence when George 
 Burns was a boy. Early in the century he com- 
 menced those inquiries which he afterwards embodied 
 in " The Annals of Glasgow^" and other important 
 works. He was one of the leading statists of the 
 daj' — the first to draw^ public attention to the value 
 of regular mortuary tables ; and he held a number of 
 public offices, not the least important being that of 
 Superintendent of Public Works. Withal he was a 
 plain, straightforward, and unaffected man — always 
 a welcome visitor. 
 
 Much as young George Burns liked Dr. Cleland, 
 he liked his daughter Jeanie better, and having no 
 young sister of his own, he found in her a companion 
 and friend from comparatively early years. Later 
 on, as the two families were so intimate, he thought 
 he could not do l)etter than incorporate them. But 
 at the time of which we are writing, he was only 
 a boy, and, as they say in novels, " we must not 
 anticipate." 
 
 Time would fail to tell of the Duncans, the Steven-
 
 1795-1812.] REMINISCENCES. 01 
 
 sons, the Finlays, the Campbells, the Bah-ds, the Bal- 
 manos, and a host of others we need not even mention 
 here, as we shall meet with them again in the course 
 of this narrative ; but we may gather up in this place a 
 few of George Burns' reminiscences of those we have 
 named. 
 
 Mr. Duncan was I^r. Balfour's son-in-law, and son of the Rev. 
 Mr. Duncan, of Alva parish, near Stirling. My brother, the doctor, 
 married his sister, consequently there was close family intercourse. 
 He was much in society. He once told me he had an introduction 
 to Mr. Bolton, of Bolton and Watt (James Watt), of Birmingham. 
 Mr. Bolton invited him to his country house, and Mr. Duncan, who 
 was then a young man, thanked him for doing so, but said he 
 was sorry to give him any trouble. Mr. Bolton at once replied, ' It 
 will not give me any trouble, but it may my housemaid.' Mr. 
 Duncan said to me, ' George, when any gentleman asks you to 
 visit him, take care not to say anything about the trouble it may 
 give.' 
 
 One of my uncles. Captain Allan Stevenson, was at the taking of 
 Martinique in 1786. He retired from the army in order to many 
 a Hamilton lady. This intention he carried out, and built a house 
 at Hamilton, where he lived for many years. Afterwards he came 
 to Glasgow for a short time, and then went down to Rothesay, 
 where he built a house — the first ever erected in Craigmore, a 
 suburb of Rothesay. At that time juries were made up chiefly of 
 country gentlemen, and it was always my delight, as a young man, 
 when he was summoned, because he then came to my father's 
 house. He was kind and genial, and his war and other stories, 
 and his interesting conversation, had a great charm for me. He, 
 like all others of that class, wore high top-boots. 
 
 The brother of Captain Allan Stevenson was also in the army, 
 and he settled in a house of his own in Hamilton. The son of the 
 latter was born on the same day that I was, viz., the 10th of
 
 62 SIB GEOIiGE EVENS. [Chap. III. 
 
 December, 1795, and, like myself, was named George. I was born 
 in the morning, and he in the afternoon, and I used to say to him, 
 ' You'll take care, George, to understand that I am your senior,' 
 He entered the army as a boy, and it was a great disappointment 
 to me, when I saw him with his uniform on, that I could not enter 
 also. I was very anxious to get in, but I aimed at nothing 
 higher than being a player on the triangle ! 
 
 Mr. Kirkman Finlay, member for the boroughs of Glasgow, of 
 which there were five, was always very kind to my father, who was. 
 intimately acquainted with his father, Mr. James Finlay. My 
 father baptized all Mr. K. Finlay's children. It was customary 
 on the occasion of marriages or baptisms to present the minister 
 with a little compliment, such as a pair of silk gloves for use in 
 the pulpit. On a particular occasion, when my father baptized one 
 of Dr. Cleland's children, he sent him, as a present, a cocked hat, at 
 that time an article of clerical dress among many ministers. My 
 father, however, declined the gift. On another occasion, not in 
 connection with either wedding or baptism, but as an ordinary 
 compliment, Mr. Kirkman Finlay sent him a present of six dozen 
 bottles of claret. 
 
 Claret, although formerly drunk in Scotland, had been very much 
 shut out by the Continental wars. My brother Allan, the surgeon, 
 had Dr. Gordon and several other medical men from Edinburgh 
 dining at our house, and as claret was not then so common as it is 
 now, they were enjoying it to their hearts' content, when a note 
 was handed to my father from Mr. Finlay, saying that his butler 
 had made a'mistake in sending claret instead of port ; and, believing 
 that my father would prefer the latter, he sent to suggest an ex- 
 change ! What happened to the claret drinkers I cannot tell ; but, 
 at all events, it served the purpose of raising a good laugh. 
 
 I could tell you stories about many old Glasgow families, with 
 some of whom I was familiar in my youth and some in later life. 
 Let me specify one or two. There was Dr. Balmano, for example, 
 after whose name one of the streets in Glasgow is called. He had 
 a sister who was well known in Glasgow, and was famous for her
 
 1795-1812.] ALEXANDER BAIBD. 63 
 
 smartness of intellect and of repartee. On one occasion at a dinner 
 party she sat next to a Mr. Kingliam, a man not particularly noted 
 for bis love of religion or its observances. In tbose days a round 
 of toasts was common at tbe dinner-table, and, what was still more 
 troublesome and perplexing, a round of ' sentiments.' When it 
 came to the sentimental part, Miss Balmano said to Kingbam, 
 ' Give me a sentiment.' He said, ' Give " Honest men and bonnie 
 lasses." ' She promptly replied, 'No, no; that'll neither suit you 
 nor me.' 
 
 Another well-known family was that of the Bairds, tbe great 
 ii'on- masters. Two of the brothers were in Parliament. Alex- 
 ander Baird, commonly called Sandy, had a great deal of mother- 
 wit, and was remarkably quaint and natural in the way in which he 
 made use of it. Upon one occasion be had a party at dinner, including 
 a well-known and respected citizen, tbe head of a great warehouse, 
 whose name if I gave it would be recognized and esteemed — and 
 Colonel Lockhart of Milton Lockhart, then commanding tbe 92nd 
 Highlanders, who were quartered in Glasgow, tbe brother of John 
 Lockhart, Sir Walter Scott's son-in-law, and Editor of tbe Quarterhj 
 Fieview — sons of tbe Rev. Dr. Lockhart, for nearly fifty years 
 minister of the Blackfriars Church in Glasgow. 
 
 Colonel Lockhart was a remarkably courteous man, and very 
 polite according to the old school of manners. Mr. Baird was a 
 bachelor, and in the drawing-room, when dinner was announced, he 
 asked Colonel Lockhart to go out first ; but tlie colonel demurred. 
 ' No, no,' he said, ^ Seniores priores.' Mr. Baird's reply was, 'Na, na ; 
 warriors before weavers ! ' 
 
 On another occasion, when Mr. Baird was one of a party at 
 dinner in a friend's house, while he was having his great-coat taken 
 off in tbe ball, his arrival was announced, one of tbe servants call- 
 ing to another, ' Mr. Baird,' and the other servants repeating it on 
 tbe different landings of the stairs, so as to announce bis name in 
 tbe drawing-room. On hearing bis name being repeated, and 
 thinking that the flunkeys were hailing him to come up the stairs, 
 Sandy called out, ' Hand yer whisht ; I'm comm' as fast as I 
 can ! '
 
 «54 SIB GEOBGE BURNS. [Chai-. III. 
 
 We must uot lose sight of George Burns in the 
 midst of his own and his father's friends, but this 
 somewhat digressive chapter will perhaps assist the 
 reader to understand more clearly his subsequent 
 history and his personal surroundings.
 
 CHAPTER ly. 
 
 STAKTING IN LIFE. 
 
 In the year 1812, at the age of seventeen, George 
 Burns made his preparatory start in mercantile Hfe 
 in the olfice of the New Lanark Cotton Spinning 
 Company. This Company was originated hy good 
 old David Dale, " the benevolent magistrate of 
 Glasgow," and was afterwards carried on by his 
 son-in-law, Robert Owen, of socialistic memory, 
 and other gentlemen (who did not, however, share 
 his views), among them being Mr. Allen, the well- 
 known druggist of Plough Court, London. 
 
 George Burns was placed in the Company's office 
 under Mr. John Wright, an eminently Christian man 
 belonging to Dr. Balfour's congregation. During his 
 father's life John Wright was distinguished in 
 Glasgow by the affix "Junior," which he only 
 dropped when he was himself quite an old man. 
 He was exceptionally active in l)usiness, in works 
 of charity, in social organisations, and in Church 
 matters. He was the fugle-man of the Volunteer 
 Riiie Corps, an Elder of the Church, a President
 
 00 SIB GEORGE BUliNS. [Chap. IV. 
 
 of the Magdalen Asylum, as well as one of the 
 keenest men on 'Change. 
 
 Between hmi and his young assistant there soon 
 sprang up a warm friendship, which lasted till death 
 carried away Mr. Wright. George often used to say, 
 " I owe him a deht of gratitude which can never be 
 repaid." And seventy-two years after the day when 
 he entered Mr. Wright's office, he wrote to one of 
 his sons : " You express the truth when you say 
 your much loved and eminently Christian father was 
 kind to me. He was truly a father, both in pro- 
 moting my temporal and spiritual well-being." 
 
 When George Burns commenced business-life he 
 did not, as too many do, drop his studies, but 
 continued them in his leisure hours — not as tasks^ 
 but as recreation. He was addicted to chemical 
 experiments and scientific pursuits generally, and 
 was much interested in electricity. He studied 
 during a regular course of lectures under Dr. Thomas 
 Thomson, Professor of Chemistry in the University 
 of Glasgow. 
 
 A few reminiscences of this period of his life will 
 tlii'ow light upon the times in which he lived. 
 
 I had a large electrical cylinder, but when I heard that there was to 
 be a public sale of scientific instruments, and other articles belonging- 
 to a gentleman who I knew had in his collection a fine plate, a disc, 
 and a very handsome electrical machine, I set my heart upon being 
 the possessor of those treasures. I made a bid for the disc at the 
 auction, but I was opposed by Dr. (Professor) Andrew lire on the 
 ]iart of the Andersonian Institution, or, as it is now called, Ander-
 
 1812.] GAS IN GLASGOW. 07 
 
 son's College. Professor Anderson was of the Glasgow University, 
 and was most desirous to popularise scientific knowledge. By his 
 will he appointed various chairs in the Institution ; amongst others, 
 one of Divinity, to which my father was nominated professor — but 
 this, and many others, never came into operation. Andrew Ure, 
 however, was Professor of Natural History and Chemistry, and was 
 a very popular lecturer in the Andersonian Institution. Although so 
 young, I was very intimate with him. I had a little money at this 
 time from salary which I received from my employer, Mr. Wright ; 
 but Ure's purse being heavier than mine, he obtained the disc. 
 
 George Bums never lost his love for science, 
 and one of his great delights in after life was to 
 attend, \\ith his wife, Faraday's lectures at the 
 Koyal Institution. 
 
 The introduction of gas into Glasgow was on this 
 wise : — 
 
 When I was in Mr. ^Vright's office, I became acquainted with two 
 young men named Hart. They were bakers, and sons of a baker 
 in Alston Street. They became eminent for their scientific attain- 
 ments, and I was a frequent visitor at their bakehouse. Their mode 
 of drawing diagrams was very simple — they took a handful of flour 
 and spread it over the counter or table, and then marked out the 
 figure upon it they wished to describe. 
 
 They were foremost in Glasgow in their discoveries in gas and its 
 applications. Gas was at that time quite unknown for illuminating- 
 purposes. They obtained permission from the magistrates to light 
 up the face of the clock in the steeple of the Trongate in the front 
 street outside the Tron Church (in which Dr. Chalmers afterwards 
 preached), the entrance to the church being through what was 
 called a Pen Close, that is an arched entrance. Their mode of 
 applying the light was to throw it upon the dial from an arm on 
 which a globe was suspended. That was the only gas light then in
 
 (58 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. IV. 
 
 Glasgow, and the Tron steeple continues to be illuminated in that 
 same way. 
 
 From the first, George Burns showed a decided 
 aptitude for business, and applied himself to it 
 diligently. If ever he was tempted to shirk it, it 
 was not from idleness, but from an intense and 
 irresistible love of seeing everything that w^as going 
 on in the world. In after life he was described, by 
 one who knew him w^ell, as an " inveterate sight- 
 seer." But he was not a sight-seer in the ordinary 
 sense of the word — it was with him a craving for 
 knowledge and experience. 
 
 He tells us how this love of '' seeing what was 
 going on" sometimes nearly led him into difficulties. 
 
 On one occasion I was sent by Mr. John Wright to the office of 
 Messrs. John Campbell, Sen., & Co., -svith some bills to get signed. 
 Buchanan Street being far west from St. Andrew's Square (Wright's), 
 but in the immediate neighbourhood of Alston Street, I found my 
 way into Harts' bakery to see how they were getting on with 
 their gas. I stayed a long while, with the bills in my pocket. On 
 finding my way back to St. Andrew's Square, I innocently delivered 
 the bills to Mr. Wright, who asked me what had kept me so long 
 in returning. I told him the truth straightforwardly, and assisted 
 him to discover that I had omitted to get the bills signed. He gave 
 me an admonition on the occasion which I never forgot — that while 
 the acquirement of knowledge was a very useful thing, I should, in 
 future, consider duty and convenience before staying away so long 
 again. 
 
 Much of George Burns' work was at first in 
 connection with the banks, and some of his recol-
 
 1812.] ROBEBT CARRICK, BANKER. 69 
 
 lections are amusing. He remembered the well-known 
 and somewhat eccentric banker, Robert Carrick — 
 familiarly called " Robin " by his friends — a shrewd 
 man, by no means averse to a good bargain. He 
 purchased a great deal of property in Lanarkshire 
 called Drumpellier; and when his friends spoke 
 of him as '' daft " to speculate upon such a 
 dreary and barren-looking place, Robin would look 
 out at the corners of his eyes and say sagaciously, 
 " The value doesn't lie upon the surface." Mine- 
 ralogy was not of much account in those days — 
 but Robert Carrick knew enough of it to make that 
 property yield a very handsome lordship to his 
 heir, Carrick Buchanan of Drumpellier. 
 
 Mr. Carrick, despite his wealth, was frugal in all 
 his ways. A friend once said to him that his dress 
 was getting old, and advised him to renew it. His 
 reply was, " Everybody knows me here, so it doesn't 
 matter what I wear." When he was in London, his 
 friend met him again, and made a similar observation. 
 He answered, " Nobody knows me here, so, you see, 
 it really doesn't matter what I wear " ! 
 
 As a youth, George Burns was often sent to 
 Carrick' s bank, where he generally succeeded in 
 getting some amusement, if not out of the banker, 
 at least out of his cashier, a tall, gaunt, unkempt 
 man, who, as the clock struck twelve, would rise 
 from liis desk and stalk across Argyle Street to a 
 public-house on the opposite side of the way, where 
 he slowly and silently di-ank a glass of whiskey.
 
 70 SIR GEORGE BURKS. [Chap. IY. 
 
 which he called his '' meridian." Having finished 
 that ceremony, he solennily walked across the street 
 and settled down at his desk, generally without 
 having uttered a word since he left it. 
 
 Young Burns was on a very friendly footing with 
 his employer, who asked him to take under his 
 charge the subscriptions for the Magdalen Asylum, 
 and thus awakened in him an interest in a valu- 
 able institution over which, at a future day, he 
 was to be a Vice-President, and to continue in that 
 office to the end of his days. Sometimes Mr. 
 Wright asked him to his house. 
 
 On one occasion I met at dinner there the celebrated Dr. Hamil, 
 a Kussian gentleman, who was sent to Great Britain by the Eussian 
 Government to obtain every information that might be useful to pro- 
 pagate in that country. I remember Dr. Hamil saying that he learned 
 the English language in print, chiefly on his passage from the Neva 
 to the Thames, the passages being long in those days ; and he said, 
 ' When I forget a word' (striking his hand on his head), 'I poonish, 
 poonish, poonish, till I recover it ! ' Shortly after his arrival in 
 Scotland, a gentleman asked him to come to his house and take 
 ' Pot Luck.' He did not know what that meant, but taking his 
 dictionary and putting the two words together, he shrewdly made 
 out that it meant an easy family dinner. 
 
 Although from his childhood George Burns had 
 lived in the constant atmosphere not of religious 
 words only, but of " pure and undefiled religion," and 
 had been surrounded by " serious " j)eople, it was not 
 until he was advancing towards young manhood that 
 any deep religious convictions impressed him. He
 
 1812.] RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS. 71 
 
 seemed to care for nothing but play, and every 
 kind of fun and nonsense ; and when at last it was 
 said that " George Burns had become serious," Dr. 
 Balfour, w^ho knew him well, expressed the utmost 
 sm-prise. 
 
 Eeferring to a period shortly prior to this, Mr. 
 Burns says : — 
 
 Before I was impressed with religious feelings, it was necessary, 
 as was customary, that I should attend ' the preachings ' in the 
 city, which occurred at the alternate half-year to the period of the 
 sacrament in the Barony Church. 
 
 I was allowed to choose what church I would go to. I always 
 chose St. George's for the Sacramental Monday, because invariably 
 Mr. Forrest, minister of Port Glasgow, preached, and as invariably 
 from the same text — ' BrhouJd I come quickly, I come quickly,' and 
 his introduction was always the same : ' I will treat this subject 
 with as much brevity as is consistent with perspicuity.' Certainly 
 he succeeded in brevity, which was the charm for me. 
 
 When the period in his spiritual history arrived 
 in which he felt it to be his duty, no less than his 
 privilege, to "publicly acknowledge himself to be 
 upon the Lord's side," it came about in the simplest 
 and most natural manner. We give the narrative of 
 the " crisis," as it is called, in his own words : — 
 
 Dr. Dickson, of Edinburgh, at the time of my father's Communion 
 service, was one of his minister- visitors, and preached in the Barony 
 Church either on Thursday, the Fast-day, or on Saturday, the day 
 of preparation. Well, I became strongly impressed with the desire 
 to join in the communion, and on Saturday evening I went to my 
 father and expressed my wish to him. He said he was sorry that
 
 72 Sin GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. IV. 
 
 I had not mentioned it earlier, in order that my name might have 
 been enrolled in the commmiion list by the Session, but he would 
 be very glad to see me at the Lord's Table. After that period I 
 began to take up with ^•arious religious institutions, and particularly 
 with the Sunday Union Society, which was then the equivalent 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association of to-day. The first 
 thing, after I became seriously alive to religious feeling, that set me 
 to work in earnest, was the text, ' Not slothful in business ; fervent 
 in spirit ; serving the Loi'd.' 
 
 One of the chief movers in the Sunday Union 
 Societ}' was Mr. Wardlaw — nephew of the celebrated 
 Dr. Ralph Wardlaw — an agreeable young man, and a 
 l^leasant companion of George Burns. The Ward- 
 laws were a power in Glasgow at that time. The 
 brother of Dr. Wardlaw was sub-Editor of the 
 Glasgoiv Herald — a man exceedingly fond of a joke, 
 as the following incident will show : — 
 
 Samuel Hunter was Editor of the (Tlnsi/aw Hcidhl — which at that 
 time was published only twice a week, Mondays and Fridays, at two 
 o'clock. It was his habit, when everything was prepared and out of 
 hand for the Friday issue, to take a run down to Rothesay for a 
 Holiday until Monday. He was a very pronounced Tory. On one 
 occasion Mr. Wardlaw sul)stituted a leading article, conceived in an 
 utterly Radical spirit, for one written strongly in the interests of the 
 opposite party. Wardlaw had only a single copy printed, which lie 
 posted to Hmiter at Rothesay. When Hunter read the article, he 
 was at first wild and disconcerted, then greatly perturbed, almost 
 doubting his own sanity. So he sped back to Glasgow, post haste, 
 only to find that he had been the victim of a practical joke. 
 
 Hunter was himself \ery nmch given to a display of dry, pungent 
 humour, and an occasional practical joke, and Mr. Wardlaw did but 
 ])ay him back old scores in his own coin.
 
 1H12.J DR. WAEDLAW. Ti 
 
 Eeligious work in those times was performed under 
 greater difficulties than in the present. Saj^s George 
 Burns : — 
 
 About the year 1816 I was Treasurer of tlie ' Penny-a-Week 
 North-West District Society,' in aid of the British and Foreign 
 Bible Society, and collected in 2Jr?/»/('.s upwards of £400 a year. 
 This brought me into connection with the Auxiliary Society in 
 GlasgOAv, and my father, according to my wish and of his own 
 willing mind, attended the annual meeting of the Auxiliary Society. 
 On the platform there were none but Dissenting ministers, except 
 himself, and at that meeting lie spoke, which was a marvellous 
 display of liberality for those days. That same evening my father 
 and I dined at Mr. John Duncan's, who had married the daughter 
 of Dr. Balfour, at that time leading Evangelical minister in Glasgow; 
 and well I remember, when I entered the drawing-room with my 
 father, how Dr. Balfour put his hands behind his back and said to the 
 Barony minister, ' I don't think I can shake hands with you to-day. 
 You have been away at a public meeting with the Dissenters, and 
 have spoken there ! ' 
 
 But Dr. Burns was, as we have ah-eady said, a 
 man far in advance of his age. About tliis time Dr. 
 Wardlaw, Independent Minister, was delivering at 
 the little church in Albion Street his famous " Ser- 
 mons on the Socniian Controversy," in reply to 
 one, " On the grounds of Unitarian Dissent," wdiich 
 had been preached by Mr. Yates at the opening of the 
 Unitarian Chapel in Glasgow. George Burns fre- 
 quently attended the ministry of Dr. Wardlaw, whom 
 he knew intimate^ ; and he heard with inlinite 
 pleasure the whole of the sermons on Socinianism. 
 Dr. Burns, being free on Sunday evenings, and
 
 74 577? GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap, IV. 
 
 having" no sympathy with sectarian prejudices, also 
 attended on several occasions. "■ I remember one 
 evening," says George Burns, " when he was ad- 
 mitted through the vestry into the crowded church, 
 and could only get a seat on the steps of the pulpit. 
 Dr. Wardlaw seeing him there, beckoned to him to 
 come in beside him ; but my father was too modest 
 to accept." This incident, simple in itself, has a 
 pleasant significance, for it shows that good men in 
 the early years of the century, though belonging to 
 different sections of the Church, were knit together 
 in the bonds of a sympathy that went much deeper 
 than their ecclesiastical differences. Another inci- 
 dent of those days is thus given by Mr. Burns : — 
 
 Albion Hti'eet was very narrow, and terminated in a through- 
 going close. It was under repair, and near to Dr. Wardlaw's 
 church was placed a lamp-post with a notice, ' No passage this 
 way ! ' Dr. Wardlaw's brother, the humorous journalist, at a late 
 hour one Saturday night, added, ' For Independents,' that all 
 going to his brother's church in the morning might read it ! 
 
 In 1813, the year after George Burns entered Mr. 
 Wright's office, there came a great sorrow into the 
 family. Allan Burns, after his return from Eussia, 
 resolved to occupy the place of his brother John, 
 who had discontinued his lectures on surgery and 
 anatomy. He soon became highly popular with his 
 pupils : his demonstrations were admirable ; he had 
 the happy art of making the most abstruse subjects 
 plain, and the driest subjects full of interest. But he
 
 1812.] DEATH OF ALLAN BURNS. 75 
 
 had a higher ambition than to rest his fame on oral 
 lectures, limited and evanescent. Already his brother 
 John had published several medical works, chiefly on 
 diseases of women and children, and they had met 
 with marked success. Allan, therefore, determined 
 to give the fruits of his studies in a series of contri- 
 butions to the literature of his profession. His first 
 work, " Observations on some of the most frequent 
 and important Diseases of the Heart," was pubhshed 
 in 1809; the second, published in 1812, was " On the 
 Surgical Anatomy of the Head and Neck." 
 
 Both of these works made their mark, not only in 
 Britain but on the Continent, and a career of unusual 
 professional distinction was opening up to him — when 
 serious illness supervened, arising from a puncture 
 received while dissecting. So early as 1810 his 
 health had begun to give way, and though he con- 
 tinued to lecture for two years afterwards, it was with 
 great difficulty and pain. 
 
 John Burns had much more pronounced views on 
 religious questions than his brother Allan, and often 
 urged upon him, in letters full of exquisite tenderness 
 and burning earnestness, the need and privilege of 
 personal consecration to God. The following letter 
 from Allan, with a note affixed after his death b}" 
 John, gives at once a glimpse of brotherly affection 
 and of Christian zeal : — 
 
 Deak John, — I have read your letter with care, and cordiahy 
 agree in its contents. But for the present I have made up my mind
 
 76 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. IY. 
 
 not to partake of the sacrament, not from being influenced by any 
 of the considerations which you notice, but simply because I am not 
 satisfied that my sentiments will permanently remain such as they 
 are at present. If they continue the same till the next dispensa- 
 tion of the Lord's vSupper, I will then assuredly follow your advice, 
 for which I sincerely thank you. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 Allan Burns. 
 
 [Notp:. — This was received in November, 1812, and my brother 
 died 24th of June, 1813. His sentiments did remain permanent, 
 and he fell asleep in the joyful assurance of salvation throu^iih 
 Jesus, declaring that Satan, who struggled hard to have his soul, 
 should not prevail, and before he became insensible, cried out that 
 now he had clearer views than ever. John Burns. 
 
 Jnnr 2(5, 1818.] 
 
 Dr. Warcllaw was of great spiritual serYice to Allan 
 Burns on his death-bed, and this became an addi- 
 tional bond of union between himself and the Burns 
 family. 
 
 But there was a new light soon to break in upon 
 Glasgow, and how George Burns rejoiced in that 
 light we shall see in the next chapter.
 
 CHAPTEE A\ 
 
 WITH DE. CHALMERS. 
 
 On the 30th of March, 1815, the Eev. Thomas 
 Chahners, of Kilmany, preached his first serraoii in 
 Glasgow, a few laonths prior to his admission as 
 Minister of the Tron Church. Among his hearers 
 was George Burns, who fell at once under the potent 
 spell of the great preacher. 
 
 One of Chalmers' earhest sermons was h-om the 
 words "I am not mad ; " it was a vindication of his 
 past, a pledge and a prophecy of his future, and it 
 made a deep impression on the mind of George Burns. 
 Commencing, as was his wont, in a low, monotonous 
 key, neither attractive nor solenni, with a voice 
 somewhat harsh but not strong, using occasional 
 gestures which were rude and awkward, and speaking 
 with " a pronunciation not only broadly national but 
 broadly provincial, distorting almost every word he 
 uttered with some barbarous novelty," * there was 
 nothing to indicate the power and the genius of the 
 man. Nor did the pale, unemotional, plain face, 
 
 * Hanna's " Life of Dr. Chalmers."
 
 78 SIB GEORGE BUIiNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 with its broad and prominent cheek-bones, and large 
 half-closed eyelids, betoken the magical influence the 
 great champion of the Evangelical revival was to 
 wield. But as he warmed into his subject, burst 
 himself free from all conventional fetters, and threw 
 himself out upon his theme, the face and figure of the 
 man were transfigured ; his voice lost much of its 
 harshness, and his gestures seemed the natural com- 
 plement of his words as the glories of his eloquence 
 poured forth — electrifying all who heard him. 
 
 Shortly after this he preached from the text^ 
 " Brethren, pray for us," a sermon full of earnest 
 Christian zeal, of tender and of passionate pathos, in 
 startling contrast to those he had hitherto preached, 
 using words of affection so softly that, 
 
 " Like flakes of feathered snow, 
 They melted as they fell." 
 
 From that day forth the allegiance of George Burns 
 was won : he had found in the minister a man after 
 his own heart, whom he could admire and love, and 
 under whose leadership he could work '' with both 
 hands, earnestly." Soon there sprang up between 
 the great preacher and the young man of business a 
 close intimacy, and a love strong as death. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers lived in the closest fi-iendshij) with 
 men much younger than himself. Of James Ander- 
 son, who was ten years his junior, he wrote, " I 
 have never encountered a more vigorous intellect 
 than his;" Thomas Smith, the first-fruits spiritu-
 
 1815-23.] THE ASTBONOMICAL SEIiMONS. 79 
 
 ally of his ministry in Glasgow, with whom he had 
 formed such a singular attachment, was but a 
 youth ; while George Burns was fifteen years the 
 junior of Chalmers, Burns being in his twentieth 
 year and Chalmers in his thirty-fifth. 
 
 In the course of years some hundreds of letters 
 passed between these two, but unfortunately they 
 have been mislaid or destroyed, and we must content 
 ourselves, therefore, by weaving together into as 
 complete a narrative as may be, the fragmentary 
 recollections of long-later years. 
 
 At the time of Dr. Chalmers' settlement in Glas- 
 gow, it was the custom for the eight parish ministers 
 to preach in rotation at the Tron Church on Thursday 
 in each week. It had come to be a poor, lifeless 
 aftair ; sometimes not more than ten or a dozen old 
 people attending the service. But on Thursday, the 
 23rd of November, 1815, the " duty " devolved upon 
 Dr. Chalmers, who delivered on that occasion the 
 first of his famous series of" Astronomical Sermons." 
 The church was crammed to excess, the interest was 
 intense, the whole affair was utterty novel. 
 
 As George Bmiis came out of the church, on the 
 day when the first sermon of the series was preached, 
 he was able to give attention to the people who had 
 composed the congregation, and he was struck to 
 find that many of them were the most unlikel}^ he 
 would have expected to see — rich and poor, leai'iied 
 and illiterate, religious and profane, all had flocked 
 together to the church that day.
 
 80 SUi GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap, V. 
 
 x\s lie stood, he cliunceJ to overhear a short con- 
 versatioD l)et\veeii two old women. " Hey," said 
 one, " hut he was bonnie on the staurs (stars) the 
 day." "I daur say," answered the other, "and 
 it w\is a braw sermon, ])nt I didna understand what 
 he meant, l)ut T'se warrant lie kent a' aboot it 
 himsel' ! " 
 
 "The spectacle," says Dr. Hanna, "which pre- 
 sented itself in the Trongate upon the day of the 
 delivery of each new astronomical discourse, was a 
 most singular one. Long ere the bell began to 
 ring, a stream of people might be seen passing- 
 through the passage which led into the Tron 
 Church. Across the street, and nearly opposite to 
 this passage, was the old reading-room where all the 
 Glasgow merchants met. So soon, however, as the 
 gathering, quickening stream on the opposite side 
 of the street gave the accustomed warning, out flowed 
 the occupants of the coffee-room ; the pages of the 
 Herald or the Courier were for a while forsaken, 
 and during two of the best business hours of the 
 day the old reading-room wore a strange aspect of 
 desolation." 
 
 Many merchants not only left their desks in those 
 days, l)ut allowed their clerks to do the same, and 
 George Burns attended every lecture of the series 
 extending from November, 1815, to December, 181(3. 
 
 When Dr. Chalmers settled in Glasgow, he was 
 revolving vast schemes in his mind. Ki first he had 
 determined " to establish it as a doctrine that the
 
 1815-23.] A WORKING CHURCH. HI 
 
 life of a town minister should be what the life of a 
 country minister might be, that is, a life of intellec- 
 tual leisure with the otium of literary pursuits, and 
 his entire time disposable to the purposes to which 
 the apostles gave themselves wdiolly, that is, the 
 ministry of the word and prayer." But when he found 
 himself in times all out of joint, in a parish with a 
 population of from eleven to twelve thousand souls ; 
 in the midst of appalling ignorance and appalling 
 poverty, watli pauperism — which he hated — abound- 
 ing everywhere, and charity recklessly and harmfuU}' 
 administered, he determined to make war against 
 the existing state of things. 
 
 Chalmers was a firm believer in every member of 
 a church taking part in church work, instead of 
 throwing the whole burden upon the shoulders of the 
 minister. Hitherto the chief duties of the elders had 
 consisted in standing by a plate at the church door 
 to receive contributions, distributing them to the 
 poor, and occasionally visiting the sick. Henceforth 
 not for elders only, but for every member of the 
 church and congregation whom he could rouse to a 
 sense of responsibility, he was ready to organize work 
 and assign a position. 
 
 Foremost among his efforts was the establishment 
 of a comprehensive system of Sabbath Evening- 
 Schools, to counteract in some degree the deplorable 
 ignorance he had discovered among the young people 
 of the wynds and alleys. 
 
 He invited a few j^icked members of his congrega-
 
 82 Sin GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 tion to form themselves into a society for the purpose 
 of estabHshiug such schools in various districts of 
 his parish, and on the 3rd of December, 1816, the 
 first of these schools was opened in Campbell Street 
 with thirteen in attendance. Fresh schools soon 
 followed, and within two years twelve hundi-ed 
 cliildren were under religious instruction. Monthly 
 meetings of the teachers were held, at which the 
 Doctor was always present ; and at one of the first it 
 was arranged that there should be no set form of 
 teaching, but that each teacher should, within certain 
 necessary limits, have full liberty to work according 
 to his own ways and methods. 
 
 George Burns was one of the first to enrol himself 
 as a teacher, and for many years, and long after he 
 was married, he continued his labours in the Sundaj'' 
 schools. 
 
 It was a difi'erent matter to be a Sunday-school 
 teacher in those days than it is in these. Now, the 
 institution is popular, but it was not so then. It was 
 a "revolutionary innovation," and was looked upon 
 by some coldly and with suspicion ; by others it was 
 sneered at and ridiculed; by many it was violently 
 opposed. Some professed to regard it as interfering 
 with the proper domestic training of the young; 
 others, that the whole thing was born of conceit 
 and pride, and that laymen were usurping functions 
 which should only be performed by the clergy ; while 
 manj^ lifted up their hands in horror at the terrible 
 amount of fanatical piety which was being fostered !
 
 1815-23.] A COUNCIL OF THREE. 83 
 
 From the platform and the pulpit Dr. Chalmers 
 vigorously defended the Sunday-school system and 
 the Sunday-school teachers, who, through evil and 
 good report, worked on zealously. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers, as we have said, chose for his inti- 
 mate friends young men with highly intellectual 
 endowments or special spiritual graces. No sooner had 
 he commenced those mighty enterprises which were 
 to create a moral revolution not only in Glasgow, but, 
 by the force of their influence, throughout Scotland 
 and in some degree throughout the w^orld, than he 
 took into his innermost confidence, to aid him with 
 their counsel and their prayer, young George Burns 
 and, though considerably older, Peter Gilfillan, a writer 
 (lawyer), and a man of good position, great ability 
 and warm Christian zeal. These two Dr. Chalmers 
 selected to meet with him every Saturday evening 
 for conference, and to pra}^ for success on the 
 following Sunday in the church and in the schools. 
 Dr. Chalmers proposed that the meeting-place should 
 be in Mr. Gilfillan's house, where they would be less 
 liable to interruption than in his own, and that the 
 fact of their meeting should not be made known, as 
 he wished to confine it to that inner circle of three. 
 
 In all the movements of those eventful times, 
 therefore, George Burns stood at the heart of things, 
 and in the incidents which we shall now proceed 
 to relate, we come into very close contact with the 
 prime movers. 
 
 In January, 1817, the year when Dr. Chalmers'
 
 84 , SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 " Astronomical Sermons " were running a race with 
 Sir Walter Scott's "Tales of my Landlord," and 
 twenty thousand copies of the Look were in circulation 
 within a year — "the first volume of sermons which 
 fairly broke the lines that had separated too long the 
 literary from the religious public " — the great Scottish 
 preacher appeared for the first time in a London 
 pulpit. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers was asked to London to preach the anniversary 
 sermon of the London Missionary Society. Mr. Gilfillan went 
 along with him, and I (says George Burns) was very sad to he left 
 behind ; not only because I delighted to accompany Dr. Chalmers, 
 but also because I had not at that time seen London, and could 
 not afford either the time or the money. When the Doctor was in 
 London, every attention was paid to him, and he was invited to the 
 houses of some of the greatest in the land, where there was gene- 
 rally a large number of the higher classes to meet him. On this 
 particular occasion he was staying in the house of William Wilberforce, 
 and while there he was invited to dine at the house of a noble- 
 man, where, among the guests to meet him, was the late Bishop 
 Philpotts,'-' of Exeter, who was remarkable for his cordiality and 
 
 * " The Bishop of Worcester," said George Burns, in paren- 
 thesis, when narrating the above, " was Philpot, whilst he of 
 Exeter was Philpotts, and the Bishop of Exeter used to call Wor- 
 cester ' my singular brother.' " On the occasion of a great meeting 
 of the Bishops for conference upon some ecclesiastical question, Vil- 
 liers, then recently appointed to the bishopric of Carlisle, found, on 
 the breaking up of the meeting, that the Bisliop of Exeter was, 
 with great difficulty, struggling to put on his great-coat. Villiers 
 kindly assisted him, and the Bishop of Exeter, in his well-known 
 courteous way, thanked him and said, ' If you live to be as old as I
 
 181 5-28. J DR. CHALMERS IN LONDON. 85 
 
 politeness. Dr. Clialmers was led up to be introduced to him, a 
 row of magnates being on either side, in the drawing-room. The 
 Bishop said a number of complimentary things, and the Doctor, 
 making a very low bow, said in reply, in the broadest provincial 
 accent, ' You're very discreet,* my lord.' 
 
 Although it was a great disappointment to George 
 Burns not to be able to accompany Dr. Chalmers and 
 Mr. Gilfillan to London, he had the gratification of 
 hearing from them an account of all that took place — 
 how the Surrey Chapel was crowded at seven o'clock in 
 the morning, although the service did not commence 
 till eleven ; how thousands were turned away fi'om the 
 doors for want of room ; how old Eowland Hill stood 
 at the foot of the pulpit during the whole service — 
 the sermon alone occupied an hour and a-half; and 
 how good Dr. Burder — the founder of the Eeligious 
 Tract Society — sat among the two or three hundred 
 ministers for whom seats in the gallery had been 
 reserved, mopping the perspiration fi-om his brow ! 
 
 On this visit Dr. Chalmers was also accompanied 
 by Mr. John Smith, his publisher, of whom and his 
 family George Burns saj^s : — 
 
 I well remember old Mr. Smith, bookseller in Hutcheson Street, 
 the father of John, who afterwards became publisher. He had a 
 circulating library, and was the chief man in Glasgow as a book- 
 
 am, I shall be very happy if I can assist you.' Villiers immediately 
 exclaimed, with a significantly jocular air, ' Oh, you mean to come 
 back to us then ! ' 
 * " Discreet," in Scotch acceptation, means very kind and civil.
 
 86 SIB GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 seller. He was a most gentlemanly person, ami had a powdered 
 head, as was customary in those days. He was a very orderly man, 
 and went upstairs punctually at six o'clock every evening' to take tea. 
 One of my uncles Stevenson was intimate with liim, and one after- 
 noon went into his shop to have a ' crack,' and to show him a 
 pair of handcuffs, a recent invention. Mr. Smith asked how they 
 were used. ' Hold out your hands,' said my uncle, ' and I will 
 show }ou.' My. Smith did so, and allowed himself to be shackled 
 by the wrist. They continued talking for some time, but my uncle 
 mischievously slipped out of the shop just before six o'clock. Poor 
 Mr. Smith was sadly disconcerted lest any one should come into the 
 shop to find him in such a ludicrous plight. 
 
 Mr. Smith had two sons. Thomas, the one to whom Dr. Chal- 
 mers was so devotedly attached, and who died early, was the 
 younger, and with him I was not acquainted. The elder son, 
 John, I knew very well. He continued his father's business, and 
 removed to St. Vincent Street, where he added to it the function 
 of publisher. Dr. Chalmers was very intimate with him also, and 
 he published some of Dr. Chalmers' earliest works ; but afterwards 
 Dr. Chalmers' brother Charles entered into partnership with William 
 Collins as publisher, and issued the Doctor's works. Collins was 
 one of Dr. Chalmers' Elders, and father of the present Sir William 
 Collins, who received the honour of knighthood when Lord Provost 
 of Glasgow. 
 
 It was when Dr. Chalmers was iu London on this 
 visit that he became acquainted with James Mont- 
 gomery, the Moravian and poet. From him Chahners 
 heard of the struggles of the poor congregations of 
 Moravians — that estimable body of Christians — to 
 raise among themselves sufficient funds to maintain 
 their missionary establishments, commenced and 
 carried on with so much zeal and heroism, in 
 Greenland, Labrador, North and South America,
 
 1815-23.] THE MOB AVI AN MISSIONS. 87 
 
 South Africa, the Danish West Indian Islands, and 
 elsewhere. In the course of his remarks, Mont- 
 gomery happened to say that " in the good 
 providence of God they received liberal help from 
 the friends of other Evangelical denominations ; " 
 whereupon Chalmers said, " I mean to raise ^6500 
 for the Brethren's Mission this year." Immediatel}' 
 upon his return to Glasgow he set to work, with 
 the result that nearly i^600 was raised. Early in 
 the following year (February 5, 1818) the Glasgow 
 Auxiliary to the Moravian Missions was formed, 
 the chief burden of which fell to the lot of Mr. 
 James Playfair, whose son still represents the work 
 in Glasgow. James Playfair and his wife w^ere the 
 most intimate hiends of George Burns, and it was 
 at their house he lirst met James Montgomery. 
 Dr. Balfour was the first president of the Auxi- 
 liary Society, and George Burns was one of a large 
 committee of forty members, and a secretary. He 
 never through life lost his interest in this Auxiliary 
 Society, of which he became the treasurer, and the 
 sole survivor of those who originally constituted the 
 executive. He received and read the whole of the 
 Society's " Proceedings," and had them carefulty 
 bound ; he came in contact with James Montgomery 
 and the elder Latrobe, for both of whom he enter- 
 tained the highest regard and esteem. Almost the 
 first of the noble band of men who had to relin- 
 quish the position they had taken up in this excellent 
 <cause was Dr. Balfour, the President, and one of
 
 88 Sin GEOliGE BUIiNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 the most eminent of the ministers of Glasgow. On 
 the 13th of Octoher in the following year (1818) he 
 was taken ill when walking, and in thirty-six 
 hom's died, in the seventj^-first year of his age 
 and the fortieth of his ministry, '' a man greatly 
 heloved." 
 
 In November, 1817, when Dr. Chalmers was 
 taking a little well-earned rest at Kilmany, the 
 Princess Charlotte died, and one morning, when he 
 was on his way to preach to his old parishioners, a 
 letter was handed to liim, announcing that the 
 magistrates of Glasgow had intimated that the day 
 of the royal funeral would he observed with all due 
 solemnity and ceremony, and requesting him to 
 return and occupy the pulpit of the Tron Church 
 on the appointed day. This demand irritated 
 Dr. Chalmers not a little, and in his reply he 
 said, ''It is a shocking place — Glasgow, and I 
 never knew what it was yet to have an excursion 
 from it without something being sent after me." 
 However, the momentary irritation soon gave way to 
 loyal and tender feeling, and in the little country 
 inn where he was staying he wrote a powerful 
 sermon fi-om the text, " When Thy judgments are 
 in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn 
 righteousness." 
 
 On the day after its delivery, the Bentinel, a 
 Kadical paper under the editorship of Mr. Prentiss, 
 distorted a passage, of broadest and most general 
 application, as specifically directed against the sup-
 
 1815-23.] '• THE HOSANNAS OF THE WHIGS." 89 
 
 porters of the existing Government, and belauded 
 Chalmers for coming over to the Eadical side. 
 
 Immediately after the publication of the article (says George 
 Burns) I went to Chalmers' house, Kensington Place, Sauchiehall 
 Street, to take tea with him ; I found him pacing up and down the 
 room abstractedly, with his cupln his hand. Mrs. Chalmers was 
 there, looking on anxiously. He evidently had something weighing 
 on his mind. Abruptly grasping a pair of candles, and calling me 
 aside, he took me to his bedroom, where he put first one foot on 
 one hob of the fire, and then one on the other, and burst out into a 
 roar, ' Oh — oh ! oh ! that I should be surrounded by the hosannas of 
 the Whigs ! ' 
 
 Acting upon the advice of George Burns and 
 another fiiend, the sermon, notwithstanding the fact 
 that it had been hastily prepared, was published 
 verbatim, and it was a coiujDlete vindication of any 
 intention to make a specific political allusion. But 
 Dr. Chalmers w^as a long time before he could recover 
 ti'om his annoyance " that he should be thought 
 capable of abusing so sacred an occasion by making 
 the pulpit a vehicle of political invective." 
 
 George Burns was at this time a very frequent 
 visitor at the house of Dr. Chalmers, who was a 
 capital companion, and wdiose ordinary table-talk 
 was full of interest. He was very fond of bright 
 and cheerful conversation enlivened with anecdotes. 
 These he could tell well, and many that, on 
 repetition, seem to lack point, do so because they 
 want the heartiness and vehemence of manner in
 
 90 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 which he told them. For example, George Burns 
 says : — 
 
 Dr. C'hahiK'r.s once told mu ;i story of ;i minister in Fife. He 
 preached in a country place where it was the custom for the farmers 
 to be followed by their dogs, and the do<>;s went into the church. 
 One Sunday there was a stout man sitting in the front loft (gallery) ; 
 he wore an obvious wig, and was accompanied by a dog which placed 
 his paws on the gallery rail. The man had come in late, had been 
 walking fast, and was extremely hot. He took off his wig to wipe 
 away the perspiration, and in absence of mind put his wig on the 
 head of the dog. The effect was so ludicrous that the minister was 
 greatly discomfited. 
 
 There was great familiarity between the pulpit and the pew in 
 my early days. Chalmers once told me a story of a minister who 
 was preaching in a country parish church, when the beadle struck 
 in, in the midst of his discourse, ' There's a lady's nurse wanted at 
 once ; if there's any one here, she's to come out.' 
 
 A well-known num in (Jlasgow, who was also much in society, 
 was Frederick Adamson, the sou of a minister in Fife, and who, 
 like myself, was a constant attendant at the Annual Meeting and 
 Dinner of the Society of the Sons of Ministers at the Black Bull Inn. 
 On one occasion Dr. Chalmers, Frederick Adamson, myself and 
 others, were dining at the house of my brother, the doctor. Dr. 
 Chalmers told many curious things connected m the old times with 
 the ' reading of the line ' in singing the Psalms. It was the custom 
 to give out one line of the psalm at a time, thus — 
 
 ' That man hath perfect blessedness,' 
 
 The congregation then took it up, and sang it, generally unmusically- 
 Many attempts were made by the ministers of the day to get the 
 custom abolished, as, owing to the advanced state of education, it 
 was no longer necessary. A minister in Fife, whose name I do not 
 remember, proposed to do away with the obnoxious custom, and 
 urged upon his congregation the arguments generally employed in
 
 1815-23.] ''IT GUSTS MY GAB." 91 
 
 such attempts. One clay he announced that the precentor would go on 
 with the singing without reading the hne. The minister, as usual, 
 read out the first two lines of the psalm, when the precentor began 
 to do his duty ; but a little rebellious feeling broke out in various 
 parts of the church, some of the people repeating the line, and 
 afterwards singing it themselves. On hearing this, Frederick 
 Adamson struck in and said, ' Mr. Chalmers ' (he had not then 
 been made D.D.), 'your friend did not find that the lines had that 
 day fallen unto him in pleasant places ! ' 
 
 Another story was told of Dr. Balfour, who, in an attempt to 
 abolish the use of the line, met with considerable opposition from 
 the old people of his congregation, one of whom came to him 
 with her objections. He asked for her reasons, and she said that 
 givmg out the line and singing it afterwards ' gusted her gab,' 
 i.e., gave a relish. Some time after that a music tune was used in 
 singing the psalms, in which the last line of the verse was repeated 
 three times. The same woman retu.rned to Dr. Balfour with a 
 remonstrance that this was even worse than taking away the 
 reading of the line. Dr. Balfour said, ' But it gusts iiu/ gab : do 
 you remember that, my good woman ? ' 
 
 James. Burns used to say tor liis brother, " Don't 
 you think, George, it is somewhat disrespectful of 
 you, seeing that our father is minister of the Barony 
 Church, to go and hear Dr. Chalmers and Dr. Ward- 
 law, and others, and leave the church in which you 
 should take the greatest interest?" "My father," 
 says George, "came to hear of this, and he said to 
 James, ' I am very well pleased for George to go 
 anywhere, so long as he hears and receives the 
 gospel.' " 
 
 Between Dr. Chalmers and Dr. Burns of the 
 Barony there was the most cordial friendliness, and
 
 1)2 SIE GEOIiGE BUJRNS. [Chap. Y. 
 
 the following letter indicates the feeling of both 
 with regard to the good work in which George was 
 engaged : — 
 
 Glas(;()w, Kensington Place, Oct. 10, 1818. 
 Dear Dr. Burns, — It quite escaped me, yesterday, to remind you 
 of our Fast-day on Thursday, the 29th of October, being Thursday 
 fortnight, and to request that, as usual, you would preach for me in 
 the afternoon. If I had had an opportunity, I think I could have 
 gladdened a father's heart by testifying what I feel and know of the 
 Christian worth of your son, ]\Ir. George. He is of the greatest 
 service to me in particular, and I am sure is doing much good for 
 me in various departments of usefulness. 
 Believe me, 
 
 Yours very affectionately, 
 
 Thomas Chalmers. 
 
 A glimpse of George Burns in his " Yarions 
 departments of usefulness " is given in some extracts 
 from tlie diary of Dr. Chalmers, published in his 
 "Life" by Dr. Hanna :— 
 
 T/iiirsJaij, AHijnst 20th. — . . . Walked a little with Professor 
 B. ; then called on George Burns about some parish business; then 
 ran to i\Ir. Smith's bath (and so on). 
 
 Saturday, Aiupist 22ncl. — Rose about half-past six. Composed. 
 Had Mr. George Burns, Mr. Eamsay, a Sabbath-school teacher, 
 Mr. Gillillan, and a younger l)rotlier from South America, to break- 
 fast with me. Went after breakfast with Messrs. Burns and Eamsay 
 to the parish, where I assigned to each a local district, and procured 
 scholars for them. . . . Walked home between eight and nine, and 
 on my arrival found a line from Lord Elgin at the Black lUill, who 
 told me of the arrival of himself and family in Glasgow. . . . 
 
 Siiiidni/, August 23/v/. — . . . When Lady Elgin heard of the
 
 1815-23.] MONDAY-MORNING BREAKFASTS. 93 
 
 Sab bath -school expedition, she countermanded an engagement to 
 dine with Mr. Mcintosh. . . . AVe adjourned to George Burns' 
 school in Charlotte Lane, when Lord and Lady Elgin both seemed 
 to be very much gratified. I conducted part of the examination. 
 
 In his diary and in his letters, Dr. Chalmers 
 frequently refers to the Monday morning breakfasts 
 to which he used to invite the principal workers of 
 his church, as well as preachers, students, and 
 visitors who were staying over the Sunday in 
 Glasgow. At these breakfasts George Burns was 
 very frequently present, and they were the means 
 of bringing him into contact with famous men of 
 the time, with many of whom, as we shall see 
 hereafter, he contracted life-long friendships. 
 
 The year 1818 was a very busy as well as a very 
 critical one in his life. He was throwing himself 
 heart and soul into every form of Christian and 
 philanthropic work, and was thus moulding his 
 character and his tastes into the shapes they were 
 to take permanently, while at the same time he was 
 revolving in his mind how best to employ those 
 peculiar business talents which it was patent to 
 every one he possessed. 
 
 A great impetus had also been given to his life 
 fi^om another quarter. Frequently as he had been 
 visiting in the house of Dr. Chalmers, he had not 
 less frequently been a welcome guest in the house of 
 Dr. Cleland, whose daughter Jeanie had now grown 
 to womanhood. She was young and accomplished, 
 and she and George, who had been early companions.
 
 'J4 SIE GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 had now plighted their troth to love and cherish one 
 another till death. "An engagement," said George 
 Burns on one occasion, " is, to my thinking, as 
 binding and as solemn as any marriage vow or 
 ceremony, and Jeanie Cleland was as much the wife 
 of my heart when v/e were engaged as she ever was." 
 
 In tastes, disposition, pursuits, and especially in 
 all matters regarding the spiritual life — which is, 
 after all, tJte life — they were in complete and perfect 
 harmon}^ 
 
 A packet of the letters that passed between them 
 in the early days of their plighted love, lies before 
 the present writer. As they are so very different 
 fi'om the majority of letters written under similar 
 circumstances — being full of high ideals, of a 
 chivalrous sense of honour, and of lofty aspirations 
 — one or two passages may- be quoted in this place. 
 
 Barony Glebe, Oct. 31, 1818. 
 My dear Jane, — If once we were come into closer connection, I 
 am sure it would be our mutual delight to have all things in common, 
 to share with each other in all that was joyous or all that was 
 grievous. I mean not merely that we should feel an identity 
 of interests in the weightier concerns .of life, but that it should 
 be carried down to those minuter and almost imperceptible' 
 niceties which are too often wrapt in mock mystery when all 
 should be opemiess and frankness. It is by a simple, unsus- 
 pecting reliance on the possession of the affections of each other, 
 shown by an unrestrained communication of all that we could loisk 
 to reveal, that we are to expect to find our enjoyment and attach- 
 ment ever on the increase. ... I know that there must be some 
 things which we could not with propriety tell to each other — but
 
 1815-23.J CHRISTIAN CONFIDENCES. 95 
 
 these form exceptions ; for instance, the very next letter which 
 I receive from my friend in ]*>razil, may contain something of his 
 own private affairs told to me in the confidence of friendship, and 
 consequently neither his letter nor my answer coiild I show to you 
 without violating the trust of anotlwr reposed in me. We must 
 often thwart our desire of self-gratification when the interests of a 
 third person come to be implicated in our disclosures, but in so far 
 as we are individually concerned, we have at all times a right to 
 unbosom ourselves. Let us avail ourselves of this privilege, since 
 each has found in the other a person congenial in feeling and 
 opinion. . . . 
 
 How completely and unreservedly lie wrs able to 
 open up his heart to her on all matters of religious 
 difficulty and experience, is shown in the following 
 letter, written while the influences of the engage- 
 ments of the Sabbath were fresh upon him : — 
 
 Moitday Forenotm, Nov. 8, 1819. 
 My dear Jaxe, — . . . Every sincere Christian feels in his experience 
 that these words of the apostle apply most emphatically to his own 
 case — ' the things that I would do I cannot.' The redeeming love 
 of God, when manifested to the heart by the Holy Spirit, engages 
 all the affections most pow^erfully on the side of duty, and begets an 
 earnest breathing after the possession of a complete heavenly- 
 mindedness ; the heart is enlarged, and it is our willing choice to 
 follow out in practice all that is pure and peaceable and praise - 
 W'Orthy, and also to submit, without constraint, to all that is self- 
 denying, when for the glory of Him who hath translated us 
 fi'om the kmgdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear 
 Son ; and, as long as our affections continiic to be (ictualh/ 
 interested in the behalf of the performance of that which is 
 required of us, it is evident that we will make a corresponding 
 and advancing progress in its attainment ; but it lamentably 
 agrees with our experience that there are periods in our exis-
 
 90 SIB GEOliGE BUliNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 tence, and these also not of infrequent recurrence, when, in- 
 stead of advancing, we are actually retrograding from all that is 
 spiritualising in the wisdom that is from above. At such times we 
 may retain the sense and jiuhjiiient of what is right, but we have lost 
 the affection for what is right, and it is in consequence of this that 
 we let slip the practice of what is right. Now from whence arises 
 this perversion and decay of affection, but from excluding from our 
 minds the realising thought of God's redeeming love. It is true 
 that no power short of the omnipotent power of the Holy Ghost can 
 orif/iiiiife in the heart such a perception of this love as will gain over 
 the affections to the side of holiness, and it is equally true that no 
 inferior power to His can perpetuate and keep in force the perception 
 at any subsequent period after its introduction. The whole, then, 
 belongs to the Holy Ghost of keeping alive that perception which 
 puts our affections in the right condition for making us to render 
 in our lives a thorough and devoted obedience to the will and 
 authority of God, who has alone the entire right of calling forth the 
 service of all our faculties of body and of mind. The whole of this 
 belongs to the Holy Ghost to accomplish ; but this forms no 
 excuse for our losing the maintained accomplishment of the neces- 
 sary perception. Why? Because although to Him belongs the 
 necessity of keeping alive the perception — to us belongs the neces- 
 sity of having the wish to have it kept alive. He must work the 
 work, but He has promised to do it, if we desire to have it done. 
 ' Ask, and ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find.' The question 
 respecting the freedom of the will is a most intricate and difficult 
 one, but it is of much practical utility for us to know that, somehow 
 or other, there does exist a connection between our wiliinn to have 
 the Holy Spirit to abide in us, and work in us, and His actually 
 doing so. 'Quench not the Spirit,' 'grieve not the Spirit.' 
 This implies that we may grieve and quench the Spirit ; we have 
 a power to oppose Him, but that power consists of nothing else than 
 a want of ivill to go along with His suggestions. I have but a 
 minute or two left me, and have therefore no time to follow out 
 this subject, further than to remark the vast importance it is for us
 
 1815-23.] PEIiCEFTION AND FBACTICE. 97 
 
 to court the influences of the Spirit by meeting all His suggestions 
 by a ready compliance. We have no power, it is true, of ourselves 
 to do anything to meet His wishes ; but power, as well as the Spirit 
 Himself, is promised to them who ask it. Now I have just one 
 thing to say in respect of not being able to do the things that we 
 would, and I have to say it in my own person, and from the cir- 
 cumstance which gave rise to the writing of the whole of this letter. 
 Yesterday I felt much. I thought, and I trust I was not wrong when 
 I thought, that I felt the comforting influences and manifestations of 
 this Spirit when engaged at the Communion Table ; but I had not 
 long retired, when, willingly enough, I consented to the withdrawing 
 of the perception of the love of God from my mind, which produced 
 the loss both of peace and of spiritual prosperity. Now, what I 
 have to say is this, that, if properly improved, even this may be 
 turned to advantage. Our spiritual falls ought to teach us humility, 
 watchfulness, a constant crying unto the Spirit to keep ever present 
 to our mind that perception of the love of Christ which alone will 
 have the power of subduing all our enmity towards God and His 
 holy law, and correcting all our perversity and preventing us from 
 backsliding. My prayer, my dear Jane, is, that you and I may be 
 by the Spirit led to profit much by all our past experiences both of 
 His goodness and of our own unworthiness, and may the God of 
 all grace grant that our connection may prove a sweetness and 
 comfort in spiritual as well as in temporal respects. Through all 
 your difficulties may the Lord lead you, and grant you health of 
 l)ody and health of soul, and may we yet praise Him more and 
 more, whilst in the land of the living, for all His goodness. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 Believe that I am yours affectionately, 
 
 G. BUKNS. 
 
 Although agreeing with one who long since said 
 that he regarded 
 
 " faith and prayers 
 Among the privatest of men's affairs ' 
 
 7
 
 98 SIE GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 we venture to give one more excerpt from letters 
 written about this period. 
 
 Satitrd((ii Fonnoou, Nov. 27, 1819. 
 My deakkst Jane, — I make continual mention of you in my 
 prayers. I never bear of a change in your circumstances, but I 
 make it the subject of a supplication on your behalf. I never 
 receive a letter from you, nor write one to you, but I make request 
 for a blessing upon the correspondence. I never read the Word of 
 God, but I plead for a saving, comforting application of its truths to 
 your soul as well as to my own. I scarcely ever omit you even in 
 the most transient approach which I make to the throne of grace. 
 I truly thank you, my beloved, for the blessings you supplicate upon 
 my employments in the Sabbath school ; plead also that he who 
 watereth may have his own soul also watered when visiting in the 
 district to which he is attached. . . , 
 
 It is difficult, when reading these letters, to realise 
 that the writer was a bright, fresh, and lively young 
 man of twenty-three, full of " go " and entering 
 into all the new experiences of life wdth extra- 
 ordinary vigour and enthusiasm. This was one of 
 the most peculiar features of the early life of 
 George Burns, and we shall dwell upon it more fully 
 when tracing the progress of his business career. 
 Although looking much younger than he really 
 was — for strangers took him to be a mere boy — he 
 had, in many spiritual things, " more wisdom than 
 the ancients." This will account for the singularity 
 of his h'iendship with Dr. Chalmers, and for the kind 
 and affable way in which he was always received by 
 such "potent, grave, and reverend signiors " as Dr.
 
 1815-23.] PETEB GILFILLAN. 9» 
 
 Balfoiu*, Dr. Love, and a whole host of others on 
 the one hand, while his remarkable shrewdness 
 and capacity for business will, on the other hand, 
 account for his being the counsellor of his father, 
 his elder brothers, and many others, in matters 
 relating to the business of life. 
 
 In the quotation we made fi'om the diary of Dr. 
 Chalmers, it will be remembered that reference was 
 made to " Mr. Peter Gilfillan, of South America," 
 who, with George Burns, was wont to spend each 
 Saturday evening in prayer and conference with Dr. 
 Chalmers. Gilfillan gave up the law, for which he 
 had studied, and entering the mercantile firm of his 
 brother James, went out to the house of business 
 in Brazil, where he remained for several years, 
 and subsequently returned to Glasgow, and lived 
 upon the fortune he had acquired. Dr. Chalmers 
 took a deep interest in his welfare, not less for his 
 own sake than for that of his friend George 
 Burns. 
 
 A few extracts from Dr. Chalmers' letters to Mr. 
 Peter Gilfillan will throw light upon the movements 
 of the times. On the copy of the letter we proceed 
 to quote, there is a note by George Burns as 
 follows : — 
 
 [Note. — IMr. Gilfillan requested me, before he went to Babia, to 
 open and copy all tbe letters wbicli Dr. Chalmers might address to 
 him, so that in case of any of them miscarrying, I might be able 
 to supply the place of the original by a copy. — G. B.]
 
 100 SIR GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 Df. Chaliinrs to Peter GiJfillan, Esrj., Buhni. 
 
 Glasgow, March 10, 1819. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I received your letter, and read it with much 
 feeling, in which Mrs. Chalmers shared. Think not that you ask 
 a great thing of me when you ask me to write ; I want to be your 
 regular correspondent, and to exchange every letter I receive from 
 you. You cannot be too particular in your descriptions of yourself; 
 and do you know that, placed as you are in solitude and among 
 strangers, I almost envy the enjoyment of your Sabbaths. God 
 will not forsake those who determinedly hang about Him, and 
 prefer fellowship with Him to the fellowship of His enemies, and 
 keep aloof on His day from the alienations and profligacies of an 
 evil world. He will experimentally convince them that in the 
 ■comforts of His gracious presence, and in the supplies of light and 
 love from his upper Sanctuary, and in the opening of their heart and 
 understanding to His word. He can convey a peace and a blissfulness 
 that the world cannot understand and cannot take away. 
 
 You know that I have often stated the connection which subsists 
 between obedience and spiritual discernment. You not merely 
 perform an act, but maintain a habit of obedience in keeping 
 out from all unworthy and unchristian associations. It is my 
 prayer that, as the result of this, you may experience a habitual 
 manifestation from God ; and I can conceive that, aloof as you are 
 from all Christian acquaintance, you may feel more of the power of 
 religion, and see more of its existence, than you ever did in this 
 country. It comes to you in a more direct and unmixed form from 
 heaven itself. You feel the realities of a fellowship with the Father 
 and the Son. You know that intercourse with the unseen world is 
 not a visionary, but a substantial, process. The secret of the Lord 
 is with them that fear Him, and He lights His candle in the heart 
 of every man that puts his trust in Him. 
 
 I have at length published my sermons, and I send you a copy.'''- 
 
 -•= A handsomely bound copy of these sermons Dr. Chalmers also 
 presented to Mr. Burns, with an inscription.
 
 1815-23.] LETTER FROM DE. CHALMERS. 101 
 
 I can assure you that I feel their leanness, and am quite sensible 
 that I have not attained the spirituality which I see in others. 
 How much further, as for example, is Series. Have you seen 
 his ' Christian Remembrancer ' '? If not, let me know, and it will 
 be sent to you. 
 
 It was with much feeling that we received your guinea for our 
 Sabbath Schools. The institution flourishes. We have now thirty 
 teachers and upwards of nine hundred children. I am going on 
 with great earnestness in the work of assigning districts to our 
 new teachers. I count it one of the greatest improvements that 
 has taken place, that of giving a local field to each of our teachers. 
 I send you our second Report along with the volume. I expect to 
 be in St. John's by June. I shall get amazingly fond of the parish, 
 I think, if I get all my arrangements carried into eflect. Instead 
 of examining the schools on Sabbath evening, which I find too 
 much for me, I propose making a round of them once a year on 
 week nights, subjecting each school in that way to an extra meeting 
 on a week-day evening once in the year. 
 
 Mrs. Chalmers has been in a state of general delicacy all this 
 winter ; I trust that she is now considerably better. The two children 
 are in great health. Anne is now at the sewing school, and is 
 moving rapidly onwards in her education. You will be happy to 
 hear that, on the whole, my situation is improving. I have great 
 comfort in parochial work. I examined, on a week-day evening 
 lately, Mr. Higgie's school in the Salt-market, whose children a few 
 months ago cut cold potatoes in the school, and played tricks upon 
 asses out of it.* They are considerably transformed since that 
 time, and it was indeed a very wiselike exhibition. I propose to 
 examine soon Mr. Johnstone's school, who, you know, succeeded to 
 your department, and to many of your scholars. I shall not fail 
 to mention you in their hearing. I occasionally see our excellent 
 
 * One Sunday, Mr. Higgle was shocked to find a "cuddy" 
 occupying his reading-desk. Dr. Chalmers and George Burns made 
 much fun of the circumstance at poor Higgie's expense.
 
 102 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 friend Mr. Burns, and have many spiritual and rich conversations 
 with Mr. Falconer ; I suspect that he is on the eve of retiring from 
 business, with the view of devoting himself to the one work of laying 
 up his treasure in heaven. My translation to St. John's will take 
 place in June probably, and though I have not yet carried all my 
 objects, I trust that I shall be able to carry them. You have a 
 place in my prayers, and I crave for a place in yours. Though 
 removed by a great distance from each other, let this bond of con- 
 nection be perpetuated : let us meet at the footstool of that throne 
 which is over all the earth. In your next letter, inform me of your 
 habits and occupations, and state of mind. The Miss GilfiUans took 
 tea with us lately, and promised to read some interesting particulars 
 when I called ; — I have not yet been able to call. I have not heard 
 from Mr. Blyth since he left us ; I can get a preacher of more 
 power than him, but I can assure you that I feel the want of his 
 household ministrations. There is a list of preachers, but it is 
 extremely difficult to get one suited at all points to the object I 
 want to put him to. 
 
 Mrs. Chalmers and Anne, who are both sitting with me at break- 
 fast, desire their kindest remembrances to you. I do not write you 
 the news of the place, trusting that these will be fully communi- 
 cated to you by others, though indeed at present there is nothing 
 astir. The prospect of dull times again hangs over us, though 
 Glasgow, I am happy to say, from the more moderate character of 
 her speculations, is suffering less than other places. Let us be 
 spiritually minded, and then we shall have life and peace. Let us 
 have the spirit of strangers and pilgrims, and the hardships of the 
 world will be less felt by us. I crave a letter from you soon, 
 though aware from the letter you sent ]\Ir. Burns that you are 
 greatly occupied. 
 
 My dear Sir. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Thomas Chalmers. 
 
 iThr (thon- receiird/ivin Dr. C. by G. JJ., Manh 25, 1819.) .
 
 1815-23.] ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, GLASGOW. 103 
 
 To Peter Gilfillan, Esq. 
 
 Glasgow, April 16, 1819. 
 My dear Sir, — I regret exceedingly that, from want of time, I 
 cannot possibly write to you as I fully intended to have done along 
 with the copy of Dr. Chalmers' letter which I send you, but in a 
 few days I hope for leisure to accomplish my warm desire of having 
 another communication with one to whom I have always been able 
 to open up my mind fully and freely. Would that that communi- 
 cation were personal instead of epistolary. (Dr. Chalmers' letter, 
 although dated 10th of March, he did not send to me till the 25th.) 
 Let me assure you that with much attachment and regard, 
 
 I am, my dear Sir, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 George Burns. 
 
 On the 26th of August, 1819, Dr. Chalmers entered 
 upon the ministry of St. John's Chm^ch, to which 
 he had been elected by the magistrates and Town 
 'Council of Glasgow in the preceding year, his parish 
 containing ten thousand operatives alone. 
 
 It would be foreign to our purpose to follow him 
 into those magnificent schemes he inaugurated, or 
 to describe the working of that huge machinery 
 which, by virtue of his own vital force, he bore upon 
 his Herculean shoulders. Very briefly, however, we 
 may say that, finding the misery and poverty of 
 Glasgow so great, he devoted his energies, in addi- 
 tion to his pastoral work, to improve the mode of 
 maintaining the poor, and at the same time to 
 obviate compulsory assessment. 
 
 When he went to St. John's, in order that he 
 might have freedom in developing his plans, the
 
 104 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. Y. 
 
 Town Council resolved that he should have "a 
 separate, independent, and exclusive management 
 and distribution of the funds which may be raised 
 by voluntary contributions or charitable collections 
 at tlie door of St. John's for the rehef of the poor." 
 Of the way in which he set to work ; of his com- 
 munications with Wilberforce, Matthews, Clarkson, 
 and other philanthropists ; of his tour through 
 England to examine Poor Law Administration, we 
 need not enter into particulars here. It is enough 
 to state that the principles and practice advocated 
 by him, not only when he was in Glasgow, but 
 throughout his life, are now acknowledged as the 
 foundation of every Charity Organization Society 
 and kindred association in Great Britain and 
 America. 
 
 When Dr. Chalmers left the Tron Church, 
 George Burns followed him to St. John's, to 
 attend his preaching and to take up Sunday-school 
 duties in the Gallowgate. 
 
 For a long time previously Glasgow had been in 
 an unsettled state. For successive years the har- 
 vests had been deficient ; war had been raging on 
 the Continent, stopping the supply of foreign grain ; 
 this had been followed, after the Peace of 1815, 
 by a strong and sudden reaction, with the result 
 that the Continental markets were glutted with 
 British exports of all kinds. In 1816 the harvest 
 was the worst that had been known for many 
 years — wheat rose to double its former value ; and
 
 1815-23.] ■ THE BADICAL WAR. 105 
 
 in 1817-18 war and famine prices were once more 
 reached. In 1819-20 the times were very troublous, 
 culminating in what was called the Eadical War. 
 Great distress ensued among the hand-loom weavers, 
 who in large numbers were thrown out of work. 
 Hungry and unemployed, thej' and others of the 
 poorer classes, soon fell a prey to the fiery appeals 
 of political demagogues and revolutionary leaders. 
 Want and misery were wide-spread and far reach- 
 ing ; the whole country was in a disaffected state ; 
 and from many quarters intelligence came of turbu- 
 lence and violence among the people. 
 
 Everybody was more or less in fear and trembling, 
 and the crisis was, without doubt, one of an alarming- 
 character. Civil war of a most deplorable kind — a 
 war of the rich against the poor, of the Government 
 against the people — seemed at one time to be in- 
 evitable. . In Glasgow there were rumours on every 
 hand of plots and sedition, of fierce marauding 
 attacks on property, of incendiarism and violence, 
 and almost every family had its story to tell of fears 
 and perils. 
 
 Here are some of George Burns' reminiscences of 
 the times : — 
 
 In 1819, what was called the Eadical War was at its height ; and 
 the rioters had a great dislike to all ministers of the gospel. My 
 father, who was one of the mildest of men, had, at that very time, 
 heen lahoriously engaged in investigating cases, and distributing the 
 Kinloch Fmid, a charitable bequest which parish ministers were 
 asked to superintend. I have seen him sitting with a table before
 
 lOG SIR GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. Y. 
 
 liim in the open-air, at the bottom of the outside stair of liis house 
 on the Barony Glebe, with a great niukitude of people around, 
 imdergoing the proper examination to obtain certificates for pay- 
 ment. 
 
 The self-denying labours of Dr. Burns were very 
 ill-requited : — 
 
 On one day a great mob assembled before the house, hooting and 
 yelling, when suddenly my brother. Dr. John Burns, came galloping 
 up on horseback, and a cry was raised ' The Sheriff ! the Sheriff ! ' 
 It showed how cowardly evil-doers are, for the Avhole multitude 
 scampered off and fled in all directions. 
 
 But the good father of George Burns was not 
 to escape the common lot of the times, as the 
 following portion of a letter to Miss Cleland 
 show^s : — 
 
 Monday Nvjht [no date]. 
 
 ... I have this moment been told by my sister that the town 
 is in a disorderly state at present, and although I cannot but be 
 anxious about your safety, knoAving that you must, about this time, 
 pass through the streets on your way home from Miss LIcArthur's, 
 yet I desire to hope in the mercy of God, trusting that He will 
 protect you. ... 
 
 I had proceeded thus far with my epistle, when my desire to know 
 something of what was going on in town, led me to stop short in 
 order to satisfy my curiosity by taking a peep at the outskirts of the 
 riotous district. I found everything apparently subsiding gradually 
 into quietness, and returned home again to gossip over what I had 
 seen and heard during my espionage. On my return my father, my 
 sister, James and myself, formed a group around the supper-table, 
 where we continued sitting till between eleven and twelve, engaged
 
 1815-23.] IN TROUBLOUS TIMES. 107 
 
 in forming opinions and wise conjectures relating to the events of 
 the evening, and withal congratulating ourselves upon the peace 
 and safety we enjoyed from our heing so distant from the scene of 
 confusion, when suddenly crack, crack, went the windows, and all, 
 in an instant, as if by electricity, started from their seats in 
 terror and dismay. There was the aged patriarch, our chief con- 
 cern, surrounded with a trembling daughter and her helpless 
 children, awakened from their peaceful sleep by the unexpected 
 crash, and there were the maids clustering round, stupejfied, and 
 some of them half dead with fear ; but although there was 
 certainly much to alarm, there was also such a goodly portion of 
 the ludicrous mixed with the whole scene, that it was almost im- 
 possible to refrain from laughter. But ludicrous as the appearance 
 was which the inmates of our house presented, it was nothing to 
 that of the family of the Grants living on the ground-floor below 
 us in the house which my father built. They had all retired to 
 bed, but the shock of the onset made them start simultaneously to 
 the lobby as to a common centre, where they met each other in 
 their night-gowns, pale and shivering like ghosts in their shrouds. 
 
 Eeferring to the attack — which was a severe one, 
 a large mob havmg assembled and smashed all the 
 windows of the Barony Grlebe with stones, besides 
 doing other mischief — Mr. Burns says: — 
 
 It so happened that the Saturday of the week on which it 
 occurred, was the evening prayer-meeting held by Dr. Chalmers, 
 Mr. Gilfillan, and myself. I well remember the tender tone in 
 which Dr. Chalmers referred to the attack, but subsequently 
 repeated Psalm x. 4 and 5, with great spirit, especially when he 
 recited the words, ' As for all His enemies, He j'tipi^'t^' 'it them.' 
 
 On the removal of Dr. Chalmers to St. John's, 
 Edward Irving was appointed as his assistant. He
 
 108 SIB GEOIiGE BUENS. [Chap. V. 
 
 appeared upon the scene just when the times were 
 in a most unsettled state, when people went 
 about armed, and sharpshooters paraded the dis- 
 affected districts. With a wonderful enthusiasm he 
 threw himself into the midst of the strife, and 
 engaged in the gentle mission of pouring oil upon 
 the troubled waters. 
 
 " Irving has no theories of cure on hand ; his 
 thoughts do not embrace the polity of nations. He 
 has not contemplated that troubled sea to divine 
 what secret current it is which heaves its billows 
 into storm. He goes down among the crowds which 
 are made of flesh and blood ; he stands among them 
 and calls out with courageous tender voice that they 
 are all men like others : men trustful and cordial, 
 kind to himself, open to kindness ; whom it behoves 
 their neighbours to treat, not with the cruelty of 
 fear, but ' with tenderness and feeling as well is due,' 
 he adds with manly and touching simplicity, ' when 
 you see people in the midst of nakedness and 
 starvation.' " * 
 
 A few of George Burns' reminiscences of this 
 strange, impressive, and large-hearted man, will be 
 read with interest : — 
 
 I was intimately acquainted with Edward Irving from the time 
 that he came to Glasgow as assistant to Dr. Chalmers. At that 
 time (about 1810) the Clyde was frozen over for six weeks, and he 
 and I were frequently together upon the ice. Little stoves, with 
 
 Life of Edward Irving," by Mrs. Oliphant, vol. i. p. 100.
 
 1815-23.] EDWARD IRVING. 109 
 
 hot coffee for sale, were on the frozen waters. Such a thing now 
 never occurs on the Clyde, in consequence of the deepening of the 
 river carrying oft' the water with greater rapidity, and the numerous 
 steamers upon it keeping it freer and in fuller circulation. Earlier 
 than that year, I remember well that when the snows were melting 
 in the upper wards of Lanarkshire, the Clyde overflowed its banks 
 and flooded the streets. I saw boats in Stockwell Street, sailing 
 along with provisions to supply the people in the inundated houses. 
 
 Irving had a singular facility in finding his way to easy conver- 
 sation with the working people in Dr. Chalmers' parish. On one 
 occasion he told me it fell to his lot to visit a shoemaker, who 
 turned out to be of a sceptical turn of mind. The shoemaker 
 showed no inclination to admit any conversation, but con- 
 tinued hammering doggedly at his last. Irving paid no attention 
 to this, but began to speak to him of the work in which he was 
 engaged, and asked him if he had heard of an invention which had 
 lately come out in London for connecting, in an improved manner, 
 the double soles of shoes. The shoemaker put down his last, and 
 fell into eager talk upon the subject. Irving had accomplished his 
 purpose, but was too wise to push at that time the real object he had 
 in view ; however, he returned again and again to the man, who 
 welcomed him gladly, and was at length eager to speak with him 
 upon religious subjects." 
 
 Irving was physically a powerful man, and in the days when the 
 road to Blackheath was infested with highwaymen, he was walking 
 alone, in the darkening of the evenmg, to London, when two men 
 who were lurking about seemed inclined to join him. Irving at once 
 penetrated their purpose of doing him some mischief, and, deter- 
 mining to make his presence felt amongst them, he opened up a 
 conversation by saying, ' I see we are all going the same way — to 
 
 =■■■ A reference to this story is made in Mrs. Oliphant's " Life of 
 Irving." Ir\ing was the son of a tanner, and could speak with 
 authority on leather. It was this that won the shoemaker, who 
 said, "He's a sensible man, you: he kens aboot leather!"
 
 no SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 London I suppose ; let us shake hands and walk together.' One of 
 the men responded, but he found that his hand was in that of one 
 who held him like the grip of a vice ; and seeing that Irving was 
 evidently not to be trifled with, the two men, after a little while, 
 slunk off quietly behind. 
 
 I have no letters from Irving, but we met very frequently at 
 Chalmers' and elsewhere. A favourite theme of conversation with 
 Irvmg when talking to me, especially during his early days in 
 Glasgow, was of the Spirit of God working among men more by the 
 agency of the heart than of the head. Before he went to London, 
 Irving said to Mr. Chalmers, that when he should enter his church 
 in Regent Street he was determined to open up a career for himself. 
 This he certainly did, but great differences of opinion exist with 
 regard to its value. 
 
 A letter from Dr. Chalmers to Mr. Peter Gilfillan^ 
 written soon after Edward Irving's appointment as 
 assistant, and copied, as usual, by George Bm'ns^ 
 gives, among other things, some interesting details, 
 of the progress of work at St. John's. 
 
 Glasgow, Jan. G, 1820'. 
 My deak Sir, — I received and read your letter of the 9th of 
 August last with very great interest. There is a savour of Christian 
 tenderness about your compositions which to me is exquisitely 
 soothing, and which still leads me to feel that, even in the absence 
 of almost all external advantages, God can render a manifestation 
 and a joy, and a spiritual feeling, which I fear are seldom to bo met 
 with in our more favoured land. There is an indescribable, but 
 very profound and settled peace, in the mere habit of cordially and 
 contentedly submitting one's self to the will of God. You are 
 where you are, by His appointment and for some purpose of His. 
 Feel yourself at your assigned post. Study what interpretation you 
 are to put upon this allotment of His providence. Know that your 
 main concern is, not here to make a fortune, or here to prepare for
 
 1815-23.] LETTEB FROM Dli. CHALMERS. Ill 
 
 any returns, or here to prosecute any earthly object whatever, but 
 simply here as His servant, who has got a place assigned to you for 
 such a time, as the course and the openings of His providence will 
 at length make clear to you. It is my fond hope that sooner or 
 later you will again be amongst us; but in the meantime, while 
 managing your worldly affairs with discretion, and cultivating every 
 opportunity of usefulness with a right degree of Christian caution 
 and watchfulness and prudence, know what it is to be content wdth 
 present things, and to cast the whole burden of your futurity on 
 Him who alone is able to sustain it. Do you know that I still 
 regard with a kind of envy your South American Sabbath ? I spend 
 that day in Sabbath work, and yet the very bustle and publicity of 
 the work unsettles all the serenity of Sabbath. It is at the same 
 time my desire that you should meet with a kindred spirit or two in 
 that moral wilderness ; that you should be refreshed by their sym- 
 pathy, and experience, along with them, the blessings of Christian 
 fellowship ; that you should strengthen your union with Christ your 
 Head, by a imion of society with one or more of His members here 
 below. Leave this to God, however ; He will provide what He 
 sees to be useful to you, and should He think fit to keep all human 
 help and human sympathy at a distance, you have still His inex- 
 haustible Word and His free Spirit to hold converse with. Cleave, 
 in particular, to that part of the testimony Avliich relates to Jesus 
 Christ as the Lord your Righteousness ; never lose your hold of 
 this plea, and you will by so doing reserve all. You may safely 
 surrender to Him the whole cause and concern of your sancti- 
 fication, and when your diligence slackens, and your heart turns 
 cold, and the world, either with its promises or its vexations, is 
 beginning to plant thorns in it, go to Him who has already clothed 
 you with a justifying righteousness, and pray in His name for a 
 sanctifying grace. It' is delightful to be thus sustained in the 
 course of progressive holiness, and to be enabled to abomid in 
 works without one particle of legality to taint or to deform them. 
 
 I saw the Miss Gilfillans on the occasion of your mother's death. 
 This, too, is an object less in the world for your ati'ections. It
 
 112 SIB GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap, V. 
 
 slioulil iimkc you set loosur to time tlian ever, and tlic oft- repeated 
 lesson of ])eatli, if rightly improved, would tend to make us more 
 spiritually minded. I have entered St. John's three months ago. 
 I have now upwards of one thousand scholars. I have also 
 estahlished a savings bank in the parish, and trust that I shall soon 
 make my way to the establishment of a complete apparatus of 
 parish schools. I have been very successful in my attempts to raise 
 money for the last object, being ■•' of £1000 from about 
 
 fifteen to twenty individuals for the purpose of raising two schools 
 and two school-houses. I shall send you a small pamphlet explana- 
 tory of my views upon this subject, which I trust will be speedily 
 carried into effect ; and I should like very much to see them ex- 
 tended over the whole of Glasgow. I have much reason to be 
 thankful that, in spite of the adversity of the times, our parish has 
 done wonderfully upon its new independent system. This is the 
 first season of it, and I have no doubt that the very hardness of it 
 has done much to meet the conviction of its efficiency. *■ Should 
 it succeed this winter it will never fail,' is the affirmation of many 
 who look on with some mixture of incredulity respecting it. There 
 is to be another parish added to Glasgow. You remember the 
 Methodist Chapel in Great Hamilton Street. It is to be bought for 
 a parish church, and I have no doubt that I shall be relieved of 
 three thousand people in consequence ; not that I find them at all 
 oppressive on the score of pauperism, but any one who has an 
 enlightened notion of the magnitude of spiritual work will know that 
 ten thousand people are too many for one minister, even wath an 
 able and powerful assistant. By the way, I have at length suc- 
 ceeded in getting one every way to my mind-affection, both in the 
 pulpit and out of it, and in respect both of mental and corporeal 
 energy in perfect contrast to our friend Mr. Blyth. He is still in 
 Fife, and has refused two or three assistantships since he went 
 there. I believe that he has a pretty good general prospect of pre- 
 ferment in the Church, and he has a small patrimonial independence. 
 He is very interesting, from his modesty and piety and inoffensive 
 
 * See p. 113.
 
 181.5-2:5.] DB. CHALMERS' ''HEBREW MS." IIB 
 
 manners. Your sister is now callin<f upon us, and I hasten to 
 conclude, that I may commit this letter to her charge. I find that I 
 am not to be permitted to be free from obligations to your family ; 
 she has kindly undertaken the moral superintendence of a few of my 
 families, and I rejoice in the very idea that the kind of connection 
 begun through you is to be perpetuated in her. Mrs. Chalmers, 
 who is now sitting with your sister, desires her best compliments to 
 you. I have great reason to be thankful that she is much better 
 than she was. Oh ! that God would make us His workmanship in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord. I feel that I make little progress in sancti- 
 fication — I entreat your prayers. I have the most cordial remem- 
 brance of you. Let us meet at a throne of grace. Mr. George 
 Burns is a great auxiliary to me. He is quite well, and matters in 
 respect of trade are beginning to revive. 
 
 Yours very affectionately, 
 
 Thos. Chalmers. 
 
 From Ciciinje Burns to Peter GilfiUnn. 
 
 Jan. 25, 1820. 
 My de.\r Sir, — There are some scratches immediately after the 
 word ' being ' and before the words ' of £1000 ' which I cannot 
 possibly interpret. Some time ago, the Doctor put a letter of Mr. 
 Francis Jeffrey's into my hand, and said if I could read it he would 
 say that I was a clever fellow. I shall say the same of you if you 
 can decipher the words above referred to. Upon the Doctor's 
 puzzling me with Jeffrey's letter, I told him that in summer last 
 Mr. Hugh Tennent called upon me, and asked to have a private 
 conference with me, which being granted, he said he understood 
 that I read Hebrew ; at which I stared, and said I did not. After 
 some parleying, during which I was quite nonplussed, he 
 produced his Hebrew MS. for interpretation, which turned out 
 to be a letter from Dr. Chalmers ! The Doctor laughed very 
 much at this anecdote, and in return told another of Hugh, 
 who, on coming out of the town one day in company of John 
 Wood, was asked by him how he bad liked the Doctor ; his reply
 
 114 SIE GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 was, that the seniion luvd been most suWiiue, itc. — so much so, that 
 by some of its passaj,^es ho was so carried aAvay as to imagine 
 liimseh' seated in the Candle Kirk! 
 
 Believe me to have a most affectionate sincere reij^ard for you. 
 ^fy prayer for you and myself is that, throu.tfh faitli in Christ, a 
 more copious supply of the Spirit may descend upon us, to help us 
 in all our infirmities. 
 
 ]\fy dear Sir, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 G. Burns. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers' handwriting was notoriously bad, 
 insomuch that when he wrote to his mother — so the 
 story goes — she would put the letter on the shelf, 
 saying, "This is from Tarn ; I'll keep it till he comes 
 hame, for him to read it liimsel'." No wonder that 
 the Doctor's handwriting was sometimes illegible — 
 he wrote almost incessantly.* "When he was in 
 the pulpit," says George Burns, " he had everything 
 before him in writing. He had an almost slavish 
 regard for his notes ; and in preaching he always kept 
 one hand on the manuscript, while he waved with 
 the other. He could not give out a notice unless 
 it was written, and if at any time he wished to 
 make any special references in his prayers — as, for 
 instance, on the funeral day of the Princess Charlotte 
 — he always wrote them out in full." 
 
 Pleasant as it would l)e to linger over the details 
 of the intercourse of George Burns with Dr. 
 
 ■■'- For some purposes Dr. Chalmers had an alphabet of his own ; 
 each letter had its own curious shape, and none but those who had 
 learned the cypher could read it.
 
 1815-28.] CHALMERS AND IRVING. 115 
 
 Chalmers and Edward Irving, we must content 
 ourselves with only a few extracts from letters 
 written to Miss Cleland : — 
 
 Mr. Irving is to preach in the forenoon, Dr. Chahners in the 
 afternoon, and Mr. Irving again in the evening to-morrow. It is 
 Dr. Chahners' plan never to preach more than once a day to his day 
 congregation, forenoon and afternoon time about, a lecture in the 
 forenoon, and a sermon in the afternoon, and generally — a lecture in 
 the evenings on such nights as he preached. The interval is to be 
 on Sabbath week restored again to the usual length of time. He 
 is to intimate this to-morrow. He says that innovations which 
 produce inconveniency are bad, but he means to state that whilst he 
 relinquishes one innovation he hopes to be permitted to substitute 
 another in its place, namely, his proposed arrangement about the 
 sacrament which you are aware of already — the occupying of the 
 body of the church by the communicants, which will reduce the 
 services to five. I had a good deal of conversation with him 
 respecting Mr. Irving's talents and his piety, both of which he is 
 satisfied he possesses. He gave me a great deal of information 
 respecting what passed at the General Session, and respecting his 
 own plans, all of which I will communicate to you at meeting. One 
 remark which the Doctor this morning made was : ' I like Mr. 
 Cleland exceedingly ; he is so open and accessible and obliging, 
 although his habits are different from what I would like mine to be ; 
 he is open to everybody, and is all bustle and activity to meet and 
 accommodate with his services those who throw themselves upon 
 his attentions.' I was with the Doctor upwards of two hours — he 
 and I breakfasted alone. I officiated in room of ]\Irs. Chalmers. 
 The Doctor's clenched hand was so often at my very face, and he 
 maintained such a constancy of demonstration, that he has incurred 
 by my visit a much smaller expense of bread and tea than I felt 
 inclined he should do. 
 
 I breakfasted with tire Doctor, and spent a delightful luonimg
 
 11(5 677? GEOIiGE BUBNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 with liiiii. C'ouiiiijjj ill to to^vll I IkkI ;i I'iili liy the «no\v, whii-li 
 occtisioned great merriment to the Doctor. He said that t)ie.se 
 jokes never palled, and if I were to repeat it a second time he would 
 laugh more ecstatically. However, he was glad that it was me rather 
 than himself that had fallen. He was going to visit the condemned 
 men, but provokingly omitted to request the favour of my attention 
 1o their case. 
 
 * * s': * :;; 
 
 We had Dr. Chalmers preaching this forenoon in the Barony, and 
 whilst I \vd\e a recollection of his sermon I shall give you a very 
 abridged outline of it — which, if it serve no other purpose, will at 
 least enable me to fill a sheet to you. His text was in Genesis : 
 ' ]\Iy Spirit shall not always strive with man.' [Here follows an 
 admirable outline of the discourse.] 
 
 After the sermon I went into the Session House, and was with 
 the Doctor a good while alone while lie shifted, and found him in a 
 very facetious humour, laughing and joking. He said he made an 
 exhibition of himself in London of a similar nature as the one which 
 he then made, after preaching the missionary sermon, and he 
 described most ludicrously ' the great Fletcher of London ' rubbing 
 him down with a coarse towel, surrounded by all the Directors of the 
 Society witnessing the performance ! We set off immediately after 
 his operations were ended. 
 
 Surely, my dear Jane, 1 may say to i/ou that were it not that 1 
 feel myself elevated far, far above my deservings, I should consider 
 my connection with Dr. Chalmers as one of the most flattering 
 circumstances in my history. I cannot express to you the pleasure 
 and the gratitude which I feel from what I experience of the con- 
 fidence and cordiality and kindness of so eminent a man. There 
 is only one other connection to which the high privilege which 1 
 sometimes enjoy of confidential and private intercourse with such a 
 man will concede in point of the delightful sense of pleasure it 
 awakens within me. 1 might cultivate the Doctor's acquaintance 
 more than I do. I sometimes wonder why I do it not ; but from
 
 1815-28.] DR. CHALMERS' FAREWELL SERMON. 117 
 
 another quarter I derive so much happmess as to render it less an 
 object of desire than otherwise it would be. 
 
 In December, 1821, after two years' work in 
 Glasgow, during which time Dr. Chahners was 
 '' refreshed and sustained by the congenial fellowship 
 and effective co-operation of a like-minded and noble- 
 hearted associate," Edward Irving left for London to 
 enter upon that strange and brilliant career which 
 has made his name immortal. But he came back to 
 Scotland two years later, and, with George Burns, 
 was present in St. John's Church on that memor- 
 able 9th of November, 1823, when Dr. Chalmers 
 preached his farewell sermon before taking the 
 vacant Chair of Moral Philosophy in the University 
 of St. Andrews. It was a day never to be forgotten. 
 At nine in tlie morning the crowds began to assemble 
 — later, a party of the 73rd Regiment had to protect 
 the entrance to the church. An enormous concourse 
 of people was packed in the church, but no one 
 seemed to feel mconvenience, so deeply impressed 
 were they wdth the grandeur and solemnity of the 
 utterances of the great preacher as, with soul 
 aflame, and in a white-heat of spiritual fervour^ 
 he spoke from that pathetic text — " If I forget 
 thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 
 cunning." 
 
 Scarcely had the last ringing words of his mag- 
 nificent oration died away, than Edward Irving- 
 ascended the pulpit-stair — wdiere, leaning on the
 
 118 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. V. 
 
 side of the pulpit, stood Di'. Clialmers — aiul iu- 
 vited the congregation to accompany him in prayer. 
 The windows had been thrown open, the wind was 
 blowing in coldly, and Irving, before commencing 
 his prayer, put a large yellow handkerchief over his 
 head ! The effect of that huge raw-boned Scotch- 
 man, with his strange features and stranger squint, 
 thus arrayed, was irresistibly comic, and ministered 
 to the mirth of some, while others deplored that an 
 occasion so full of solemnity should have had such 
 a curious termination. 
 
 George Burns did not continue his intimacy with 
 Irving, but with Dr. Chalmers he was on the most 
 fi'iendly terms till death parted them. When he 
 left Glasgow, he gave to his young merchant fiiend 
 a touching legacy. James Anderson — the man 
 Chalmers had loved with so strong an attachment ; 
 to whom he had poured out his heart in those letters 
 which are inmiortal ; of whose intellect he had said 
 " it was the most vigorous he had ever encountered," 
 and whose career had been so singularly brilliant — 
 had become, by one of those dispensations of Provi- 
 dence which are full of mystery, clouded in his 
 intellect ; and his malady had taken the form of 
 absolute silence. Dr. Chalmers was constant in his 
 visits to him, and when he left Glasgow he asked 
 George Burns to take his place — a sacred trust he 
 well and faithfully performed. 
 
 Throughout his life George Burns ever looked 
 back with affectionate interest on those times when
 
 1815-23.] THE MISSION OF CHALMERS. 119 
 
 he was privileged to work with the gifted and noble 
 man who wrought so great a reformation in Grlasgow, 
 who made Evangelicalism popular, who raised men's 
 views of Christianity, and who dispersed much of 
 the inhdelity which, like a dark cloud, hung over 
 Britain.
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 IN BUSINESS. 
 
 We must uow go back a few years, to trace the 
 course of events in the personal history of George 
 Burns, and to glance at other aspects in his character 
 and career. 
 
 He soon exhibited a singular capacity for business, 
 and was in receipt of a salary which enabled him 
 to gratify his tastes and inclinations, and to take 
 his part in contributing to the philanthropic and 
 religious movements in which, as we have seen, he 
 was so deeply interested. On the 10th of July, 
 IS 16, his father, Dr. John Burns, who was described 
 as a " merchant," was " admitted a Burgess and 
 Guild Brother of Glasgow, as being the eldest 
 lawful son of the deceased John Burn ; " and on 
 the same day George Burns, although only just 
 twenty-one, was also admitted a burgess. It was 
 unusual for a minister to become a burgess, but Dr. 
 Burns entered on the privileges of his father simply 
 to enable his son to enter in like manner at what 
 was called the "near or short hand" — that is to
 
 181G.] A BURGESS TICKET. 121 
 
 say, for the sake of being able to allow the privilege 
 to descend from father to succeeding son oi sons. 
 A burgess ticket is a curious document ; that of 
 George Burns ran as follows : — 
 
 Here I protest before God, that I confess and allow with my 
 heart the true religion, presently professed within this Eealm, and 
 authorized by the laws thereof. I shall abide thereat, and defend 
 the same to my life's end, renouncing the Roman religion called 
 Papistry. I shall be leal and true to our Sovereign Lord the 
 King's Majesty, and to the Provost and Baillies of this Burgh. I 
 shall obey the officers thereof, fortify, maintain, and defend them 
 in the execution of their office with my body and goods. I shall 
 not colour unfreemen's goods under colour of my own. In all 
 taxations, watchings, and wardings, to be laid upon the Burgh, I 
 shall willingly bear my part thereof, as I am commanded thereto 
 by the magistrates. I shall not purchase nor use exemptions to be 
 free thereof, renouncing the benefit of the same for ever. I shall 
 do nothing hurtful to the liberties and common well of this Burgh. 
 I shall not brew, nor cause brew, any malt but such as is grinded 
 at the Town's milns, and shall grind no other corns except wheat, 
 pease, rye, and beans, but at the same allenarly. And how oft as 
 I shall happen to break any part of this my oath, I oblige me to 
 pay to the common afi'airs of this Burgh the sum of one hundred 
 pounds Scots money, and shall remain in ward while the same be 
 paid. So help me God. I shall give the best council I can, and 
 conceal the council shown to nie. I shall not consent to dispone 
 the common goods of this Burgh, but for ane common cause, and 
 ane common profit. I shall make concord where discord is, to the 
 utmost of my power. In all lienations and neighbourhoods I shall 
 give my leal and true judgment, but without price, prayer, or 
 reward. So help me God. . . . 
 
 Glasgow, 2 August, 1816. 
 
 Although George Burns was thoroughly well
 
 1-22 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. VI. 
 
 versed in all that concerned the New Lanark Cotton 
 Spinning Company ; although his Burgess ticket 
 had heen " booked with the Incorporation of 
 Weavers " — it was not in that branch of l)nsiness 
 that he was to make the successes of his life. 
 Mr. Wright considered that cotton was the staple 
 trade of the country, and, following his advice, 
 George Burns, on leaving the New Lanark Company, 
 became an unsalaried clerk in the house of Andrew 
 Grant & Co., to learn the mysteries of the business, 
 in w^hich, however, as important changes soon took 
 place, he remained for only a very short time. 
 
 It w^as well for him that events took the course 
 they did. The power-loom was not destined to be 
 the instrument that should cause Glasgow to take 
 rank among the first commercial cities of the w^orld. 
 At one time it seemed that the cotton trade was 
 to have its head-quarters north and not south 
 of the border ; but although Arkwright had per- 
 sonally assisted David Dale to lay out his famous 
 works at New Lanark ; although it grew to be the 
 first spinning-mill of its day and became the pattern 
 for many others in Scotland — nevertheless the trade 
 declined, and, according to recent returns of the 
 Factory Inspectors, all Scotland has but 636,894 
 spindles, while England has over 40,000,000 ! 
 
 In 1818, George Burns entered into partnership 
 with his brother James, as general merchants. 
 James Burns was a man of great beauty and 
 simplicity of character, of much tenderness of
 
 1818.] JAMES BURNS. 123 
 
 heart, and was universally loved and admired. 
 Deeply religious, his faith was simple and natural 
 as that of a little child. He was one who, like 
 George Washington, " could not He," his con- 
 science was clear as the noontide ; his character 
 transparent as glass — a natural, loveable, and good 
 man. 
 
 But he had not the enterprise of his younger 
 brother. He would attend faithfully and conscien- 
 tiously to the tilings near at hand, and plod on 
 unweariedly, but he could not make forecasts ; he 
 had the gift of putting the drag on the wheel if 
 the concern ran too fast, but he had not the 
 corresponding gift of knowing the exact moment 
 to take it off and let it run free ; he could advise 
 sagaciously on any plan suggested to him, but he 
 could not suggest ; he was admirably adapted to 
 stand fast to the traditions of a business already 
 made, but he had not the special qualifications 
 necessary to make a business. 
 
 George, on the other hand, was shrewd and far- 
 seeing, always on the alert, ready to set sail when- 
 ever the right wind blew. Like his brother, he was 
 a "perfectly honest merchant;" he would not, and 
 it is not going too far to say he could not, take a 
 mean advantage of any man. Unlike many who 
 enter into the great struggle to acquire wealth, he 
 was liberal and generous, always ready to recognise 
 the fair claims of others, and equally ready to refuse 
 the most tempting proposals, or to sacrifice any
 
 1-24 SJB GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. VI. 
 
 coveted gain, if the whole transaction would not l)ear 
 the full noontide sunshine to blaze upon it. He knew 
 nothing of that questionable motto, " Honesty is the 
 best policy " — he knew that honesty was the best 
 jxmicij^le, the only principle upon which he could 
 square accounts with this world and the next — there- 
 fore men trusted him. As we shall see in pursuing 
 this narrative, the successes of his life rested almost 
 entirely upon the trustworthiness of his character. 
 Men who had done business with him, liked to 
 come again ; they knew that his word was always as 
 good as his bond, and that in all things he was 
 reliable. . ; 
 
 There is a story told of a Highland innkeeper 
 who, when a tourist remonstrated with him upon 
 his excessive charges, replied, " Aweel, an' may-pe 
 I'll never see you again no more." That man's 
 })olicjj was destitute of the principle which governed 
 the dealings of George Burns. 
 
 In order to j^i'osecute their business with energy 
 and success, it became necessary that one or other 
 of the brothers should travel to various parts of 
 Scotland, as well as to England and Ireland, and 
 this branch of the work fell upon the shoulders of 
 George. 
 
 It is difficult in these days, when the journey 
 from London to Edinburgh is made in less than 
 eight hours, to realise how much time and money 
 were expended in travelling when George Burns 
 was a young man. In his father's day there were
 
 1818.] FBOM LONDON TO GLASGOW. 125 
 
 only three courses open to the traveller from 
 Glasgow to London — the post-chaise, the saddle, or 
 the stage-waggon. The first cost not less than 
 ^40, the second was impossible to the majorit). 
 and the third w^as tedious in the extreme. So late 
 as 1791, the "London Flying Waggons" were adver- 
 tised to "leave Glasgow on Monday, arriving in 
 London on Thursday se'ennight, and on Thursday, 
 arriving in London on Monday se'ennight." As the 
 former journey, wdiere one Sunday intervened, took 
 ten days, and the latter journey, where two Sundays 
 intervened, took eleven days, we see that the 
 " Flying Waggon " folded its wings on Sunday, and 
 covered the distance in nine days net, travelling, 
 of course, night and day, and with relays of horses. 
 
 But in 1784 the mail-coach was instituted. 
 Before that time, mails all over Great Britain had 
 been carried either by boys on horseback, or, in a 
 few cases, by mail-carts at an average speed of 
 three and a half miles an hour, and constantly ex- 
 posed to perils of w^aters and perils of robbers. 
 
 On the 7th of July, 1788, the lirst London mail 
 "pulled up at the Saracen's Head (Glasgow), sur- 
 rounded by a cloud of horsemen who had ridden out 
 to meet it ; and from that day till the loth ol 
 February, 1848, when the Caledonian Eailway was 
 opened, the London mail ran Sunday and Saturdaj^ 
 summer and winter, fair w^eather and foul." * 
 
 ■'■ " Old Ways of Travelling trom Glasgow to London." By J. 
 O. Mitchell. Eeprinted from the Glasgow Hcnild.
 
 126 STh' (iEOIUlE BURNS. [Chap. VI. 
 
 At first the journey occupied sixty-six hours, aud 
 it ^\as not till many years later that it was shortened 
 to forty-six hours. 
 
 If travelling to London — the capital to which all 
 roads led — was difficult, much more so was travel- 
 ling to outlying cities in England and Ireland. But 
 it had its pleasures, and George Burns, who entered 
 into every new experience with a refreshing enthu- 
 siasm, soon sipped the sweets of his new line of life. 
 There were only two drawbacks to the pleasure of 
 seeing new cities and opening up new business — one 
 was that he was obliged to leave the Sunday-school 
 and other work in which he took so much interest, 
 as well as the society and ministry of Dr. Chalmers ; 
 and the other, that it separated him from Miss 
 Cleland. To her, however, he sent a daily letter, 
 and from these, as well as fi*om some of his re- 
 miniscences, we may trace his movements during 
 the time he was " making a business." 
 
 In 1819-20, he visited every out-port in Ireland, 
 and his labours were crowned with considerable 
 success. He found little difficulty in procuring 
 any amount of grain consignment, but " as the 
 skippers were so .prone to draw uj) to the teeth and 
 more," that branch of the business was rendered 
 very hazardous, and therefore it was not cultivated 
 by liim. In Belfast, however, he obtained the 
 sii[)port of the whole town, and its consignment of 
 produce fell entirely into the hands of J. and 
 G. Burns. Moreover, wherever he went he made
 
 181U-2().] IN IRELAND. 127 
 
 frieuds, and the iuflueuce of this upon his future 
 career was very remarkahle. 
 
 Upon the occasion of my going to Ireland (says Mr. Burns), I 
 fell in with a gentleman named Hodgson, at Youghal, whose firm in 
 Liverpool was largely engaged in the Irish grain trade, and that was 
 part of my object in visiting these out-ports. Ha\'ing got into con- 
 versation with him, he said to me, ' I find that you are going on the 
 same errand and • the same route as myself : you will find in the 
 West of Ireland you will get no stage-coaches, and will be ol)liged to 
 go by carriage ; if you drive I'll join you, and we'll go together.' 
 Afterwards he said, ' I am going* on at once to Cork ; will you follow? ' 
 I said, ' Yes; I will go with you on Monday or join you on that day.' 
 He said I must come before that ; to which I replied, ' No ; I will 
 not under any circumstances travel on the Sunday.' So he had to 
 make the best of it, and submit. I had a pocket full of introduc- 
 tions to people living round the ports, and among them, to a 
 Quaker family at Cork — most excellent people. I dined with them, 
 and before dinner all stood for a few moments perfectly silent. The 
 host said, ' This is our way of asking a blessing.' He told me a 
 great deal about Killarney, and possessed a fund of anecdote. I 
 rem-ember him telling me of a gentleman who had gone there to 
 see the Lakes, and was beset by beggars, to whom he gave alms. 
 At last he was so teased that he held back and gave nothing, when 
 a croAvd gathered round him, and one called out, ' Bitter bad luck 
 to yer honour ; a full suit of it, and long life to wear it.' 
 
 To return to Hodgson. We subsequently set out on our travels, 
 and proceeded to Limerick ; there, on market-day, I saw a large 
 assemblage transacting business in the provision and corn trade. 
 In the midst there was a man inside a large empty sugar hogshead, 
 and the people were rolling him about. I asked what this meant, 
 and was told in reply, ' Oh, they are making a broker of him ! ' It 
 seemed to be the custom, if the people were not satisfied with the 
 treatment they received from a proposed bi'oker, that they brought 
 him to book in that fashion.
 
 128 Slli GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. VI. 
 
 We proceeded to Clave, Westport, Bli<j:o, (nihvay, and other 
 western ports, travelling in a chaise until we reached Londonderry. 
 When we were there, I announced my intention of s,'oing to see 
 the Giant's Causeway. Mr. Hodgson thought this was extremely 
 foolish, and when I joined him on the route afterwards, he said, ' I 
 did not think a sensible young man like you would do that.' We 
 returned by Newtownards, Coleraine, itc, to Ijelfast, from wlience 1 
 had started. I then went on with him to Dublin, and there ended 
 our circuit, where he told some friends of mine ' we had a very 
 pleasant journey, and I have nothing to complain of in the young 
 man but two things — first, that he would not travel on Sunday, 
 and next, that he struck off to see the Giant's Causeway." 
 
 That is a brief outline of the tour, recalled to 
 memory sixty-six years after it was taken. Quota- 
 tions from letters to Miss Cleland will till in some 
 of the details that are worth recording. 
 
 Cork, Sri,t. 21, 1H20. 
 ... I went to bed about JJ, and slept till 1 a.m., when I liad to 
 get up for the Cork coach, which sounded its horn. I had along 
 with me as passenger a Mr. Hodgson, of Liverpool. To Cork 
 we jogged on, where we arrived about nine o'clock. We washed, 
 dressed, and breakfasted, and each set out on his own pursuits. 
 Now I shall tell you the connection I have formed with my travel- 
 hng companion. He is a Liverpool merchant, going on precisely 
 the same business and precisely the same route as myself. I met 
 with him accidentally (providentially I should rather say) at 
 Youghal, and as neither of us was certain of getting seats in the 
 Cork coach, we proposed, if l)oth should be disappointed, to post the 
 journey ; so that I shall probably have a companion now for the 
 greater part of the route before me. This will by no means be 
 uncomfortalile to me nor to vou.
 
 1820.] GLIMPSES INTO SI'IEITUAL HISTORY. l-2'.i 
 
 Cork, Sahhath, Sept. 24, 1820. 
 ... I have much reason to bless God that this day I eiijov 
 great quietness and comfort ; I have been at church this forenoon, 
 and in a very few minutes intend returning. If I seldom hear 
 any sermon that breathes of the love of Christ, I at least have a 
 service of prayer and praise in which I can join with comfort ; 
 and experience that, when I hunger and thirst after communion 
 with God, He abundantly satisfies me with His presence. He 
 alone can put life and Spirit into His own ordinances, but prayer 
 for the influence and grace of the Holy Spirit was never offered 
 up in vain ; we have a merciful High Priest at the right hand of 
 God, who knows all our exigencies, who is able to relieve them, and 
 who has undertaken to do so. Oh ! that with a lively faith both of 
 us could be continually looking to Jesus, and peace should be with 
 our spirits, even a peace which passeth all understanding, which, 
 like oil on the waters, can still the troubled mind, and fill it witli 
 thankfulness when else it would be filled with continual heaviness. 
 To abide strictly to the determination of turning aside neither to 
 the right hand nor to the left in following out all the revealed will 
 of God, is the surest way to possess it. May the enlightening 
 Spirit of God show us with operative efiect how alone this can be 
 done ; even by going at all times between our own emptiness and 
 Christ's fulness — keeping alive a spirit of deep humility — conscious 
 weakness, constant watching — self-distrust, perpetual dependence 
 upon Divine aid. I am at present, by God's mercy, reaping the 
 blessed fruits of having been enabled in some small degree to 
 follow out the line of conduct I have been describing. I have been 
 at church again, where prayers alone were said, and no sermoJi. 
 I have dined also, and now resume with pleasure my epistolary 
 interview with my beloved wife.''' I have hitherto contrived to 
 arrive at a new place always on a Saturday evening, so that, being 
 an entire stranger in it, 1 have been able to spend the Sabbath 
 day according to my own mind ; but here I have been obliged to 
 
 ''' A term of endearment. He was not married until 1822. 
 
 9
 
 j;5i) SIB GEORGE BUL'NS. [Chap. VI. 
 
 remain over the Sabbath, and consequently have had several 
 temptations thrown in my way by pressing: invitations to spend 
 the day in amusement or to drive out. . . . 
 
 Mr. Hodgson went on to-day ; his disposition to travel on the 
 Sabbath is the onlj' thing I am afraid of in having him as a com- 
 panion, but I trust in the strength of Christ that neither interest nor 
 convenience will ever lead me w'illingly to offend in this particular. 
 In return, I believe that adhering to what I see to be right is a great 
 cause of my enjoying so much comfort as I have this day had. 
 Most of the people lodging in the hotel having gone to enjoy 
 themselves in the country, I dined in the pnlilic room quite alone, 
 and have also been enabled to evade every person who knew me. 
 For all the mercies with which I have been visited, I desire humbly 
 to render thanks to that quarter where they are due. My dear, 
 much do I hope that you have had sweet enjoyment of our 
 Heavenly Father this day. I love you sincerely ; and oh ! how 
 itnboundedly thankful should we both be that we are permitted 
 to entertain the pleasing belief that we not only are sharers 
 of God's bounties here, but heirs tDijcther, and joint heirs with 
 Christ of eternal glory hereafter. I have been reading the 
 Olney Hymns, and delight to see the entire coincidence of mind 
 that subsists betw^een us, which is indicated by the passages you 
 have marked. I hope by God's goodness we shall yet have it 
 in our power to sing them together to His praise, in a quiet 
 dwelling-place of our OAvn. But let us be careful for nothing, but 
 in everything by prayer and supplication let our requests be made 
 known to our God. I desire to place, with entire confidence, 
 you and myself, and all our concerns, into His keeping, and at 
 His disposal, and whilst we trust every deep-felt care of ours to 
 Him, may we feel our minds unburdened of their anxieties. 
 
 The long quotation given above is a specimen of 
 one of George Burns' ordinary "love-letters." It 
 is "out of the fulness of the heart that the mouth 
 speaks," and to both of them the spiritual life was
 
 1H2().] LOVE AND MARlilAGK. 131 
 
 the true life of their ])eing. It was as natural for 
 them to write of their religious hopes, aspirations, 
 and experiences, as it is for those whose chief 
 end lies in politics, business, amusements, or 
 fashion, to write of such things. Their union of 
 heart was based upon "the one foundation." They 
 considered the future of their spiritual history to 
 be of more importance than business or social 
 position, and gave it the foremost place in their 
 thoughts and utterances. 
 
 George Burns' letters to the one he loved are 
 singularly ingenuous. He opens his heart upon 
 subjects which, as a rule, young men seem most 
 anxious to avoid. If any apology were needed for 
 bringing to light these old letters, which have 
 never again been seen by the writer since the 
 dates on which they were written, it would be 
 amply found in this, that they may well be taken 
 as models for the use of young men of to-day. 
 Unhappy marriages are, in nine cases out of ten, 
 the result of incompatibility of tastes, temper, or 
 pursuits. If those who are to spend all life to- 
 gether, would throw aside the gloss and glamour 
 of mere prettinesses of expression, and tell each 
 other of those hopes and fears, those foundations of 
 faith and principle, which build up and establish 
 character ; if they would seek to gain strength 
 from one another for the real work and interest 
 of life ; they would find marriage to be what George 
 Burns found it, the '' most blessed estate of man."
 
 132 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. VI. 
 
 From taste, from a sense of duty, as well as 
 from the results of early training, George Burns 
 found it good for him to "■ rest on the seventli 
 day according to the commandment." To carry 
 out what he found to be good, exposed him some- 
 times to the ridicule of his companions and to 
 the sneers of men with whom he was anxious to 
 stand on a friendly footing. On this matter, as on 
 all kindred matters, he opens his mind freely to his 
 future wife. 
 
 Galway, Satunhiy Xit/ht, Sept. BO, 1820. 
 
 ... 1 left Limerick yesterday afternoon ni company with Mr. 
 Hodgson, and reached Ennis between seven and eight o'clock, 
 where we slept, and this morning got vip at half-past four, and 
 proceeded to this place. Mr. Hodgson, I suppose, thinks that in 
 me he has got linked to a more obstinate person than he had any 
 idea of at first sight. He sees that it is in vain to expect me to 
 travel on the Sabbath, and his interest must lead him to submit to 
 the effects of what I am sure he considers a piece of sanctimonious 
 and unnecessary strictness. Arriving here to-day, I have been 
 subjected to invitations for to-morrow. I need not say that I 
 declined accepting them : one, however, gave rise to a very tough 
 argument on the subject, between Mr. Hodgson, an Irish gen- 
 tleman, and myself. I spoke my mind very freely, feeling 
 myself forced to defend my principles, but, as might be 
 expected, without being able to produce conviction in either, 
 who were both my opponents. The burden of their reply was, 
 * God is very merciful, and knows our failings ; ' ' He looks to 
 the intentions, and not to mere forms,' &c. It is easy to see the 
 futility of such arguments, but it is impossible for human power 
 to storm the strong citadel of the heart ; the work belongs to the 
 Spirit of God alone. . . . 
 
 1 must tell you how delightful a thing it has been to me to
 
 18-21.] IN IRELAND. 133 
 
 receive the communion on both occasions that I have done so. 
 I love the Enghsh mode of administering it, and hope that whilst 
 on my knees I received the symbols of the Blessed Body that was 
 broken, and the Blood that was shed for me, I received nourishment 
 and strength to my soul. '^ 
 
 Sligo, Fn<h(>/, Oct. G, 1820. 
 ... I left Galway in company with Mr. Hodgson on Monday 
 ('2nd Oct.) forenoon. As you would hear by my last letter, we 
 proceeded to Westport by Tuam, remained there all Tuesday, left it 
 next morning at six, drove to Castlebar, Ballina, Killula. From 
 Killula back to Ballina, where we remained all night, and next day 
 came to this place, where I received, the same evening, the letters. 
 We shall leave this on Monday for Ballyshannon, Strabane, 
 
 "• Here is a vivid reminiscence, in 1889, of his first communion 
 according to the English mode: — "At Waterford I arrived on a 
 Saturday evening, and my letters of introduction as usual remamed 
 undelivered until Monday. On the Sunday I went out at eleven 
 o'clock, the Scotch hour for ser^dce, in search for a church, but 
 fomid no appearance of church-going. At last I came to a gateway 
 leading to a Primitive Methodist Church, and was trying if the 
 gate was open, when a gentleman looked from a window, and 
 said ' I see you are a stranger,' and asked nie what I wanted. I 
 told him, and he kindly invited me to join him. I found he was 
 the minister of the church inside the gate, and he informed me that 
 in his church there would not be service until the evening, as the 
 Primitive Methodists did not interfere with the tnnes of service in 
 the Established Church ; that he was going to the cathedral at 
 twelve, and asked me to accompany him — which I did. When the 
 service was concluded, he asked if I would like to remain with him 
 to the communion. I rephed yes, but I had not a 'token' — fancying 
 such would be necessary, as in Scotland. He explained that it was 
 not required, so I stayed. It was my first communion accorrhng to 
 the Enolish service."
 
 134 SIE GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. VI. 
 
 Londonderry, Coleraine, Belfast, Newrv, I)undalk, Dro.^heda, and 
 Dublin, from wliicli I return to Belfast on my way home. 
 
 Sligo, Sabbath, Oct. 8, 1820. 
 . . . Went to church, taking Mr. Hodgson along with me. It 
 was an Independent Meeting House we attended, and we heard an 
 evangelical sermon. 
 
 Oct. 11, 1820. 
 ... I am about to leave Coleraine for Fame by the Causeway. 
 I should be in Fame to-morrow, and in Belfast next day. . . . 
 
 It may perchance be thought that some of these 
 details are trivial, and scarcely worth recording 
 after the lapse of nearly three-quarters of a 
 century. We think not. They exhibit principles 
 upon which a young man was building his life, 
 and to which he remained steadfast till death. 
 He would not violate what he regarded as a bind- 
 ing obligation — the sanctity of the Sabbath ; he 
 would not make himself so much the slave of 
 business as to pass b}^ wonderful and beautiful 
 scenes in Nature without making an effort to see 
 them. 
 
 Not to Ireland only, but to London and Liver- 
 pool, and other large cities, George Burns had to 
 make somewhat h^equent visits for the purpose of 
 working up business. Eeferring to these times, he 
 says : — 
 
 When in these early days I had occasion to visit Liverpool, 
 London, and other places, I had letters from Mr. Wright, intro- 
 <lucing me to various people, and among them to Mr. Dixon, who
 
 1820.] REMINISCENCES. IBS 
 
 was at that time a leading man in Carlisle, and a very devout 
 Christian, asking him to guide me to a church where I should 
 hear evangelical preaching. He did so, and named that of the 
 Rev. Mr. Fausset, to whom he introduced me. About the same 
 time Dr. Milner, joint author with his brother of ' Church 
 History,' was Dean of Carlisle. He had been delivering a series 
 of lectures in the cathedral on Regeneration, taking for his 
 text the words spoken to Nicodemus, ' Ye must be born again.' 
 One day when walking along a street in Carlisle, there were two 
 young clergymen coming towards him, and he heard one say to the 
 other, ' There goes old Born-arjain.'' Milner quietly halted, and, 
 looking over his shoulder, said, ' Are ye masters in Israel, and 
 know not these things ? ' and then passed on. 
 
 On my ^^sits to Liverpool, I became acquainted, through my 
 good friend Mr. James Gilfillan, with many leading men in that 
 city. He also introduced me, by letter, to his friend Mr. Coats- 
 worth, in London, who brought me into acquaintanceship with 
 many people there, amongst others, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gray, 
 of Camberwell, at whose house I met Dr. Irons, the celebrated 
 Nonconformist, and the Rev. Mr. HoweUs, of Long Acre Church, 
 a very conspicuous evangelical preacher, a Welshman, and some- 
 what eccentric. I went frequently to his church, at different 
 periods ; once, at the time when the Reform Bill was creating 
 much agitation, both in and out of ParHament. Some of the 
 members were accused of forsaking their principles, and of passing 
 from one side to the other in the party strife. They were called 
 ' Ratters,' and I heard Mr. Howells make an announcement, after 
 his sermon, to the effect that the church very much required 
 repairs, and that a collection for that object would be set on foot : 
 adding in his owm quaint manner, ' A little animal, well known m 
 a House down the way, has got into the foundations of the church, 
 and by burrowing, is undermining it.' 
 
 On another occasion I heard him give out an announcement as 
 follows : — ' It is my habit to tell you of the various Christian 
 objects for which I receive contributions, and I do so for two
 
 im SIE GEOBGE EVENS. [Chap. YI. 
 
 reasons : first, That I may stimulate you to make proper exer- 
 tions ; secondly, That I may make knoAvn what I i^et, and so 
 prevent myself from becoming a thief.' 
 
 To anotlier of liis introductions he refers in a 
 letter to Miss Cleland. : — 
 
 Sept. 7, 1S20. 
 ... I dined yesterday with Mr. William Rathbone, and had 
 the pleasure to meet the celebrated Mr. Roscoe, the Liverpool 
 luminary — he is a delightful old man. I had many internal laughs 
 at the brief consequence with which I was invested. I sat at the 
 head of the table on the one side of Mrs. Rathbone, and old Roscoe 
 on the other, while ' my betters ' sat below. 
 
 Mr. Eoscoe was at tliat time at the heijiht of his 
 
 o 
 
 popnhirity. His two great works, the "Life of 
 Lorenzo de' Medici," and the " Life and Pontificate 
 of Leo X.," had given rise to much adverse 
 criticism, although they had estahhshed Eoscoe's 
 Hterary reputation. At the time George Burns 
 met him, he was passing through the press his 
 " Ilhistrations, Historical and Critical, of the Life 
 of Lorenzo de' Medici," in which, after many years 
 of silence, he replied to his various critics. 
 
 Mr. Eoscoe greatly admired Dr. Chalmers, and 
 was very inquisitive to know from George Burns 
 everything he could tell him of the thoughts, hahits. 
 and style of life of the great preacher. 
 
 We do not propose to follow George Burns step 
 by step through his business career. It will be 
 enough to sa}' here that he was sufficiently 
 successful in liis labours to enable him to take a
 
 1822.] MAIiBIAGE. 137 
 
 step on which his heart had long been set. On 
 the 10th of June, 1822, " George Burns, Merchant, 
 in this Parish of Barony, and Jane, la\\'fnl 
 daughter of James Cleland, Esquire, Superin- 
 tendent of Pubhc Works there, having been three 
 several times lawfully proclaimed in the Barony 
 Chm^ch," were married. Good old Dr. Burns per- 
 formed the marriage service, and George Stevenson, 
 the cousin and soldier-hiend of George Burns, acted 
 as his best man. In recalling the events of that 
 memorable day, Mr. Burns said, " At the time of 
 our marriage it was usually the custom to perform 
 the ceremony in the evening, and follow it with a 
 wedding-supper. It was so in our case, and when 
 we went home to our house in John Street, our 
 servant received us. She was a Christian woman, 
 and we began our domestic life wdth family worship." 
 A year before the event, George Burns had written 
 to Miss Cleland : — 
 
 May the Lord, in His infinite goodness, grant that having brought 
 us into the endearing connection with each other in which we 
 abundantly rejoice, we may be made instrumental in mutually 
 assisting and encouraging to the pursuit of all good. My darling 
 Jane, how can we best express the tender love and regard we have 
 for each other's interests, than by earnestly imploring that the God 
 of all peace and consolation may be the God of us both, and may 
 grant us His peace ; and how can we best secure a continuance of 
 our affection, but by making supplication to our Heavenly Father 
 who conferred it. Let us nt)t forget these things, dear and beloved 
 Jane. I trust you have enjoyed much of the kindness and counte- 
 nance of the Lord this day in His sanctuarj^ and in your retire-
 
 138 SIB GEOBGE JWIiXS. [Chap. VI. 
 
 mcnt. His name be praised for all llis ;40odness. I have much of 
 it to acknowledge. 
 
 It was iu this spirit, and witli these feelings, 
 that the holy bond of matrimony was entered into. 
 The two were one in everything — and henceforth, 
 for over fifty-five years, every joy and sorrow of 
 life, every hope and aspiration, they were to share 
 together.
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 SHIPPING ; AND OTHEK MATTEKS. 
 
 Although we wish to keep George Burns before us 
 for the present in his business relations, we must not 
 forget to record some of the events of this period of 
 his hfe in other aspects. 
 
 For example, two months after his marriage, there 
 was great excitement throughout Scotland owing to 
 the visit of King George IV. to Edinburgh. Strong 
 efforts had been made to induce His Majesty to visit 
 Glasgow, but these were unsuccessful; consequently, 
 the Glasgow people went to Edinburgh, and George 
 Burns had the advantage of accompanying his father- 
 in-law, Dr. Cleland, who was the historian of the 
 Royal Visit. 
 
 Edinburgh had not seen Royalty in State since 
 the days of the Scottish monarchs, and under the 
 guidance of Sir Walter Scott she stirred herself up to 
 give to the King a right loyal welcome. Although 
 the proclamation of the civic authorities recommend- 
 ing all the citizens to di-ess in uniform costume — viz., 
 blue coats, white vests, and nankeen or white panta-
 
 140 .ST7? GF.OBGE BUBNS. [Chap. YII. 
 
 loons, with the emhlem of St. Andrew's Cross on the 
 left side of the hat in the manner of a cockade — 
 was not universally obeyed, a large number of people 
 adopted the dress, and every other proposal seems 
 to have met with unqualified favour. 
 
 The King landed at Leith on the 15th of August, 
 1822, and it was estimated that 300,000 people— a 
 seventh of the whole population of Scotland — were 
 present in Edinburgh to welcome him. Everywhere 
 the people were singing the song that Sir Walter 
 Scott had written : — 
 
 " The news has flown from mouth to mouth, 
 The North for ance has bang'd the South, 
 The deil a Scotsman's die o' drouth, 
 
 Carle, now the King's come ! " 
 
 That night, the King being at Holyrood, bonfires 
 flamed fi'om Arthur's Seat, and there were the most 
 splendid illuminations that Edinburgh had ever seen. 
 
 I weh remember (says George Burns) seeing Sir Walter Scott, 
 who was slightly lame, going about everywhere throughout the day, 
 and taking the greatest possible interest in all the processions. I 
 kuL'W him very well by sight, having seen him many times when he 
 was a clerk in the Court of Session in Edinburgh. He used to sit 
 among the barristers, but it is quite possible that he was writing 
 something other than the legal minutes. 
 
 On the 17th of August, the King held a grand 
 levi'e in Holyrood Palace, and in compliment to the 
 country he appeared in complete Highland costume 
 made of the Koyal Stuart tartan, "which," as a
 
 1822.] IN HIS OWN HOME. 141 
 
 curious old book published in 1822, giving an account 
 of the proceedings, says, " displayed his manly and 
 graceful figure to great advantage " ! Sir William 
 Curtis, a very portly gentleman, with whom the King 
 was on intimate terms, also appeared in the same 
 costume, and when he and the King met, they burst 
 out laughing at one another in uncontrollable merri- 
 ment. The costume did not suit the figure of either 
 of them ! 
 
 After his marriage, Greorge Burns, unlike many 
 young men, not only resumed his work in the 
 Sunday school, but continued it in conjunction with 
 his wife, and at the same time they took an active 
 interest in many religious societies. Mrs. Burns, who 
 from childhood had been conspicuous for her philan- 
 thropy and benevolence, was a woman of pow^er- 
 ful intellect, combined with unusual energy, and 
 threw into everything she undertook a cheerful 
 vigour of manner which exercised a moving influence 
 among her fellow- workers. One of the institutions 
 of their new life was an evening meeting held 
 generally once a week in their house, at which a 
 minister of some denomination — it did not matter 
 to them which, provided he were a good man — 
 would take the lead in reading the Bible and ex- 
 pounding it, concluding the short service with 
 family worship. Christian work has multiplied so 
 greatly in all large cities, that it would be almost im- 
 possible to organise such a meeting now; l)ut George
 
 142 SIB GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. YII. 
 
 Burns and his wife foiiiid it infinitely agTeea])le and 
 useful . It brought around them a circde of fi'iends 
 with many of whom they were intimate to the end 
 of their days. Moreover, George Burns was in fi-e- 
 quent attendance at meetings of Committees, and he 
 became acquainted w^th many estimable men, both 
 ministers and laymen, who soon became associated 
 in his family intercourse. 
 
 Among these was Dr. Cfesar Malan, the well- 
 known Swiss divine — " the first publicly to raise 
 from the ground the tarnished banner of the Church 
 of Geneva, and from the pulpit of Calvin boldly to 
 proclaim, without reserve and without compromise, 
 that Gospel w^hose echoes scarcely lingered within 
 his temple."* 
 
 \Ve first became acquainted with Malan (says George Biirns), 
 in the house of our intimate friend James Duncan, in the year 
 1822. He was very strong upon the Docti'ine of Assurance, and I 
 had not been in his company many minutes before he introduced 
 the matter. I parried the attack, when he put the question to me, 
 ■ Have you been in Edinburgh, and have you seen King George 
 IV. ■? ' I replied in the affirmative ; on which he said, ' Very well, 
 you have assurance of that — why not have equal assurance of faith 
 in Christ "? ' He greatly disturbed the tranquillity of my niece, 
 Eacliel Burns, the daughter of my brother, Dr. John Burns. Our 
 intimacy with Malan lasted many years, and was continued both in 
 Scotland and in Switzerland. Over the garden gateway leading to 
 his beautiful house in Geneva, there was this inscription, ' As for 
 me and mv house, we will serve the Lord.' And truh' in his 
 
 Lives of Robert and James Haldane," p. 147.
 
 1822.] ABSENT-MINDEDNESS. 143 
 
 son, Major Malan, and otliers of his family, this text has been 
 fulfilled. 
 
 Another friend at this period was the Rev. Mr. 
 Russell, of Miithill, near Crieff, in Perthshire. 
 Greorge Burns knew him intimately, and often stayed 
 at the Manse at Muthill, where he had the greatest 
 possible enjoyment in his society. Mr. Russell was 
 a singularly absent-minded man, and painfully sensi- 
 tive. 
 
 On the occasion of my first visit to the INIanse (says George 
 Burns), Mr. Russell took a candle in his hand, and walked with me 
 to show me to my bedroom. We stood talking a long time — a sweet 
 and comfortable talk it was — and when he bade me good-night, he 
 took up the candle, in his absent-mindedness, and left me in the 
 dark. He soon returned with it, and I was pained to see how dis- 
 tressed he was at the simple occurrence. He was an miusually 
 experimental Christian man, and of a very loveable nature — wholly 
 milike his father, of Stirling, who was a godly man but extremely 
 austere. He once rebuked his wife so severely for kissing him on a 
 Smiday, that she never repeated the offence ! 
 
 When Dr. Chalmers was moved from Glasgow to St. Andrew's, 
 in 1823, the Town Council of Glasgow nominated and invited Mr. 
 Russell to succeed the great preacher at St. John's. It was a fatal 
 invitation. In the struggle to decide "vwliether to accept it or not, 
 the sense of responsibility weighed so hea^dly upon him that his. 
 health broke down, and before a decision was come to, he died. 
 Dr. Chalmers said to me, ' God ended the trial by taking him 
 Home.' 
 
 In the Levitical law, it was enacted that " when a 
 man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to 
 war, neither shall he be charged with anj' business^
 
 144 SIE GEORGE BUliNS. [Chap. VII. 
 
 but lie shall be free at home one year, aud shall 
 cheer up his wife which he hath taken." * No such 
 merciful law was in force in George Burns' time, and 
 three months after his marriage we find him again 
 upon his travels. 
 
 Here are a few passages from the daily letters 
 written at this period : — 
 
 Aberdeen, Satunlaij Evciiiui/, Sept., 1822. 
 I .i^ive you many thanks for your kind letter sent under Mr. Mon- 
 teith's frank, but I luid not time to answer it by to-night's post, t 
 I shall not remain one minute longer than I can avoid from your 
 dear embrace. I think this journey has increased my love for you 
 more than ever, and I with gratitude ascribe to God the blessing I 
 enjoy in our mutual fondness and mutual cause for it. Pray God 
 that the effect may be an additional devotedness to Him and His 
 service wrought in us by His blessed Spirit, overruling our mercies 
 for this purpose. . . . 
 
 Aberdeen, Monday. 
 I am sure you have the strongest reason to believe that I have no 
 wish ever to be separated from you, but in the course of Divane pro- 
 vidence this cannot be avoided, and to all that is appointed me 1 
 desire to be obedient. When I return, I will delight to tell you how 
 inexpressibly thankful I am that we are married. . . . 
 
 In tlie following year several long journeys had to 
 be undertaken, and in one of his letters he touches 
 on the philosophy of separation : — 
 
 " Deut. xxiv. 5. 
 
 t At that time jNI.P.'s had the privilege of franking letters to the 
 extent of fourteen a day.
 
 a823.] HUGH MATTHIE, OF LIVEIWOOL. 145 
 
 London, Oct. 1, 1H28. 
 ... It is a refreshing thing to meet with the people of God when 
 travelhng, and when such is the case we ought to be ever inchned 
 to turn the conversation towards heavenly and improving subjects. 
 I hope both of us feel disposed to acknowledge the hand of our 
 Heavenly Father in all the events of life, and draw all our consola- 
 tion from the belief that wherever we are, or however separated 
 from those we love and the comforts of their society, that He is ever 
 mmdful of us and watching over us for good. I wish humbly to 
 place you, and all that concerns me, with confidence at His blessed 
 disposal. I am to dine to-day at Mr. Randall's, Battersea, but fear 
 the enjoyment will be of a different sort from yesterday's. I pray 
 God to keep me watchful, and humbly dependent upon the supply of 
 His grace to keep me from evil. 
 
 When that letter was written, events were ripen- 
 ing which were to alter the whole course of George 
 Burns' business and social life. 
 
 ]\Ir. Hugh Matthie, of Liverpool, was the father of 
 the Liverpool and Glasgow shipping trade, and, in 
 conjunction with his partner, Mr. Theakstone, owned 
 six saihng smacks which were employed in the coast- 
 ing business. The whole of the Glasgow and Liver- 
 pool trade was in the hands of three companies, each 
 company owning six smacks. There was a Glasgow 
 Joint Stock Company, whose agent in Glasgow was 
 James Martin, his brother Thomas being agent in 
 Liverpool ; a private company, managed in Glasgow 
 by one David Chapman, and in Liverpool by William 
 Swan Dixon ; and the Liverpool firm of Matthie and 
 Theakstone, whose agents in Glasgow were John and 
 Alexander Kidd. In 1824, one of the Kidds died, 
 
 10
 
 146 SIB GEORGE BUliNS. [Chap. VII. 
 
 and very shortly after, his brother followed, stricken 
 down with fever. On the circumstance being dis- 
 cussed in the office of Messrs. Burns, Mr. James Burns 
 — who, as we have said, was by no means a pushing 
 man, l)ut rather prone to hold back his partner, and 
 was rarely given to making suggestions for the ad- 
 vancement of the business — said to George in a 
 casual kind of way, " How would it do for us to get 
 the agency of the Liverpool smacks ? " " Anything 
 will suit us," answered George, and, in his usual 
 prompt manner, sat down on the instant, and \vrote 
 to Messrs. Matthie and Theakstone, to whom he 
 was personally known from his visits to Liverpool, 
 making formal application for the agency. In due 
 course a reply was received : " Our Mr. Matthie 
 intends to be in Glasgow in the course of a few 
 weeks, and will call and see you." 
 
 It was never a hal)it of George Burns to let the 
 grass grow under his feet, and he at once set to work 
 to get support, a rumour having reached him that 
 Messrs. Fleming and Hope, an old and well-known 
 firm, had entered the field in competition. 
 
 A week or two passed, and then came a day when 
 the foundation-stone of a new Lunatic Asylum was 
 to be laid, and there was to be a grand Masonic 
 procession and other festivities. George Burns, who 
 never missed an opportunity of seeing what was to 
 be seen, had arranged to meet his wife and take her 
 to a window reserved for them. Just as he was 
 starting, and the premises in Miller Street w^ere
 
 1823.] " PEESONAL FITNESS." 147 
 
 being closed, who should come up but Mr. Hugh 
 Matthie ! 
 
 George Burns did not give up a sight of Giant's 
 Causeway to please Mr. Hodgson, his travelling 
 companion in Ireland ; nor did he give up the 
 enjoyments of the day to please the active, business- 
 like, influential Scotchman, Mr. Matthie. So he 
 explained where he was going, and Mr. Matthie 
 said, " Oh ! go by all means, and I'll call again 
 to-morrow." Next day he came again, and had a 
 long conversation, in the course of wdiich he said 
 that Messrs. Fleming and Hope were supported in 
 their application by a round-robin of recommenda- 
 tions from the most influential people. " But I look 
 to personal fitness as of the first importance," said 
 the shrewd Hugh Matthie in parting. "I am not 
 ■going to make any appointment at present; when 
 I do, it will be given to the best and most capable 
 .man I can get. I will come and see you again." 
 When he left, Geoi'ge duly reported the matter to 
 his brother, and said jokingly, " I like the idea 
 of personal fitness — it looks hopeful." 
 
 After a time, Mr. Matthie returned with the an- 
 nouncement that he was prepared to give the agency 
 to Messrs. Burns, and proposed very liberal terms, 
 namely, 6|- per cent commission on all freights — 
 payments to be guaranteed by the agents. " Now," 
 said Hugh Matthie, in his short but genial way, 
 " having settled that, I want to tell you that there is 
 a young man in Kidds' office named Hutcheson, who
 
 148 SIB GEOliGE BUliNS. [Chap. YII. 
 
 has shown great ability in bringing up liis affairs in 
 proper state ; he may be useful to you : take him or 
 not, just as you think fit, because I lay on you entire 
 responsibility. There is another good man we have 
 as our agent in Greenock, Mr. Archibald Black, a 
 very zealous, comj)etent man — he also may be useful; 
 but I say again, you can continue his services or not, 
 as you please." 
 
 \Yithout any hesitation Mr. Hutcheson was taken 
 into the business in Glasgow, and Mr. Black's ser- 
 vices were continued in Greenock. New premises 
 were immediately secured at 42, Millar Street, 
 formerly occupied as a dwelling by AVilliam Connal, 
 and in which his worthy nephew, now Sir Michael 
 Connal, was born. On taking the lease of other 
 premises a little farther down the street, George 
 Burns drew up the agreement, when Mr. Mc- 
 Naughten, the owner, having read the important 
 clauses in the lease, looked up knowingly and said, 
 *' Ah, George Burns, you have mistaken your calling 
 — you should have been a lawyer." 
 
 The die was cast, and the lot in life of George 
 Burns was fixed. The idea of Ownership had never 
 entered his mind, but from that day forth he threw 
 himself heart and soul into the shijDping business, 
 in which he was to make his permanent name and 
 fortune ; while James Burns continued to manage 
 the produce business — a branch which was kept up 
 as long as he lived, although it dwindled down to 
 a mere department of the Burns' fleet. Hence-
 
 1823.] BECOMES A SHIPOWNER. 149 
 
 forth the produce business was carried on under 
 the style of "J. and Gr. Burns" — the shipping 
 business under that of " G. and J. Burns," in the 
 two separate premises. There is notiiing more to 
 be said of the former firm in connection with this 
 narrative ; and with regard to the latter, as George 
 Burns was in every important movement " the 
 firm," we shall speak of him, as far as possible, 
 individually. 
 
 Not long after the brothers had been installed 
 in the agency, George Burns negotiated for the pur- 
 chase of Mr. Theakstone's share in the six smacks 
 owned by his firm, he having retired fi-om business. 
 The negotiations were successful, and George Burns 
 thus became a shipowner for the first time, and an 
 equal partner with Matthie, who was well pleased 
 with the arrangement. 
 
 Another step, even more important than that 
 from the produce trade to shipping, was taken 
 that same year. George Burns embarked in steam 
 navigation between the Clyde and Belfast — the 
 cradle of the coasting steam-trade of the British 
 Isles. 
 
 The Clyde, and Steam, are subjects which seem to 
 warrant a slight digression here. 
 
 The Clyde in the vicinity of Glasgow was, as we 
 have seen, a scarcely navigable stream in the be- 
 ginning of the century. George Burns remembered 
 when it was possible to wade across it among the 
 stones at some distance below the foot of the old
 
 150 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. VII. 
 
 Broomielaw Bridge, when the fisliiug-liuts stood 
 upon its bank. 
 
 In 1768, Mr. John Golborne, of Chester, had 
 suggested that rubble jetties should be run from the 
 banks towards the middle of the stream, to concen- 
 trate the diffused waters into one channel, instead 
 of allowing them to meander into many tortuous 
 channels and shallows, varying from fifteen inches 
 to two feet in depth, and that the main channel 
 should be deepened by ploughing and dredging. 
 James Watt, "the father of the steam engine," 
 reported favourably on the scheme; in 1770 an Act 
 of Parliament was obtained for deepening the river 
 and, in the course of a few years, there w^as a depth 
 of from ten to twelve feet of water at spring tides 
 from Glasgow to Dumbarton. 
 
 There is a story told of an adventurous navigator 
 w^ho, towards the end of last century, built a vessel of 
 thirty tons burthen for the purpose of exploring " the 
 wee bit burn ca'd the Clyde," and wdio, as a reward 
 for his enterprise and daring, w^as presented with the 
 freedom of the city on reaching Glasgow. 
 
 In 1805, when the Swallow, a brig of sixty tons 
 burthen, came up to the Broomielaw — or Bremmie- 
 law, as it used then to be called — the people, who had 
 never seen a square-rigged vessel on the river before, 
 thronged the wharf in thousands for several days to 
 gaze on so remarkable a sight. 
 
 In 1806, a heavily laden schooner, of a hundred 
 and fifty tons burthen, came direct from Lisbon and
 
 1823.] THE CLYDE AND STEAM. 151 
 
 discharged her cargo at the Broomielaw. Step by 
 step, under the guidance of Rennie, Telford, and 
 other celebrated engineers, and through the energy 
 and intelligence of the Corporation — and in later 
 years the '' Clyde Trust," chosen fi'om among mem- 
 bers of the Corporation and other citizens of 
 Glasgow — improvements were effected, until the 
 shallow, tortuous stream became transformed to 
 a great navigable highway, the source of the extra- 
 ordinary rise and prosperity of the city. 
 
 Another and closely allied source of prosperity was 
 steam. In 1784, John Fitch, an American engineer, 
 said to some men he employed, " Well, gentlemen, 
 although I shall not live to see the time, you will, 
 when steam-boats will be preferred to all other means 
 of coiivej^ance, and esj^ecially for passengers." When 
 he retired, the men said one to another, " Poor fellow ! 
 what a pity he is crazy ! " He was not crazy, but 
 disappointed, because many schemes he had pro- 
 jected for propelling vessels by steam, had failed. 
 He became a despised, unfortunate and heart-broken 
 man, and died by his own hand in 1798. But 
 he was one of the pioneers of steam navigation — 
 he sowed that which others reaped ; and when the 
 history of Heroic Failures conies to be written, his 
 name will stand prominently forward. 
 
 The Cleniiont, plying on the Hudson in 1807 with 
 passengers and goods between New York and Albany, 
 was the first steam-boat in the world that was regu- 
 larly and continuously engaged in passenger traffic.
 
 lo-2 STR GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. VII. 
 
 Eobert Fulton, the owner,* did not claim to have 
 been the inventor, hut lie claimed to have been 
 the first to combine the inventions of others, and 
 to successfully and continuously run a steam-ship. 
 
 Fulton, although he made practical the dream of 
 Fitch, gained little for himself. He died in 1815, a 
 poor man, " done to death by the persecutions of 
 jealous and narrow-minded rivals." But his influence 
 spread and the success of the Clermont soon led to 
 the introduction of steam vessels into other countries 
 for the purposes of passenger traffic. 
 
 One day, when George Burns was a youth of 
 seventeen, his eye caught sight of an advertisement 
 in a Glasgow paper, of which the following is a 
 portion : — 
 
 " Steam-passage Boat, the Comet, between Glas- 
 gow, Greenock, and Helensburgh, for passengers only. 
 
 " The subscriber having, at much expense, fitted 
 up a handsome vessel to ply upon the river Clyde, 
 between Glasgow and Greenock, to sail by the power 
 of AYind, Air, and Steam, he intends that the vessel 
 shall leave the Broomielaw on Tuesdays, Thursdays, 
 and Saturdays about midday, or at such hour there- 
 
 * Says Mr. Burns, "My old and valued friend Dean Erskine of 
 Ripon told me that when, at this time, lie went to visit the United 
 States, he was entrusted by the 1 >ritish Government with despatches. 
 It was in war time, and, in case of surprise, he always sat on his 
 despatches ready to cast them into the sea if necessai-y. He 
 became acquainted with Fulton, and ever after spoke of him in 
 terms of "reat admiration."
 
 1823-1).] THE FIEST STEAMER, COMET. ir)3 
 
 after as may answer from the state of the tide, and 
 to leave Greenock on Mondays, Wednesdays, and 
 Fridays in the morning to suit the tide. . . . 
 
 " Henry Bell. 
 " Helensburgh Baths, August 5, 1812." 
 
 George Burns was down at the Broomielaw that 
 day, in good time to see the novel sight of the Comet 
 steaming away from the quay. She w^as only 40 feet 
 in length of keel and 10\ feet beam; her engines,* 
 which cost £192, were four-horse power, and her 
 draught of w^ater four feet. She was not much to 
 look at, and yet so wonderful a sight had never 
 been seen in Europe before. 
 
 By degrees the public began to appreciate the 
 value of steamers. Dr. Cleland, in his " Annals of 
 Glasgow " published in 1817, says : "It has been 
 calculated that, previous to the erection of steam- 
 boats, not more than fifty persons passed and re-passed 
 from Glasgow to Greenock in one daj^ ; whereas it is 
 now supposed that there are from four to five hundred 
 passes and re-passes in the same period." 
 
 With the same keen interest that he had watched 
 the experiments in gas in his schoolboy days, George 
 Burns watched the progress of steam, the great 
 power which was to revolutionize the state of the 
 whole world — little dreaming, however, that he 
 would play an important part in its development. 
 
 * The engine of the Comet is now in the Patent Office Museum, 
 South Kensington,
 
 154 SIR GEOBGE BUBNS. [Chap. VII. 
 
 Soon after he had become a partner with Hugh 
 Matthie, some people in Behast proposed to form a 
 company for steam vessels to trade between that 
 town and Glasgow ; and George Burns, who was well 
 known in Belfast, was asked to join and take the 
 agency. In many quarters a strong prejudice still 
 existed against steam, and there were some good 
 people to l)e found who did not hesitate to declare 
 that it was flying in the face of Providence to 
 encourage it. An event, which appeared to be an 
 argument in their favour, occurred in the very year 
 in which George Burns embarked in the enterprise, 
 the original Comet having been wrecked in 1820, 
 when rounding Craignish Point on her journey h'oni 
 Port William to Glasgow. Among those wdio sym- 
 pathised with Henry Bell on that occasion was 
 George Burns, wdio knew him personally, and who, 
 by the by, when he was staying at the Baths in 
 Helensburgh, kept by Mrs. Bell, liad lieard lier say 
 '' she could get on very well if it were not for 
 Henry and his wood bills continually coming in." 
 
 A second Comet was built by poor Bell, but in 
 October, 1825, she collided with the Ajji- steamer off 
 Gourock, and sank with seventy souls. 
 
 In the face of facts and prejudices such as these, 
 it was an anxious time for George Burns ; l)ut, like 
 all far-seeing men, he felt satisfied that steam would 
 carry all before it, and, as he said, "eat its way" 
 into every branch of trade — and therefore he deter- 
 mined to stand by steam.
 
 1823-9.] STANDING BY STEAM. 155 
 
 Many were anxious to have the agency of the 
 Glasgow and Belfast line of trading steamers, which 
 was a new and important shipping connection. But, 
 des^^ite the strong opposition of one Mr. Stirling 
 — who used every endeavour to oust his opponent, 
 greatly to the annoyance of George MacTear, the Bel- 
 fast agent — Mr. Burns was confirmed in the agency. 
 It came to him as the result of his knowledge of 
 the Irish people, — or rather of their knowledge of 
 him when he was in the produce husiness, and 
 many of these old hiends gathered round him and 
 promised their consignments. MacTear was a man 
 of a temperament which could not he rufiled. 
 "When Mr. Stirling's persistency had reached a 
 point which would have sorely tried the temper of 
 most men, George MacTear only took a snuff, and 
 said in his calm and quiet way, " I wish Stirling 
 were in heaven ! " Nor was he rufiled when, the 
 company having decided that the steamers should 
 sail on Sundays, Mr. Burns came down with a 
 most emphatic protest and positively declined to 
 have anything to do with the arrangements under 
 those circumstances. As he remained firm, the 
 obnoxious decision was removed. Soon the whole 
 machinery was in working order, and goods and 
 passengers were being conveyed in large and swift 
 vessels between the Clyde and Belfast. 
 
 When George Burns had determined to stand by 
 steam, he was anxious to see it introduced into every 
 branch of the trade. " We must either adopt it, or be
 
 156 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. YIT. 
 
 driven out of the field," was the burden of his 
 cry. 
 
 It will be remembered that there were eighteen 
 smacks in the Liverpool trade. The idea occmTedtO" 
 him that it would be a good thing to combine with 
 James and Thomas Martin, who^were agents for a Joint 
 Stock Company owning six of these vessels ; and by 
 clearing them away, and the six for which he was 
 agent and half-owner, a good opening would thereby 
 be made for steam. The Martins heartily concurred, 
 but their hands were tied by their company, and 
 it was twelve months before they succeeded in 
 getting a few leading men connected with it to join 
 them. Meanwhile George appealed to his partner, 
 James, but he only got from him the usual answer 
 — " I'll neither make nor meddle with it." Upon 
 being hard pressed by his more energetic brother, 
 he went so lar as to say — and it was another of his 
 well-known phrases — " It is against vijj judgment,, 
 but you can do as you like." 
 
 So George went to Liverpool to consult with Mr. 
 Matthie. He was particularly kind and friendly, but 
 he was getting old. He had amassed a fortune, and 
 at his time of life he had no ambition for embarking 
 in any new venture, especially such a venture as 
 this, which must of necessity involve great labour and 
 anxiety. At first Hugh Matthie said " No." But 
 George Burns was not a man to " take No for an 
 answer ; " so, yielding to his influence, Mr. Matthie 
 modified his position so far as to say, "I'll take an
 
 1823-9.] THE GLASGOW SAILS. 157 
 
 interest in it/' and eventually lie said, " To please 
 you, I will go into it." 
 
 The twelve smacks were bought and dispersed — 
 some to St. Petersburg, some to the Lisbon trade, 
 and some were sold; a co-partnery was entered into, 
 and the management was placed under the union 
 of Mr. Hugh Matthie and Mr. Thomas Martin — 
 the style of the firm being " Matthie and Martin " 
 for Liverpool, and " G. and J. Burns and J. Martin " 
 for Glasgow. 
 
 On the 13th of March, 1829, the first vessel of the 
 new Glasgow Company steamed down the Clyde. 
 Hugh Matthie had proposed, as a compliment to 
 George Burns, that it should be named the Doctor, 
 after his brother. Dr. John Burns, who was then one 
 of the most popular men in Glasgow, and the first 
 Professor of Surgery in the University; but George 
 thought it would be better to name it the Glasgow^ 
 and this was accordingly done. She was followed 
 the next month by the Ailsa Craig, and the fol- 
 lowing year by the Liverjwol. 
 
 George arranged the sailing day of the first vessel, 
 the Glasgoiv, to be Friday — despite the sailor's 
 superstition with regard to that day ; although his 
 object was not to fight a superstition, but to establish 
 a principle, namely, the avoidance, as far as pos- 
 sible, of saihng on Sunday. When Hugh Matthie 
 heard of this arrangement, he wrote back at once to 
 say that it would never do, as the whole of the canal 
 trafiic fi'om Stafford and elsewhere arrived in Liver-
 
 158 SIB GEOBGE BTJB^S. [Chap. VI I. 
 
 pool on Saturday. "It would be far better," he 
 said, " to sail on Saturday, and, if you think it neces- 
 sary," he added, sarcasticallj^, "provide chaplains ! " 
 At that time he was always in the way of saying- 
 to Mr. Martin when letters came in the morning, 
 "What will 'King George' have to say to-day?" 
 
 He was dumbfounded when he heard what " King 
 George " had to say in reply. It was a frankly worded 
 letter, saying that " he thought very well of the 
 suggestion about providing chaplains, and that he 
 and his brother would pay the entire expense of the 
 experiment." The letter arrived in the usual course. 
 Mr. Matthie was sitting in his private room on one 
 side of the table, and Martin on the other. He read 
 the letter, and threw it across to Martin saying, "The 
 fellow takes me up in earnest." Mr. Martin replied,. 
 "Did I not say you had better not try that game 
 on with Burns ? " 
 
 At once the novel idea was carried into effect, and 
 a chaplain was appointed for each of the steamers. 
 Captain Hepburn, in command of the second vessel 
 with a chaplain on board, was jeered by the people on 
 the Broomielaw, as he sailed away, the would-be wits 
 bantering him on " Sailing in a steam chapel," and 
 so forth. But the ridicule soon died away, while the 
 boon and the blessing remained. The institution of 
 chaplains continued until the year 1843, when the 
 Free Church started off from the Established Church, 
 of Scotland, which made such a draft upon licentiates 
 for the ministry, that operations had to be suspended;
 
 1823-9.] ''KING GEOEGE'S" CHAPLAINS. 159 
 
 but a succession of missionaries was employed to 
 visit the seamen on shore in Glasgow, and part of the 
 duties formerly performed by the chaplains was thus 
 carried on. A mission-room was specially built for 
 this object on premises belonging to Messrs. Burns, 
 near the Broomielaw — where Dr. Love's chapel 
 originally stood — and on Sunday evenings the ser- 
 vices of the highest class of ministers in Glasgow 
 were enlisted, amongst them being the late Dr. 
 Norman Macleod, of the Barony Church, and Dr. 
 Eadie, of the United Presbyterian body. On week- 
 days the room was used for various social purposes, 
 and from time to time entertaining lectures were 
 given. 
 
 With splendid steamers, good captains, an excel- 
 lent system of business, and a wide influence, the 
 Glasgow Company carried everything before it. 
 There was a powerful Manchester Company in exis- 
 tence, who owned two steamers, the William Hits- 
 hisson and the James Watt, but they soon saw that 
 they could not hold their own against the rival 
 company. One day the Ailsa Craig, a vessel of the 
 Glasgow Company, left Liverpool at much about the 
 same thne that the James Watt steamed away. 
 Great was the astonishment of the captain of the 
 latter vessel, while slowly steaming on to Glasgow, 
 to meet the Ailsa Craig merrily steaming back! 
 
 This put the finishing stroke to the competition. 
 The Manchester Company (or the Huskisson Com- 
 pany, as it was sometimes called) proposed to hand
 
 160 SIB GEOEGE BUENS. [Chap. VII. 
 
 over the whole concern to the Glas.^ow Company, 
 on a suitable arrangement being made. This, after 
 some opposition from one of the partners, who 
 threatened to throvv^ the matter into Chancery, was 
 accordingly done, and thus the wdiole of the Liver- 
 pool and Glasgow trade came into the hands of 
 George Burns and his partners, wdth the exception 
 of one very small steamer called the Enterprise — 
 concerning which there is a tale to tell. 
 
 David Maclver of Liverpool was the agent in that 
 city for the trade of the Enterprise, and when he 
 heard of wdiat the Burns's were doing, and of the 
 success that was attending them, he determined that 
 he would widen his field of action, add ship to ship, 
 and break up the monopoly. To this end he set out 
 for Glasgow to see if he could not get some men of 
 wealth and position to join him in originating an 
 opposition. When he reached Glasgow, he found 
 to his dismay that G. and J. Burns had, in the inter- 
 val, purchased the Enteriwise, which he had counted 
 upon as the nucleus of his scheme ! 
 
 David Maclver waxed wroth. But he was not a 
 young man to he beaten, and although " he was," as 
 he said, "fairly thrown on his back," so soon as he 
 recovered himself, he went to work with the energy 
 which only exasperated men can sometimes employ. 
 His first step was to go to the agents of the six 
 remaining smacks in the trade, in the belief that, as 
 the hope of their gains had gone, they would join 
 heartily in the opposition. They had plenty of
 
 1823-9.] AN OPPOSITION COMPANY. IGl 
 
 animus, but no capital. However, it occurred to 
 them, that if they and Maclver could get hold of 
 James Donaldson, a cotton broker, said to be "rolling 
 in wealth," and enlist his interest, something might 
 be done. 
 
 Application was made to Donaldson, the idea 
 exactly shaped itself to the bent of his fancy, and 
 war began. There was a vessel, the Citi/ of Glasgow^ 
 lying for sale at Greenock. She had previously been 
 entirely employed, along with the Majestic, in carry- 
 ing passengers between Liverpool and Glasgow — a 
 venture which had not proved successful ; but on 
 consulting Mr. Eobert Napier, afterwards the well- 
 known engineer, he said he would convert the holds 
 of the vessel, so as to make it a freight carrier. 
 This was done, and so it came to pass that the Clhj 
 of Glangow was the first vessel in opposition on the 
 Liverpool trade. 
 
 The new company was styled " The City of 
 Glasgow Steam Packet Company." Thomson and 
 McConnell were appointed the Glasgow agents, and 
 Maclver the agent in Liverpool. But he did not 
 confine himself to Liverpool : lie had vowed that he 
 would, if possible, drive the Burns's off the seas ; and 
 he was constantly on the vessels, backwards and for- 
 wards, urging on " extra coals, extra pressure, extra 
 speed." 
 
 New vessels were put on — not only on the Liver- 
 pool line, but on the Ayr line, where the Burns's 
 were working a steam service apart fi-om their partner 
 
 11
 
 162 SJli GEOliGE BUHNS. [Chap. VII. 
 
 Martin. The opposition was certainly formidable, but 
 
 " The best laid schemes o' mice an' men 
 Gang aft a-gley." 
 
 David Maclver's wrath cooled down ; neither the 
 fleet of the new company, nor its reputation, nor its 
 management, could compete \di\i the Burns's, and 
 the balance-sheet did not present the favourable 
 aspect anticipated. 
 
 There have always been certain original men in 
 the world, with marked individuality of character, 
 who have been able at an important crisis to step in 
 and adjust the most unhiendly relations. When Sir 
 "William Walworth, for instance, struck down the 
 rebel Wat Tyler, and his followers were in conster- 
 nation and panic, the young King Richard II. is 
 reported to have cried, " I will be your leader ! " and 
 thus to have won over the belligerents, who forth- 
 with laid down their arms. 
 
 Comparing small things with great, this was the 
 attitude of George Burns in the crisis of the "City of 
 Glasgow" opposition Company. He boldly stepped 
 in and said in effect, " I will be your leader. It is of 
 no use to be unfriendly; let us amalgamate and make 
 one common purse by dividing a certain proportion 
 of the revenue derived from the general trade. You 
 shall have two-fifths, and we will have three-fifths 
 and the control of the concern." 
 
 Strange to say, the terms were accepted, and David 
 Maclver was the first to yield. He, and the agent
 
 1823-t).] OPPOSITION CONQUERED. 103 
 
 for the smacks, and Donaldson — all of them carried 
 out their part of the arrangements honourably on the 
 one side, as the Burns's did on the other, and between 
 them all there remained for the future the most 
 hiendly and confidential relations. 
 
 At the end of the first year the sum of .£4,000 
 was paid to the City of Glasgow Company, and, in 
 acknowledging it, Maclver said to George Burns, 
 '' It was very good of you to pay it to us. I'm quite 
 certain we should never have paid it to you." 
 
 Eeferring to these times, Mr. Burns says : — 
 
 Mr. Maclver became an intimate friend of the family, and he 
 told my wife that so determined was his opposition to me, that he 
 had travelled in the C% of Glasijou- backwards and forwards be- 
 tween Liverpool and Glasgow, going down himself into the engine- 
 room to superintend the firing of the furnaces, in order that he 
 might leave nothing undone that should make it possible to con- 
 quer me. I think nothing can show more strongly the friendly 
 footing on which he stood with us than this freedom of speech. 
 
 We will not weary the reader with details of the 
 Liverpool trade, of the Irish trade in which there 
 was an opposition almost as fierce, of the origin and 
 progress of the West Highland trade, of the Dundee 
 and London line, or the line between Liverpool and 
 Malaga and other ports. Points of interest in each 
 of these will arise in the course of the narrative, but 
 all these branches of shipping will fade into insignifi- 
 cance before one which was looming in the distance, 
 and was to mark the zenith of the business career 
 of George Burns.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONCERNING MATTERS DOMESTIC, SOCIAL, AND RELIGIOUS. 
 
 Although during the years in which Mr. Burns 
 was making a business he was working with un- 
 ceasing dihgence, he did not i^ursue it as though it 
 were the one end and goal of hfe. A high sense of 
 duty guided him in the disposition of his time, and 
 he strove to recognise and give a due proportion to 
 the claims of home and friendship as well as to those 
 of church and country. 
 
 We need not attempt to follow minutely the his- 
 tory of the earlier years of his married life. They 
 were full of ever-increasing joy, darkened, however, 
 by those clouds which inevitably, in some form or 
 other, overhang family life. Out of seven children 
 that were born to him, three only survived ; the 
 others died in early infancy. Many letters full of 
 sympathy lie before me from true-hearted relatives 
 and friends who condoled with him in his successive 
 family losses. The following was written by his 
 father. Dr. Burns of the Barony,
 
 1828.] LETTER FBOM DR. BURNS. 165 
 
 GouRocK, Sc])t. 15, 1828. 
 My dear George, — Upon receiving the letter from James intima- 
 ting your heavy affliction, both your sister and I felt very deeply 
 with you in this renewed trial of your faith and submission to the 
 Divine will. IMysterious are the dealings of the Lord with us, that 
 the young who we flattered ourselves might be spared long for com- 
 fort and usefulness are quickly cut down, whilst the aged who have 
 in a great measure outlived their usefulness, are spared. The 
 supreme Lord of all knows, and arranges all His plans in the best 
 manner, and Ave are required submissively to bow to His sovereign 
 appointments. I have no doubt that you and your dear partner 
 have long ago taken hold of God as your God and Father, and He 
 has promised to be a God in covenant to believers, and to their seed. 
 You received little Elizabeth from the Lord, and you solemnly dedi- 
 cated her to His service and disposal. The loan which He made of 
 her to you He has seen fit to recall, and has He not a right to do 
 with His (lien as seems best to Himself? The Judge of all the earth 
 can do no wrong. You said she was His, and that you gave her up 
 to Him : you will not then unsay what you have professed, however 
 it may be like tearing asunder your hearts. I trust the Holy Spirit 
 will enable both of you not only to hold your peace, but to kiss the 
 rod, and say ' The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, and 
 blessed be the name of the Lord.' This is the doing of Him who is 
 the Lord, and through grace our Lord. I trust your dear infant is 
 now amongst the little ones, the living in Jerusalem, and celebrating 
 the praises of redeeming mercy of which she was before incapable, 
 perhaps looking down with wonder that you are grieving at her 
 exaltation and glory. With humble prayers, it is my heart's desire 
 that both of you may experience the all-powerful support of the 
 Holy Spirit the Comforter, and that this dispensation may be 
 sanctified to all of us. Your sister desires me to assure you that 
 she most tenderly sympathises with you both, and would have 
 written you, but thought it unnecessary as I am writing. 
 
 I ever am your affectionate father, 
 
 Joux Burns.
 
 166 Slli GEOliGE BVBNS. [Chap. YIII. 
 
 Between George Burns and his father there was 
 the most intimate confidence and affection. He was, 
 when the ahove letter was written, '' waxing frail 
 by reason of age," and although still performing all 
 the duties of his ministerial office, it was thought 
 desirable that an assistant should be appointed who 
 would become his successor. This was brought 
 about in the following year, and George, albeit 
 the youngest of the family, had the principal hand in 
 promoting it. The " sister " referred to in the fore- 
 going letter was Mrs. MacBrayne, in whose family 
 Mr. Black, at that time a licentiate of the Church 
 of Scotland, was a tutor. He it was who was chosen 
 by Dr. Burns to be his assistant and successor. But 
 there were difficulties in the way. The appointment 
 was vested in the Crown, and was usually placed at 
 the disposal of the Member of Parliament for the 
 boroughs. Mr. Campbell, of Blythswood, was the 
 member, and he had a minister in view, Mr. 
 Lawrence Lockhart, of Inchinnan, to wdiom, as soon 
 as the question arose, he was anxious to give 
 the appointment. But this did not meet the 
 views of Dr. Burns, and for some time the matter 
 was kept in abeyance. Eventually, however, Mr. 
 Campbell handsomely withdrew, and Mr. Black was 
 appointed. 
 
 A good man was Mr. Black, and humorous more- 
 over, as many good men are. There are numerous 
 stories told of his quaint sayings. Dr. Burns lived 
 for nearly a dozen years after his assistant was
 
 1828.] CHBISTIAN PHILOSOPHY. 167 
 
 appointed, and people sometimes used to say to Mr. 
 Black, " You'll be wearying for Dr. Burns' death ? " 
 To which he would reply, " Not at all : I'm only 
 wearying for his living!'' 
 
 After the Disruption, Dr. Black — the degree of 
 D.D. had been conferred upon him in the meantime 
 —was asked by some of his co-presbyters, amongst 
 whom there was much discussion on the subject, 
 whether he was going out with the "Frees." His 
 reply was, " Na, na ! I've been far too long in 
 getting in.'' 
 
 Between George Burns and his brothers and sister 
 there was also the greatest possible affection and 
 confidence. It had its basis in each case in recip- 
 rocity of Christian feeling. His brother, Dr. John 
 Burns, the surgeon, was a man of singular piety, and 
 of great beauty of personal character, as well as a 
 man of marked ability. He wrote several religious 
 works, one of which, " The Principles of Christian 
 Philosophy ; containing the Doctrines, Duties, Ad- 
 monitions, and Consolations of the Christian religion," 
 still retains its place in the literature of the country. 
 The sentiments set forth in this work were heartily 
 approved by George Burns, who was wont to say that 
 if he wdshed to give expression to his own views on 
 Christian life generally, and of Christian home-life 
 particularly, he could not do better than repeat the 
 words of his brother in this work on " Christian 
 Philosophy." 
 
 We have referred in an earlier chapter to the
 
 1G8 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 religious " stock " from which the Burns's sprang. 
 An episode in the hfe of Dr. John Bums will show 
 how it was perpetuated in his hranch of the family. 
 In 1810 he lost his wife, and as the years passed on 
 he found in his only surviving daughter Kachel, 
 " not only a dear and affectionate daughter, but a 
 kind and tried friend, an intimate Christian associate, 
 and a prudent and faithful counsellor." 
 
 She was '' a Christian indeed, in whom there was 
 no gaile," and the striking features of her character 
 were, peculiar delicacy of conscience and great diffi- 
 dence in regard to her spiritual state. It was, in 
 some respects, an unfortunate circumstance that Dr. 
 Cfesar Malan, with his dogmatic assertions upon 
 the doctrine of assurance of salvation, scattered 
 broadcast— and in such an unreasoning manner, that 
 he had told George Burns it was analogous to "the 
 assurance that he had seen George IT. in Edin- 
 burgh ! " — should have crossed her path. She was 
 greatly distressed and bewildered— as many have 
 been before and since who have had a sensitive faith 
 attacked by a dogmatist — and for a time she doubted 
 the reality of her belief, and '' her acceptance with 
 God." 
 
 To her earthly father, however, she could open her 
 heart freely, and there ensued a correspondence of 
 surpassing beauty and pathos, and of great pecu- 
 liarity. The following is an extract from one of the 
 letters of Dr. John Burns when the hope of his 
 daughter was reviving : —
 
 1829.] THE DOCTEINE OF ASSURANCE. 169 
 
 Glasgow, Aikj. 29, 1820. 
 My dearest Eachel, — . . . I feel confident that you are not de- 
 ceiving yourself, but are often for a season subjected to ' manifold 
 temptations.' No one can have an anxiety to be saved, or a deter- 
 mination to rely on Jesus alone for salvation, and be deceived. The 
 Saviour is not man that He should change, or forsake His people 
 on account of their weakness of faith or coldness of love, or more 
 positive transgression. He is God as well as man, and therefore He 
 is infinite in compassion and firm as a rock. He is well styled the 
 ' Rock of salvation,' for it is the strength of the rock, and not of 
 those who are on it, which saves them. On that Rock you are 
 placed, and although my beloved child, you may tremble at what 
 you see around you, and within you, and may not always see the 
 ground on which you stand, yet still you are on the Rock which can- 
 not be shaken. You have come to the beloved of your soul, to Him 
 who is all excellent, and although you are indeed sensible that you 
 love Him not as His excellence deserves, and trust Him not as 
 He deserves, and follow Him not as He deserves, yet you still, 
 without self-delusion, can say that there is none other that your 
 soul desires as a Sa^^our ; that you do love Him, although coldly 
 indeed compared to His merit, and that although you follow Him 
 not with that closeness which the glorified spirits do in heaven, 
 yet you still desire to keep Him in sight, and would not willingly 
 and deliberately renounce your post for all that time can bestow. 
 Who, my beloved Rachel, can love the Saviour enough ; who, with- 
 out delusion, dare say that he trusts in Him Avith unshaken, 
 composed and enlightened, and constant obedience ? The most 
 sanctified here are those, I doubt not, who have their doubts, fears, 
 and seasons of heaviness. The careless and the self-deluded have 
 no fears, no anxieties, no doubts. The humble Christian is often 
 permitted, as being good for him, to have strong fears and misgivings, 
 in order to try his faith, and to lead him more exclusively to place 
 his confidence in the ' Rock of Ages,' and not in himself. The 
 question was put three times to Peter, ' Lovest thou Me ? ' Jesus 
 knew that he loved Him, and Peter, under the trial, was enabled
 
 170 -S'/ii' GEOBGE BUBNS. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 to reply that He who knew all things knew that he loved Him. 
 Did Peter think that he loved Jesus sufficiently, or even more than 
 his brethren did? Did Peter not remember that he had denied his 
 Lord ? And yet he did not, when so asked, say that he did not love 
 the Lord. Neither can you say so, and your fears proceed from a^ 
 source which ought to give you encouragement, namely, from a 
 Innnble knowledge of your owti deficiency and the greatness of Him 
 who requires your love. Whenever you are assailed by these fears, 
 remember the rich mercy which induced Jesus to come down from 
 heaven to atone for sin ; remember that He has promised that He 
 will not quench the smoking flax, that He will tenderly nurse the 
 young and weak lambs of His flock, and, under the deep sense of 
 your own weakness and imperfection, hear Him addressing to you 
 the assurance, ' My strength shall be perfect in your weakness.' It 
 is those that have fewest anxieties, and least fear, that have most 
 need to be anxious, and to them He says, ' let him that thinketh he 
 standeth take heed lest he fall.' Oh, my beloved child, who could 
 stand Avere He to withhold His protection ; who could be safe or 
 comfortable were he to trust to his own goodness ? No, no ! it is in 
 Christ alone that we will trust. We humbly come to His cross, 
 and by faith say, ' We will not make mention of our own righteous- 
 ness, but in Thee, in Thee alone will we trust. It is of Thy mercy 
 that even apostles have been kept from despair ; it is by Thy mercy 
 that such weak and worthless and insensible souls as ours are not 
 allowed to rest in peace in their own imaginations, but are brought 
 to Thee, and amidst storm and tempest, amidst carelessness and 
 ease, in every situation which can be conceived, and whether in fear 
 or in hope, are still permitted and enabled to behold " the Star in 
 the east," and also, with too many deviations, enabled to be guided 
 by it.' Pray, my dear child, for me, for too often do I forget that 
 Star and deviate from its straight path. ]\Iay we both have our way 
 hedged in by the grace of the Redeemer, and at last by Him be 
 brought to the heavenly Zion. Adieu, my dear child, and 
 Believe me ever your affectionate father, 
 
 J. Burns.
 
 1831.] RACHEL BUIiNS. 171 
 
 Will the day ever return when such confi- 
 dences will be resumed, as this solitary extract 
 from a voluminous correspondence implies ? There 
 was never a time when such freedom of manner 
 existed between parents and children as the pre- 
 sent, but it is very questionable whether the free 
 intercourse on matters of vital religion as here 
 unfolded, is not almost a thing of the past ! It is 
 to be feared that the spirit of controversy has 
 poisoned the atmosphere in which such confidences 
 can live. 
 
 Kachel Burns died in 1831. She wrote a letter to 
 her father to be read after her decease, so that being- 
 dead she might yet speak to him. It concluded 
 thus : — 
 
 And now, my beloved father, may the best blessings of the 
 Lord Jesus ever rest and abide on you. May the consolations of 
 His Holy Spirit support and comfort you in every situation and 
 every trial. Rejoice, my beloved father, in the hope, the glorious 
 hope, which is set before you. Earthly comforts may be withdrawn, 
 but the fountain of all comfort is still Jesus. He, the blessed 
 Jesus, ever liveth. He is a friend born for adversity. Trust in 
 Him, my dearest father ; He will never leave thee nor forsake thee. 
 That your soul may ever be abundantly satisfied with His love, and 
 ever enjoy His peace, and that we may meet to praise Him through 
 eternity, is the earnest prayer of your dear. 
 
 Your affectionate child, 
 
 Rachel. 
 
 During the year 1832, George Burns was very much 
 away from home, spending a considerable part of his 
 time in London attending to Parliamentary busi-
 
 172 SIB GEOIiGE BUliNS. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 ness, and other matters connected with the shippmg 
 transactions referred to in the preceding chapter. 
 
 A few extracts from his daily letters to his wife 
 will point the current of his life and thoughts. 
 
 Kendal, SiDiihtij h'A-enituj, June 3, 1832. 
 
 I was forenoon and afternoon at the parish chm-ch to-day. It is 
 a very old-fashioned building, and was well filled. The ministers 
 seemed desirous to do good by their preaching — but their sermons 
 were defective. I had the privilege of partaking of the comfortable 
 sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and this evening I heard an 
 excellent man in an Episcopal chapel. 
 
 ... Oh ! my Jane, with all my deep unworthiness, were it not 
 that the gospel of Christ and His grace afford me support, what 
 would become of me under the fits of depression that at times weigh 
 me down ! My lot in life is now fixed, and doubtless by His 
 unerring wisdom. And He has hitherto helped me and delivered 
 me wonderfully out of difticulties, and enabled me to persevere in 
 the struggle. I have still many strong temptations to contend 
 against, but trust that God will help me through. At present, 
 although it is sorely against my nature, I am engaged in the occu- 
 pation in which I am called in discharging a Christian duty for 
 you, and for our dear children and myself. If I were now to shirk, 
 you all must suffer. God grant that I may have strength given me 
 to carry through my undertakings. 
 
 London, June 7, 1832. 
 Tell jNIaggie I saw a great number of rabbits in the fields 
 belonging to the Marquis of Stafibrd in Warwickshire, and a bird's 
 nest with young ones was offered to me for sale by some little boys 
 at Barnet, but I would much rather the poor little birds had been 
 enjoying their freedom in the open air like the pretty rabbits in the 
 warren. Tell her also I saw four or five thousand young chickens 
 like herself to-day in St. Paul's, and was quite delighted at hearing 
 them sing in full chorus the Hallelujah. I wish my Jane had been 
 there. . . .
 
 1832.] IN LONDON. 173 
 
 We slept at Lichfield on Tuesday night, and rose early on 
 Wednesday morning, and saw its beautiful Cathedral and the lovely 
 monument of Innocence in it — that is a monument by Chantry of 
 two grand-daughters of the Dean, who died in early life under dis- 
 tressing circumstances. I cannot forget their beauty, and the 
 perfect personification of repose their appearance, locked in each 
 others arms, presents. 
 
 London, Siindaij, June 10, 1832. 
 
 I have been at Mr. Howell's this morning, along with Messrs. 
 Martin, jMitchell, and Miller. ■■' We heard many outrageously odd 
 things, but also many good things from Mr. Howell. Amongst 
 others, talking of idleness and idlers, he said that the human 
 mind was so constituted that it must be incessantly occupied either 
 in good or bad ; that there could be no occupation of a neutral sort ; 
 that it was a proverb that idlers were the Devil's pincushions t 
 — ' and so they are,' added he, so quaintly that Mr, Miller fairly set 
 off in a fit of laughter, and I followed him ; Mr. Martin was restless 
 under the effort to repress the same inclination, and James Mitchell 
 looked perfectly dumbfounded. Mr. Howell said it was in idleness 
 that David was caught and fell (his subject was on the Fifty-first 
 Psalm), and that many people took encouragement from David's case, 
 and were ready to follow his practice, but not so ready to follow his 
 penitence. The verse he was discoursing upon was, ' Uphold me 
 
 * Mr. Martin was his partner ; Mr. Mitchell his valuable Quay 
 Clerk and Superintendent at the Broomielaw ; the Eev. Mr. Miller, 
 Rector of Oswestry, a friend. Mr. Burns used to tell a story con- 
 nected with the latter to this effect : One day a London clergyman 
 was preaching for him at Oswestry, and was very much disturbed 
 by a number of people leaving the church before he had concluded 
 his sermon. He spoke of this to Miller, who explained that they 
 were people connected with farms, and had to attend to the milking 
 of the cows. " But why could they not let that stand over till 
 Monday?" the London clergyman asked, innocently. 
 
 t Referring to the custom of ladies in those days wearing pin- 
 cushions by their side.
 
 174 SIE GEORGE BUliNS. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 by Tliy free Spirit,' and lie dwelt largely upon the offices of the 
 Spirit and His influences. He made many forcible appeals to the 
 conscience. Amongst other things, in talking of our being so apt 
 in religious matters to follow our passions and not our reason, 
 he dashed in an exclamation of this sort : ' My friends, if I had 
 listened to my passions, I would have cut my throat long ago — and 
 I believe there are many here besides who would have done the 
 same thing.' Such a sentence electrified nle. 
 
 In this month, while George Burns was in 
 London and so tied to business that it was 
 impossible for him to get free, twins were born to 
 him. One of them, George, did not long survive ; 
 the other, James Cleland Burns, remains to this day. 
 
 Writing many years after\Yards to condole with 
 her daughter-in-law in a separation consequent 
 upon business, Mrs. Burns said : "I know by 
 experience what separation is. On one occasion, 
 when my husband went to London to oppose a 
 Bill, your husband was born, and his father could 
 not return for many weeks. So much for the trials 
 incident to men in business." From the daily and 
 anxious correspondence of those '' many weeks," we 
 extract some of the lighter passages. 
 
 London, Jane 12, 1882. 
 
 We attended divine service on board the Lirerpool "•' on Sunday 
 
 evening, and heard Mr. Miller preach to a crew of thirty in the 
 
 cabin. It was delightful to hear the voice of praise raised on the 
 
 bosom of the Thames. I dare say the surrounding crowds of 
 
 '■'■' One of G. and J. Burns's steam vessels with a chaplain on 
 board.
 
 1832.] SIGHT-SEEING. 175 
 
 shipping were surprised. We were anchored in the middle of the 
 river. . . . 
 
 London, June 10, 1832. 
 On Sunday, I heard in the morning the Bishop of Chester 
 (Sumner) and in the afternoon the Bishop of Calcutta (Daniel 
 Wilson) preach, the first in St. John's [CeciUs church), and the 
 other at Sloane Street, Chelsea. Both gave excellent evangelical 
 sermons ; the latter possesses great powers of mind, and is eloquent. 
 . . . Yesterday we visited the Coliseum, and in the evening went to 
 the House of Commons, where we heard O'Connell, Hume, Stanley, 
 Peel, Himt, Crampton, &c. We were fortunate in falling in with 
 an animated debate on the Reform Bill — you will see it in the 
 papers. The Liver pool arrived here this morning at a quarter before 
 four, after a passage of sixty hours. Freight £50, passage £32 ; 
 total £82. This is poor work, but we must persevere. 
 
 June 27, 1832. 
 ... In addition to our ordinary business, we have been involved 
 in a great deal of parliamentary business about the Steam-boat Bill. 
 I have had a good opportunity of conferring with members ; Lord 
 Sandon, in particular (with whom we have had dilierent interviews), 
 has been very attentive and pleasant. He is an amiable man. . . . 
 
 Yesterday we saw the King and Queen at the review in the Park, 
 and in the evening got admission to the Palace through Miss Sands 
 (with whom we dined), to see them and the dinner party enter the 
 banqueting-room to dinner. . . . 
 
 ^^'e saw to-day the members of both Houses of Parliament go to 
 the King in state, to present an address. 
 
 July 2, 1832. 
 . . . You would observe that I am under an engagement to be at 
 the House of Commons on the afternoon of ]\Ionday !)th ; and I must, 
 if all things go well with you and all the infants, ' attend my duty 
 in Parliament ' not only on that day, but must watch the Bill 
 subsequently, and after that matter is settled I shall be thinldng of
 
 176 SIB GEOBGE BUENS. [Chap. YIII. 
 
 comiiiL"- liomo, even if I should return hero again after a short stay. 
 / ^YOulll be in a different occupation if it were practicable, and many 
 a heavy heart I have on this account ; but I am endeavouring in the 
 strength of Christ to fight hard in this department of the Christian, 
 warfare. It is the hardest struggle in which I ever was engaged, 
 but in some shape or other we must encounter the enemy whilst 
 passing through the valley of humiliation. . . . 
 
 We went yesterday forenoon to the INIetliodist Chapel, where we 
 heard Mr. Watson, and I received the benefit of the Communion. 
 The service was conducted according to the English Liturgy. In 
 the evening we went to a Burgher Church in the neighbourhood, 
 and heard a very good sermon. 
 
 Dundee, Aug. 8, 1832. 
 
 We met Lord Camperdown and his friend Captain Dufi", whom 
 I saw so often in London. I have had another letter from Lord 
 Sandon about the Steam Bill. He is really very attentive. . . . 
 
 To-morrow is a Keform procession day, " so we shall have no 
 business done. . . . 
 
 * Mention of the Keform Bill of 1832, reminds us of a curious piece 
 of information as to the rate at which it was possible for news to 
 travel at that time. Dr. Cleland, in his " Annals of Glasgow," tells us 
 that the Bill passed the Lords at 6.35 a.m. on Saturday, the 4tli of 
 April. Sixty-five minutes later, at 7.40 a.m., Mr. Young, of the Sim 
 newspaper, left the Strand for Glasgow in a post-chaise and four, with 
 copies of the Sun containing a report of the debate (twenty-two and 
 a half columns) and of the division ; and on Sunday at 7.30 p.m. he 
 arrived at the house, in Miller street, Glasgow, of his agent Thomas 
 Atkinson, the well-known Eadical bookseller, poet, and essayist. 
 The time was thus 35 hours 50 minutes, and the whole journey, 
 then given as 403 miles, was done at 11^ miles an hour, including 
 stoppages. Although it is probable that short journeys — like 
 George the Fourth's gallops to Brighton — were done quicker, no man 
 ever travelled 400 miles on a road so fast as Mr. Young of the Sim,
 
 18:32.] THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 177 
 
 It will have been observed in the extracts given 
 from his correspondence, that George Burns, the son 
 of the " Father of the Church of Scotland," and 
 the intimate friend of Dr. Chalmers, was perfectly 
 untrammelled in his denominational proclivities, 
 although showing a strong tendency towards the 
 Church of England as by law established. 
 
 He liked the Liturgy of the Church — a set form of 
 worship — and thought there was not only ample 
 justification for it in Scripture, but encouragement 
 to " take with you words " in approaching the 
 Almighty in prayer. This did not in the least 
 degree interfere with his appreciation of extempore 
 prayer, which he always employed in his own house- 
 hold ; but for public worship he considered that the 
 beautiful service of the Church of England was in- 
 comparable, representing as it does all the feelings, 
 desires, and passions of man, and giving to all a 
 mouthpiece for the expression of their wants and 
 aspirations. It was peculiarly pleasant to him, a 
 lover of good men and one who had so wide a cu*cle 
 of friends, to know that on the same day and at 
 the same hour he would join with them in 
 identical petitions, and hear with them identical 
 portions of the Word of Cod. And not only with 
 fi'iends, but with Christian men in every part of the 
 globe where there are English communities, for, 
 h'om our sea-girt isle to the farthest coast, there 
 would be rising from ten thousand times ten thousand 
 hearts the same utterances and the same ardent 
 
 12
 
 178 SIB GEOBGE BUENS. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 desires. Again, he valued the comprehensiveness of 
 the teaching of the Church. No picking wp a scrap 
 here and a scrap there, and ringing the changes 
 upon them, but taking the whole of the Scriptures 
 and the whole range of doctrines, and setting them 
 before the peoi:)le at recurring seasons. 
 
 Moreover, he admired bold 23reaching, and in the 
 Evange^lical section of the Church of England he 
 found men who were not afi'aid to lift up their 
 voices against " spiritual wickedness in high places," 
 against prevailing worldliness, and against apostasy, 
 whether in favour of Popery, or Socinianism, or 
 Infidelity. He had no sympathy with that squire's 
 daughter, for instance, who asked the young curate 
 " if he could not preach about Hell in the afternoon ; " 
 he preferred to hear "the whole counsel of God" 
 to saint and sinner, to old and young, to rich and 
 poor. He liked to see the Evangelical minister 
 take down the "sword of the Spirit" from behind 
 the ecclesiastical ephod and use it freely, "piercing 
 to the dividing asunder of the thoughts and intents 
 of the heart." He regretted, in common with all 
 Evangelicals of the old style, that there was such 
 " a wonderful dearth of men of the good sound 
 stamp who gave the ring of the true metal, pure 
 gold without alloy ; " and he determined, as far as 
 in him lay, that he would seek to remedy the defect 
 in the circle where his influence was felt. 
 
 He attached himself therefore to St. Jude's Epis» 
 copal Churcli in Glasgow — to wliich church, in 1838,
 
 1838.] ROBERT MONTGOMERY. 179 
 
 the Kev. Eobert Montgomery, afterwards of Percy 
 Street Chapel, London, was appointed. 
 
 The histor}^ of that appointment may be told in 
 Mr. Burns' own words : — 
 
 I had much to do in getting up the two Episcopal churches in 
 Glasgow — St. Jude's and St. Silas's. Mr. Almond, who was the 
 Incumbent of St. Mary's Scotch Episcopal Church, said to me 
 that he was going away for six weeks' holiday. ' But I have a 
 yomig man strongly recommended to me l)y Hugh McNeile,' he 
 said, ' of the name of ]\Iontgomery, and I should be much obliged 
 if you would show him some attention.' I went to the church on 
 Simday to hear him preach, and I went into the vestry to intro- 
 duce myself. The moment I entered he said, ' Here, help me on 
 with my gowTi.' That was Eobert Montgomery, called ' Satan 
 Montgomery ' by Lord Macaulay. When I got home I said, 
 without hesitation, ' That fellow will do,' and my prophecy was 
 fulfilled. He was a young man of real genius, and remarkable 
 power in the pulpit. St. Mary's Church, where he preached, had 
 been very thinly attended, but in a short time it became crowded 
 to excess. This was more than Mr. Almond could stand, and he 
 appealed to the Directors, who decided to keep Montgomery. 
 Crowds flocked to the church when Montgomery preached, but 
 fell away before Mr. Almond. This led to an unhappy disagree- 
 ment between the two preachers, and I was asked by the Directors 
 to try and bring about a reconciliation. I went to Mv. Almond 
 and spoke to Inm, and in reply to something I said, he answered, 
 • It is of great importance that Christian people should have the 
 pure gospel;' to which I answered, 'Yes, but purity with peace.' 
 I made nothing in the way of reconciliation, and in the end 
 Montgomery was" cast off. It was then that I got up St. Jude's 
 for him, and the two churches became quite alien. There was, 
 however, a Major Orr who worshipped in St. Jude's, and he took in 
 hand a reconciliation. He spoke to Mr. Almond very earnestly.
 
 ISO sin GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. VIH. 
 
 dwelling particularly on passages in the Lord's Prayer, and made so 
 deep an impression on the old incumbent, that ultimately a good 
 feeling was brought about. In order to show that friendship was 
 restored, the rival ministers resolved to exchange pulpits, and, to 
 the surprise of everybody, the white-haired Mr. Almond one day 
 mounted the pulpit of St. Jude's. 
 
 Eobert Montgomery, who was a notability in his 
 day, was born at Bath in 1807. At an early age he 
 appeared before the world as an author, and in 1828 
 he published a poem entitled " The Omnipresence 
 of the Deity," which became extraordinarily popu- 
 lar, eight editions being sold in almost as many 
 months. This was soon followed by other works, 
 the best known of which are "The Messiah" and 
 " Satan." In 1835 he was ordained, and his first 
 curacy was at Wliittington, in Shropshire. After- 
 wards he was curate to Hugh McNeile in St. 
 Jude's, Liverpool, where he remained until 1838, 
 when he came to Glasgow. Here he ministered 
 until December, 1842, and made for himself a name 
 as a popular preacher. But he was not in universal 
 favour. Perhaps there were few who had warmer 
 friends or more bitter enemies ; certainly there 
 had, up to that time, been few whose preaching 
 excited greater controversy. Macaulay ascribed the 
 success of his poem on " The Omnipresence of the 
 Deity" to "unblushing puffery," but no amount of 
 puffing would have carried a poem through twenty- 
 six editions without some other qualities. It was 
 said by those who did not admire him that his
 
 1838.] CHBISTOPHER NOIiTH. 181 
 
 preaching in some measure resembled the style of 
 his poetr}^ — " he ranted, was affected, and vague ; 
 but his ranting was accepted as earnestness, his 
 affectation as refinement, and his vagueness as a 
 happy generalising " — whereas Mr. Burns, and others 
 who had faith in him, declared that he was distinct, 
 forcible, and clear in stating Evangelical doctrines, 
 and was neither a ranter, nor affected, nor vague. 
 He was greatly liked by those who knew him well, 
 and even the majority of those who differed fi-om 
 him gave him their esteem and regard. Sir Archi- 
 bald Alison was one of his constant hearers, and 
 always made a point of taking any visitors who 
 might be staying with him to hear '' the greatest 
 preacher of modern times." 
 
 There was much intimacy between Montgomery 
 and the Burns's, who introduced him to their large 
 circle of friends. Here is a recollection of that 
 period b}^ Mr. Burns : — 
 
 My wife was intimately acquainted with the family of Professor 
 John Wilson (' Christopher North '), and used often to meet there 
 Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd (who always wore top-boots). Wilson's 
 sister, Elizabeth, and my wife were educated at the same boarding- 
 school in Edinburgh, under the able tuition of Mrs. Beatson, 
 widow of Colonel Beatson. There a friendship was formed, which 
 lasted through life. Elizabeth Wilson married Sir John MacNeil, 
 who was Plenipotentiary at the Court of Persia (Teheran). When 
 at one time I was in Edinburgh, I had Robert Montgomery staying 
 with me, and, on im-itation, I took him to Professor Wilson's house 
 to a large evening party, at which tableaux rh-a)its were acted. One 
 of the scenes represented in the double drawing-room, was old
 
 182 SUi GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 Christopher North with his crutch (tlie Professor hiniseh), as editor 
 of Blackicood's Maf/azine. One of his daughters, afterwards Mrs. 
 Ferrier, personated Queen Mary, wlio was represented as being 
 reproved, with others around her, by John Knox on the question of 
 Rizzio. John Knox was represented by Allen, the painter of a 
 iiistorical picture of the scene, the proof engraving of which I have 
 in my Glasgow house, Park Gardens. 
 
 About this time Mr. Burns occupied Kose Bank 
 as a summer residence, a beautiful place on the 
 Clyde, some miles from Glasgow, formerly in the 
 possession of David Dale, the founder of the New 
 Lanark Cotton Spinning Mills, fi-oni whose daughters 
 Mr. Burns took it on lease. 
 
 It was indeed a beautiful place (says Mr. Burns), having a line 
 bowling-green, garden, and orchard, and a very charming beech- 
 walk along the Clyde banks. A contemporary of David Dale's, 
 Mr. Dachmont, when visiting him there, said, ' Daavid, tak' care, 
 mon ; this is a bonnie place, but tak' care God dinna set fire to your 
 nest.' The moral is patent. We were there in 1839, and other 
 years before and after, and Montgomery greatly delighted to visit us 
 there. He conducted family worship on the first evening he was 
 with us, and one of the servants afterwards said to my wife, ' It 
 Avas a beautiful prayer that Mr. Montgomery offered, but we did 
 not like his calling us mastiffs.' The explanation of this is that 
 Montgomery had prayed for the domestics ■'■ of the family. He was 
 at my house continually. One evening when he was visiting us he 
 rose to go exactly at prayer-time. My wife urged him to stay, but 
 he answered rather bluntly, ' No, no,' and off' he went. A few 
 minutes later the door-bell rang. It was Montgomery back again. 
 Conscience had smitten him on the road, and he returned and 
 conducted prayers. 
 
 * A term unknown in its application to servants in Scotland.
 
 1838.] " THE LADY OF THE BANK:' 188 
 
 Mrs. Burns — who fi'om her great kindness and 
 philanthropy was known throughout the parish of 
 Cambuslang as " The Lady of the Bank " — had not 
 quite so keen an admiration of Montgomery as 
 her husband had. Writing to him, she says : — 
 
 In the afternoon Mr. Montgomery's poetical imaginaiion ran wild. 
 He took lor his text Genesis viii. verse 22, upon the plentiful 
 harvest, which he \'iewed in three ways, Sentimentally, Philosophi- 
 cally, and Spiritually. Under the first head he pitied the man who 
 had the misibrtune not to like poetry, for he could not love God's 
 word, which was written in poetry. He talked of the greener!/ of 
 the fields, and many more such strange expressions. The second 
 head was the old story to infidels. Then ' he had left little time 
 for the third head,' which was very meagre. 
 
 Montgomery had a great regard for Mrs. Burns, 
 
 and one of his early acts after settling at St. Jude's 
 
 was to make her the almoner of certain monies he 
 
 collected for the poor. He is out of date now, and 
 
 few^ remember him ; but those who do, will recall the 
 
 style of the man in the following letter to Mrs. 
 
 Burns : — 
 
 Feb. 26, 1888. 
 
 My deakest Friend, — The first feeling of mmiingled pleasure 
 which I have known for a long while, is the one I experience now, 
 in the thought of administering gratification towards yourself by 
 asking you to undertake, on behalf of your poov, the stewardship of 
 the accompanying sum. At the beginning of the week I deter- 
 mined on dispensing it through yow hnnls, because few know how 
 to distinguish better between worthy and unworthy suffering, and 
 none will enjoy more the luxury of doing good. In this, as in all 
 other of your words and works, may the Lord the Spirit be yoiu- 
 counsellor and guide.
 
 184 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 I cannot close this, my dear friend, without a heartfelt prayer to 
 the Throne of Grace, for you and yours, and an ardent feeling of 
 interest for all that relates to your happiness in time and eternity ; 
 may the sisterly tenderness you have ever evinced towards me be 
 repaid a thousandfold into your own bosom. I wish I could say 
 there was sunshine within my own heart ; but it is vain to disguise 
 — there is a slow fever, of which the world knows nothing, wither- 
 ing the life springs of my happiness — a secret worm begnawing the 
 root of inward comfort ; and though my prayer is, that I may have 
 grace to endure as a Christian, I feel 1 have little stoicism to endure 
 as a nitm. Pray for mo ! 
 
 My headache yesterday afternoon duriui/ the prayers almost 
 annihilated me ; I did what I never did before since my ordination 
 — read two morning instead of evening prayers. Let me hope that 
 Geordie '■' is well. 
 
 Believe me, sister mine. 
 
 Ever your affectionate brother in the Gospel, 
 
 R. Montgomery. 
 
 Some of Montgomery's letters to Mr. Burns are 
 very amusing ; illustrating two opposite sides of his 
 character — his affectation and fastidious tastes, and 
 his rohust and manly independence. We have only 
 space for two brief specimens : — 
 
 I am going to preach in Dublin, and I beg that a state cabin may 
 be secured for me. My stomach is delicate, and to be pigged up 
 with a lot of cigar-scented animals is more than I can bear. 
 
 I hope you are all well in the great Metropolis. May you have 
 your Presbyterian Scotchiness knocked out of you, and a little of 
 genuine, apostolic, and primitive stuff knocked into you. 
 
 In 1843, Montgomery's meteoric course in Glas- 
 
 ■'' Montgomery always called Mr. Burns " Geordie."
 
 1830.] DEATH OF Dli. BUIiNS. 185 
 
 gow came to an end, and he left for Percy Chapel, 
 London, where Haldane Stewart ministered and 
 McNeile so often preached. There he continued 
 till his death, which occurred at Brighton in 1855, 
 but incidentally he will come before us again in the 
 course of this narrative. 
 
 Two events occurred about this period to which 
 we must refer before passing on to tell the story of 
 the great enterprise that was to make the per- 
 manent name and fame of George Burns. 
 
 On the 26th of February, 1839, the Eev. Dr. 
 •Burns of the Barony, "after he had served his own 
 generation by the will of God, fell on sleep " in his 
 ninety-sixth year, and "was laid with his fathers." 
 For many years his life had anticipated the happi- 
 ness of heaven. "There are some human beings," 
 says Charlotte Bronte, "so born, so reared, so guided 
 fi-om a soft cradle to a calm and late grave, that no 
 excessive suffering penetrates their journey ; and 
 often these are not pampered, selfish beings, but 
 Nature's elect, harmonious and benign, men mild 
 with charity, kind agents of God's kind attributes." 
 And such was the father of George Burns. He lived 
 all his life. At the age of ninety, he remained at a 
 Debate on the Cathohc Belief Bill until after mid- 
 night to record his vote. He was the " Father of the 
 Church of Scotland," and had exercised the minis- 
 terial functions of the Barony parish — the largest 
 in Scotland — for a period of sixty-nine years. He
 
 186 . SIE GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 served a cure for a longer period than Uad fallen 
 to the lot of any Presbyterian or Ejoiscopalian clergy- 
 man in Glasgow since the Keformation in 15G0, and 
 there had been no Roman Catholic Bishops or 
 ArchbishoiDS since the renovation of the See in 1129, 
 who had held oflice for such a length of time. His 
 popularity, which increased through a long life, was 
 that which arises h'oni a faithful discharge of duty ; 
 and when he was laid to rest full of years and 
 honour, men and women of all ranks in life and 
 of all shades of religious belief gathered round his 
 grave to pay their tribute of affection and respect. 
 Dr. Thomas Brown, the minister of St. John's 
 Church, i^reached the funeral sermon from the 
 appropriate words, " Mark the perfect man and 
 behold the upright, for the end of that man is 
 peace." 
 
 In a lengthy poem in memory of Dr. Burns, 
 entitled "The Minister's Euneral," Robert Mont- 
 gomery wrote : — 
 
 " And now, farewell ! If ajj:e's lioarv cliarni ; 
 If gentleness with solid worth combin'd ; 
 If faith and truth in patriarchal grace 
 Bedeck'd ; if boundless love, that God-like smiles 
 Serenely over sects and names enthroned ; 
 If these were thine — with all th' enriching spell 
 Of temper, cloudless as the crystal noon. 
 And feelings, toned to ev'ry tender call 
 While round about thee hung the glow 
 Of youth's gay morning, by the eve of age 
 Subdued, like spring and autumn's blended smile, —
 
 1840.] Dll CLELAND. 187 
 
 Then, o'er thy grave recording Truth may bend 
 And drop, not undeserv'd, the simple wreath 
 Of memory, the Muse has ventur'd now." 
 
 In the following year, another breach was made in 
 the family circle of George Burns by the removal 
 through death of his father-in-law, Dr. Cleland. 
 Few men of his time were more intimately 
 associated with the history of Grlasgow, or better 
 known throughout the West of Scotland, than he, 
 while in the domestic and social circle none 
 were more highly loved and honoured. He was a 
 born statist, and was the first to draw public atten- 
 tion to the value of regular mortuary tables, which 
 before his day were most carelessly compiled. On 
 two occasions he drew up and classified the enu- 
 meration of the inhabitants of Glasgow ; for fourteen 
 years the bills of mortality were prepared by him ; 
 he wrote a number of important volumes on the 
 annals of the city ; he was for many years Superin- 
 tendent of Public Works, and thi'oughout his long 
 life there was hardly a movement for the improve- 
 ment of Glasgow in which he did not take a 
 leading part. 
 
 On his retirement h'om public life in 1834, a 
 magnificent gift was presented to him by his fellow- 
 citizens ; a handsome sum was raised and invested 
 in a building called to this day " The Cleland 
 Testimonial." Many honours were showered upon 
 him from time to time. The University of Glasgow 
 conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws ;
 
 188 Slli GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 he was President of the Glasgow Statistical Society, 
 and Fellow of various other statistical and anti- 
 ({uarian societies at home and abroad. 
 
 One of the Established churches in Glasgow — 
 originally called the Rani's Horn, and afterwards 
 the North- West, but now designated St. David's — 
 was rebuilt when Dr. Cleland was Superintendent 
 of Pul)hc Works. In compliment to his skill in 
 the arrangement of the church, and more especi- 
 ally of the crypt which he formed, the Lord Provost 
 and Magistrates presented him witli a handsome 
 enclosed burial-ground in the crj^pt, where his body 
 lies. In 1888 — the year of the Glasgow Interna- 
 tional Exhibition — George Burns, at the invitation 
 of the Corporation, adorned the church with a hand- 
 some stained-glass window in memory of his father- 
 in-law. 
 
 In that burial-ground rest also the mortal remains 
 of the four children of Mr. Burns who died in in- 
 fancy. Of the survivors, John and James Cleland, 
 and of Margaret, who subsequently died, we shall 
 have more to say hereafter.
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 THE FOUNDING OF THE CUNAlil> COMPANY. 
 
 In December, 1835, Dr. Lardner, in a lecture 
 delivered at Liverpool, said : "As to the pro- 
 ject which is announced in the newspapers of 
 making the voyage directly from New York to 
 Liverpool, it is, I have no hesitation in saying, 
 perfectly chimerical, and they may as well talk of 
 making a voyage from New York or Liverpool to 
 the moon ! " It seemed to him as wild a notion as 
 one, propounded five years before, had appeared to 
 others, namely, that the ribs of a ship should be 
 made of iron instead of timber. " What nonsense 
 it is ! " people were heard to exclaim; "as if any- 
 body ever knew iron to float ! " — or, as the chief 
 naval architect of one of our dockyards said to Mr. 
 Scott Kussell, "Don't talk to me about iron ships; 
 it's contrary to nature ! " * 
 
 The practicability of steam navigation to the 
 United States was not fully tested until 1838, when 
 the Siriits was advertised to leave London for New 
 
 * " The Fleet of the Future," by Scott Russell, p. 20.
 
 190 STR GEOEGE BUBNS. [Chap. IX. 
 
 York. She sailed on the 4th of April with ninety- four 
 passengers. Three days later, the Great WesterUy 
 a wooden paddle-wheel steamer, and the first steam 
 ship specially constructed for the purpose, followed 
 her. 
 
 To the wonder of the whole world, the two 
 vessels reached their destination in safety, after a 
 passage of seventeen days and fifteen days respec- 
 tively. 
 
 Notwithstanding this test, Dr. Lardner only 
 modified his opinions. The question with him now 
 was not whether the Atlantic voyage could be 
 accomplished by a steamer — that had already 
 been determined, by experience, in the affirmative ; 
 but whether a succession of voyages could be 
 maintained with safety, regularity, and profit, with- 
 out which last element the entei*prise could not 
 be permanent, or, in other words, could not be 
 successful. It is anmsing to read, at this day, the 
 elaborate objections brought by him against the 
 navigation of the Atlantic in one unbroken line. 
 He argued from the physical phenomena of the 
 Atlantic, " such as the atmospheric currents called 
 the trade winds, which, as they approach the 
 Equator, produce calms, interrupted by hurricanes,, 
 whirlwinds, and other "violent atmospheric convul- 
 sions ; " the difficulties of the Gulf Stream, the zone 
 of the ocean marked out by it being characterised 
 by weather extremely unfavourable to navigation ; 
 the prevalent westerlj^ winds which produce the long
 
 1835-8.] STEAM— PRO AND CON. 191 
 
 swell of the Atlantic, more disadvantageous to a 
 steamer than the short and chopping waves of in- 
 land seas ; the force of masses of water, " hm-led 
 with accelerating momentum over a tmnultuous con- 
 fluence of waters 3,000 miles in compass," which 
 an immense vessel, forcibly impelled by opposing 
 steam power, could " neither successfully elude nor 
 safely encounter ; " the calamity of fire ; the danger 
 of icebergs in the latitudes which the steamers must 
 necessarily frequent ; the flues of the boilers becom- 
 ing coated with soot, and thus impairing the con- 
 ducting power of the metal of which they are 
 composed ; the liability to leakage through the 
 uninterrupted action of the moving parts of the 
 machineiy throughout the duration of the voyage ; 
 the anxiety and fatigue of engineers and firemen 
 rendering them liable to neglect their duty — these, 
 and a hundred more, were the arguments used 
 against the steam navigation of the Atlantic. 
 
 Meanwhile other vessels followed in the wake of 
 the Sirius and the Great Western ; the possibility 
 of accomplishing the voyage by steam with speed 
 and safety was proved beyond a doubt, and how 
 to develop what had been so successfully com- 
 menced was the prevailing thought in the minds of 
 many. 
 
 A matter so important did not escape the atten- 
 tion of Greorge Burns, to whom Sir Edward Parry, 
 wdio held an appointment under the Admh-alty as 
 " Comptroller of Steam Machinery and Packet Ser-
 
 192 SJli GEOliGE BURNS. [Chap. IX. 
 
 vice," sent an early intimation that the Government 
 wished to estahlish a mail service hetween England 
 and America, and were about to issue circulars 
 soliciting tenders for the same. There w^as no 
 originality in the idea of an Atlantic Steam Mail 
 Service ; it was not the thought of any individual, 
 but of all men, and it was co-existent with the 
 introduction of steam for the purposes of ocean 
 navigation. 
 
 Up to the year 1838, the Lords Commissioners 
 of the Admiralty (who, at that time, were invested 
 with the arrangement of j^ostal contracts) had been 
 content to commit Her Majesty's mails for America 
 to the uncertain mercies of sailing vessels, bearing 
 the somewhat unpromising designation of '' coffin 
 brigs." 
 
 Now, they were anxious to avail themselves of 
 the " new force," and to this end they sent out 
 circulars far and wide. George Burns duly con- 
 sidered the matter, but did not see his way to enter 
 upon so vast an undertaking. He had brought the 
 coasting trade up to a high state of perfection, and 
 his firm, although trading under various titles, was 
 known and respected in all quarters. He was the 
 working man in the wdiole concern ; he had made 
 himself acquainted with the details of the several 
 branches of the vast trade, and he was the 
 ^'representative" among all the principal men con- 
 nected with the business. His hands were full, 
 he was already on the high road to Fortune, and he
 
 1838.] SAMUEL CUNARD. 193 
 
 determined to let the Atlantic steam business 
 alone. 
 
 But this was not to be. Away in Halifax, Nova 
 Scotia, dwelt Samuel Cunard, a member of a well- 
 to-do Quaker family, which emigrated from Wales 
 to America early in the seventeenth century, and 
 settled at Philadelphia. The family being Royalists, 
 left the United States for Halifax, where, in 1788, 
 Samuel Cunard was born. After serving some time 
 in a merchant's office, he so much distinguished 
 himself that he was offered a partnership with one 
 of the leading firnis of shipowners in Boston. Here 
 he found scope for his great energy and ability, and 
 entered into various enterprises, engaging, with 
 newly-built vessels, in the West India trade and 
 in the South Sea whale-fishery. In 1815, while 
 still a young man under thirty, he proposed to the 
 Admiralty to undertake, at his own risk, the convey- 
 ance of mails between Boston, Newfoundland, and 
 Bermuda, and carried out his scheme so satisfactorily 
 as to earn the thanks of the British Government. 
 
 He watched eagerly the progress of steam navi- 
 gation, and as early as the year 1830, the idea of 
 establishing " Ocean Lines," similar to lines of 
 railway, had occurred to him. It was his firm 
 belief that steamers, over a route of thousands of 
 miles in length, might start and arrive at their 
 destination with a punctuality not differing greatly 
 ffom that of railway trains, the conditions for 
 obtaining this result being that the ships should be 
 
 13
 
 194 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. IX. 
 
 thoronghl}^ well Luilt and thoroughly well manned, 
 and then' course laid down with the greatest 
 accm-acy. The steam-ship, in fact, was to be the 
 railway train uiinus the longitudinal pair of metal 
 rails. The latter, Samuel Cunard used to oljserve 
 half jokingly, half in earnest, were needed only on 
 the " ugly, uneven land," with its excrescences of 
 high hills and deep valleys, and the " beautiful level 
 sea" needed them not. His friends laughed; but 
 none could help seeing that there was truth in the 
 seeming paradox. 
 
 When, therefore, in 1839, one of the Admiralty 
 circulars, inviting tenders for the conveyance of 
 mails between England and America, fell into his 
 hands, he saw at once that the opportunity for which 
 he had waited so long had come. But Samuel 
 Cunard, although he had all the necessary personal 
 qualifications for carrying out such a scheme, lacked 
 one important element, namely, capital. He tried 
 to induce the merchants of Halifax to join him in 
 the enterprise, but in vain. Then, as he was not a 
 man to quail before discouragement, he determined 
 to proceed without delay to London to see if he 
 could enlist the sympathy and financial support of 
 the merchants the re 
 
 In Halifax he was agent to the East India Com- 
 pany for the sale of their teas and other produce, 
 and his first step on arriving in England was to put 
 himself into communication with Mr. Melvill, their 
 Secretary, in Leadenhall Street (and the brother,
 
 1839.] BOBERT NAPIER. 195 
 
 l3y the by, of the Rev. Henry Melvill, the Golden 
 Lecturer, who was afterwards intimate with George 
 Burns). 
 
 Mr. Melvill could do nothing personally in the 
 matter, but he knew Mr. Robert Napier, the famous 
 Clyde ship-builder and engineer, who had built 
 several steamers for the East India Company, and 
 to him he gave Mr. Cunard an introduction. 
 
 Robert Napier was a man worth knowing. He 
 started life as an apprentice to his father, who was 
 a blacksmith. At the age of twenty-four he received 
 fi'om his father the sum of ^50, M^o of which he 
 spent in the purchase of tools and the good- will 
 of a small blacksmith's shop in the Gallowgate, 
 Glasgow, leaving £5 for working capital. By rapid 
 steps his business developed ; iron -founding and 
 engineering were first added to it, then the building 
 of marine engines, then the building of first-class 
 steamers of all sizes for the mercantile marine and 
 for war j)urposes for various foreign countries as well 
 as our own. His premises grew from the tiny shop 
 in the Gallowgate to larger ones in Washington 
 Street, engineering works in Lancefield, and the 
 famous ship-building yard in Go van ; and his " staff," 
 which at first consisted of only two apprentices, 
 increased until upwards of three thousand persons 
 were in his employ. 
 
 Robert Napier knew George Burns well. He had 
 engined most of the City of Glasgow Steam Packet 
 ■Company's vessels running between Glasgow and
 
 196 SIB GEORGE BUIiNS. [Chap. IX. 
 
 Liverpool — tlie company with which the firm of G. 
 and J. Burns had hecome united. Mr. Donaldson, 
 who represented that company, was now a staunch 
 friend of George Burns, and it was to Donaldson 
 that Robert Napier first took Samuel Cunard. Mean- 
 time George Burns had been informed of the arrival 
 of Mr. Cunard and of his mission. The sequel can- 
 not be better told than in the words of Mr. Burns 
 when recalling to memory this important epoch in 
 his life. 
 
 It was arranged that, when Cunard went to Mr. Napier, he was 
 to take him to Donaldson, who, on his part, was to bring him to 
 me. Donaldson came trotting down from his office, and told me 
 Cunard and Xapier were waiting for me, and had proposed that we 
 should do something to get up a concern for carrying the North 
 American Mails. Donaldson said to me, ' I told Mr. Cunard that 
 I never did anything without consulting a little friend of mine 
 (meaning myself), and if he pleased I would bring him down to 
 your office.' So down Donaldson came with Cunard, introduced 
 him, and left him alone Avith me to talk it over. 
 
 It was not long before we began to see some daylight through 
 the scheme, and I entertained the proposal cordially. That day 
 I asked Cunard to dine with me, and also David Maclver, who 
 was at that time residing in Glasgow as agent for the City of 
 Glasgow Steam Packet Company. I propounded the matter to^ 
 Maclver, but he did not seem to see his way clear ; on the contrary, 
 he went dead against the proposal, and advised that after dinner 
 I had better tell Cunard that the thing would not suit us. As 
 talking after dinner generally ends in nothing, so it did on this 
 occasion. However, Mr. Cunard asked us to come down and take 
 breakfast with him and Mr. Robert Napier the following morning 
 in j\Ir. Napier's house. We went accordingly, and, after going into 
 details, I told Mr. Cunard we could hardly take up such a large
 
 1839.] GREEK MEETS GREEK. 197 
 
 concern as the proposal before us would amount to, without in- 
 viting a few friends to join us ; and that as it would not be fair to 
 keep him in suspense, we would set him free to make any arrange- 
 ments he thought best with his own friends. He replied, ■ How 
 long will it take to ascertain what you can do "? ' T answered, 
 ' Perhaps a month ; ' and he said, * Very well then, I'll wait.' 
 
 That same day I set out and spoke first of all to ^Ir. William 
 Connal, then at the head of a large firm engaged in the commis- 
 sion trade of produce and other things. Mr. Connal said to me, 
 * I know nothing whatever about steam navigation, but if yoii, think 
 well of it, I'll join you.' (The shares were then £.5,000 for each 
 indiAidual ; but when the company was formed it was found con- 
 venient to make them £100 shares, which did not, however, in any 
 way extend the number of the proprietors.) 
 
 Having secured the valuable co-oj)eratiou of two 
 such men as George Burns and Eobert Napier, the 
 chief difficulties of Mr. Cunard were overcome, for 
 within a few days — entirely through the instrumen- 
 tality of George Burns — the requisite capital of 
 i:2 70,000 was subscribed, and he was enabled to join in 
 the tender to the Admiralty of a most eligible offer for 
 the conveyance of Her Majesty's mails once a fortnight 
 between Liverpool, Halifax and Boston. A rival 
 offer was made by the owners of the steam-ship Great 
 Western, but the tender of Mr. Cunard was con- 
 sidered to be the more favourable, and accordingly a 
 contract for a period of seven years was concluded 
 between the Government and the newlj^-formed 
 company. The contract was taken in the names 
 of, and was signed by, Samuel Cunard, George 
 Burns, and David Maclver, three names thence-
 
 198 Slli GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. IX. 
 
 forth indissolubly connected with the success of the 
 famous concern now known as the Canard Line. 
 Concerning that co-partnery contract, Mr. Burns 
 says : — 
 
 John Park Fleming sat up all night, and wrote out in his own 
 hand the contract of co-partnery from notes which I supplied. He 
 had done the same favour for me when we commenced steamers on 
 the Liverpool Line. Old Hugh Matthie, who was a wonderfully 
 shrewd man, when I sent him the Liverpool contract, returned it 
 with the laconic remark, ' Very tight, but very well drawn.' The 
 essence of this and other contracts was, as some of our partners 
 used jokingly to say, that ' The managers took power to do evei'y- 
 thing and all things.' 
 
 The contract entered upon between the British 
 Government on the one hand, and Messrs. Cunard, 
 Burns, and Maclver on the other, contained a 
 special and important clause providing that the 
 steamers of the contractors should be of such 
 construction as to be available, on demand, for 
 transporting soldiers or military stores, not only 
 to the colonies in North America, but to any 
 part of the world. The payment fixed for the 
 services under the mail contract was on a sliding 
 scale according to the amount of postal matter 
 carried by the steamers. It appeared afterwards, 
 from the evidence given by Mr. Samuel Cunard 
 before a Select Connnittee of the House of 
 Commons, sitting in 1846, to investigate the subject 
 of payments for American mails, that the actual 
 receipts of the Cunard firm during the seven years
 
 1839.] THE CUNABD FLEET. 199 
 
 of the first contract with the British Grovernment, 
 amounted to ^3,295 per voyage.* This was admitted 
 to be a large sum, but, as explained subsequently, 
 in 1874, by Mr. John Burns (the eldest son of Mr. 
 Burns, and Chairman of the Cunard Company) 
 before another Parliamentary Select Committee, 
 the conditions laid down were very onerous. 
 " The original contract of the Cunard Company," 
 Mr. John Burns explained, " was made with the 
 Admiralty, and there were certain restrictions in 
 the contract as to allowing the vessels to be used 
 in time of war. These ships were all wooden ships, 
 and they had to carry naval officers on board, and do 
 other things which caused a good deal of trouble and 
 expense to us. In the last contract which we nego- 
 tiated, we said that we would take less money if 
 certain of these restrictions were taken away from 
 us. Therefore we are now under a contract of 
 c£70,000 a year, and carry no naval officer on board." 
 Messrs. Cunard, Burns, and Maclver at once 
 resolved to build the finest ships which the best 
 naval architects could design, and to equip them in 
 an absolutely faultless style, sparing neither mone}' 
 nor patient industry to fit them for the Atlantic 
 
 * Mr. Burns adds : — " So far as the so-called ' Subsidy ' was 
 concerned, there never was any sliding scale. Mr. Cunard's 
 evidence before a Parliamentary Committee went to show that 
 the Government had not made a bad bargain for itself. I never 
 liked the term ' Subsidy.' It was freight paid for carriage of letters 
 — that is, for work done."
 
 200 SIR GEOliGE BURNS. [Chap. IX. 
 
 service in such a manner as to carry out Mr. 
 Cunard's idea of '' railway trains on the ocean." 
 
 Ihmiediately after the original mail contract had 
 been concluded, the three managing partners set 
 about the fulfilment of the conditions imposed upon 
 them. Mr. Cunard made London his headquarters ; 
 Mr. Burns remained at the seat of government in 
 Glasgow, frequently, however, paying prolonged 
 visits to London in connection with Admiralty and 
 Treasury negotiations ; and Mr. Maclver returned to 
 Liverpool to superintend the practical working of 
 the steamers. 
 
 In his '' History of Merchant Shipping," Mr. 
 Lindsay says : — " If ever the world's benefactors 
 are estimated at their real worth, the names of 
 Samuel Cunard, George Burns, and David Maclver 
 will rank among those who, by their gaUant enter- 
 prise, have made the w^orld richer by giving an 
 unprecedented stimulus to commerce, and who have 
 rendered inestimable service to the people of every 
 country. For it was not merely in establishing the 
 first line of Atlantic mail steamers that they 
 deserved credit — but in the framing of the rules 
 for the management of their fleet which has led to 
 such magnificent results. Appreciating the great 
 responsibility there was upon them, they made 
 their plans yield at every point to secure one 
 grand object — safety. They might, without laying 
 themselves open to any complaint, have reduced 
 the cost of their service by minimising the
 
 1839-40.] FIBST STEAM-SHIPS OF THE COMPANY. 201 
 
 labour employed, and tliey iiiiglit also have 
 •engaged a cheaper kind of labour than that which 
 they have always used. But from the first, to 
 their honour be it said, they sacrificed everything 
 to safety. Precious human lives were entrusted to 
 their keeping, and, whatever else had to give way, 
 they were inflexible on this point. Safety first, 
 23rofit second, was their practical motto ; and as good 
 wine needs no bush, the public soon found out the 
 high character of the firm, and from its establish- 
 ment to the present time this great character has 
 heen maintained. 
 
 The first four steam-ships provided by the Cunard 
 Company, or, as it was then formally entitled, " The 
 British and North American Eoyal Mail Steam 
 Packet Company," were the Britannia, Acadia, 
 Caledonia, and Columbia, the nomenclature of all 
 the Cunard ships ending in " ia." These four ships 
 were wooden paddle-wheel vessels, built respectively 
 on the Clyde, in 1840, by E. Duncan, J. Wood, C. 
 Wood, and E. Steel, and supplied with common side- 
 lever engines by Eobert Napier. The Britannia, 
 which was the pioneer vessel of the fleet, measured 
 207 ft. long X 34 ft. 4 in. broad x 22 ft. 6 in. deep, 
 with a tonnage burden of 1,154, and an indicated 
 horse-power of 740. Her cargo capacity was 225 
 tons, and she was fitted for the accommodation of 
 115 cabin passengers, but no steerage. The horse- 
 power and passenger and cargo accommodation of 
 the other three ships were identical with those of
 
 202 Slli GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. IX. 
 
 the Britannia, while their dimensions and tonnage 
 only varied very slightly from hers. Their average 
 speed was 8^ knots per hour, on a coal consumption 
 of 38 tons per day. 
 
 On Friday, the 4th of July, 1840— the '' Celebra- 
 tion Day" of American Independence — the Brit- 
 annia, punctual to the ver}' minute of the advertised 
 time, left her moorings on the Mersey, amidst the 
 cheering of immense crowds, acknowledged by Mr. 
 Sanniel Cunard, who himself went out with the 
 first mail American steamer. It was calculated that 
 the Britannia would reach Boston in fourteen days 
 and a half, l)ut she entered the harbour four hours 
 before the time, having made the voyage in fourteen 
 days and eight hours, at that time considered a rapid 
 passage. The arrival of the first mail steamer in 
 America created even greater enthusiasm than her 
 departure fi-om the English side. It was testified 
 not only by an unprecedented ovation in bunting 
 and cheering, but the citizens of Boston celebrated 
 the occasion by giving a magnificent public banquet^ 
 at which their enthusiasm found vent in speeches 
 of the most complimentary nature. During the first 
 twenty-four hours of his stay at Boston, it was 
 recorded in the local papers with justifiable pride 
 that Mr. Samuel Cunard received no less than 1,873 
 invitations to dinner ! 
 
 One incident in connection with the return voyage 
 of the Britannia gave proof that these expressions 
 of good- will were not of an evanescent character.
 
 1840-1.] FROZEN UP IN BOSTON. 203 
 
 The winter of 1840-41 having set in very early with 
 great severity, the Britannia was frozen up in 
 Boston Harhour, and there was no little fear that 
 she would he imprisoned in the ice for many months. 
 Thereupon the good Bostonians, at their own ex- 
 pense, and with the willing work of thousands of 
 volunteers, cut a channel of more than seven miles 
 in length to get the steamer into clear water. 
 
 Such was the origin of the Cunard Company. Its 
 subsequent success is probably without a parallel in 
 the annals of shipping ; and how that success was 
 ensured and maintained we shall see in future 
 chapters.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IN LONDON AND ELSEWHEEE. 
 
 It was stated in the preceding chapter that although 
 Mr. Burns remained at Glasgow to superintend the 
 management of the affairs of the Cunard Company, 
 he fi^equently paid prolonged visits to London in 
 connection with Admiralty and Treasury negotia- 
 tions. These negotiations have little interest for 
 the general reader, who will probably prefer to know 
 more of the personal history of Mr. Burns and the 
 hiends by whom he was surrounded. 
 
 Notwithstanding the increase in his work, he 
 continued the habit of writing daily to his wife, 
 and as those letters supply the place of a diary, w^e 
 select a few extracts to show the current of his life 
 and thoughts. 
 
 0, Pall Mall East, London, ^hnj 15, 1841. 
 ... It is now past three, and up till this moment we (Mr. 
 Cunard, Mr. Maclver, and myself) have been sitting here as busy as 
 possible preparing our statements for the Government, which are 
 just completed ; now Mr. Cunard is away to deliver them, and Mac- 
 lver away to ask if our American ship has arrived, and both will 
 be back soon. Meanwhile I remain to snatch a moment for my 
 dear Jane.
 
 1841.] WOBK AND PLAY. '205 
 
 Sir Edward Parry is on his way to Glasgow, and had I been at 
 home I should have asked him to take a (piiet dinner with us. I 
 have seen a strictly confidential note and report from him in our 
 favour, and I hope by God's blessing we shall succeed, . . . We 
 yestei-day saw the Queen and Prince Albert in the Park ; and ]\Ir. 
 Maclver and I, after writing hard all day, went out before dinner to 
 take a walk to Sloane Street, and, in going up Constitution Hill, 
 met the Duke of Wellington walking ; he is looking much firmer, 
 and I never before got so thoroughly good a view of him. 
 
 London, May 18, 1841. 
 
 . . . There ^vill be no division till Friday, and every day the 
 present Ministry remain in is of consequence to us, as pa\'ing 
 the way for our moving with their successors. I called on Mr. 
 Colquhoun the other evening, and he returned my call yesterday, 
 and was very friendly. . . . 
 
 Maclver and I went to the back of the Horse Guards yesterday 
 morning at ten to see the review, which was a very fine sight. We 
 had an admirable view of the Prince Albert, Dvike of Wellington, 
 Duke of Cambridge, and the whole of the Staff. 
 
 Lord John Russell and other ministers were rjroaned as they 
 passed slowly along, whilst Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of 
 Wellington were cheered. Beside the Duke in his carriage sat his 
 son and his wife ; she is very pretty. In the afternoon w^s dined at 
 Vevey's with Napier, to his great discomfort at getting a French 
 dinner — tell John this. In the evening we took Mrs. Gordon and 
 Miss Napier with us in a coach, and drove round the streets, looking 
 at the illuminations, in honour of the Queen's birthday. 
 
 Albion Hotel, Sabbath, May 23, 1841. 
 
 ... It has pleased our Heavenly Father to give me another 
 opportunity of visiting his house of prayer in comfort, health, and 
 peace. When I was engaged in the service, I thought of you and 
 our children as probably employed in the same spiritual exercises 
 and hearing the same portions of God's Holy Word, and it was my 
 prayer that you might be enjoying the Divine presence. . . .
 
 '206 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. X. 
 
 AValking home from church, we strolled through Christ Church 
 buildings at the back of St. Paul's, and ^Yent into the large hall, 
 which is a very fine one, where we saw the blue coats and yellow 
 stockings at dinner. I wished John had been there to see so fine 
 a sight. Afterwards we walked slowly on and went into the park 
 at the back of our hotel, and had a nice stretch of ourselves upon 
 the beautiful grass under a hot summer sun. 
 
 Maij 26. 
 
 "We are going in two carriages to Richmond at two, to walk about 
 and dine, and I am much disappointed Montgomery has neither 
 made his appearance, nor given us the least clue where to find him. 
 We would have taken him with us. . . . 
 
 My heart sickens at the delay here, but I desire to tarry the 
 Lord's leisure. . . . 
 
 At this period, Mr. Burns made many friendships 
 which were of hfe-long duration. In a letter, fr*om 
 which we have given a quotation above, he refers to 
 Sir Edward Parry, who in that year was engaged in 
 a survey of the Caledonian Canal. All the world 
 knows Sir Edw^ard Parry, but there are certain traits 
 of his character unfolded in his friendship with 
 Mr. Burns wliich may not be so universally known. 
 
 At the age of thirteen Edward Parry made trial of 
 a sailor's life, and liked it. His progress was rapid. 
 Before he was twenty-four, he engaged in a successful 
 boat expedition which ascended the river Connecti- 
 cut as far as Pellipague Point, and destroyed several 
 privateers and other vessels, in all about twenty- 
 seven, valued at .£50,000, wdth the loss of only two 
 men killed. A few years later he entered upon that 
 wonderful series of Arctic expeditions in which he
 
 1841.] SIB EDWAIiD FAIiBY. 207 
 
 SO greatly distinguished himself. From the day 
 when he offered his services to the Admiralty, 
 saying that " he was ready for hot or cold, Afiica 
 or the Arctic regions," until those days, when he 
 and John Franklin received fi-om George lY. the 
 honour of knighthood, and had the degree of 
 D.C.L. conferred on them hy the Universit}" of 
 Oxford, Parry's life was full of stirring adventure, 
 with which everybody is familiar from his own 
 interesting personal narratives, and from his 
 biography written by his son. 
 
 It is recorded that when Parry's expeditions re- 
 turned to England there was not a man on board 
 who could not read the Bible ; and there was 
 not one who did not testify to Parry's unfailing 
 power of combining instruction with amusement. 
 He made ''Virtue " his watchword, but he cherished 
 a pure and simple religious faith, and through 
 all the arduous years of his life never neglected a 
 constant study of the Scriptures. How that faith 
 ripened into rich experience, comes out in his 
 correspondence with George Burns. From April, 
 1837, to December, 1846, Sir Edward Parry was 
 Comptroller of Steam Machinery for the Eoyal 
 Navy; and it was in his official capacity that Mr. 
 Burns first became acquainted with him. But the 
 acquaintance very soon ripened into hiendship 
 (which lasted tih Parry's death at Ems, in Germany, 
 in 1855), and in the autumn of 1841 we find him 
 a guest in Mr. Burns' house in Brandon Place
 
 •208 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. X. 
 
 Glasgow. An interesting reminiscence of the visit 
 is given in the following correspondence, and dates 
 the heginning of the " higher friendship " : — 
 
 Sir Etlwurd Vnrry to Mr. Biiriis. 
 
 Royal Hotel, Sundinj Eceninr/, Xor. 14, 1841. 
 I do not think I shall be desecrating the evening of this holy 
 (and to me happy) day by endeavouring to express to you the 
 obligation luider which I feel to you for your kind attentions 
 prenous to, and during, my stay in your beautiful city. Not 
 less indebted do I feel to you for my introduction to your excellent 
 lady and pleasing family, and the privilege I have enjoyed in the 
 acquaintance and ministry of Mr. Montgomery. For all these 
 advantages I desire to thank God, and you as His instrument. I 
 have indeed passed a most delightful, and, I humbly trust, not. 
 improfitable Sabbath. 
 
 Yours sincerely obliged, 
 
 W. E. Parry. 
 
 Mr. Burns tu Sir Ednutrd Parri/. 
 
 Brandon Place, Glasgow, Xor. 18, 1841. 
 I shall not soon forget the pleasure derived fron:i your short visit 
 here — short in point of time, but one that I believe will be 
 remembered in eternity. Individuals who, but for the connecting 
 bond of Christian love, would have known nothing of each other, 
 except through the veil of outward courtesies, have been intro- 
 duced into a relationship throiigh their Redeemer that makes their 
 spirits acquainted, and that will endure for ever. For my own part 
 I can truly say tliat during the whole of the day after you left us 
 I was solemnised even to the borders of depression. Not that I was 
 unhappy, but too happy, yet not unprofitably so I trust. But I 
 was glad in the possession of your notes addressed to my wife and 
 to myself on the evening of the Sabbath on which we had enjoyed 
 a rest according to the commandment, inasmuch as they afforded 
 to my mind, as it were, a material exidence of the reality of that
 
 1841.] FAMILY LIFE. 209 
 
 union vnth Christ of which we had been conversing, and which will 
 survive every temporal separation which the providence of God may 
 ordain. It is not unusual to meet from time to time with people 
 who must be acknowledged as belonging to the family of God, and 
 who as such are entitled to our esteem and respect, and yet little 
 more ensues. We cannot penetrate within the circle of some cold 
 influence that surrounds them, and checks and prevents the inter- 
 change of Christian love. On the other hand, we are enlivened 
 occasionally by meeting with those vdth whom in a very hmited 
 time we have much spiritual intercourse, with very few words to 
 express it. Such I have just felt to have been my privilege, and 
 were I not assured that I shall not be mismiderstood when I give 
 utterance to these sentiments, I should not venture on their ex- 
 pression. I will not say you will pardon, for I believe you will do 
 more, you will appreciate the frame of mind that prompts them. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 G. Burns. 
 
 Parry did appreciate the frame of mind prompting 
 this letter, and the intercourse which ensued was a 
 mutual help and comfort. 
 
 Separations hetween George Burns and his family 
 were sometimes long and tedious. He was tenderly 
 attached to his children, and everything that con- 
 cerned them had a deep interest for him. 
 
 As no man's character can be truly known until 
 his family life stands revealed, a few passages fi'om 
 the letters of his wife and of his two sons, John 
 and James Cleland, written in their boyhood, will 
 illustrate the freedom of the family affection. 
 
 The following characteristic letter was written by 
 
 14
 
 210 SIR GEOliGE BUBNS. [Chap. X. 
 
 John Burns when ou ci hoUday visit to his father in 
 London : — 
 
 London, Mmch 80, 1B43. 
 Honoured Sir, — ^Yllen I was walking along the Strand, ' West's 
 Optical, Matliematical, and Pliilosopliical Instrument Maker's ' 
 shop caught my eye, and, going to the shop window, I saw articles 
 of every description, at least such as engaged my interest. There 
 was a very powerful magnet in the shop, which drew me inside, and 
 there I saw, to my delight, a very nice galvanic battery, which was 
 offered at the low price of twelve shillings. I felt my pockets, but 
 couhl lay my hands upon but a single halfpenny. Fain would I 
 have converted the copper into gold, but I had not chanced to bring 
 the philosopher's stone with me, so that the halfpenny still retained 
 its original value, that is, the two hundred and eighty-eighth part 
 of the required sum. Honoured sir, my case is hard, but I think it 
 enough to have laid before you the above statement of facts, and 
 therefore do not make any further appeal. You kmnr what I want, 
 and hoping that you will dn what I waul, 
 
 I remain, honoured sir, 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 John Ijurns. 
 
 PS. — The article, it may be proper to observe, is portable. 
 
 March 20, 1844. 
 I have very sorrowful news to tell you concerning poor pussy. I 
 think it is on the point of death ; it has not tasted food for tliree 
 days and looks very ill. . . . Maggie and Cousin Bethia went to 
 Aunt Kitchie's last night to tea, and they went down both of them 
 in one sedan chair. 
 
 J. C. B. 
 
 Murrh 21, lb44. 
 As I was standing up in the class to read a quotation from 
 Dryden, I what we call 'stuck,' and I was laughed at.
 
 1844.] ''HEIRS TOGETHEB OF TEE GRACE OF LIFE." 211 
 
 ' Thus one fool lolls liis tongue out at another, 
 And shakes his empt}^ noddle at his brother." 
 
 I must tell you also that we are afraid the cat is dying ; the poor 
 brute has not touched food for four days, and is very weak. It got 
 a spoonful of castor oil yesterday, and Uncle B. recommended it a 
 glass of wine. J. B. 
 
 The letters of Mrs. Burns are full of tender and 
 appreciative love, and the heart of her husband was 
 made lightsome and glad because of them. We cull 
 merely an expression or a phrase fi'om one or two 
 letters, but these will be sufficient for our purpose : — 
 
 My dear kind George, Brookfield is very cheerless without you ; 
 even the forenoons are dull, as they are not gladdened by anticipa- 
 tions of your arrival in the evening. ... 
 
 You are God's best gift to me. . . . 
 
 If kindness can spoil me I must be spoiled, for never did wife 
 receive a greater share of unremitting tender kindness than -I 
 do. . . . 
 
 it was the ' delight of my heart ' to hear you were cheerful. My 
 dear husband, i/ou can scarcely form an idea of my dependence upon 
 you for happiness. I hope that I am not forgetful, that it is by the 
 Lord's permission, that I am given this enjoyment, nor that it can 
 be continued a moment without His blessing. . . . 
 
 The " gospel of the grace of God " was the burden 
 of much of the correspondence between Mr. and Mrs. 
 Burns. It was everything to them. All family joy 
 was brighter because of it ; all business was based 
 upon its principles ; all hopes and aspirations for 
 themselves and for others were in subjection to it.
 
 212 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. X. 
 
 It was the silver thread with whicli the whole pattern 
 of their lives was woven. 
 
 Among the friends of George Burns were many 
 distinguished preachers of the day, and in his 
 letters he never failed to give an account of his 
 personal intercourse with them. Thus he writes : — 
 
 Morley's Hotel, London, Sablxtth, Sept. 18, 1842. 
 
 I have been at Camden Chapel, Cambenvell, and truly enjoyed 
 the refreshing service there, and heard a sermon from Mr. Melvill 
 upon the words, ' Coming boldly to the throne of grace.' He drew a 
 fine distinction between infirmities and sins, showing that in the 
 former our Saviour partook, although not in the latter. . . . 
 
 We met Mr. Melvill on going to church. He took us into the 
 vestry, and Mrs. Melvill went and procured us seats. We after- 
 wards dined with them, and they would hear of no denial to our 
 coming back to dine to-morrow. 
 
 Mr. Melvill was greatly distinguished for his elo- 
 quence as a preacher, and was at that time at the 
 height of his popularity. He was very intimate with 
 Mr. Robert Najjier, at whose house at Shandon Mr. 
 Burns first met him. 
 
 Referring to these times, Mr. Burns said to the 
 present writer : — 
 
 After hearing him preach in Camberwell, we sometimes went home 
 with him to dinner at one o'clock. He said, ' I make a point of 
 always letting my congregation out in time to dine at one o'clock, 
 and the way I manage is this : If the lessons and other parts of the 
 service are long, I read quicker, and manipulate my sermon to bring 
 it do^vn to the exact time I have prescribed for myself.' 
 
 When he was appointed by tlie Duke of Wellington to the chap- 
 laincy of tlie Tower, lie immediately called on us at Fenton's Hotel,
 
 lHt2.] THOMAS CBOFTON CBOKEB. 213 
 
 St. James Street, saying lie intended we should be the first to hear it. 
 ' I could not conceive,' he said, 'what the Duke had wished or meant 
 in sending for me. When I went to Apsley House he told me that 
 he was going to confer the vacant chaplaincy on me, and in very 
 terse language he expressed what were my duties towards the 
 soldiers ; and then he added : " I give no instructions whatever with 
 regard to the spiritual duties you have to perform, but leave this 
 matter entirely untouched in your own hands." ' 
 
 When Mr. Melvill was appointed Principal of the East India 
 College at Haileybury, Hertfordshire, he repeated what he had done 
 on his appointment to the chaplaincy of the Tower, and informed 
 us, first of all, of the honour that had been conferred upon him. It 
 was on the ground of our intimacy with him that he wished these 
 notifications to be made first to us. 
 
 In this year Mr. Burns was brought a good deal 
 mto contact with Mr. Thomas Crofton Croker, of the 
 Admiralty, and soon the acquaintance ripened into 
 friendshiiD. Croker was worth knowing. He started 
 life in a merchant's office in Cork, where he made 
 acquaintance with the people and scenery of Ireland, 
 and collected their songs and legends. Tom Moore 
 in 1818 expressed his obligation to him for his 
 valuable researches. Subsequently Croker published 
 several interesting and important works on Ireland, 
 one of which was illustrated by Maclise, then, as 
 Croker states, " a young Irish artist of considerable 
 promise." 
 
 In 1819, Croker became a clerk in the Admiralty 
 with a salary of ,£2 a week, which speedily rose as 
 he distinguished himself for his services. At that 
 time John William Croker, the author of " Croker' s
 
 Iil4 SIE GEOBGE BUBNS. [Chap. X. 
 
 Memoirs," was Secretary to tlie Admiralty. He 
 was a friend of the family, but in no way related to 
 Crofton Croker. 
 
 A very interesting man was Crofton ; he knew 
 everybody, and could talk with good sense and 
 judgment on everything. Sir Walter Scott, in his 
 diary, describes him thus : " Little as a dwarf, keen- 
 eyed as a hawk, and of easy, prepossessing manners, 
 something like Tom Moore." Croker was well known 
 in the learned societies. He was early elected a 
 Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and he took 
 an active part in the formation of the Camden 
 and Percy Societies, and edited some of their 
 works. Among other subjects that occupied his 
 attention was that of buttons, which he considered 
 to be characteristic of various ages, and in sup23ort of 
 his theory had made a remarkably good collection. 
 Moreover, he was perpetual president of the club of 
 antiquarians called ''The Society of Noviomagians." 
 Every year this society gave a dinner at Wood's 
 Tavern, in Portugal Street — " dinner on the table at 
 half-past four for five precisely '' — to which, in 1843, 
 he invited George Burns. There, among other 
 notable people, he met Mr. S. C. Hall, with whom 
 he soon became friendly. Ten years later, when 
 staying with his wife at Vichy, Mr. Burns again met 
 him, this time in company with his clever wife, and 
 thereafter they became intimate. At Vichy, Mr. S. 
 C. Hall appeared in a character with which his 
 memory is not usually associated.
 
 1844.] A BRIGHT CLOUD OISI A DARK SKY. 215 
 
 There was no English clergyman in the place (says George 
 Burns), and so Mr. Hall supplied the vacancy. He read the prayers 
 most impressively — which is more than many trained clergymen can 
 do — and also an excellent printed sermon. 
 
 Crofton Croker (who died at his residence in Old 
 Brompton, London, in 1854) was an excellent corre- 
 spondent, and some of his letters to Mr. Burns are of 
 considerable interest. We give one specimen. It 
 relates to Mr. Francis Nicholson, the painter : — 
 
 Admiralty, March 18, 1844. 
 ... I send you two or three copies of ' Croker's Chronicle," 
 and at any time will be happy in forwardmg another supply, or 
 attending to any alterations which you may suggest for its im- 
 provement. Mr. Maclver left town on Friday ; I saw him only 
 once or twice, and he appeared • to me very far from well. I 
 cannot help having considerable sympathy for him, as I think he 
 has been somewhat overworked, which I assure you is my case. 
 Many a night when I have laid down my head on the pillow and 
 tried to sleep, I have found my thoughts as to wdiat I had to do the 
 next morning going round and round like the wheel of a steamer, 
 flap-flap, flapping away. Add to a heavy press of official business 
 and calculations without end, the melancholy duties which devolve 
 upon me as executor to my poor father-in-law, Mr. Nicholson, and 
 you will understand what mental and bodily occupation is mine. I 
 remember our speakmg, more than once, of Mr. Nicholson ; he died 
 on the 6th instant, at the age of ninety-one, and it is a touching 
 incident that on the Friday previous to the day of his death, he 
 caused himself to be helped up on a table to retouch upon the dark 
 sky of a favourite picture, and to put in a bright cloud. His mind 
 was clear to the last moment of his life, and he died, as he had 
 Jived, in peace. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 T. Crofton Ckoker.
 
 216 Slli GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. X. 
 
 The year 1843 was memorable in Scottish Chm^ch 
 history, hut it would he foreign to our purpose to 
 tell of the troubles in the Church known as the Ten 
 Years' ConHict, or of the Disruption that rent not 
 only the Church but the Presbytery of Glasgow in 
 twain. 
 
 Dr. Burns of the Barony had passed away, and 
 George Burns and his family were absent from 
 Glasgow during the whole of the stormy period 
 when the controversy was raging. But he took a 
 deep interest in it, and felt its effects, as all persons 
 did, for classes did not come together as formerly, 
 and all social and religious relations were strained. 
 His friend and co-worker at St. Jude's, Mr. W. F. 
 Burnley, was a constant correspondent, and wrote 
 fully upon the subject which was stirring the hearts 
 of most men at this time. 
 
 For Mr. Burnley, George Burns entertained the 
 warmest regard. In a letter to Mrs. Burns, written 
 in the previous year, when domestic trial was dis- 
 tressing his friend, he said : — 
 
 I feel the most affectionate interest in poor dear Burnley. Never 
 any friend held a dearer place in my heart. No couple have ever 
 possessed more of my tender regard than he and his affectionate 
 wife. I never cease commending them to the all-wise protection 
 and love of their Saviour, who is alluring them into the wilderness 
 that He may speak comfortably to them, however painful may be 
 the steps on the way. 
 
 In many a well-fought l)attle, as we shall see here- 
 after, George Burns was to figbt shoulder to shoulder
 
 1843.] THE DISEUPTION. 217 
 
 with his Mend Burnley. Meantime they watched 
 together the struggle that was going on in another 
 held, concerning which Mr. Burnley writes : — 
 
 Glasgow, Maij 4, 1843. 
 
 My dear Mr. Burns, — . . . Things are in a state of great con- 
 fusion and peril in this part of the world. There is a degree of 
 obstinacy on both sides, and want of Christian forbearance, that is 
 lamentable. I have made a point of studying the subject carefully, 
 and I trust prayerfully, which I think every Christian is bound to 
 do, and I have come to the conclusion, so ably advocated by the 
 ' Record,' that it is a question of expedience, and not one of prin- 
 ciple, and, as such, I think the duty of those who love the Church 
 of Scotland is, not to leave her, but to remain in her, and do what 
 they can, by legal and constitutional means, to purify her. There 
 can be no doubt that unrestricted patronage is bad; but I think un- 
 restricted popular election is worse. Our good friend Dr. Muir is 
 getting dreadfully abused, but he quietly pursues the even tenor of 
 his way, preaching Christ and Him crucified, totally disregarding 
 all that is said against him. 
 
 He came and took tea Avith us the week before last, and gave us a 
 
 most wonderful exposition from Isaiah. His meat and drink seem 
 
 to be to proclaim Christ wherever he goes ; he never enters a house 
 
 without saying a word for his Master, and such should every faithful 
 
 watchman do. To-day is appointed a day of prayer and humiliation 
 
 by the Church, and in the evening the churches are to be opened, 
 
 and every minister, I believe, is clearly and explicitly to give his 
 
 opinion — at least such Dr. Muir intends doing. A secession is now 
 
 inevitable. . . . 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 William F. Burnley. 
 
 That inevitable secession came. Dr. Muir re- 
 mained in, but, as George Burns was wont to saj^ 
 years afterwards when the old differences were,
 
 218 SIR GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. X. 
 
 happily, to a great extent forgotten, " No doubt the 
 four hundred who came out had amongst them the 
 best men."' 
 
 AX, the Disruption, James Burns, the partner in 
 business of George Burns, joined the Free Church, 
 and became one of her staunchest and most liberal 
 supporters. He was long a member of Free St. 
 Peter's, under William Arnot and Hugh Macmillan. 
 
 One who took a somewhat active part in the 
 struggle was Mr. Burns' hiend, the Eev. Mr. (after- 
 wards Dr.) Smith, of Cathcart, who in his old age 
 summed up his view of the story of the conflict and 
 its issues in these words : — 
 
 The work of plantin^ti- a church in every needy locahty, of brmging 
 the means of grace within the reach of every family in Scotland, 
 was to all appearance on the very eve of being accomplished. It 
 was then that there came the sudden and sad crash of 1843, and 
 their Church was throwai back into wealcness. He saw it more 
 feeble than he had ever seen it before. A cahimity the most 
 deplorable had befallen them. A blow was struck, mider which 
 their sacred fabric shook to its centre. It fell not ; the rock on 
 which it stood was unshaken. The light of their burning bush 
 was dimmed for a season, but the fire within that bush was not 
 extinguished. Their numbers were suddenly reduced, but they 
 were not dismayed. They w'ere designated, in bad taste, by some of 
 those who left them, nivrtioiiii cttput, but neither head nor heart was 
 dead. They were scoffingly named a mere residuum, but in that 
 residue there was a vitality that soon showed its power. Not one 
 of their missionary enterprises — the best of all symptoms — though 
 crippled, was abandoned. There were left to the Church better 
 leaders, with their cool counsel and experienced wisdom, to aid 
 them in repairing the breaches in their broken walls ; and there
 
 1843.] DB. JOHN BUBNS. 219 
 
 came fortli, too, at the same time, young and gallant champions to 
 successfully maintain their cause on every field of conflict. From 
 the very day that sad secession took place in 1843, their progress, 
 then commencing, went nobly onward. From that day until this, 
 everything, by God's blessing, had prospered with them. They had 
 seen their Church not only rise from its weakness and regain its 
 position, but attain a higher place in point of influence, numbers, 
 and efficiency, than it ever held before. He thanked God that he 
 had \\-itnessed it before he died, and he thanked God for the hope 
 that was before him that the National Church of Scotland, the 
 glory of our fathers, would continue to be the pride of their patriotic 
 children for generations yet to come.''' 
 
 Between the brothers George and John (Dr. 
 Burns), there was the strongest mutual affection. 
 Each had gifts and graces of character which the 
 other admired, and both were in complete agi^eement 
 in religious matters. It w^as usual for them in times 
 alike of joy and sorrow to open then' hearts to one 
 another, and very beautiful are the affectionate ex- 
 pressions in their letters. 
 
 In 18-13, the light of Dr. Burns' life went out. 
 He was devotedly attached to his son, Allan, a 
 young man of exceptional ability, who, with an inti- 
 mate knowledge of medical science and a strong love 
 of anatomical pursuits, w^as rising fast into eminence, 
 when intermittent fever, contracted in the prosecu- 
 tion of his duties, ended his career, after a short ill- 
 ness, in the thirty-fourth year of his age. 
 
 In this sore trial Dr. Burns used to write long 
 
 •' Speech at banquet on the completion of the sixtieth year of his 
 ministry in the Chiu-ch of Scotlanrl.
 
 220 Sin GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. X. 
 
 letters to George cilmost every day, in which he 
 poured out his grief, and, in his weakness, chmg 
 to his brother's strength. 
 
 I am weak, and my thoughts are wandering ; pray for me that I 
 may be strengthened and kept steadfast m the faith. I do not wish 
 to take any false cordial. I hope to go down sorrowing to the 
 grave — not with a repining, but a meek, sanctified sorrow, which 
 shall, by the blessing of God, keep me closer to Himself, and more 
 weaned from the worl*]. He has promised to send the Comforter 
 to His people. 1 know He can only be the Comforter where He 
 is the Sanctifier. 
 
 On Christmas Day in the same year. Dr. John 
 Burns wrote : — 
 
 My deae George, — I am much obliged to you for your kind letter, 
 and hope that I shall see you soon. I am satisfied with my own 
 situation, at least I hope so, for I trust that the affliction is from a 
 Father in mercy. I realise more the prospect of death than I did 
 in any former tribulation. Without attributing this to any pre- 
 monition or intuition, I wish to be prepared. I am older, more 
 lonely, and my temporal arrangements and ties to life are broken 
 and scattered as they never were before. I have less to do, so far 
 as I see, in this life. Now, if I concluded here, it would appear 
 that I was taken up altogether with myself; but I Avish to look to 
 others also, and although you have not had the sore trials I have 
 had, yet for some time past you have had vexation of spirit, which 
 I doubt not will be blessed. We do not prize affliction, disappoint- 
 ment, and crosses, as we ought to do ; they are to the children of 
 (iod precious gifts. Remember me affectionately to all. 
 
 J. BUKNS. 
 
 The death of his nephew Allan was a great blow to 
 George Burns, who loved him almost as a son ; and
 
 1843.] " HONOUR TO WHOM HONOUR.'' 221 
 
 it was a sore trial to him that the business upon 
 which he was detained in London kept him away 
 not only from his brother, but also from his wife, 
 who at the same time was seriously ill, and was 
 mourning the loss of a child. Many letters of sym- 
 pathy reached him. One from Lord Sandon — after- 
 wards the Earl of Harrowby, whose name is connected 
 with so many good and philanthropic works — was 
 greatly appreciated. 
 
 Lord Sandon to Gcorcje Burns. 
 
 Dec. 8, 1843. 
 I sincerely sympathise with you in the various afflictions with 
 which you have been visited, during your protracted stay in London. 
 I hope you may have the strength to bear them with as much 
 resignation as you displayed patience and cheerfulness under the 
 protracted annoyances to which the prosecution of your affair with 
 the public offices has exposed you. 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Sandon. 
 
 Mr. Burns would never lay claim personally to 
 honours which he could share with others. In the 
 difficult and delicate negotiations in which he 
 was engaged with the Government respecting Postal 
 and other services, although the great burden 
 of responsibility lay upon his own shoulders, he 
 received fr-om time to time important assistance from 
 others. Thus in the matter of the St. La\^Tence 
 Service (the conveyance of the Canadian mails by 
 coach-contract between Halifax and Pictou), in
 
 •1-1> SIB GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. X. 
 
 which the Chancellor of tlie Exchequer decided 
 against him, he wrote to the Company through his 
 Ijrother James : — 
 
 I would be doing great injustice to my sense of what is right, 
 did I not emphatically state the obligations I consider the Company 
 are under to Mr. Edward Cunard, for the influence he has brought 
 to bear on the subject of our mission, and for his able and assiduous 
 co-operation with me in following it out. 
 
 The Company will, I have no doubt, readily admit that we have 
 devoted ourselves to the work, and have not abandoned any point 
 while a ray of hope remained ; but the more we have laboured, the 
 more deeply sensible am I that without the blessing of God all our 
 efforts would have been in vain. 
 
 The ten months' detention of Mr. Burns in London 
 was not, however, without tangible results. Among 
 other successes, he had made a representation to 
 the Government, through the Hon. Sidney Herbert, 
 that the service performed by the Cunard Company 
 entailed a loss to them; and Mr. Burns effected an 
 arrangement whereb}^ he secured an addition of 
 d£10,000 a year to the existing contract !
 
 CHAPTEK XI. 
 
 ENGLISH EPISCOPALIANS IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 On the 31st of July, 1843, the Eev. Eohert Mont- 
 gomery sent to Mr. Burns his resignation as In- 
 cumbent of the Church of St. Jude's in Glasgow. 
 Among his reasons were the following : — 
 
 That I have now been some six or seven years absent from my 
 native laud ; that England is my congenial s^Dhere ; that each winter 
 my health in Glasgow has grown Avorse and worse ; that a wide sphere 
 of usefulness more connatural to me as an Episcopalian opens before 
 me ; that to some extent my peculiar mission in Glasgow is filled 
 up ; that I have my feelings and affections and prospects of life as 
 well as my principles as a Christian minister ; and above all, that the 
 happiness of a whole family depends on my coming to England. 
 Consider all this, and call to memory how you love a home, a wife's 
 smile, a hearth-side — do all this, and I am sure you will say ' You 
 have done right.' 
 
 He added in conclusion : — 
 
 I am fully awai'e of the cry which my resignation will, at the 
 first onset, awaken on behalf of some alarmists — ' St. Jude's is 
 ruined ! ' ' Must be sold ! ' etc. I do not, and will not, for one 
 minute yield to such silly and senseless exaggerations. There is the 
 element of a noble congregation now formed ; within six months there 
 will be only two Episcopal churches in Glasgow, and if we set to
 
 224 SIB GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. XI. 
 
 \vork in iaitli and prayer, 1 feel certain that God will send a faitlil'ul 
 and efficient man who will rejoice to occupy my place and carry on, 
 \\ ith renewed .strength and vigour, the work His grace has enahled 
 me to undertake. 
 
 Although Montgomery, the popular preacher, 
 resigned, St. Jude's was not rumed. George Burns 
 and his friend William Burnley had pledged them- 
 selves to its support, and they were not men to quail 
 before any difficulty. 
 
 In the autumn of 1843, the Rev. C. P. Miles was 
 appointed Incumbent of St. Jude's in succession to 
 Robert Montgomer3^ Mr. Miles had not been long 
 in his new sphere, before he became acquainted with 
 a state of affairs in connection with the Scottish 
 Episcopal Church which filled him with astonish- 
 ment, and he at once put himself in communication 
 with Mr. Burns on the matter. 
 
 In order to understand the nature of the activities 
 in which Mr. Burns was to be engaged for many 
 years, it will be necessary that we should set forth, 
 as brietiy as possible, a few points of Church histoiy 
 generally, and particularly a case which gave rise to 
 the controversy in which he took a leading part. 
 
 In the year 1722, the chapel of St. Paul, Aberdeen, 
 was opened for an English Episcopal congregation, 
 and, without being subjected to the superintendence 
 of any Scottish diocesan, received its ministers 
 regularly ordained by English prelates. This was no 
 new thing. It w^as of common occurrence for Protes- 
 tant Episcopalians in Scotland to be under English
 
 1848.] A COURSE OF DISCIPLINE. 225 
 
 pastors altogether unconnected with Scottish Epis- 
 copacy, and, as a matter of fact, the law was at one 
 period so stringent that Episcopalian chapels were 
 not tolerated unless clergymen ordained by English 
 or Irish bishops were appointed to them. 
 
 From 1746 to 1792 the Enghsh chapels were the 
 only legalised places of worship for Episcopalians in 
 Scotland ; but in the latter year, by mutual agree- 
 ment, the Scotch Episcopal Church received recog- 
 nition from the British Legislature, the penalties 
 attaching to a Scotch Episcopal minister, which had 
 hitherto prevented him fi'om taking the superinten- 
 dence of a congregation, were removed, and he was 
 placed on an equality in the eye of the law with 
 his other Episcopalian brethren. 
 
 In 1840, the Scottish Episcopal Church obtained 
 another Act of Parliament, which did not however 
 in any degree alter the position previously occupied 
 ill Scotland by the bishops or clergy ;' nor did it 
 confer any privilege or jurisdiction whatever on 
 Episcopalians in that country. The only purpose 
 for which it was granted was to permit ministers 
 ordained by Scotch bishops (as also the Episcopal 
 clergy in the United States of America) to officiate, 
 under limited circumstances, in the Established 
 Churches of England and Ireland. 
 
 Whether the Scotch bishops misinterpreted that 
 Act or not, we need not inquire here, but in 1842 
 they entered upon a course of discipline which 
 resulted in the partial loss of their authority. 
 
 15
 
 226 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XI. 
 
 When the Scottish Episcopal Church received 
 recognition fi'om the British Legishiture in 1792, 
 several Enghsli congregations, with a full under- 
 standing that they reserved to themselves the liturgy 
 of the Church of England (for the Scottish Church 
 had its own liturgy) inviolate and inalienahle, 
 tendered their allegiance to the Scottish hishops. 
 Three congregations, Perth, Montrose, and Aberdeen, 
 determined to adhere to their original character ; but 
 in 1841 the managers and constitutional members of 
 St. Paul's, Aberdeen, decided to place their chapel 
 under the diocesan superintendence of Bishop 
 Skinner, the Prinnis or chief bishop of the Scottish 
 Ijlpiscopal Church. 
 
 Soon afterwards, the Kev. Sir William Dunbar, 
 Bart., a godly and nnich respected clergyman of the 
 Church of England, then labouring in London, was 
 invited to accept the vacant incumbenc3\ He at 
 tirst declined, as he objected to important points in 
 the Scottish liturgy ; but on the assurance that the 
 Deed of Union guaranteed to the clergyman of St. 
 Paul's Chapel the exclusive use of the Anglican 
 ritual, he ultimately consented and entered upon 
 his duties in 1842. 
 
 But " how can two walk together except they be 
 agreed ? " He was soon asked to preach in the 
 chapel of the Primus ; "this he could only consent to 
 on condition that he might retire prior to the ad- 
 ministration of the Lord's Supper — an office widety 
 different in doctrine as well as in mode of adminis-
 
 1843.] THE EEV. SIR WILLIAM DUNBAR. 227 
 
 tration to that required by the rubric of the Church 
 of England. 
 
 Then arose a question as to Confirmation, into 
 which we need not inquire : and, finally, a collection 
 on behalf of the Scottish Episcopal Church Society 
 was ordered, which the managers of St. Paul's would 
 not allow to be made. 
 
 Matters having reached this crisis, Sir William 
 Dunbar's only alternative was to write the following 
 letter : — 
 
 The Puv. Sir Win. Dunbar to Bishop Skinner. 
 
 Castle Steeet, May 12, 1843. 
 Right Eev. and dear Sir, — After a most anxious and careful 
 consideration of the interview which took place on the 8th inst. 
 between your reverence and myself, I am constrained to withdraw 
 my reserved and limited subscription to the canons of the Scottish 
 Episcopal Church, which I gave at the time when I accepted from 
 the managers and congregation of St. Paul's Chapel the ministerial 
 charge over them. That subscription was given in connection with 
 the Deed of Union between the said congregation and the Scottish 
 Episcopal Church, by which deed all the rights and privileges of the 
 congregation, as recognised before the deed was executed, were to 
 be secured to them, and in which deed is the following clause : — 
 'None of which rights and privileges shall be infringed upon with- 
 out incurring the dissolution of the said voluntary union.' That 
 these have been infringed upon by your reverence is known and feh- 
 by the whole congregation ; and, as I am threatened with ecclesias- 
 tical censure if I do not conform to certain courses, which would 
 have the effect of encroaching still further upon the articles of the 
 Deed of Union, I cannot hesitate as to the proper course for me 
 to adopt. Having never rendered myself liable to ecclesiastical 
 censure while ministering for eleven years under tlie Bishops of
 
 228 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XI. 
 
 the Church of England, of which 1 am an ordained minister, I 
 cannot consent to allow my clerical character to be endangered by 
 any threatened rebuke of the Scottish Episcopal Church, with which 
 my conditional association has not been of one year's duration. 
 On these grounds I now withdraw my subscription referred to. 
 I have the honour to be, 
 
 Eight Rev. and dear Sir, 
 
 Your very obedient servant, 
 
 William Dunbar. 
 
 A correspondence ensued ; the managers and con- 
 stituent members withdrew from the Scottish Epis- 
 copal Church ; St. Paul's Chapel reverted to its 
 original character and condition, and Sir William 
 Dunbar was recognised as its minister. 
 
 Two months afterwards, without any previous 
 intimation of the proceedings. Sir William Dunbar 
 received, through the post, his accusation, condemna- 
 tion and sentence, for renouncing allegiance to the 
 Primus. 
 
 As Bishop Skinner's writ of excommunication is 
 a hterary curiosity, breathing the spirit and language 
 of the days when Roman supremacy and intolerance 
 were at their height, we give it in its entirety : — 
 
 In the name of God. Amen, Whereas the Eeverend Sir 
 William Dunbar, late Minister of St. Paul's Chapel, Aberdeen, and 
 Presbyter of this Diocese, received by letters dimissory from the 
 Lord Bishop of London, forgetting his duty as a Priest of the 
 Catholic Church, did, on the twelfth of May last, in a letter 
 addressed to us, William Skinner, Doctor in Divinity, Bishop of 
 Aberdeen, wilfully renounce his canonical obedience to us, his
 
 1843.] A WBIT OF EXCOMMUNICATION. 229 
 
 proper ordinary, and witlidrew liimself, as he pretended, from the 
 jurisdiction of the Scottish Episcopal Church ; and, notwithstanding 
 our earnest and affectionate remonstrances repeatedly addressed to 
 him, did obstinately persist in that his most undutiful and wicked 
 act, contrary to his ordination vows and his solemn promise of 
 canonical obedience, whereby the said Sir William Dunbar hath 
 violated every principle of duty, which the laws of the Catholic 
 Church have recognised as binding on her Priests, and hath placed 
 himself in a state of open schism ; and, whereas the said Sir 
 William Dunbar hath moreover continued to officiate in defiance 
 of our authority ; therefore, we, William Skirmer, Doctor in 
 Divinity, Bishop of Aberdeen, aforesaid, sitting with our Clergy in 
 Synod, this tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord one 
 thousand eight hundred and forty-three, and acting under the 
 provisions of Canon XLI., do declare that the said Sir William 
 Dunbar hath ceased to be a Presbyter of this Church, and that all 
 his ministerial acts are without authority, as being performed apart 
 from Christ's mystical body, wherein the one Spirit is ; and we do 
 most earnestly and solemnly warn all faithful people to avoid all 
 communion with the said Sir William Dunbar in prayers and sacra- 
 ments, or in any way giving countenance to him in his present 
 irregular and sinful course, lest they be partakers with him in his 
 sin, and thereby expose themselves to the threatening denounced 
 against those who cause divisions in the Church, from which danger 
 we most heartily pray that God of His great mercy would keep all 
 the faithful people committed to our charge, through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord. Amen. 
 
 This excommunication or " declaration " — ap- 
 plauded by the Tractarian party, deplored by the 
 Evangelicals, laughed at and ridiculed by the secular 
 press — ^Yas published far and wide, and each Epis- 
 copalian clergyman under the control of Bishop 
 Skinner was enjoined to read it aloud to his congre- 
 gation h'om the Lord's Table.
 
 230 SIE GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XI. 
 
 Soon after this, the Rev. C. P. Miles accepted 
 the incumbency of St. Jude's. He was a hater of 
 oppression, and to test the position and show 
 brotherly sympathy for Sir William Dunbar, he 
 determined to preach in his church, and thus give 
 a practical proof of the invalidity of the attempted 
 excommunication. He denied that it was illegal to 
 preach in a place of worship unlicensed by a Scotch 
 bishop, although the synodical sentence warned all 
 faithful people to avoid communion with Sir William 
 Dunbar in prayers and sacraments. 
 
 The position then taken by Mr. Miles was this : — 
 he voluntarily retired fi-om the Scottish Episcopal 
 Church, having recalled his subscription to its 
 canons, and on the same day that he renounced 
 the authority of Bishop Eussell, his former diocesan, 
 he sent his resignation as incumbent of St Jude's. 
 The managers, however, fearing that the chapel 
 would have to be closed, and from love and respect 
 to Mr. Miles, invited him to continue his cleri- 
 cal ministrations over the congregation ; and to 
 this he consented on the ground that, being a 
 presbyter of the Church of England, from which 
 communion he had not withdrawn, he considered 
 himself legally entitled to the exercise of the sacred 
 office on behalf of Protestant Episcopalians in 
 Glasgow\ 
 
 When Mr. Miles assumed this attitude, the 
 managers and congregation of St. Jude's determined 
 to stand by him through thick and thin, and also
 
 1844.] CONCERNING BISHOPS. 231 
 
 to separate themselves as a body from the Scottish 
 Episcopal Church. They acted harmoniously and 
 quietly throughout, but warily, and sought advice 
 at every step of their way. In the following letter, 
 Mr. Burnley gives the opinion of Bishop Villiers on 
 the situation. 
 
 Christie's Hotel, Xov. 29, 1844. 
 My dear Burns, — I had a very pleasing interview with Villiers 
 this morning, whom I had not as yet spoken to regarding our affair. 
 I am happy to say he goes with us thoroughly. He suggested one 
 or two names that he thinks might be added to our list for sending 
 pamphlets. I asked him what opinion he would give, as to the 
 course we ought to pursue as managers. His advice was, ' Do 
 nothing, but stand as firm as a rock.' He certainly is not a High 
 Churchman, for when I assured him that we regretted not being 
 imder Episcopal jurisdiction, but that we valued Scriptural doctrine 
 more, he said, ' Why, after all, what are bishops ? You may stick a 
 piece of lawn on any man and make him a bishop, but the know- 
 ledge of the truth and the love of Christ cannot thus be given.' He 
 says the contest is about commencing in Scotland witli us, and in 
 England by the Bishop of Exeter, and the spirit that animated 
 Luther is what is wanting. I said, ' I hope the Missionary Society 
 will be more decided this year, as to the line they intend to pursue.' 
 ' What they ought to do,' said Villiers, ' is to send do^Ti a judicious 
 and determined man, and let him preach when he liked."*' I wish 
 he would consent to come down ; he blows the trumpet -R-ith no 
 uncertain soimd. He said if there was anything he could do to 
 help us in any way, I was to write him. 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 W. F. Burnley. 
 
 The advice of Henry Venn, the clerical secretary 
 
 ■■■ The Rev. Edward Bickersteth took the bold course, and 
 preached in St. Jude's for the Church Missionary Society.
 
 232 SIB GEOBGE BUBNS. [Chap. XI. 
 
 of the Church Missionary Society, was also sought, 
 and he rephed as follows : — 
 
 With regard to yourselves as managers, do notliing witliout legal 
 advice and the opinion of counsel. Get legal advice for abrogating 
 your Deed of Presentation, and when you have got everything 
 straight and clear, publish your reasons for leaving the Scottish 
 Episcopal Church, and give the opinions of counsel verbatim. Be 
 cautious how you act, and never put down one foot before you 
 know where to place the other. 
 
 This was sagacious advice, and it was duly acted 
 upon. 
 
 On the 18th of December, 1844, the sentence was 
 pronounced : — 
 
 " We, Michael Eussell, Doctor of Laws, Bishop 
 of Glasgow, sitting in Synod, ... do hereby reject 
 the said Eeverend Charles Popham Miles, and 
 publicly declare that he is no longer a clergyman of 
 the Episcopal Chm'ch of Scotland. We warn the 
 members of our Church, as well as all Episcopalians 
 elsewhere, to avoid professional communion with the 
 said Eeverend Charles Popham Miles, in public 
 prayers and sacraments, or in any way to give coun- 
 tenance to him in his present irregular course, lest 
 they be partakers with him in his schism, and there- 
 by expose themselves to the threatening denounced 
 against those who cause divisions in the Church ; 
 from which danger we most heartily pray that God, 
 of His great meixy, will keep all the faithful people 
 committed to our charge, through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Amen."
 
 1844.] ECCLESIASTICAL CENSUBE. 233 
 
 Some gaps in the narrative may be supplied in 
 the words of Mr. Burns, who says : — 
 
 We were living at Brookfield, Greenock, when Miles had the 
 outbreak in connection with Bishop Skinner, of Aberdeen. Skinner 
 had issued an excommunication of Sir William Dunbar, who was 
 under him there, for fraternising with the Presbyterians. Skinner 
 lost much of his authority and influence, but Dunbar was the greater 
 sufferer from the contest, for his uncle was so distressed at the fact 
 of his excommunication, that he cut him oft" from his inheritance. 
 Miles, while staying with us at Brookfield, said to me that he 
 proposed going to Aberdeen, to preach in Dunbar's church, because 
 he hated tyranny. I responded cordially, and said that I highly 
 approved of his gomg. He told me that he would get his place in 
 Glasgow supplied by an excellent man, named Gribble, who had 
 been a fellow-sailor with him in the service of the East India Com- 
 pany. Miles's proceeding made a great stir in the Scottish Episcopal 
 Church. Bishop Kussell came through from Leith expressly to see 
 me on the occasion, and he found me in my office in Glasgow, nearly 
 ready to start m the train to Greenock. He said he hoped that I 
 would use my influence with Mr. Miles to obtain from him an expres- 
 sion of regret for having gone to preach for Dunbar ; and added that 
 he would be satisfied if he would promise not to repeat what he had 
 done. He concluded by saying that he had instructions from the 
 Primus (Skinner) to take this matter up, and finished by using these 
 words, ' If I do not proceed, I shall be proceeded against.' To his 
 great surprise, I told him that Miles had consulted me, and that 
 I had very warmly approved the course he was taking. Bishop 
 Russell walked across with me to the train, talking the whole time 
 about the matter. A number of letters passed between us on the 
 subject, and it was arranged that a meeting should take place 
 between the Bishop, Mr. Miles, and the Vestry of St. Jude's. They 
 met accordingly, and in course of conversation Miles expressed 
 himself in a moderate and conciliating tone, but not wavering one 
 iota in his views ; whereupon the Bishop expressed his gratification
 
 234 . SIB GKOEGE BUliNS. [Chap. XI. 
 
 with ]\Ir. Miles' manner, but he could go no further. The Bishop, 
 at that meeting, turned to me and said, ' I hope that you look upo}i 
 the letters that I wrote to you as strictly confidential, and not to be 
 made use of.' I replied that he might depend upon my keeping 
 them to myself ; and they have not been made public to this day. 
 The episode led at once to the separation of St. Jude's from the 
 Scottish Episcopal Church, and we coalesced with 'Slv. Drummond, 
 of Edinburgh, in his separation. 
 
 There was a great deal of acriuionious pamph- 
 leteering concerning the "unreasonable schism" — as 
 a leading Church luminary described it — which had 
 " deprived the younger portions of several congrega- 
 tions of the holy and apostolic rite of Confirmation, 
 and the consequent benefit of being admitted to the 
 sacrament of tlie Lord's Supper according to the 
 practice of the English Church." 
 
 Into the controversy, Eobert Montgomery entered 
 on the side of the Scottish Episcopal Church, con- 
 tending that the proceedings at St. Jude's were "sad, 
 unscriptural, and schismatic;" that "if it were 
 separated from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of 
 Glasgow, and presided over in this rent and riven 
 state by an unauthorised English presbyter, the 
 church would be schismatical and all connected 
 with it schismatics." 
 
 ■ He went full tilt against the action of Mr. Miles, 
 and contended that the main point in the con- 
 troversy was "not whether Sir William Dunbar had 
 been rightly or wrongly treated by the Bishop of 
 Aberdeen ; l)ut wliether thf uricanonical intrusion
 
 184.5.] MEETING OF CLEIUCALS AND DELEGATES. 235 
 
 of a presbyter into another bishop's diocese was 
 justifiable in order to awaken the question." 
 
 He conchided a long pamphlet-letter with the 
 assurance that when he recalled to memory the 
 former peace of St. Jude's at the time he ministered 
 among them, he was filled with sadness. " When 
 the image of St. Jude's," he said, " comes before 
 me, it is associated wdtli sadder feelings than I 
 have courage to describe." 
 
 In May, 1845, it was decided to hold a meeting in 
 Edinburgh of all the English clergy then labouring 
 in Scotland apart from Scottish bishops, and also of 
 delegates h'om the several English congregations. 
 Concerning that meeting, Mr. Miles WTote to Mi'. 
 Burns, who was at the time in London, as follows :- — 
 
 Glasgow, Ma>/ 10, 1845. 
 
 My dear Burns, — I miss you very mucli. You are my con- 
 sultiug physician, and, as you give good advice and take no fee, 
 your assistance is invaluable. . . . 
 
 The opinions which you expressed in regard to the meeting of 
 clericals and delegates in Edinburgh, coincided most thoroughly 
 with those entertained by myself. You will now^ be glad to hear 
 that we duly assembled, and that our conference commenced and 
 terminated in harmony. We commenced with the Word of God and 
 prayer. Then certain resolutions and counter-resolutions were pro- 
 posed, withdrawn, remodelled, and reconsidered, and at length we 
 came to a conclusion that we would love one another ! Now here is 
 an epitome of the proceedings of the first annual meeting of the 
 English Episcopalians dwelling in Scotland ! However, you must 
 understand that some definite resolutions Avere carried. I think you 
 will be satisfied with them. We were all of one mind in regard 
 to our position, and, unless my ears have deceived me, I do not
 
 '■i-M\ Sin GEOBGE BUBNS. [Chap. XL 
 
 think that we stand committed for uuy thing beyond the general 
 principles necessarily espoused hij ns a.s ntemhcrs of the Church, of 
 EniiUtnd. It' was settled that these resolutions, if approved by 
 the absent trustees and managers of the English chapels, should 
 be printed and circulated among the several congregations. 
 
 My next piece of news is that Sir William Dunbar is to preach 
 at St. Jude's on Sunday next, two sermons. Collections in behalf 
 of our chapel funds are to be consequent upon each of Dunbar's 
 sermons. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 C. P. Miles. 
 
 The position of the English Episcopalians in 
 Scotland was defined at their first meeting thus : — 
 
 " That, as ministers and members of the Protestant 
 Church of Christ, established by law in England and 
 Ireland, together with others who are attached to 
 that communion, we express our deep regret, that 
 the doctrines, the spirit, and the discipline of the 
 Scottish Episcopal Church have been recently proved 
 to be of a nature so distinct from the principles of 
 the United Church of England and Ireland, as to 
 forbid our having any connection with the Scottish 
 Episcopate ; inasmuch as such connection would 
 involve a dereliction of our duty to the English 
 Church, and a compromise of Protestant principles, 
 thus doing violence to our perceptions of truth, and 
 to om- consciences. 
 
 " That, as in a recent document put forth by Bishop 
 Low, of the Scottish Episcopal Church, a hope is 
 expressed, which had been previously implied in simi- 
 lar documents by Bishoj)s Skinner and Kussell, that
 
 1845.] THE POSITION DEFINED. 237 
 
 no bishop of the United Church of England and 
 Ireland, or of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
 America, will receive any clergymen who have 
 officiated in Scotland, without letters testimonial 
 fi'om the bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church, 
 and as such an expression seems intended to con- 
 vey the idea that the Scottish bishops have some 
 measure of jurisdiction over English Episcopalians in 
 Scotland, we hereby declare that the idea is utterly 
 fallacious, and that such an assumption on the part 
 of the Scottish bishops has no authority, either in 
 Statute, Common, Ecclesiastical, or Divine Law. 
 
 " That, although at present we have not the full 
 advantages of Episcopal superintendence, yet as our 
 position has arisen fi'om necessity and not from 
 choice — a necessity, however, wdiich does not in the 
 least invalidate our standing as Episcopal ministers, 
 and members of the English Church — we desire to 
 express deliberately our sense of the benefit of such 
 superintendence, and our readiness to receive and 
 acknowledge it, whenever, in the providence of God, 
 an opportunity for its proper exercise may arise." 
 
 In the Eev. C. B. Gribble, Mr. Burns found a 
 valuable friend and a zealous coadjutor. Early in 
 life Mr. Gribble entered the East India Service, 
 and rose to be chief officer of the H.C. ship Here- 
 fordsliire ; but, under deep religious convictions, he 
 resolved, after the Company's charter w^as withdrawn, 
 to enter the Church. He took his degree at Cam- 
 bridge, was ordained, and, after holding the curacy
 
 •238 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XI. 
 
 of Oliiey, he went to Canada as a missionary, and 
 was for two years on the shores of Lake Erie at a 
 time when the country- was still a comparative waste, 
 and each settler was a " hewer of wood and drawer 
 of water." After his return, in 1843, he became 
 curate of Broseley, under the Hon. and Eev. Orlando 
 Forester (afterwards Lord Forester), and, soon after- 
 wards, was associated wath his old hiend the Eev. 
 C. P. Miles in the work at St Jude's. Keferring 
 to the friendship of these two excellent men, Mr. 
 Burns says : — 
 
 Miles and Grihble were fellow-officers in the Company's service, 
 and were in India together. Miles often told me that, when he 
 was last in Calcutta, iu 1830, Colonel Powney, who was very atten- 
 tive to all young officers, and had them frequently to his house. 
 had invited him as one of his many guests. The Colonel was 
 a decidedly Christian man, and he employed his visitors, one after 
 another, at breakfast, to read prayers. He put the book into Miles' 
 hand to use it. Miles went on swimmingly as long as he was in 
 smooth water, but at the end of the prayer he came on the words,. 
 ' Our Father, etc.,' and he said, ' I was completely floored ; I 
 had not the slightest idea what the etc. included ! ' He had entirely 
 forgotten it during his seafaring life. 
 
 One day Miles was ordered to join his ship at the mouth of the 
 Hooghly, and, on leaving Fort William, the Colonel gave him a 
 hook, and said, ' J\Iiles, read that during your homeward voyage.' 
 It was the ' Pilgrim's Progress.' Miles read it ; became interested ; 
 was much impressed with the views set forth, and it became the 
 means of leading him into serious investigation, and to a saving 
 knowledge of the trutli. 
 
 Xo sooner had Mr. Grihble entered upon his
 
 1845.] DOCTBINAL EBliORH. 239 
 
 duties, as co-minister with Mr. Miles of St Jiule's 
 Cliajjel, than he threw himself heart and soul into 
 the controversy then raging, and was especially 
 earnest in his exhortations to sister churches, such 
 as that of St. Peter's, at Montrose, to refuse submis- 
 sion to the Scottish bishops. He was very plain in 
 his speech upon the doctrinal errors, as he regarded 
 them, of the Episcopal Church. He says : — 
 
 In the event of your submitting to the Scottish bishops, your 
 minister must become a party to error ; and if he should have 
 received his ordination from a bishop of the United Church of 
 England and Ireland, he must, though perhaps unwittingly, become 
 a party to falsehood. Every clergyman in connection with the last 
 mentioned Church is bound to the English ritual ; but if he unite 
 himself to the Scotch Episcopal Church, he must subscribe to the 
 canon, which declares that the Scotch communion office possesses 
 a primary authority over that of the English Church ; in other 
 woi'ds, he must declare that error has a higher authority than 
 truth. The error consists in this : — The Scotch communion office 
 prays that the bread and wine may become the body and blood of 
 Christ ; we, of the English Church, believe that, in the sacrament 
 of the Lord's Supper, Christ is received by faith into the heart, and 
 not by the lips into the stomach. Such a notion we repudiate as 
 indecent and absurd. 
 
 Persistent efforts were made to prevent all English 
 clergj'men who visited Scotland h^om giving any aid 
 to the " excommunicated," and to close every pulpit 
 in England against them. Pressure from without 
 was brought to bear upon archbishops and bishops 
 of the English Church, but the attempts signally 
 failed. The sympathies of the Protestants of Eng-
 
 ti40 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XI. 
 
 liiiid w ere with the excoiiimuuicated clergy ; English 
 pulpits were thrown open to them freely, and men 
 like the venerable Dr. Marsh of Leamington, Bicker- 
 steth, Bishop Gobat of Jerusalem, Hugh Stowell, 
 Dr. Anderson (Bishop of Ilupert's Land), and a host 
 of others, preached in the churches of the censured 
 clergy. 
 
 In August, 1845, the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 gave new material for controversy in the following 
 oracular utterance : — 
 
 The Episcopal Church in Scotland, he said, is in communion with 
 the United Church of England and Ireland through the medium of 
 her bishops, as, without referring farther back, will appear from a 
 recent Act of the Legislature, the 3 and 4 Vic, c. 33. Of congrega- 
 tions in Scotland not acknowledging the spiritual jurisdiction of the 
 bishop in whose diocese the chapels are situate, yet calling them- 
 selves Episcopalian, we know nothing. In order to prove theii' 
 right to this designation, they should be able to show what bishop 
 in England has authority, by law or by custom, to regulate their 
 • worship, and to direct or control their ministers in respect of disci- 
 pline or doctrine. In default of such proof they cannot be con- 
 sidered as Episcopalian, though the service of their chapels be 
 performed by clergymen who have been regularly ordained by si 
 bishop. 
 
 Mr. Drummond, the Minister of St. Thomas's 
 English Episcopal Chapel in Edinburgh, took up the 
 gauntlet so unadvisedly thrown down by the arch- 
 bishop. An extract, relating to one point only of the 
 issues raised, may be cited here to show the position 
 taken up by the English Episco})ah!ins : —
 
 1845.] DIRECT EPISCOPAL CONTROL. 241 
 
 It does appear to be very strange, that congregations in Scot- 
 land not directly under Episcopal control — from the ncvesdlij of the 
 case, and not from their own desire — should be considered by some 
 persons as having on that account forfeited their claim to be Epis- 
 copalian. If this be so, what of all the ' exempt juiisdictions ' in 
 England ? — livings held by English clergymen, yet not under the 
 control of any bishop. What of the chaplains of the navy and the 
 army ? These have no direct Episcopal control. Are they, there- 
 fore, to be considered as beyond the ranks of Episcopalians? What 
 of our two or three missionaries in China ? Are not they Episco- 
 palians, though no English bishop exercises jurisdiction over them? 
 An American bishop has been appointed to China. Are the English 
 missionaries and the English chaplain bound to pay canonical 
 obedience to him ? ... As to the communion, the question is very 
 easily settled. I respectfully but firmly ask. What bishop of the 
 United Church of England or Ireland can refuse me induction, 
 were I to accept a living in his diocese? Can a presbyter of the 
 Scottish Episcopal Church be thus inducted? The law peremptorily 
 forbids it. During my temporary residen-ce in England, I have 
 ofticiated in four dioceses, Canterbury, London, Winchester, and 
 Lincoln, and that without the express written permission of the 
 bishop of the diocese. Could a presbyter of the Scottish Episcopal 
 Church do this ? If he were to attempt it, he would subject him- 
 self and the friend he assisted to very heav}' penalties. This is a 
 practical proof — and can any be stronger ? — as to which body of 
 Episcopalians in Scotland are in closest communion with the 
 Church of England. 
 
 The upshot of the whole controversy was this. 
 The Act of ParHament (10th Queen Anne) gave 
 ample protection to the English Episcopahan chapels 
 and their ministers in the exercise of their privileges ; 
 that Act still remained in full force, and every 
 attempt on the part of the Scottish bishops or their 
 
 IG
 
 242 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XI. 
 
 clergy to disturb the congregations worshipping in 
 those chapels was contrary to law. 
 
 And so, despite the harsh and bitter things that 
 were said and written, despite the fulminations of 
 quasi-bishops, despite the poetic grief of Eobert 
 Montgomery, the English Episcopalians in Scot- 
 land held on their way. 
 
 It was a matter of regret to Mr. Burns that the 
 calls of business took him away from Glasgow during 
 a considerable portion of the time when the contro- 
 versy was at its height ; but there was hardly a step 
 taken of any importance in which he did not have a 
 guiding hand. It was his daily joy to know that, 
 notwithstanding the prevalence of the spirit of contro- 
 versy, Christian work was going on with unceasing 
 activity, and that Mr. Burnley, who was associated 
 with him in every movement, could write to him 
 thus : — 
 
 The congregation is, on tlie whole, increasing. Grihble has com- 
 menced his lectures in Anderston. . . . The Smiday school is to 
 be commenced in a small way next Sabbath. . . . Many of the poor 
 might be got to the church if we appropriated a certain number of 
 back seats at low rents. ... Of course the subject of a bishop 
 will come before us. ^^'e shall be very cautious before taking any 
 step. . . . Drummond has been applying to several clergymen in 
 England to come as a Missionary Deputation, but without success — 
 the numerous meetings at this season prevent them from leaving 
 home. . . . "We must join together to send men of God to Parliament. 
 
 '^ The question of a bishop must come before them." 
 Yes, there was the rub ; and how the question was 
 answered will haxe to ])e told in a later chapter.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PEKSONAL TEAITS AND CHAEACTERISTICS. 
 
 A DISTINCTIVE feature in the religious belief of Mr. 
 Burns was that, for the Christian, ''whatever is, is 
 right ; " that all things, apparently good, bad, or in- 
 different, are in reality the very best ; that every 
 circumstance in his lot is influenced by the direct 
 movement of the Divine will ; and that, literally, 
 " all things work together for good to them that 
 love God." 
 
 It may be said that to men who succeed, who 
 know nothing of the hand-to-hand struggle for 
 existence, who live in the midst of luxury, and who 
 flourish under the world's applause, this is a natural 
 and comfortable belief; and so it is. But Mr. Burns 
 had his full share of the trials of life. He knew the 
 bitterness of domestic sorrows, he bore the burden 
 of business anxiety, he knew the w^eariness of con- 
 tinuous opposition ; he endured the discomforts of 
 long separations fi'om family and home — in times, 
 too, when his heart cried out for cessation from toil ; 
 he had encountered the jealousies and machinations 
 of rivals in business ; he had borne the burden of
 
 '244 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chai'. XII. 
 
 religious controversy, and had "fought with beasts 
 at Ephesus ; " his Hfe had its dark as well as its 
 l)right side (although it is on its latter aspect we 
 have particularly dwelt), and yet, in the face of 
 all these things, he held firmly to the belief that 
 whatever happened was of Divine appointment, and 
 was therefore the best that could have happened. 
 This belief comes out strongly in letters written at 
 times of deep feeUng. Thus in September, 1845, 
 when writing to Miss Maclver to condole with her 
 on the loss of her brother, Mr. David Maclver, his 
 late partner, he says : — 
 
 Glasgow, Sept. 30, 1845. 
 It is witli a sorrowful heart I have this day received the intelh- 
 gence of your brother's death. He was one in whom I felt a very 
 deep interest, and for whom I entertained great regard. My wife 
 fully participated in this, and our united earnest desire was, at all 
 times, to promote his spiritual good. Many a conversation we had 
 upon the great truths of the gospel, and he opened his mind to us 
 more freely, I believe, than was his wont with people in general. 
 I mention this as a means of comforting you in this trying hour, 
 when, of all things, the most anxious question with Christian 
 survivors is, whether the departed had fled for refuge to the 
 Saviour. I hope he had, and that he is now realising the blessed- 
 ness of having died in the Lord. His removal is a solemn lesson 
 to all ; nothing that the world can give is worth possessing if un- 
 sanctified by the Holy Spirit. But, on the other hand, whatever 
 the believer has, or is destitute of, it is his fixed lot ordained in the 
 wisdom of God, and made to work for the good of his soul. All 
 things are his ; all are covenant mercies, whether joy or sorrow, 
 life or death ; and what he knows not now, of the intentions of 
 God in the dark and cloudy day of painful visitation, he shall knoAv 
 hereafter, and shall be satisfied with the goodness and mercy
 
 1845.] DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 245 
 
 involved in all God's dealings. There is no chance, no uncer- 
 tainty, in the government of God ; we are assured that all things 
 shall work together for the good of the souls of them that are in 
 Christ Jesus. Think of this in your present distress, and may 
 the consolation of the God of all comfort abound in your soul. 
 
 One who found it hard to accept the hehef to 
 which Mr. Burns tenaciously held, when announc- 
 ing the death, under very painful circumstances, of 
 a dearly loved and intimate friend, said in a letter, 
 " You do not expect me to be thankful for this, 
 surely ? ' ' 
 
 Mr. Burns replied: — 
 
 Truly, indeed, I do not expect you to be thankful for this sore 
 calamity. I know from bitter experience what it is to have had, 
 once and again, wrenched from me those who were dear to me as 
 my own soul, and I cannot be thankful for that which, in itself, 
 is a dreadful evil. But by the grace of God I hope I have learned 
 some lessons which will be useful to me throughout eternity. It is 
 well, for one thing, to see what a curse sin is, and the consequences 
 it has inflicted on our race, but then let us look to Jesus, who has 
 borne the curse and carried the sorrow. If you knew my heart, 
 you would see that I have been feeling for you and your dear 
 departed one. I know what it is to be unable to realise the 
 departure. Sympathy you have from me, but there the matter 
 stops. 1 can do no more, but One there is whose sympathy can 
 be carified into effect, to soothe your troubles, and even to bring 
 blessings out of them. It is but a small part of God's ways 
 we can see, or even partially comprehend here. He is working 
 in our souls with reference to their everlasting duration, and we 
 nuist learn to wait. "Slay He, by His Holy Spirit, speak usefully 
 and peacefully to you in this dark hour. 
 
 Another characteristic of the religious life of Mr.
 
 246 Slli GEOBGE BUBNS. [Chap. XII. 
 
 Burns was, that he found meditation to he not 
 only sweet but eminently helpful. In these days 
 of excessive preaching and reading, and of restless 
 religious activity, the meditative element seems to 
 have well-nigh died out of the lives of most Chris- 
 tians. Luther's practice of spending the three best 
 hours of every day in solitary devotion is far more 
 wondered at in these times than imitated, and yet, 
 as a modern preacher has said, " the hours spent in 
 quiet meditation are the sweetest part of any life. 
 David ' sat before the Lord.' It is a great thing 
 to hold these quiet sittings ; the mind being recep- 
 tive, like an open flower, diinks in the sunbeams. 
 Quietude, which some men cannot abide because it 
 reveals their inward poverty, is as a palace of cedar 
 to the wise, for along its hallowed courts the King- 
 in His beauty deigns to walk. Quiet contemplation, 
 still worship, unuttered rapture — these are mine 
 when my best jewels are before me. Let us rob not 
 our hearts of the deep-sea jojH ; let us miss not the 
 far-down life by for ever babbling among the broken 
 shells and fop.ming surges of the shore." 
 
 Many of the best-spent hours in Mr. Burns' life 
 were those in which he sat still and thought, and 
 they were hours full of fruitfulness. Moreover, he 
 loved meditative books, and the works which he 
 read and re-read with always increasing pleasure 
 were the writings of Pascal, for which he enter- 
 tained a love perhaps beyond all other human 
 productions.
 
 1847.] AT HOMBVBG. 247 
 
 Mr. Burns never at any time kept a diary, and 
 A^ery rarely put in writing the thoughts that arose 
 within him. Sometimes, however, he would jot 
 down a few rough notes, and these invariably show^ 
 the contemplative nature of his religious life. Thus, 
 at Homburg, in 1847, he WTote in a fly-leaf of a 
 book, when on a holiday tour — and no man entered 
 into holiday-life with a keener or more natural 
 relish — the following : — 
 
 July 21si. — A beautiful day for our voyage up the Rhine from 
 Coblentz. Some pleasant company on board, among them a 
 couple who replaced our friends at the taUe d'hote at Ems, on the 
 day they left ; but we were not quite prepared to take them to our 
 hearts so soon after having had broken up one of the happiest 
 unions we have enjoyed. Arrived at Frankfort the same evening ; 
 welcomed at the Hotel d'Angleterre ; reminded of former happy 
 days ; the night serene and air balmy, but still something a-wanting. 
 Proceeded next day to Homburg ; liked it better than formerly ; 
 remembered its shaded walks, fragrant meadows, wooded hills, 
 and old-fashioned garden of the Schloss — greatly superior to Ems 
 or Weisbaden. The freshness of nature reigns around, notwith- 
 standing the evils that seem to be inseparable from a German 
 watering-place. We get up betimes m the morning, and join the 
 busy and cheerful throng at the springs ; we were much touched 
 and solemnised on hearing again the beautiful band play the 
 customary hymn at the commencement of the morning operations. 
 Surrounded with mercies and comforts, thought of the past, looked 
 forward to the future, when, in the full realisation of God's love, 
 we shall love one another with pure hearts fervently. Desired to 
 rest in submission to His sovereign will who orders all things 
 well, who reminds us by oft-repeated discipline that here we have 
 no continuing city, who teaches us by a touching experience that 
 .separations await us, and constantly interrupts the current of our
 
 •248 
 
 Slli GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. XII. 
 
 happiness, so that we are forced to say of all earthly unions, be 
 they what they may, the best and the purest, that time is scarcely 
 allowed to form them, until they are dissolved ; that the paths 
 through the wilderness diverge in many a direction ; that the people 
 who are in Christ, and afterwards to be gathered into one, must 
 meanwhile he dispersed and travel alone ; that they must pass 
 through tribulation more or less ere they feel that they have 
 escaped from the curse that hangs over this world, and are per- 
 mitted to join in the song of IMoses and the Lamb, and to walk in 
 the brightness of that City which hath no need of the sun, neither 
 of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God lightens it, and the 
 Lamb is the light thereof, and into which nothing that is unholy 
 shall ever enter. 
 
 ' Christian friendships are soon formed, but will never end,' so 
 said Dr. ^larsh to us last year, on a break-up in Switzerland.* May 
 the God of love and peace be ever with us, and our times in His 
 liand as our unerring Guide, then will all the meetings and all the 
 partings in this life be good for us, and blessings will flow from 
 them into eternity ; we shall meet with one another, and mingle 
 among the nations of them who are saved, and enjoy the perfected 
 communion of saints in the heavenly house not made with hands. 
 
 * In the Life of the Kev. WilHam Marsh, D.D., by his daughter, 
 IS the following : — "-On another visit to Scotland he (Dr. Marsh) 
 found that whenever he and his family travelled by the steamships 
 belonging to a Glasgow company, no payment was accepted. At 
 first he was rather perplexed by the refusal, being so much more in 
 the habit of giving than receiving ; but upon further inquiry he 
 found that the head of the firm was one of a large number of guests 
 who used to assemble in his room for family prayers when travel- 
 ling in Switzerland the year before ; and that on hearing of my 
 father's intention of spending a httle time at Dunoon, and visiting 
 the Western Highlands, he had generously given orders that all 
 passages on board Burns's steamships should be free to Dr. Marsh 
 and his family" (p. 202).
 
 1847.] THE SABBATH QUESTION. 249 
 
 These exceeding great and precious promises are scattered all 
 over the Scriptures ; the subjects of them are brought into light 
 in the concluding chapters of the Revelation. David comforted 
 his soul with them even in the Seventy-first Psalm ; he expressed 
 his belief that after passing through great and sore trials he should 
 be quickened again and brought] up from the depths of the earth, 
 that his greatness should be increased, and that he should be com- 
 forted on every side. That we may surely participate in these 
 ineffable blessings, may God the Holy Spirit incline our hearts to 
 accept, without cavilling, the great salvation wrought for man by 
 Christ, the gift of the Father's love. May He teach us to use this 
 world as not abusing it, to receive all our comforts as covenant 
 blessings ; and may He, in great condescension to our weakness, 
 confer upon us the well-grounded assurance that we are one with 
 Christ, and walking in safety, waiting for the great salvation, the 
 completion of our longing desires after happiness, will be the praise 
 
 and glory of His name. 
 
 Frankfort, A2((/. 2. 
 
 Heard the parting hymn this morning at Homburg, and after- 
 wards left for this on our way home. 
 
 Although Mr. Burns was never a " pubhc man" 
 in connection \Yith the social and religious questions 
 of the day, his tastes and sympatliies, and his 
 practical knowledge, brought him in contact with 
 many of the leaders of men. 
 
 One of his great personal friends was Sir Andrew 
 Agnew, who was strong on the Sabbath question. 
 When railways were beginning to intersect the land, 
 he foresaw that the new system of traffic would 
 bring about a sensible increase in " Sabbath dese- 
 cration." Already it had commenced, and by many 
 the reproach of being Sabbath desecrators was 
 thrown upon the committers and directors of rail-
 
 250 Sin GEOEGE BURNS. [Chap. XII. 
 
 ways. But' Sir Andrew Agnew pointed out in 
 pamphlets and in the pubHc press that the reguhi- 
 ting power, and consequently the responsibiUty, was 
 placed by Act of Parliament in the hands of the 
 shareholders and proprietors, to be exercised by 
 them at every half-yearly general meeting, at which, 
 by the statute law, the executive powers of the 
 directors might be continued or withdrawn for each 
 ensuing half-year. He regretted, therefore, that 
 manj^ well-known men, hitherto connected witli 
 railways, had retired from them in consequence of 
 the prevalence of Sunday traffic, and he set to work 
 to urge Sabbatarians everywhere to become share- 
 holders and 2^revail upon others to do so. 
 
 This was his novel argument: — "Freedom of 
 speech and of debate being given, we can reiterate 
 our principles, and make all half-yearly meetings so 
 many Lord's Day societies I " 
 
 He entertained a fear lest English shareholders 
 in Scotch railways should be the authors of a new 
 system of Sabbath profanation in Scotland, and 
 he spent much of his time, money, and thought, in 
 organising meetings, circulating pamphlets, and 
 forming public opinion in order to obtain the pro- 
 test of Christians of all denominations "against the 
 profanation of any one of the twenty-four hours of 
 the Lord's Day." 
 
 Sir Andrew was a voluminous correspondent, and 
 " the Sabbath " was the burden of the majority of 
 his letters. Thus, to Mr. Burns : —
 
 1845.] LETTER FROM SIR ANDREW AGNEW. 251 
 
 LocHNAW Castle, March 4, 1845. 
 
 The last number of the Aberdeen Banner will, I think, mterest 
 you. The meetmg regarding the steam packets seems to have 
 been sustained in an excellent spirit ; the speech also of Mr. 
 Leslie in presenting the resolutions of the meeting to the Steam 
 Navigation Company was good, and the first part of the reso- 
 lution moved by him was also good, but in the latter part of 
 his resolution he fell into a strange mistake at a moment when 
 contending for a principle. He forgot on the moment that a 
 preconcerted arrangement for working on alternate Sabbaths was 
 as much a violation of his principle as an arrangement for working 
 every consecutive Sabbath, which may be tlnis tested, viz. : If I 
 make myself a party to such a compromise to-day, I must, if true 
 to my principle, oppose to-morrow the carrying out of my own 
 compromise, for it implies working on a Sabbath day by pre- 
 meditation. In point of fact, ' Necessity ' and ' Mercy,' the 
 two great exceptions to strict abstinence from Sabbath work, must 
 needs be unpremeditated, incidental, or providential; otherwise, if 
 premeditated and systematic and predetermined, they make the 
 commandment of God to contradict itself, for He who knew before- 
 hand what necessities of society would require, deliberately com- 
 manded ' no work ' to be done on the Sabbath day. 
 
 I send the Aberdeen paper, which, when you have made all 
 possible use of it, I would beg you to preserve for me. ]\Iay I 
 request you to explain to ]\Ir. Miles the subject of our conversation 
 regarding the desirableness of prevailing upon members of his con- 
 gregation to procure railway sliares for the purpose of qualifying 
 themselves for raising their testimonies agamst ' Sunday trains.' 
 Mr. Burnley also will, I trust, use his influence. A little leaven 
 may, with the blessing of God, do much ; but if that little is with- 
 held, what will become of the lump ? — it will crush our National 
 morality. 
 
 With many tlianks for all kindness. 
 
 Believe me, your faithful 
 
 Andrew Agnew.
 
 252 SIE GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XII. 
 
 A few days after the date of this letter, Sir Andrew 
 Agnew wrote again to Mr. Burns, urging him to call 
 at the office of the Lord's Day Society at Exeter 
 Hall, Strand, for " some interesting information 
 regarding the Lord's Day," and enclosing an intro- 
 duction to Mr. Joseph Wilson — cousin of the Bishop 
 of Calcutta, and honorary secretary to the society. 
 This circumstance led to the appearance of Mr. 
 Burns on the platform of Exeter Hall as a public 
 speaker, for the first and last time in his life. 
 
 Mr. Burns says : — 
 
 I was busy in London, as usual, and could not find time to see 
 Mr. Wilson, so I thought I would go to the annual meeting of the 
 Lord's Day Society, which was being held at Exeter Hall, and that 
 if I sat on the platform I should probably find him. While I was 
 sitting there, a gentleman came up to me and said, ' You must 
 speak to-night ; the Archbishop of Canterbury was to have moved 
 a resolution, but he cannot come, so you must do duty for him.' 
 I was obliged to speak, and I spoke. Afterwards General Mac 
 Kinnon, Mr. Syme, of Montague Square, and others, came round, 
 shook me l)y the hand, and thanked me. Mr. Syme asked me to 
 dine that day with all the Directors of the Society, who were to be 
 there. I accepted, and in the drawing-room, before dinner, asked 
 Mr. Wilson what induced him to urge mc to speak, saying, ' I never 
 saw you before, nor you me.' He answered, ' That may be, but 
 you were turning over some letters in your hand, and I caught 
 sight of Sir Andrew Agnew's handwriting.' It was the letter of 
 introduction Sir Andrew had given me to Mr. Wilson. 
 
 ]\Ir. Burns, notwithstanding his contemplative 
 habits, was always a very busy man. Although he 
 had a large correspondence in connection with his
 
 1843.] LETTER FROM SIR WILLIAM HOOKER. 253 
 
 shipping business, an almost equally large one 
 concerning Church and philanthropic matters, and 
 an exceptionally large one with personal friends, 
 there was, as his name and influence increased, 
 another class of correspondence growing up, of which 
 the following may be taken as a specimen. Sir 
 William Hooker was already a personal friend, but 
 it often happened that those who commenced a 
 correspondence with Mr. Burns as strangers were 
 not long before they subscribed themselves as 
 friends. 
 
 Kew, June 2!j, 1843. 
 I wish much to see you and to speak to you on the subject of 
 a privilege which I beheve the Government possesses of sending 
 certain packages by the mail steamers. This, I understand from 
 the Admiralty, is an arrangement with the companies. But 
 at present our Garden has only taken advantage of it in the 
 West India steamers. You, I am sure, will kindly facilitate the 
 little intercourse I may wish to have with North America, and will 
 tell me whether or not I may send direct to Liverpool ( and to what 
 address), simply putting on the packet ' On H. M. Service,' I pledg- 
 ing my word that the contents are on account of the Royal 
 Botanical Gardens. In general, my packets will be small — seeds, 
 perhaps, and bulbs. But now and then a box of liriji(i plants will 
 require to go or come, and such box should be placed on deck. 
 I should also like to know at what periods the packets sail. Before 
 I was aware of this privilege, I sent a noble case of five hundred 
 plants (about two months ago) to Boston. I sent them to the 
 railway station, and paid freight to Liverpool. My correspondent 
 did not receive them by first vessel, nor by the next a fortnight 
 after, and when they did arrive four hundred out of the five 
 hundred were dead ! — and a great loss they were to the Boston (or 
 rather New Cambridge) Botanical Garden. I believe the fault was
 
 254 SIR GEOIiGE BCBNS. [Chap. XII. 
 
 that Master Pickt'ord, or some sluygisli conveyance, took up the 
 box, and that it was more than a fortnight on the roati to Liverpool. 
 Now the fact is that if we take proper advantage of uteaw convey- 
 ance, it is of inestimable service to botanical communications. I 
 do hope you will be able to come and see our Garden, and I am sure 
 you will kindly fu.rther our wishes in regard to the transport of 
 
 plants. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 W. J. Hooker. 
 
 It was characteristic of Mr. Burns to give a word 
 of praise or of affectionate appreciation whenever 
 he felt that it was deserved. He did this in his 
 of&ces, and cheered the hves of those who were 
 working under him ; he did it to preachers and 
 teachers for whose ministrations he felt grateful, 
 and he did it to those of his own household. 
 
 A word of praise, an expression of gratitude, or 
 a tiibute of admiration, costs little to the giver^ 
 but it acts as a powerful stimulant to the toiler^ 
 and the world would he a thousandfold happier 
 to-day if this grace of Christian courtesy were only 
 cultivated a little more than it is. Many a philan- 
 thropist, worn out with the grinding routine of the 
 machinery of benevolence, has had new life put 
 into him by a few incoherent and ungrammatical 
 words penned by some poor sufferer whom he has 
 been the means of helping ; many a preacher, who 
 has felt as if all his words had fallen upon asphalt, 
 has started on a new career of helpful activity by 
 a pressure of the hand, and the simple utterance, 
 " Sir, your words liave, ])y God's l)lessing, given a
 
 1845-7.J THE GIFT OF GRATEFUL UTTERANCE. 255 
 
 new impulse to my life; " and many a home has been 
 made full of sunshine by the expression of only a 
 few words of kindly ap^oreciation. 
 
 In letters of Mr. Burns to his wife, written in 
 1845-7, the following passages occur : — 
 
 Tlie longer you are my wife, the fonder I love you, my darling- 
 old Jeanie. May God in His infinite mercy bless and keep you. 
 I Lave great reason to render thanks to His holy name. 
 
 I have loved you for nearly thirty years, and I have a more 
 affectionate heart towards all around me. 
 
 Duty is before me: pray that I may be helped, in faithfulness and 
 kindness, to walk circumspectly. 
 
 Our cup overflows with goodness, and Ave have fresh cause to 
 bless our Lord that our separation, which took place from duty, has 
 not been so irksome to either of us as we dreaded. Your improved 
 health has comforted me greatly, and our mutual love exchanged in 
 daily letters has kept up a sweet intercourse. May the Lord grant 
 that we love Him supremely. 
 
 This gift of grateful utterance was the origin of 
 many of the friendships which Mr. Burns formed 
 and highly valued. When a preacher had been 
 particularly helpful to him, he would tarry behind 
 to express his thanks ; if a cause had been pleaded 
 which aroused his sympathy, he would seek out the 
 pleader and hand in a contribution with a generous 
 and cheery word. He writes to Jiis wife : — 
 
 I penetrated this morning into the far east, and have just trudged 
 back from hearing God's word faithfully and manfully preached by 
 Dr. McCaul in his church, which is oft' Aldgate Street, beyond the
 
 2-)(; SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chai'. XII. 
 
 India House. After the sermon I went into the vestry, and gave 
 Dr. McCaul a contribution for the 
 to come and see the Jews' school. 
 
 Dr. McCaul a contribution for the Moggodore Jews. He asked me 
 
 In a siinihir way a friendship sprang up between 
 Mr. Burns and the Eev. E. W. Dibdin, of West 
 Street Chapel, St. Martin's Lane, one of the places 
 of worship in London where Mr. Burns always felt 
 himself ''at home" on the Sabbath day. In his 
 letters to his wife he often refers to the ministra- 
 tions of Mr. Dibdin. Thus : — 
 
 Mcdch 16, 1845. 
 My beloved in the Lord, I have just come from the house of 
 God, where I have had a feast of fat things in the worship, and 
 edification and comfort to my soul in the preaching of ]\Ir. Dibdin. 
 
 Ajrril, 1845. 
 Evening. Mr. Dibdin preached from 2 Chronicles xix. 2, 
 ' Shouldest thou help the imgodly ? ' He applied the subject to the 
 Maynooth grant, and in a very fine spirit, because in the spirit of 
 love and faithfulness. I signed the petition as one of his congrega- 
 tion, and so did John, against the grant. Mr. ])ibdin told me he 
 used in former years to preach much on such subjects, and pre- 
 dicted what would happen, but considering the matter hopeless, lie 
 had given it up and applied himself simply to offering the gospel. 
 
 Referring to his intercourse with Mr. Dibdin, Mr. 
 Burns says : — 
 
 My wife and I and family attended Mr. Dibdin's church when- 
 ever we were in town. At one time John Wesley preached in that 
 church, and Mr. Dibdin pointed out to us a window overlooking the 
 lane, where a number of timid people of the higher class assembled 
 to hearken to Wesley's discourse, not venturing to be seen inside.
 
 1845.] THE REV. li. W. DIB DIN. 257 
 
 It was remarkable that, in Mr. Dibclin's church, there was a large 
 rmmber of very poor people, and a great many young people, who 
 partook of the Communion, as we also did. In reply to a question 
 of my wife, he said he had every reason to believe that each one 
 of them was a truly converted person. 
 
 On one occasion there was sitting in the same pew with us a 
 rather notable farmer-looking man, Avho, when the offertory was 
 bemg collected for the Communion, put a sovereign into the plate. 
 My wife had chanced to observe the circumstance, and when we 
 came out she called my attention to the fact, thinking that the 
 man had perhaps made a mistake. I told her that the gen- 
 tleman was the Duke of Manchester. 
 
 When we were living in 16, Hanover Street, Hanover Square, 
 Mr. Dibdin frequently paid us visits, and once during myr.absence 
 he proposed to my wife to have prayer, saying that he had not 
 much time to spare for ordinary chit-chat visits. He was, as this 
 incident shows, a very earnest and direct man in his ministrations, 
 although such methods are not ahvays ' convenient,' and my wife 
 said to me on the occasion to which I refer, that she was suffering 
 considerable uneasiness lest some of my particular official friends 
 should drop in. Our intimate friendship with ]\Ir. Dibdin was 
 sustained all our lives. Every New Year's Eve he delivered a 
 special address to his congregation, and ushered in the new year in 
 this interesting way. These addresses were printed, and he invari- 
 ably sent me a copy. 
 
 On one occasion, many years later than the time 
 to which we now refer, Mr. Burns wrote to Mr. 
 Dibdin asking him to occupy for a few Sundays the 
 pulpit of a church of which Mr. Burns was patron. 
 The reply gives a glimpse of love of work probably 
 unique in clerical annals : — 
 
 12, ToRRiNGTON Square, W.C, Ja)l. 27, 1871. 
 My dear Mr. Burns, — ... As for leaving| my pulpit at West 
 
 . 17
 
 258 Sin GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XII. 
 
 Street, I have not been absent twenty-eight Sundays during the 
 twenty-eight years I have been its preacher. The annual holidity 
 of a jtmnth never formed part of my ministerial plan. I have never 
 felt the need of it. Perhaps if I were troubled with the routine of 
 parish surplice duty, and the amount of secular work which is 
 required in a parochial minister, it might be with me as with most 
 others. I have (very rarely) gone away to preach in some country 
 town for the ' Aged Christian's Society ' on the Lord's Day, or for 
 some other great cause. But as for leaving my people for ' rest ' or 
 ' pleasure,' I have never done so. I am never tired of my work 
 find need no rest, and I need go nowhere else for pleasure, when I 
 always find it among my many spiritual children. More than half 
 of my 250 communicants have growTi up from childliood under my 
 teaching ; many of them are married, and are bringing their sons 
 and daughters to hear their old pastor. Every day, too, brings its 
 pastoral work, and I never go to bed without having seen from two 
 to twelve of my congregation privately. Work like mine can only 
 be done by myself. The longer I am in it, the better I love it. . . . 
 With our united kindest regards, 
 
 I am most truly yours, 
 
 R. W. DiBDIN. 
 
 ' Judge before friendship, 
 Then confide till death,' 
 
 was the advice of Young the poet, and it was 
 rehgiously followed by Mr. Burns. To him friend- 
 ship was a very sacred thing implying a great 
 resi^onsibility, and thus w^e shall find that, as the 
 years went on, although troops of new^ hiends 
 gathered round him from time to time, the fi'eshness 
 of his love for the old ones never w^ore off.
 
 CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 NEW ENTEEPEISES. 
 
 It was the custom of Mr. Burns to travel on 
 the Continent ahnost every year. He loved the 
 " sights " of strange cities and countries, the variety 
 and novelty of foreign experiences, and the freedom 
 fi'om business care which could not follow the 
 traveller in those days as it can now. 
 
 In 1847, the year of distress, when famine was in 
 the Highlands of Scotland as well as in Ireland, Mr. 
 Burns was asked by the Admiralty to render what 
 assistance he could in conveying supplies, and he at 
 once placed some of the Western Highland Steamers, 
 the whole of which were at that time in his hands, 
 at the disposal of the Government. Captain Hamil- 
 ton, with whom he was on terms of intimacy, was 
 then Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty, and 
 when Mr. Burns was in London on his way to the 
 Continent in the summer of that year, he called 
 upon him. 
 
 As soon as I saw him (says Mr. Burns), he said, warmly, 
 ' You're the very man I wanted to see. We have got the Grand 
 Duke Constantine to look after; he wishes to go to the Western
 
 200 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 HiglilancLs, and I want you to tell nie what you can about tliem.' In 
 conversation with Captain Hamilton, it transpired that it was the 
 intention of the Admiralty to place at tlie disposal of the Cirand 
 Duke the surveying; steamer they had there, under the command of 
 Captain, now Admiral, Robinson. I replied, 'I will give you one far 
 better for the purpose.' He said, ' Oh ! l)ut that will he too expen- 
 sive.' I replied, ' It will not cost you a farthing. I will give it 
 free.' He then expressed his regret that I should l)e from home, 
 but I told him that Mr. Hutcheson, our head man in the office, 
 would do everything necessary. And I added, ' As a compliment to 
 the Grand Duke, in giving him officially a Captain of the Navy to 
 attend upon him in full uniform, I would suggest that you should 
 desire Captain Rawsterne to attend throughout the voyaging. It 
 will also be a great compliment to him, and he will be delighted to 
 mount his cocked hat and epaulettes.' ^ly absence consequently 
 left to others all the gold snuff-boxes which the Imperial Russian 
 family were wont to scatter in their route. 
 
 Mr. Biniis j^roceeded to Paris : — 
 
 It was the year of threatened revolution (he says). Never- 
 theless, I fully intended going on to Holland, where I had never 
 been before ; but there were staying in the same hotel (Meurice's) 
 two English judges, who took alarm at the aspect of affairs, which 
 pointed to war on the Continent, and the judges thought it prudent 
 to I'eturn immediately to England. As I had no desire to be a cap- 
 tive in France, we followed their lead, and lost Holland, for which 
 I was sorry, as the threatened war did not break out. 
 
 When at Boulogne, on my homeward journey, I read in the 
 newspapers that the Queen had determined to journey on the 
 same route that the Grand Duke Constantine had taken in 
 his tour in the Highlands. I immediately hastened homewards, 
 and called on Captain Hamilton at the Admiralty, when he 
 asked me to take charge of the voyaging and pilotage. I 
 readily assented, hurried back to Scotland, and rigged out
 
 1847.] THE QUEEN IN THE HIGHLANDS. 201 
 
 the small passenger boat from the Crinaii Canal in the best way 
 I could, taking out of my own drawing-room, in Glasgow, a large 
 mirror to place in the saloon. When the Queen arrived in the 
 Clyde in the Royal yacht Victoria and Albert, she was accompanied by 
 H.M.S. Scotmje, in command of my old friend Captain Caftin, and 
 went up to Dumbarton Rock to inspect it and the garrison. 
 While she was there, I went on board her yacht to confer with 
 Lord Adolphus FitzClarence, who was in command. In the 
 evening we proceeded to Rothesay, which was on the occasion illu- 
 minated, and lay off there, the Queen being on board. The day 
 following, the Queen went to visit the Duke of Argyll at Inveraray, 
 where everything was, of course, in high preparation for her. I 
 remained at Ardrishaig waiting her return, to conduct her through 
 the Canal, the Victoria and Albert and the Scoimje being sent round 
 to join her at the other end. The canal boats were at that time 
 tracked by horses through the Canal, and I clothed the boys who 
 ran the horses in scarlet. We went through the Canal in the 
 track boat already mentioned. There my brother joined, me, 
 and subsequently my son, James Cleland, and I did all that was 
 necessary for the occasion. I went through the Highlands with 
 Her Majesty. The Highland Service then received the popular 
 name of ' The Royal Route '—a name it has ever since retained. 
 
 Her Majesty refers to the incident in her " Leaves 
 from a Note Book in the Highlands " as follows : — 
 
 We and our people drove through the little village (Lochgilp- 
 head) to the Crinan Canal, where we entered a most magnificently 
 decorated barge, drawn by three horses, ridden by postillions in 
 scarlet. We glided along very smoothly, and the views of the hills 
 — -the range of Cruachan — were very fine indeed. 
 
 Captain Caffin (afterwards Admiral Sir Crawford 
 Caffin) wrote to Mr. Burns : —
 
 *202 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 I am delighted to hear everybody speak so highly of your 
 arrangements ; Lord Adolphus FitzClarence told me they were 
 admirable, and the silent sy-stem so well preserved, which pleases 
 Her Majesty more than anything. 
 
 Between Mr. Burns and Captain Caffin the most 
 cordial relations existed. They had a strong- 
 interest in each other's personal welfare ; they took 
 counsel on subjects connected with ships and navi- 
 gation; they were in complete harmony on religious 
 matters, and there was on the part of each a keen 
 desire to be more closely associated. The following 
 correspondence throw-s hght upon their friendship, 
 and upon the movements in which Mr. Burns was 
 at this time engaged : — 
 
 From Ciiptinn Caffin, E.X., to Mr. Burns. 
 
 H. M. S. Sronr;/,', Lisbon, Nor. 9. 1847. 
 My dear Mr. Burns, — As you were kind enough to say you wished 
 I would write to you from Madeira, I must find time to send you a 
 line from hence, if only to announce that which I dare say the 
 papers have already done, namely, my promotion. This is joyous 
 news, and I am sure I have the good wishes and prayers of yourself 
 and Mrs. Burns and family on this happy occasion. I don't know 
 anything more delightful than the prospect of returning to the 
 bosom of one's family, and that too from an existence on board ship. 
 This yon can hardly appreciate, never having been dragged from 
 your own happy home. I do hope this may be my last service 
 afloat, and I trust in God's providence it may be, and yet I hope I 
 should not murmur if it were to be made clear to me that my duty 
 was to glorify God afloat, and not on shore, by a life spent in my 
 profession. I desire to have no will of my own in these matters ; 
 but I find this so hard a task as not to be able to perform, and I 
 pray most earnestly that I may be permitted to spend the rest of
 
 1847.] COBRESPONDENCE WITH CAFT. CAFFIN, B.N. 2G3 
 
 my days witli my family, yet not my will, hut His he done. He has 
 been so merciful to me hitherto through life, that it would be the 
 deepest ingratitude on my part were I not to trust Him for the 
 future. I am thankful to say we landed the Queen Dowager at 
 Funchal, quite safe and well, on the 2nd, after a most delightful 
 passage out. We performed a novel feat in towing the ship upwards 
 of 300 miles across the Bay of Biscay — little wind, but a very heavy 
 swell ; such an experiment in towing has never before been tried. 
 My relief (Captain Hingson) has come out, and taken my ship from 
 me. I hope to return before the next packet, if any man-of-war 
 arrives homeward bound. I must bring this to a conclusion, by 
 pi'aying that God, Avhom you serve, may guide and direct you in 
 all your concerns, and finally lead you and yours to the mansions 
 of eternal glory. God bless you. With kindest Christian love to 
 Mrs. Burns and all your family. 
 
 Ever am I very affectionately, 
 
 J. Crawford Caffin, 
 
 Mr. Burns to Captain Cajfin, R.N. 
 
 Glasgow, Dec. 15, 1847. 
 My dear Captain Caffin,— In the middle of November I went 
 to London with my wife, in order to arrange with the Admiralty 
 and the Post OfHce for the commencement of our increased service 
 between Liverpool and America on the 1st of January, and which 
 arrangement I accomplished most satisfactorily. I told Mr. 
 Cowper we were bound to do two things on the 1st of January, 
 viz., to give an increased number of sailings, and to have an in- 
 creased number of vessels ready for survey. The first we could 
 accomplish with ease ; the second we could not, owing to the heavy 
 nature of the work. But, as a set-off, I said if Government would 
 grant a little indulgence as to the new vessels, we would fill up, at 
 our own expense, the sailings in the middle of December, which by 
 our present contract we were not bound to do ; but which, in the 
 excited circumstances of mercantile afiairs, would be received as a 
 great boon by the pubhc. This arrangement was at once entered
 
 •264 SIE GEORGE BUIiNS. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 into, as being very advantageous for all parties. It prevented a 
 return to the old system of monthly sailings in winter, and in 
 eft'ect started the new scale at once. I added likewise in reference 
 to our own vessels that we were giving 700 horse-power, whereas, 
 by contract, wc were only bound to give 400 horse-power. This, 
 no doubt, was for our own benefit ; but it was also good for the 
 Government, and accounted for the delay in having the work com- 
 pleted. I met Mr. Cowpcr in private, and had a talk about you. 
 Whilst in London, I received your letter from Lisbon, and it gave 
 Mrs. Burns and myself very great pleasure to hear that, having 
 got your step, you were likely so very soon to be in the bosom of 
 your family. It is true I have not gone through the same experi- 
 ence that you have ; but nevertheless I have had my trials arising 
 from separation. There is, moreover, if not uniformity in the 
 great features of God's dealings with His people, at least such an 
 analogy as enables them well to sympathise with each other. If 
 one member suffers, all suffer. There is such a wondrous adapta- 
 tion in the discipline applied to individual believers, that it not 
 only suits their peculiar cases, but it is so wisely apportioned 
 that it appears to be the very kind of discipline and none other 
 that could have reached the secrets of their hearts ; and yet it 
 so expands their views that they are enabled to rejoice with 
 those who rejoice and to mourn with those that mourn, to look 
 not each man on his own things, but on the things of others. 
 This is, in a sense, ' fillmg up the afflictions of Christ in our flesh 
 for His body's sake, which is the Church.' In dealing out afflic- 
 tions to us, and in shaking us terribly out of our spirit of self- 
 dependence and ease, as God frequently does, how blessed is it for 
 us if, taught by His Spirit, we are able to say, as Hezekiah did, ' 
 Lord, by these things men live ; and in all these things is the life 
 of my spirit.' . . . 
 
 When I was in London I was asked to meet some of the parties 
 engaged in the Australian scheme, but declined seeing them, 
 assigning to the party who spoke to me as a reason, that not being 
 at present prepared to go forward in the matter, I wished to leave
 
 1847.] AN AUSTRALIAN SCHEME. 265 
 
 tliera entirely free to follow their own course, which, in the present 
 state of money matters, will be (as an Irishman would express it) 
 to stand still. I repeated, as I had done before, that there were 
 two points in the inquiry : first, would the question be entertained 
 at all ; and second, if so, the merits of it must be examined care- 
 fully ; — but never having decided on the first, it was needless to 
 entertain the second. I said, ' Go on u-respectively of me, and if at 
 any future stage you should choose to renew your communication 
 to me, what I have now said need not prevent it ' (this I had said 
 before) ; but I was very careful to add that even this was not to 
 lead them to found any expectation on me. It would be unfair to 
 them not to say so expressly. On the first view of the subject it 
 occurred to me that the only way I could contemplate any connec- 
 tion on the line proposed, would be through the instrumentality of 
 our smaller vessels, now employed in the Halifax trade. When in 
 London, I alluded in general terms to this, as being the ground on 
 which I felt inclined to turn the matter over in my mind. So far 
 as the employment of our smaller vessels in any new trade, or in 
 any portion of a trade, is concerned, I can readily conceive that, 
 ,under some cu-cumstances, it might be done to advantage ; but so 
 far as amalgamation with the Australian Company is to be viewed, 
 I think it certain, that even if we were ready, they would be found 
 not ready. I have been told I might get the control very much into 
 my own hands ; so, very possibly, in the present state of matters, 
 I might, but that could only effectively be got by taking a grasp 
 far beyond what any prudent man would attempt. I am in this 
 view for the present, setting aside all Christian scruples, which 
 might probably be found insurmountable by an enlightened con- 
 science. I can conceive that although not on so rich a field, but 
 on a safer one in evenj point of view, employment might be found 
 at a future period for our smaller vessels, which would enable us 
 to brhig on larger ones for our American trade ; but in making this 
 remark, I have no specific object in view (I have sometimes thought 
 of the Cape of Good Hope and branching out). I make this 
 remark as I have done all the rest I have wi-itten, for the purpose
 
 200 Sm GEORGE BUIiNS. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 of making you actjuaiiiled with my iiiiiicst tiioiiglits on tlie subject. 
 Most thankful would I be, if, in the course of God's providence, 
 you and 1 were to be brought together, either in steam arrange- 
 ments or in any other suitable way ; and although I see not an inch 
 before me at the present moment, I shall not hesitate to write to 
 you on any subject that may occur, and may seem to hold out 
 even a chance of being suitable. From what you said to me, I 
 would not be deterred from bringing before you even an object 
 unconnected with ships and confined to land affairs, if it came in 
 my way. 
 
 I feel very much obliged to you for the kind interest you have 
 expressed towards me in reference to the Queen's visit. 
 
 My wife, Margaret, John and James, all unite in kiiidest re- 
 membrances and in good wishes for the welfare of ]Mrs. Caffin and 
 your family, and I remain, 
 
 Most affectionately yours, 
 
 G. Burns. 
 
 The narrow escape of Mr. Burns from accepting 
 the Australian mail contract, is told in a further 
 letter to Captain Caffin, written early in the follow- 
 ing year : — 
 
 Mr. J J urns to Captain (Ja/lin. H.X. 
 
 Bkandon Place, Glasgow, Fch. 22, 1H48. 
 My dear Captain Caffin, — .... I had an unexpected visit from 
 a gentleman from London about ten days ago, who said he had 
 come down for the purpose of informing me that the Grand 
 Australian Company was now in the bands of five gentlemen ; that 
 the Admiralty had (and he laid before me the official letters) 
 applied to them to contract for the conveyance of the mails from 
 Marseilles to Malta, and Malta to Alexandria, in connection with 
 the Indian mails. Liverpool to Malta would probably follow, in 
 fact it must have been made part (>f the scheme. He said the
 
 1849.] AN EVENTFUL YEAR. 2G7 
 
 matter is now narrowed down, and that I had it in my power to 
 mould the company to anything I pleased, &c., &c. I went at 
 large into the business with him, and recommended him to go to 
 Mr. Maclver, of Liverpool, and talk it over with him, equally con- 
 fidentially as he had done with me. He started that same night 
 by railroad, and next day Mr. Maclver wrote to me the result of 
 their meeting, which was favourable to the proposal. I had 
 previously expressed to him, very strongly, that my grey whiskers 
 admonished me to be gathering in, rather than spreading out ; at 
 the same time we had vessels very suitable for the proposed work, 
 and I should wait till I heard what Mr, Maclver said to it. If we 
 made up our minds to go into it, I said, I saw it would be necessary 
 for me to join him in London, which I would try to do in about a 
 fortnight. 
 
 My intention was to have brought Mrs. Burns up with me, and 
 to have seen you either at Eyde or at London. Do you know what 
 it is to have a thing that at one period of your life would have 
 looked quite dazzhng, brought before you, and to feel sad thereat, 
 and to wish that it had never been offered to you ? Such was my 
 case. In the midst of my uncertainty, the news of the French 
 revolt came like a thunder-clap, and has dissipated the dream. 
 For the present, at all events, my being called on to take any fresh 
 part in steam navigation seems to be ended. Well, God is perhaps, 
 in tender mercy, keeping both you and me out of much trouble 
 and vexation. Blessed is the thought, ' The Lord reigneth.' 
 Looking at His dealings beyond the narrow circle of our own 
 interests, how wonderful are His dealings at present among the 
 nations — yet I fear they will not repent of their deeds. The Lord 
 has scattered the wisdom of men. The talk used to be, we were 
 to have no more wars, the people were now too enlightened to 
 permit it. Poor, vain man ! but the counsel of the Lord, it shall 
 
 stand. 
 
 Believe me yours affectionately, 
 
 G. Burns. 
 The year 1849 was eventful iu every phase of
 
 268 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 George Burns's life. The principal event in the 
 tloniestic circle, was the engagement and marriage 
 of Margaret, his only surviving daughter, to Mr. 
 Charles Reddie, the son of James Reddie, advocate 
 in Edinhurgh, who had hecome Town Clerk of the 
 City of Glasgow. He was, in early life, an intimate 
 friend of Henry, afterwards Lord, Brougham, who 
 left on record, in his writings, a very strong opinion 
 of his legal knowledge and sound judgment. An 
 amiable and able gentleman w^as old Mr. Reddie. 
 Dr. John Leyden, the celebrated Eastern traveller 
 and linguist, refers to him in the following extract 
 from a letter written to Mr. Chalmers in 1798.* 
 
 Edinburgh, Sept. 24, 1798. 
 My dear Friend, — ... I am not anxious to transport myself 
 to St. Andrew's from the charming coterie of true hearts and 
 sound heads which, almost in spite of myself, attaches me to 
 Edinburgh, and where one numbers Erskine, Reddie, Brown and 
 family, Dr. Anderson, Thomson the poet. ... If you can come 
 to Edinburgh, it will bo very agreeable to us. . . . Compliments 
 from Brown, Brougham, Erskine, and Reddie, who regrets he did 
 not see you again. 
 
 I am, ever yours, 
 
 John Lp:yden. 
 
 In announcing to a friend the approaching mar- 
 riage of his daughter, Mr. Burns wrote : — 
 
 Our Maggie is going to change her name from that of Burns to 
 Reddie. Our friend belongs to the legal profession, as his father 
 
 ■'- (^)iioted in Hanna's " Life of Dr. Chalmers."
 
 1849.] HEB MAJESTY'S MAILS. -im 
 
 has done for more than half a century before him. His father was 
 an advocate in Edinburgh, but for a long period has filled the 
 situation of Town Clerk in Glasgow, and as a consulting lawyer 
 has ranked at the head of his profession here. . . . You will not 
 be surprised when I say that our feelings on this occasion are of a 
 mingled character. We lost all Margaret's sisters in early child- 
 hood. Healthy children they were, but were carried off by chil- 
 dren's complaints. She has been left alone, and her removal from 
 us now will cause a blank in our domestic circle. The blank might 
 have been of a very different character. We have had our trials, 
 but God has dealt with us in tenderness, and we trust is still 
 leading us and ours in the right way. 
 
 In commercial matters the great event of the year 
 1849 was in connection with a new and important 
 enterprise. In 1825 (the year in which the Company 
 was formed with which Mr. MacTear of Belfast and 
 the Messrs. Burns of Glasgow were associated), steam 
 was first employed in the conveyance of the Scotch 
 and Irish mails. But Her Majesty's mails were carried 
 with " regular irregularity," and at a sluggish pace, 
 between Port Patrick and Donaghadee, while Messrs. 
 Burns were sending goods and passengers between 
 the Clyde and Belfast in larger and swifter ships, 
 and with such punctuality and despatch that it was 
 a saying of the times that people along the line of 
 route set their watches by the passing vessels. 
 
 Irrespective of the outlay for the maintenance of 
 harbours — and wretched harbours they were — the 
 annual cost of this Mail Service to the Government 
 was some .£6,000. It was reported that, " Except in 
 respect of the shortness of its sea voyage, this postal
 
 270 SIR GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 route was remarkable for little else than its costly 
 defectiveness," nevertheless Government apologists 
 bolstered it up, and for twenty-four years it continued 
 in its defective state, a practical inconvenience to the 
 commercial and general interests of society. 
 
 Although, on the direct Clyde route, Messrs. 
 Burns had things very much their own way, on 
 the Ai'drossan route they met with considerable 
 opposition. The sea passage via Ardrossan is much 
 shorter than that via Greenock, and in 1849 an 
 influential company started opposition vessels on the 
 Ardrossan route. They were supported by the 
 Glasgow and South Western Eailway Company 
 and by the late Lord Egiinton, owner of the 
 harbour and lord of the manor of Ardrossan, who 
 brought all their influence to bear to divert the 
 mails, from the inefl"ective route from Port Patrick 
 to Donaghadee, to their Ardrossan route. Lord 
 Egiinton was very sanguine of success, and even 
 went so far as to let it be known that Lord 
 Clanricarde, then Postmaster-General, liad come to 
 him in the House of Lords and had said, "We 
 intend to give you the mails to carry between 
 Ardrossan and Belfast." But in the meantime 
 George Burns had appeared upon the scene, and had 
 ofl"ered to carry Her Majesty's mails /ree of all charge^ 
 between Greenock and Belfast ; to put on extra and 
 faster vessels which should sail from each port every 
 evening in the week except Sunday, and at such 
 liours as might be fixed l)y the Post Office !
 
 1849.] AN UNPBECEDENTED OFFEB. 271 
 
 Colonel Maberley, with whom Mr. Burns had 
 already been brought much in contact, was then the 
 Secretary to the Post Office, and when he heard the 
 offer he exclaimed, " Burns, jow are a fool ! " How- 
 ever, he sent for Mr. William Page, and they 
 discussed the matter fully, when, after hearing the 
 details, the Colonel said, " No, Burns is no fool. 
 He knows what he is about ! " 
 
 The offer of the Glasgow Company, it is hardly 
 necessary to say, was accepted by the Marquis of 
 Clanricarde, Postmaster-General, to the discomfiture 
 of the other party. 
 
 For some time the extra sailings between the 
 Clyde and Belfast entailed a considerable loss, but 
 the service was, from the first, admirable, and the 
 mails were fi"om that time canied fi'ee of expense for 
 thirty-three j'ears. 
 
 Of course, in the long run, the scheme was a 
 financial success. The route was popular ; travellers 
 from Scotland to Ireland seemed to prefer a night 
 passage and sleep to a day passage and scenery, and 
 objected to being transferred at Ardrossan out of 
 the railway into the steamer. 
 
 For a long time the competition was very keen, 
 but an arrangement was entered into between the 
 Ardrossan Company and the Messrs. Burns as to 
 fares, rates of freights, number of sailings, and so 
 forth, which was acted upon by both parties down 
 to the year 1882, when, by amicable and hiendly 
 negotiations, the Ardrossan steamers were purchased
 
 272 SIR GEOliGE BUliNS. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 by the Messrs. Burns. Prior to this there was a heavy 
 contest between tlie Ghisgow Companj^ and the 
 Directors of the Glasgow and South Western Kail- 
 way, W'ho applied to Parliament for an Act to incor- 
 porate their vessels with the railway, and thus to 
 get the mails on the Ardrossau aud Belfast route. 
 This Mr. Burns opposed, on grounds which led him 
 to oppose many similar undertakings, and which are 
 clearly set forth in the following letter to Lord 
 Canning* : — 
 
 Howchin's Hotel, St. James's Strekt, 
 April 21, 1855. 
 
 My Lord, — For thirty years I have been assiduously engaged in 
 rearing a trade between Glasgow and Belfast by means of" steam 
 vessels, and with my partners have expended a large amount of 
 capital upon it. Our exertions having been attended with success, 
 I felt justified in offering to the Postmaster- General to carry Her 
 Majesty's mails, every day, Sundays excepted, between these two 
 ports free of charge, and accordingly a contract to this effect was 
 concluded of date July IG, 1849; since which period we have per- 
 formed the service with entire satisfaction to tlie Post Office and 
 the public. 
 
 I claim no exemption from ordinary competition by private 
 traders like myself — I have been all my life accustomed to it, and 
 in the most formidable shapes. But I dread opposition from an 
 incorporation of railroads and steam-boats. Such a competition is 
 proposed by the Glasgow and South Western Railway, in a Bill now 
 before Parliament for the purpose of enabling tliem to own and 
 run steam vessels between Ardrossan and Belfast. There is at 
 
 ■■'• Lord Canning was the last of the Viceroys under the " John " 
 Company, as Henry Melvill, to whom we have referred in these 
 pages, was the last of the Secretaries in Leadenhall Street.
 
 1855.] RAILROADS AND STEAMBOATS. 27^ 
 
 present a private company engaged in sailing steam vessels between 
 these two ports. From Glasgow there are two routes to Belfast, 
 one via Greenock Eailway, and the other via Ardrossan Eailway, 
 and the fares being in all respects on an equality, the public can 
 choose, without suffering any pecuniary disadvantage, whichever 
 way they please. In reference to the postal service, it is a fact 
 notorious that the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company 
 are most anxious to divert the conveyance of the mails from 
 Greenock to Ardrossan, for the purpose of obtaining from Govern- 
 ment a contract payment for the same. A formal application was 
 made to me nearly four years ago, by a deputation from the Railway 
 Company consisting of the present chairman and a number of the 
 directors, to obtain my co-operation to bring this about, which I 
 unhesitatingly declined. 
 
 If the Railway Company to Ardrossan obtain power to incorpo- 
 rate steam vessels with their land operations, the Caledonian Rail- 
 way Company to Greenock are equally entitled to obtain power for 
 a similar amalgamation — which, being consummated, there will be 
 an end put to all private trading. I repeat I have no right to com- 
 plain of competition by private companies unincorporated with 
 railroads, but it would be most impolitic, and injurious to public 
 interests, were the Steam-boat Bill of the Glasgow and South 
 Western Company allowed to pass. It is not called for on any 
 grounds of necessity whatever, and the mail service which I have 
 performed during six years, with the utmost efficiency and regu- 
 larity, without cost to the country, having well supplied all postal 
 requirements, I respectfully submit whether on public grounds your 
 lordship, as Postmaster-General, may not consider it necessary to 
 object to the passing of the Bill in question by calling the special 
 attention of the Right Hon. Lord Stanley of Alderley, President of 
 the Board of Trade, to it, or by such other steps as may seem 
 proper to your lordship to take. I beg to add that, as the Bill be- 
 fore the House of Commons is to be in Committee on Tuesday next, 
 the 2ith of April, the case will speedily be determined. 
 
 I have the honour to be, &c , 
 
 Gkorge Btirns. 
 
 To the lliylit Hon. Yincount Canniw/. 
 
 18
 
 274 Slli GEORGE BUBNS. [Chm: XIII. 
 
 Referring to the Parliainentary inquiry which 
 ensued, Mr. Burns says : — 
 
 Sir Andrew On" was Cliairman of the Railway Company, and he 
 was examined at great length. I was examined for 4;V hours before 
 the Parliamentary Committee ; and after the examniation I was 
 asked if I wished to make any remarks, which I did, pointing out 
 the impolicy of allowing railway companies with large capital to 
 shelter steam vessels against private competition. There was a great 
 crowd, and on coming out a gentleman shook hands with me and 
 said, ' You have converted Sir Stafford Northcote ' (who was 
 Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee) ' by your lecture on 
 political economy.' I did not know who the gentleman was, but 
 Mr. Graham, parliamentary solicitor, told me it was Mr. Wason. 
 M.P. for Dumfries. 
 
 I may mention a very handsome compliment paid to me by the 
 Earl of Eglinton. He was asked by the Committee about Ardrossan, 
 which he said belonged to him, and about the steamers in which 
 he was interested sailing from thence, ' Are they doing well ? ' 
 ' No,' said he, ' I am sorry to say they are not.' He Avas then 
 asked, ' Has not jNlr. Burns steamers running from Glasgow and 
 Greenock to Belfast, and are not they Avell managed ? ' ' Yes,' he 
 said. ' And are they not doing well '? ' 'I understand they are,' 
 he replied; and turning round to me and making a bow, he said, 
 ' And long may they continue to do so ! ' This was very handsome 
 in an opponent, and I haAC never forgotten it. 
 
 The project of the Glasgow and South Western 
 Kailway Company was defeated, and Messrs. Burns 
 triumphed. That same day the Directors of the 
 Company, headed hy Sir Andrew Orr, came in a 
 body to Howchin's Hotel, St. James's Street, at 
 which Mr: Burns was staying, to urge a compromise. 
 But, as shown in liis letter to Lord Canning, the
 
 1855.] A QUESTION OF PRINCIPLE. 275 
 
 question with Mr. Burns was one of principle, and 
 not all the offers of all the railway companies com- 
 bined, could move him when a matter of principle 
 was at stake.
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS. 
 
 In 1850 a sorrow of a peculiarly painful nature 
 came to Mr. Burns in connection with one of his 
 Liverpool steamers. 
 
 About one o'clock in the morning of the 18th 
 of June of that year, when the sea w^as smooth as 
 a mirror and most of the passengers were asleep, 
 the Orion struck on a sunken rock olf Portpatrick, 
 and in five minutes heeled over in seven fathoms 
 of water. Out of a large number of passengers 
 many perished, among them being Dr. John Burns 
 and Miss Morris, a niece of his wife. 
 
 George Burns was attending a meeting in Glasgow 
 of what was then styled the Council of the Forth and 
 Clyde Canal, when he was called out of the room, 
 and informed of the terrible occurrence by his friend 
 Mr. Hugh Moncrieff, the law agent of the Council. 
 On the instant Mr. Burns started by rail to Greenock, 
 where he found one of his own coasting vessels, which 
 happened to be lying in the harbour ready to sail ; 
 and without a moment's delay he was on board,
 
 1850.] WRECK OF THE '' OBION ." 277 
 
 steaming across to Dunoon, where his family was 
 then residing.* 
 
 Twenty-two years afterwards the Eev. C. B. Gribble, 
 who was at the time of the wreck staying with Mr. 
 Burns at Dunoon, wrote of the sad event to Mr. 
 James Clehmd Burns as follows : — 
 
 " It has fallen to my lot to share with your family 
 many of the joys and sorrows which have marked 
 and chequered their course. I was with you all in 
 the calamity which so distressed you when the Orion 
 was wrecked, and I remember the affecting scene 
 at Dunoon, and how your dear father said, ' Let us 
 call together the household and pray.' We went 
 into another room and humbled ourselves before 
 God, acknowledging our sins, submitting to His 
 dispensations, and imploring His mercy to console 
 the relations of those who had been drowned. I 
 remember the energy of John in sending oif a 
 steamer, and our sad view of that vessel as she 
 passed down the Clyde, and the grief of that sweet 
 sister of yours as the news arrived of one or another 
 known and loved, being lost ; but this I recollect, 
 that the catastrophe was met by your honoured 
 parents in the sweet spirit of submission to God." 
 
 It was a great shock to George Burns, from which 
 he did not fully recover for some years. He was very 
 tenderly attached to his brother John, and although 
 George was twenty years his junior, they had long 
 
 * Captain Baillie Hamilton, Secretary to the Admiralty, at once 
 despatched Captain Caffin m the Scouri/e to render assist.mce.
 
 278 Slli GEOliGE BUENS. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 taken sweet counsel together ; in their rehgious 
 \dews and hopes and aspirations they were in 
 thorough sympathy ; in their sorrows they had 
 always found comfort from the same sources, and in 
 each other's successes they had taken an ardent 
 interest. 
 
 Now, at the age of seventy-five, in the midst of 
 terrible circumstances, Dr. John Burns was suddenly 
 removed from the world in the attitude and exercise 
 of prayer. 
 
 His portrait, one of Graham Gilbert's best works, 
 hangs in the Hunterian Museum of the University of 
 Glasgow and it is a faithful representation. "Dr. 
 Burns's appearance," says one who knew him well, 
 "must still be familiar to many of us — the long white 
 hair, the bright face, the trig figure, the quaint 
 costume, coUarless coat, knee breeches, black silk 
 stockings, shoes and buckles. He w^as the last man 
 in Glasgow w^ho stuck to this fashion, and he stuck 
 to it to the end of his days." 
 
 There w^ere many wdio wTote to Mr. Burns at this 
 time to condole with him. We will only quote one 
 letter written by the Eev. W. H. Havergal. 
 
 Dunoon, Sept. 2, 1850. 
 The sentence has just been told to me. It will afflict you, 
 but ' It is the Lord,' therefore ' It is well.' You htum- it is not 
 of yourself ; it can be of no one but by jiermisdan. Here lies your 
 solace — you have not brought it on yourself, but your God, for 
 righteous reasons, has brought it on you. He means much by it 
 to a gazing world around you. ' Hast thou considered my seiTant
 
 1850.] EXPLOSION ON BOARD THE ''PLOVER:' 279 
 
 Job ? ' will be a new question to the commercial tliroug of GlasgoAv. 
 
 I hardly meant to say so much, but simply to certify you that non 
 
 arc remembered by one at least. The Lord comfort you ! He will 
 
 not forsake you. May dear Mrs. Burns, and all your dear ones, 
 
 find the God of Israel a very present help in time of trouble. 
 
 I pray you think of no sort of reply to this, but believe me, in 
 
 quietness, 
 
 Gratefully and faithfully yours, 
 
 W. H. Havergai.. 
 
 The freshness of his grief for the loss of hrother 
 and friends had not passed away before Mr. Burns 
 had to bear another severe heart-trial. His beloved 
 sister Elizabeth ("Bess"), Mrs. MacBrayne, was 
 called to her rest after a long and useful life of great 
 influence and activity. 
 
 Yet another trial befell Mr. Burns much about 
 the time of which w^e are writing. On the 5th of 
 February, 1851, when the Plover, one of his ships, 
 w^as getting up steam in Glasgow Harbour, the 
 boiler burst, the engineer was killed, and great 
 damage was done to the vessel. Only a very 
 short time before the explosion, Mr. John Burns, 
 the eldest son of Mr. Burns, was in the engine- 
 room ; and his narrow escape, while overflowing 
 the heart of his father with gratitude, at the same 
 time affected him deeply. 
 
 It could hardly be otherwise than that this com- 
 bination of sorrow^ful and terrible events should 
 cause Mr. Burns great distress of mind. 
 
 Letters of sympathy poured in from all quarters. 
 We select an extract from one only : —
 
 280 SIB GEORGE BUENS. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 Mr. Andrew Aldcuni, M.D., to Mr. John Bnm.s. 
 
 Oban, Feb. 8, 1851. 
 I am sure I need not say to you that I sympathise deeply 
 \vith your father, yourself, and all of you in the renewed dis- 
 tress into which you are again thrown by the recurrence of 
 another, or more, it is said here, of those sad accidents that have 
 been so fi-equent of late. This is another trial sent, I have not a 
 doubt, for good and gracious purposes towards all of you, by Him 
 without whose permission not a sxiarrow falleth to the ground ; and 
 I hope and pray that every one of you may be enabled l)y His 
 grace to improve this and every dispensation of His providence 
 that He may see meet to order in your lot. We, blind and 
 ignorant as we are, know not what is best for us, but He knows 
 who seeth the end from the beginning, ; and it is our duty as well 
 as our interest to submit in all things to His wisdom which is in- 
 fallible, and to His goodness which is unbounded. ... I know I 
 need not apologise to you for writing thiis, for I am satisfied that, 
 whether you think it proper or not, you will at least believe it to 
 l)e meant in true kindness and from sincere friendship. Eemember 
 me very kindly to your father, mother, and James, and 
 
 Believe me. 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 Andrew Aldcokn. 
 
 Soon after this, Mr. Burns, finding the burden 
 of Inisiness laid upon liim somewhat greater than 
 he could bear, and being anxious to meet the 
 pressure of larger enterprises in the Cunard business 
 and the Irish service, resolved to abandon some 
 of his smaller lines of steam traffic ; and the first 
 to be surrendered was "the Eoyal Eoute," or 
 Western Highland service. 
 
 The Highland trade had been commenced in a
 
 1851.] THE WEST HIGHLAND TRADE. 281 
 
 small way in 1832, and three years later it passed 
 entirely into the hands of Messrs. Burns. How 
 that came about is an interesting episode. 
 
 Mr. Burns had in his employment, as head of 
 the Quay Department at the Broomielaw, a very 
 able and valuable man, one James Mitchell, who 
 had the knack of picking up useful information 
 on trade matters. One day Mitchell went to Mr. 
 Burns, and said that Mr. Young, a plumber, who 
 owned three small vessels in the West Highland 
 trade — the Boh Boy, the Helen Macgregor, and the 
 Inverness — was anxious to make some arrangement, 
 as he was not succeeding, and wondered whether 
 Mr. Burns would take the agency. Mr. Burns 
 immediately replied that he would not, but that he 
 would at once buy one-half of his vessels on condition 
 that he had power to purchase the other half if he 
 wished. This was done, and it became the nucleus 
 of wdiat was hereafter to be a very large trade. 
 Of course there was opposition, but, as in other 
 instances, it was overcome. William Ainslie, of Fort 
 William, backed by a wealthy firm, was the first 
 to start a rival company, but his vessels did not run 
 for long. Being hard pressed, he was glad to come 
 to a compromise, and sold his vessels to Mr. Burns. 
 A similar fate awaited the steamers which belonged, 
 suh rosd, to the Greenock Railway Comj^any, until 
 at length the West Highland trade was in the sole 
 hands of Messrs. Burns. 
 
 From a small beginning " they worked up a whole
 
 282 SIR GEOliGE BUIiNS. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 system of steamers for the day passage tliroiigh the 
 Crinan, or the night passage round the Mull, gliding 
 along the canals or battling with the Atlantic, 
 meeting at Oban, crossing and recrossing, plunging 
 into tlie locks, winding along the sounds, threading 
 their way among the islands ; fine pleasure-boats 
 for the llock of summer swallows, stout trading- 
 boats summer and winter serving the whole archi- 
 pelago, linking with the world the lonely bay or the 
 outer islet, freighted out with supplies of all sorts 
 and shapes, freighted in with wool and sheep. 
 Highland beasts and Highland bodies ; surely the 
 liveliest service in the world." * In 1851, the 
 whole of this fleet was handed over to Mr. David 
 Hutcheson, one of their old " hands " who had been 
 with them ever since the days when the six smacks, 
 the origin of the whole shipping business, were first 
 managed and subsequently purchased. He was 
 joined by liis brother, Mr. Alexander Hutcheson, 
 and by Mr. David MacBrayne, a nephew of Messrs. 
 Burns, in whose hands the trade has ever since 
 remained. 
 
 But '' there has been many a change since then 
 in the service," observes the writer fi*om whom we 
 have already quoted. " Fairy steamers have re- 
 placed the Crinan track-boats of our youth and the 
 boys galloping in their scarlet jackets ; the Io7ia 
 and the Columha, the Clansman and the Claymore — 
 W'C had not dreamt of such vessels ; in every detail 
 
 " J, 0. Mitchell, in article already quoted on " James Burns."
 
 1852.] TIMES OF DEPRESSION. 288 
 
 there have been improvements. But iu all its main 
 featm-es the service is as the Messrs. Burns made it. 
 To their initiative, which others have only followed 
 up, thousands of travellers from all parts owe the most 
 delightful of their travels — thousands of ourselves " 
 (Glasgow men), " worn by the strain of the town, 
 owe the new life sucked in with the breath of 
 heather, the music of the ocean, the untold delights 
 of the West Highlands." 
 
 In the time of trial Mr. Burns found great comfort 
 in the counsels and sym^Dathy of friends with whom 
 he corresponded — although none were able to give 
 him such help as his large-hearted and clear-headed 
 wife. We ajipend some extracts from her letters 
 written at this time, letters full of the most 
 excellent practical advice : — 
 
 Glasgow, Dec. 5, 1852. 
 
 Whether in Loudou or Ryde, I trust that you are able to be in 
 church, and are comforted with the services, especially ' in the 
 breaking of bread.' May your heart burn within you as He opens 
 up to you a view of His love, even in the discipline which He is 
 causing you to pass through. But, my dear George, see that you 
 do not make your burden heavier than He intends. There is such 
 a thing as nursing sorrow, which often arises from the same cause 
 that made Jonah think 'he did well to be angry.' . . . 
 
 Do not be careful for the things of this life further than as a 
 duty to Avhicli God has called you. . . . 
 
 Look forward and upward, my dear George, but, except to 
 thank God for past mercies, never look back. It is not safe for 
 you, nor is it honouring to God to murmur at His providence. 
 
 Next to his wife there was no one who knew the
 
 ■IHi SIB GEOliGE BUENS. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 innermost heart of George Burns better than his 
 friend Captain Caffin, to whom he ^Yrites tlius : — 
 
 Glasgow, Oct. 14, 1852. 
 
 My deak Caffin, — I was comforted yesterday by the receipt of 
 your letter of the 12th. 'Let the righteous smite me; it shall be 
 a kindness : and let him reprove me ; it shall be an excellent oil, 
 which shall not break my head' — Psalm cxli. 5. I can truly say, 
 1 thank you for your faithfuhiess and kindness. I have indeed 
 been in deep waters for several years, yet they have not been 
 permitted to overwhelm me. Blessed is the ma\i that eudureth 
 temptation ; I have found that God has not laid on me more than 
 He has given me strength to bear, but has really made a way of 
 escape for me, not only in temporal matters, but more especially 
 in my soul's experience. 
 
 When sad, travelling alone in the railway, the first time I went 
 to Liverpool lately (for I have been twice there), I was much 
 comforted by the words, ' Then were the disciples glad when they 
 saw the Lord.' All the discipline I have been receiving, and am 
 still receiving, is little enough to promote my sanctification, and 
 perfect my resemblance to my Lord. Yet, blessed be His name. 
 He is working in me, and by degrees, through His Holy Spirit, 
 perfecting that which concerneth me. 
 
 You are going upon a very important undertaking. It will 
 have its trials for you ; one has already commenced — separation 
 from your wife and family. How strangely you and I have been 
 mixed up together, apparently tied together in our course so that 
 we cannot separate. 
 
 . . . The Duke made ' duty ' his guiding principle. Let us, 
 having an eye to the recompense of reward hereafter to be 
 enjoyed through the merits of Christ, make ' duty ' also cur rule, 
 and by faith go through with our business as appointed for us. 
 All is ' appointed ' from eternity, and that is our comfort. He 
 who goes to war, and he who stays by the stuff, shall be equally 
 blessed when actint>- in the fear of the Lord.
 
 1854.] THE TAKING OF BOMAIiSUND. 285 
 
 I take very sober views of all that is proceeding in our business, 
 but God moves all, and He will protect and bless us to the measure 
 that will be good for U8. I was enabled on Tuesday night to 
 attend a public meeting, and to say a few words of sympathy in 
 behalf of the Madiai which brought a blessing to my own soul. 
 
 May God bless and protect you, and cause His face to shine 
 
 on you. My wife, beside whom I am writing, joins her prayers to 
 
 mine in your behalf. 
 
 Yours very affectionately, 
 
 G. Burns. 
 
 We cannot digress in order to follow Captain 
 Caffin in his adventurous career further than to 
 append one extract from a letter written by him two 
 years later, in which he gives a graphic account of 
 the taking of Bomarsund : — 
 
 H.M.S. Penelope, Farsund, Port Gottland. 
 
 Nov. 21, 1854. 
 "... You allude to the peril we were in off the large fort at 
 Bomarsund ; indeed if our hearts were never grateful before, that 
 should have melted them, and in returning thanks in our 
 prayers on the following morning I made an appeal to the men to 
 that effect. We were from half-past eleven till half-past three 
 under fire, and at the lowest computation they must have 
 fired three hundred shot and shell at us. How we escaped with so 
 small a loss passes human comprehension ; three killed and three 
 wounded. I must tell you the particulars, which you may not 
 have heard. Sir Charles Napier sent for me on the morning of 
 the 12th of August, and said he had been examining the large 
 fort, and he was under the impression that it had no guns from 
 the twenty-second embrasure to the end, and that he wanted me to 
 go in and ascertain this, saying that I was to go up abreast of the 
 twenty-second embrasure, and stop and coax them to fire at me to 
 draw their guns out ; and, having done this, then to go to abreast of
 
 28G SIU GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XIV 
 
 the eleventh embrasure, and anchor, and await further orders. He 
 asked me if I knew the navigation, and said he would send the 
 Master of the Fleet to pilot mc. I immediately returned to my ship, 
 and up anchor. Sir Charles Napier hoisted the signal to me ' Very 
 smart,' and in we went slowly and steadily, and had not quite got 
 into one station when l)U)ui, Ixiin/, ha)i<j I came their shot at us, the 
 two lirst falling short, and the third passing across our cutwater ; 
 the fourth came into us just abaft the bridge, and through both 
 sides of the paddle-box boat. At this moment I said to the 
 Master of the Fleet, ' Sir Charles Napier will be satisfied that the 
 fort has plenty of guns here at all events,' for the shot and shell 
 followed in rapid succession. I hoisted the signal * Penirission to 
 cnt/ai/e eneunj ' — which Sir Charles answered by hoisting the nega- 
 tive. I then told the Master of the Fleet we would now proceed 
 as slowly as possible into our berth abreast of the eleventh embra- 
 sure. The ship had not gone twice her own length when she took 
 the ground, broadside on to the fort, which now peppered us most 
 unmercifully, and which continued until we floated at half-past 
 three. We all had many hair-breadth escapes necessarily ; the 
 top of one of my poor fellow's heads was taken clean off above the 
 eyebrows, and the scalp hit me on the right arm just below my 
 elbow, covering me from head to foot with his brains ; this shot 
 knocked down at least a dozen men with the splinters, but they 
 were not much hurt. One red-hot shot came through the mid- 
 shipman's berth just between wind and water, passed through two 
 of their chests in the steerage, setting fire to their linen, and fell, 
 spent, in my clerk's office. The Admiral made the signal for me 
 to throw my guns overboard, which I did — all of which I recovered 
 after the fort capitulated ; in the meanwhile I was fresh armed by 
 subscription from the fleet. 
 
 One of the Kussian guns was presented by 
 Vice-Admiral Sir Crawford Caffin to Mr. John 
 Burns, and stands at the present hour in a coin-
 
 1858.] THE FAMILY OF DR. JOHN BURNS. 287 
 
 manding postion on the terrace of Castle Wemyss, 
 bearing the followmg inscription : — 
 
 This Gun was taken at Bomarsund, 12 August, 1854, by Vice- 
 Admiral Sir Crawford Caffin, K.C.B., then in command of H.M.8. 
 Penelope, and by him presented to John Burns, on 10th August ; 
 it took part, with other guns of the large fort, for four hours in a 
 heavy fire of shot, shell, and redhot shot on the Penelope, as she 
 grounded in reconnoitring that Fortress. 
 
 Among the trials incident to family life, there are 
 few things more painful than to witness the extinc- 
 tion of one of its branches. This, however, was 
 the case in the family of Dr. Burns. We have 
 narrated how he lost his daughter Kachel, his son 
 Allan, and how he himself perished in the Orion. 
 
 In 1853, his son. Colonel John Burns of the 2nd 
 EiOyals, the last surviving member of his family, died 
 at the Cape of an illness, the result of fatigue and 
 exposure in the Kaffir War. By a curious coinci- 
 dence, the place where he was struck down in 
 Kaffraria was Burns' Hill, a mission station that 
 had been founded from Glasgow and named after 
 Dr. Burns of the Barony — as " Lovedale," another 
 station founded at the same time, was named after 
 Dr. Love, of Anderston. 
 
 In the early autumn of 1854, Mr. and Mrs. Burns, 
 in company with Mr. James Agnew (who afterwards 
 was best man to Mr. John Burns at his wedding), 
 a son of Sir Andrew Agnew, went on a tour through 
 the English Lakes.
 
 288 Slli GEOIiGE BURNS. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 Soon after their return, Mr. Burns was called upon 
 to endure the heaviest sorrow, save one, that ever 
 overshadowed his life. The story of that severe 
 trial we can only tell in his own words as given in 
 a letter to a friend : — 
 
 14 Oct., 1854. 
 
 Our much loved and only daughter died on the 80th of Sep- 
 tember. She was m her thhtieth year, and has left behind her 
 three infants, a boy and two girls. The second child took gastric 
 fever, and from attendance on her she caught the infection, and, 
 being nursing at the time, was unable to stand the violence of the 
 attack. x\t the end of a month, after most severe suffering, her 
 Eedeemer took her to Himself. When she was taken ill, she ex- 
 pressed unreservedly to her mother her full assurance of safety in 
 relying on Jesus as her God and Saviour, but saying ' her faith 
 was not a conventional one.' She told her not to be alarmed at 
 her speaking as if she were going to be taken from us. She had 
 no wish to die, and fully expected to recover, but, as the issue of 
 fever is always uncertain, she wished to speak of her state while 
 she was able, lest her mind might become clouded. She was most 
 faithful to her attendants. She sent for her nursery-maid, Jane 
 Kenneth (who is held in high esteem by all our family), and urged 
 on her the necessity of looking to Jesus for safety, saying it was 
 only assurance in His love that gave to herself the peace she 
 enjoyed amid all the restlessness of the fever. She desired her 
 at once to go to her own room and pray for the obtaining of this 
 blessing, adding that she would at the same time join in prayer for 
 her. We hoard afterwards from the sick nurse that she had said 
 to her she would willijigly go through all she was siiftering if it 
 might be the means of bringing only one soul to Christ. Many 
 touching proofs we received of her being one of the beloved in the 
 Lord. . . . 
 
 The parting has been a sore wrench, but blessed are the dead 
 who die in the Lord. She possessed the ornament of a meek and
 
 1854.] DEATH OF AIRS. REDDIE. 289 
 
 quiet spirit, combined with beauty and ability, and, shining as a 
 Hght in our httle circle, was deservedly very precious to us. 
 
 The funeral service was performed by the old 
 friend and pastor of the family, the Eev. C. P. 
 Miles, and the mortal remains of the young wife 
 and mother were laid to rest in the Glasgow 
 Necropolis. 
 
 Letters of sympathy and condolence poured in 
 from all quarters, from one of which we make a 
 quotation. It was written by Mr. J. 0. Mitchell, 
 an old friend of the family. 
 
 Dunoon, Oct. 6, 1854. 
 ... So young and so pretty, so clever and so good, with such 
 work to do (in bravely doing which she met her death), and with 
 so many to love her, it seems puzzling that she should be the one 
 called away, and so many useless ones left behind (though they 
 have their use too, if they will). One day, when we see the 
 disjointed bits of the puzzle all put up, we shall no doubt under- 
 stand it all, but now you must feel ' like infants crying in the 
 dark, and with no language but a cry.' The blow that has been 
 dealt must be borne as well as may be. It is no use trying to 
 make little of a sorrow that cannot be magnified to the widower 
 and the little orphans, to Mrs. Burns and yourself, and to the 
 boys. In presence of this great grief it is not for others to speak, 
 but none who have been privileged to know Mrs. Reddie will soon 
 forget or replace their loss. 
 
 ly
 
 CHAPTEK XV. 
 
 THE BURDEN AND HEAT OF THE DAY. 
 
 It must needs be that every successful adventure 
 should give rise to many jealousies and to keen 
 competition, and the Cunard Company was no 
 exception to the rule. 
 
 Mr. Burns was, by nature, one of the most peace- 
 loving of men, but he was also a man of great 
 determination, and having set his hand to the plough, 
 he was not one to look back. We cannot attempt 
 to give a systematic account of the progress of the 
 enormous business transactions in which he was 
 concerned ; to do so would involve an epitome of 
 the whole history of merchant shipping since the 
 introduction of steam, but we must glance at some 
 of its most salient features in order to see the 
 important part he played in that history. 
 
 After the first four vessels to which we have 
 already referred * were placed in the mail service 
 between Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston, in 1840, 
 others followed in quick succession, and in each the 
 newest and most reliable advances in scientific 
 
 * See p. 201.
 
 1847.] A NEW LINE OF STEAM SHIPS. 291 
 
 engineering were introduced. Tims in 1844 the 
 Cambria and Hihernia, each of 500 horse-power 
 and of 1,422 tons, with an average speed of 9| 
 knots, were brought into the service ; in 184§ the 
 America, Niagara, JEuropa, and Ca^iada followed, 
 each of about 1,820 tons and 680 horse-power, with 
 an average speed of lOJ knots — and so on, continu- 
 ally, each fresh batch of vessels corresponding to 
 the increasing demands of the public for greater 
 speed and for improved accommodation. 
 
 Of course this could not be continued without 
 opposition. The Great Western Company com- 
 plained of a monopoly having been granted to their 
 injury, and a Parliamentary inquiry was the result. 
 But it ended in a report of the Select Committee 
 to the effect that the contract made with Messrs. 
 Cunard, Burns, and Maclver was more advan- 
 tageous than any other that could be made, and 
 that the service had been most efficiently performed. 
 
 In 1847, the American people aroused themselves, 
 for they saw their most valuable maritime commerce 
 passing away from them. They established a 
 line of steam ships of their own to run from New 
 York to Southampton ; but their first ship, the 
 Washington, started on the same day that the 
 Britannia, the first of the Cunard ships, started 
 fi-om Liverpool for New York, and the first race 
 ever run between American and British steamers 
 was won by the Britaniiia by two full days ! 
 
 In 1850, the British Government entered into a
 
 292 SIB GEOBQE BUBNS. [Chap. XV. 
 
 contract with tlie Canard Company for the convey- 
 ance of the mails between Halifax, New York, and 
 Bermuda in small vessels, one of which should 
 leave Halifax for Bermuda and another for St. 
 John's within twenty-four hours after the arrival of 
 the packet from Liverpool ; a third conveyed the 
 mails monthly between Bermuda and New York. 
 A year later, the British Government concluded 
 another contract wdth Mr. Cunard for a monthly 
 conveyance of the mails between Bermuda and St. 
 Thomas, with the view of connecting the West 
 Indies with the United States and the North 
 American Provinces. 
 
 It is not surprising to find that when the eyes of 
 the Americans were opened, and it was seen that 
 the Ocean mails along their southern coasts had 
 been placed in the hands of foreign carriers ; that 
 the Cunard line, under British contracts, constituted 
 the only medium of regular steam navigation be- 
 tween the United States and Europe, and that the 
 commercial and political interests of their country 
 were at stake, their national pride was wounded, 
 and Congress resolved "to make their postal arrange- 
 ments altogether independent of foreign and rival 
 agencies. They had subsidised to advantage a line 
 of steamers between New York and Chagres, via 
 New Orleans and its auxiliaries ; they had re- 
 possessed themselves of the power of transport of 
 their mails for Mexico, South America, and their 
 possessions in the Pacific, which, in consequence of
 
 1850.] THE COLLINS COMPANY. 293 
 
 the discoveries of gold in California, had become of 
 no ordinary importance. As the steamers for this 
 line were of the highest class, possessing great speed 
 and superior passenger accommodation, and capable, 
 besides, of being converted at small expense into 
 war-steamers, they estimated that similar successful 
 results would attend the establishment of another 
 line of steam- ships of their own between New York 
 and Liverpool." * 
 
 The right time, as it was thought, having come, 
 the man was ready, and Mr. E. K. Collins, of New 
 York, and other American citizens, commenced the 
 establishment of a line of splendid steamers wdth 
 the avowed object of driving the Cunarders off the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 It was unfortunate for the Collins Company that 
 they started their gigantic concern upon wrong 
 principles ; first, by asking from their Government 
 a monopoly of the business, and next, by alleging 
 in their memorial that " the rival English line was 
 sustained to a very great extent by the Enghsh 
 Government;" the fact being, as we have shown, 
 that there was no subsidy whatever, but simply a 
 freight paid for carrying the mail bags, from which 
 the Government profited. 
 
 The Collins Company obtained their subsidy, but 
 that fact brought forth the unanimous protest of 
 sixty-three distinct houses — the oldest and most 
 enterprising shipping firms in New York — against 
 
 * Lindsay's " History of Merchant Shipping," vol. iv, p. 212.
 
 2<)4 SIB GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. XV. 
 
 fostering a dozen eminent capitalists at the expense 
 of the whole shi2:)ping interest of the country. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, four magnificent vessels 
 were contracted for — the Arctic^ Baltic, Atlantic, 
 and Pacific (the nomenclature ending in ic, as 
 that of the Cunarders ended in ia), vessels equal, 
 if not superior, to any constructed of wood then 
 afloat. 
 
 The contest was for the supremacy of ocean steam 
 navigation, and the comhatants were a wealthy 
 company backed by their Government with a subsidy 
 of ^19,250 per voyage, which was soon increased 
 to ;^33,000 per voyage, equal to about .£178,750 per 
 annum, and a private firm of a few individuals, 
 absolutely without Government subsidy. 
 
 In 1850, the Collins Line began to run, the head 
 and front of their scheme being to sweep the Atlan- 
 tic of the Cunarders. To attain this, it was made a 
 si7ie qua non by the Government that the Collins 
 vessels should l)e run at a greatly increased rate of 
 s])eed. 
 
 The Cunard Company were equal to the occasion ; 
 they put on new vessels — but they would not move 
 a finger towards any plan that should in the slightest 
 degree endanger their ships or the lives of their 
 passengers. 
 
 " The competition between these two great lines 
 of steam-ships," says Mr. Lindsa}^, " excited extra- 
 ordinary public interest at the time on both sides of 
 the Atlantic, and indeed in all parts of the world ;
 
 1850.J THE " GREAT OCEAN RACE." 295 
 
 numerous records were kept for twelve months of 
 the length of the respective voyages of the ships 
 of the contending companies, and large sums of 
 money were expended in bets on the result of each 
 passage." 
 
 The result for the year was that the Cunarders 
 were beaten in respect of the time occupied in the 
 voyages, although they gained steadily in general 
 estimation on the score of comfort in their accom- 
 modation and in a sense of safety. 
 
 Great were the rejoicings in America at the seem- 
 ing triumph of the Collins Line, and not less hearty 
 were thej' among lovers of progress in our own 
 country. Meanwhile the Cunard Company quietly 
 laid their plans for producing a fleet of . steamers 
 which should surpass all competitors in speed as in 
 every other requirement, and while the world was 
 ringing with plaudits upon the triumph of America 
 in the "great ocean race," as it was incorrectly 
 called, Charles Maclver wrote to Samuel Cunard : 
 " The Collins Company are pretty much in the 
 situation of finding that breaking our windows with 
 sovereigns, though very fine fun, is too costly to keep 
 up." And so they found it. For four years the 
 Collins Line encountered no accidents worthy of 
 note, but in 1854 a terrible series of disasters com- 
 menced. In September of that year the Arctic went 
 down, with fearful loss of life, the wife, son, and 
 daughter of Mr. ColHns being among the number 
 who perished. A little more than twelve months
 
 2% SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XV. 
 
 later the Pacific left Liverpool, and was never heard 
 of again. 
 
 Still the Collins Company persevered ; capital was 
 found to replace the vessels they had lost, hut hefore 
 they were ready for service, the new Cunarders were 
 on the seas defying all competition, their average 
 speed for the year 1856 eclipsing not only the 
 Collins Line, hut of another line specially adapted 
 for the conveyance of emigrants, and, in fact, of all 
 the principal steamers of all countries then engaged 
 in the Transatlantic trade. 
 
 In 1858, it was found that the Collins Company 
 were competing with the Cunard Company at a 
 ruinous rate : the losses had been stupendous ; every 
 attempt at revival had failed ; and the opportunity 
 Was taken by the merchants and ship-owners of 
 Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other places 
 to renew their protest against monopoly and 
 Government subsidies. The result was the total 
 collapse of the Collins Line, and the determina- 
 tion of the American Government not to aid from 
 the public purse any company which might take its 
 place. 
 
 While the fierce competition of the Collins Com- 
 pany was at its height, the Cunard Company largely 
 extended the field of its operations. In 1853, six 
 iron screw steam-ships, specially adapted for the 
 purpose, were ]juilt, and branch lines established 
 between Liverpool and the principal ports in the 
 Mediterranean, Adriatic, Levant, Bosphorus, and
 
 1858.] COLLAPSE OF THE COLLINS COMPANY. 297 
 
 Black Ssa, and also between Liverpool and Havre. 
 Although originally intended to act chiefly as feeders 
 to the main line, these off-shoots of the parent stem 
 have sprung forth and become important adjuncts to 
 the Company's business. 
 
 It was about this time (1853) that a Select 
 Committee was appointed by the House of Com- 
 mons to inquire into the matter of contract 
 imckets, and the following extract from their report 
 shows the estimation in which the Company's 
 Transatlaiitic service was held and the manner 
 in wdiich it was conducted : — 
 
 This line of packets (the Cunard) has of late years had to con- 
 tend against serious foreign competition. We find that the vessels 
 employed in the line are much more powerful, and, of course, 
 more costly than is required by the terms of the contract, and 
 that, as regards their fitness for war purposes, they are reported 
 by the Committee of Naval and Mihtary Officers as being capable 
 of being made more efficient substitutes for men-of-war than any 
 of the other vessels under contract for the packet service. The 
 service has been performed with great regularity, speed, and 
 certainty — the average length of passage, Liverpool to New York, 
 being 12 days, 1 hour, li minutes. 
 
 It was a curious coincidence that the collapse 
 of the ColHns Company took place in the year in 
 which Mr. Burns, having amassed a handsome 
 fortune, and having seen his ambition realised in 
 placing on the seas a fleet of the finest vessels 
 afloat, retired from business to enjoy the rest which 
 is only appreciated to its full extent by those who
 
 298 Slli GEORGE BUIiNS. [Chap. XV. 
 
 have had to toil hard and to buffet against oppo- 
 sition. 
 
 Some further account of the Company which he 
 had been instrumental in founding, and with which 
 his name will always be associated, may not be un- 
 interesting. To him is due a large share of the 
 credit for the inauguration and establishment of that 
 splendid system of administration, which has been 
 faithfully adhered to until the present time, and has 
 proved the foundation of the honourable reputation 
 it now enjoys. 
 
 The most remarkable fact in connection wdth the 
 history of the Company is, the wonderful immunity 
 from accident, although hundreds of thousands of 
 passengers and millions of letters have been con- 
 veyed across the stormy Atlantic in their ships. 
 The dangers have been manifold on this the most 
 dangerous and boisterous ocean knoAvn to naviga- 
 tors ; high speed has been maintained, fogs, storms, 
 and icebergs have been encountered ; and yet there 
 has been from the foundation of the Company in 
 1840 to the present time, singular exemption from 
 misadventure. By some this has been looked upon 
 as "a wonderful rim of luck," and by others as 
 '' a special interposition of Providence." Neither 
 view is a correct one. Luck is far too tickle 
 a thing to attend upon any scheme for forty or 
 fifty years in succession, and Providence does not 
 favour one particular commercial firm to the dis- 
 advantage of others. There was a story current.
 
 1840-58.] PRINCIPLES OF THE C UN A ED COMPANY. 299 
 
 which had its origin in America, that the saihng of 
 eveiy ship of the Cunard fleet was made the subject 
 of special prayer, and that Mr. Burns was wont to 
 attribute his success to this source. Such was not 
 the case. While trusting in Providence and believ- 
 ing implicitly in the power of prayer, he was also a 
 firm believer in doing work well, and in subordinating 
 profit and speed to safety, comfort, and efficiency. 
 
 To the excellent measures adopted by the Company 
 to prevent casualties, and to the rigour with which 
 they are enforced, the immunity from accident may 
 safely be attributed. 
 
 One of the principles actuating Mr. Burns and the 
 Cunard Company was, that each ship added to the 
 fieet should be superior to those which had preceded 
 it ; at the same time the greatest caution was 
 observed never to adopt new inventions, or to be 
 influenced by new theories, until they had been 
 thoroughly tested. It was always the policy of the 
 Company that others should experimentalise, and 
 when the novel principle had been proved by indubi- 
 table tests, then, and not till then, to introduce it 
 into their next vessel. 
 
 Thus, although scientists had urged since 1830 
 the adaptability of iron in the construction of the 
 hulls of ships, and for several years prior to 1852 had 
 been recommending the adoption of the screw pro- 
 peller, it was not until the latter year that the 
 Cunard Company had sufficient confidence in either 
 invention to give it a trial.
 
 300 SIE GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XY. 
 
 A few of the precautions observed iu order to 
 ensure that then* vessels should be well-built, effi- 
 ciently manned, and carefully sailed, may be men- 
 tioned here. "Their solicitude," says a writer in 
 The Naval and Military Magazine ^ "begins at the 
 keel of each vessel, and continues throughout the 
 whole course of construction. The progress of the 
 work is closely scrutinised by the Company's general 
 and engineer superintendents ; and, in addition, a 
 foreman, carpenter, and rivet inspector are constantly 
 employed in the building-yard, for the sole purpose 
 of detecting defective material or workmanship and 
 having it rectified. Before every voyage a thorough 
 examination of ship and crew is made by the general 
 and marine superintendents and other officials. The 
 men are mustered and exercised in boat drill, fire 
 drill, and pump drill ; heed being taken that every 
 man knows his proper position, so as to avoid panic 
 or confusion in the event of a sudden emergency. 
 An inspection is then made of the store-rooms, the 
 rockets and other signals are critically examined, 
 and the doors of the water-tight compartments are 
 shut and tested ; and each day while the ship is at 
 sea the men stationed at the water-tight doors are 
 mustered, and every water-tight door in the ship is 
 closed ; the chief officer and chief engineer report- 
 ing to the captain at 1 p.m. the condition of the 
 doors in their respective departments. Knowing 
 how much depends upon the acuteness of vision 
 possessed by the officers and look-out men, the
 
 1840-58.] PBECAUTIONS FOB SAFETY. 301 
 
 greatest care is taken to guard against weak sight or 
 colour-blindness in every person connected with the 
 sailing department. An exhaustive code of instruc- 
 tions has been compiled for the use of captains, 
 officers, engineers, and every man on board, plainly 
 stating their individual duties, and laying down 
 distinct rules for their guidance under all circum- 
 stances. Lastly, with the view of diminishing the 
 chances of collision, the Company's Atlantic steamers 
 take specified courses according to the seasons of the 
 year. Indeed, all the means which human fore- 
 thought can devise, and long experience teach, are 
 enlisted to secm-e the safety of lives and property." 
 With all these precautions we cannot wonder that 
 Mark Twain should say '' he felt himself rather 
 safer on board a Cunard steamer than he did upon 
 land." 
 
 The success which croAvned the labours of Mr. 
 Burns, in conjunction with Sir Samuel Cunard (and 
 his son, Sir Edward Cunard) and Messrs. D. and C. 
 Maclver, has been continued without variation by 
 their successors. 
 
 The original shareholders had by degrees been 
 bought out by the founders, until the whole concern 
 became vested exclusively in the three families of 
 Cunard, Burns, and Maclver, each holding one- third 
 of the property. 
 
 Sir Samuel Cunard died in 1865, and his shares 
 were inherited by his son, Sir Edward Cunard. He 
 died in 18G9, and the Cunard interest devolved upon
 
 302 Slli GEORGE BUliNS. [Chap. XV. 
 
 his brother, Mr. WilHain Cunard, who from that time 
 to the present has continued to represent the Com- 
 pany in London. 
 
 David Maclver died in 1845, and his share fell to 
 the lot of his brother, Charles Maclver, whose sons 
 have since retired fi'om the Cunard Company. 
 
 George Burns, upon his retirement in 1858, divided 
 his holding in the Company between his two sons, 
 John and James Cleland Burns. 
 
 In 1878 it was considered expedient to consolidate 
 the interests of the partners by registering the Com- 
 pany under the Limited Liability Acts. A Joint- 
 stock Company was accordingly formed, with a 
 capital of .£2,000,000, of which £1,200,000 was 
 issued and taken by the families of Cunard, Burns, 
 and Maclver. No shares were offered to the public 
 until 1880, when a prospectus was sent forth stating 
 that "the growing wants of the Company's Trans- 
 atlantic trade demanded the acquisition of additional 
 steamsliips of great size and power, involving a cost 
 for construction which might best be met by a large 
 public company." The available shares were at 
 once subscribed for, the directorate was re-consti- 
 tuted, and Mr. John Burns was elected Chairman of 
 the Board. 
 
 It will be remembered that it was one of the 
 terms of the original contract with the British 
 Government that the vessels of the Cunard Company 
 should be available in time of war for the transport 
 of troops and stores. In 1854, war was declared
 
 1858-85.] CUNARDERS AS TROOPSHIPS. 303 
 
 against Knssia, and the Company was called upon for 
 the first time to assist the Government in the 
 emergency hy furnishing troop-ships and transports. 
 An immediate response was made, and eight of the 
 best of the Cunard steamers were placed at the 
 disposal of the Admiralty, and were employed in 
 various important commissions throughout the tedious 
 ^Russian campaign. 
 
 On many subsequent occasions the Cunard vessels 
 were requisitioned for similar purposes. Between 
 1856 and 1878 they conveyed troops and stores at 
 various times to Halifax, Quebec, Gibraltar, Malta, 
 and other ports. In 1879, when war broke out at 
 the Cape, four vessels were under charter to the 
 Admiralty for a considerable period as troop-ships. 
 Among the first vessels dispatched with troops to 
 Alexandria in 1882, were three of the Cunard fleet. 
 
 " In the spring of 1885, in consequence of the 
 Bussian war scare, the Admiralty chartered the 
 Umbria and the Oregon for six months as merchant 
 cruisers, and retained the services oi the Etruria also 
 if required. The two first- named vessels were com- 
 pletely armed and fitted up under the superinten- 
 dence of Admiralty officers, and when the great naval 
 demonstration took place in July, 1885, the Oregon 
 was chosen to accompany the evolutionary squadron 
 under the command of Admiral Sir Geoffrey Hornby, 
 G.C.B. She was the only armed merchant cruiser 
 present with the fleet, and proved herself invaluable 
 as a scout, gaining the admiration of the officers of
 
 304 SIB GEORGE BUENS. [Chap. XV. 
 
 the squadron for her wonderful speed and sea-going 
 quahties."* 
 
 Few people have any conception of the vastness 
 and variet}^ of the , provisioning necessary for the 
 proper maintenance of the enormous number of 
 persons carried in the ''floating hotels" of the 
 Cunard Company, or of the internal economy 
 generally. A few particulars may not be uninter- 
 esting, t 
 
 The pioneer vessel of the Cunard Line, the 
 Britannia, built in 1839, took for her outward 
 journey from Liverpool 600 tons of coal, and burned 
 44 tons a day, whilst her steam pressin-e was 9 lbs. 
 and her speed a little over 8 knots per hour. Con- 
 trast that with the Etncria, built in 1885. Her 
 average speed is 18 knots an hour, which is equal 
 to nearly 21 statute miles, or somewhat greater 
 than the average speed of the ordinary train 
 service on any railway in the world. Her engines 
 indicate 14,000 horse-power, and are supplied with 
 steam from 9 double-ended boilers, each with 8 
 furnaces, or a total of 72 furnaces. The total con- 
 sumption of coal is 300 tons per day, or 12 tons per 
 hour, and if the whole of the fires were raked 
 together and formed into one large fire there would 
 be 42 tons of coal, or a mass 20 feet long, 20 feet 
 
 * The Illustrated X(iV((l (i»d Military Magazine. 
 
 I These particulars are gleaned from an article in Good Words 
 for April, 1887, entitled, " Something about the Cunard Line. By 
 John Burns."
 
 .1858-89.] VICTUALLING THE CUNABD FLEET. 80;3 
 
 broad, and rather more than 4 feet high, burning 
 fiercely. Her crew consists of 287 hands, all told. 
 
 The victualling department is under the charge of 
 the chief steward, who is responsible not only for 
 the good order of the servants and the cleanliness 
 of the saloons and cabins and baths, but for providing 
 the passengers wdtli a good and liberal table. 
 
 For a single passage to America the Etruria, with 
 547 cabin passengers and a crew of 287 persons on 
 board, carries the following quantities of provisions : 
 12,550 lbs. fresh beef, 760 lbs. corned beef, 5,320 lbs. 
 mutton, 850 lbs. lamb, 350 lbs. veal, 350 lbs. pork, 
 2,000 lbs. fresh fish, 600 fowls, 300 chickens, 100 
 ducks, 50 geese, 80 turkeys, 200 brace grouse, 15 
 tons potatoes, 30 hampers of vegetables, 220 quarts 
 ice cream, 1000 quarts of milk, and 11,500 eggs (or 
 at the rate of one egg per minute from the time the 
 ship sails from Liverpool until her arrival in 'New 
 York). 
 
 The quantities of wines, spirits, beer, &c., put on 
 board for consumption on the round voyage comprise 
 1,100 bottles of champagne, 850 bottles claret, 6000 
 bottles ale, 2,500 bottles porter, 4,500 bottles mineral 
 waters, 650 bottles various spirits. 
 
 Crockery is broken very extensively, being at the 
 rate of 900 plates, 280 cups, 438 saucers, 1,213 tum- 
 blers, 200 wine-glasses, 27 decanters, and 63 water- 
 bottles in a single voyage. 
 
 As regards the consumption on board the whole 
 fleet for ojlc year, tlie figures seem almost fabulous : 
 
 20
 
 300 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XV. 
 
 4,656 sheep, 1,800 lambs, 2,474 oxen are consumed — 
 an array of flocks and herds surpassing in extent 
 the possessions of many a pastoral patriarch of 
 ancient times — besides 24,075 fowls, 4,230 ducks, 
 2,200 turkeys, 2,200 geese, 53 tons of ham, 20 tons 
 bacon, 15 tons cheese, and 831,603 eggs. 
 
 Otlier articles are in extensive demand, and in the 
 course of a year there is consumed : One ton and a 
 half of mustard, one ton and three-quarters of pepper, 
 7,216 bottles pickles, 8000 tins sardines, 30 tons salt 
 cod and ling, 4,192 four-lb. jars of jam, 15 tons mar- 
 malade, 22 tons raisins, currants, and figs, 18 tons 
 split peas, 15 tons pearl barlfey, 17 tons rice, 34 tons 
 oatmeal, 460 tons flour, 23 tons biscuits, 33 tons salt, 
 48,902 loaves of bread 8 lbs. each. 
 
 The Cunard passengers annually drink and smoke 
 to the following extent : — 8,030 bottles and 17,613 
 half-bottles champagne, 13,941 bottles and 7,310 half- 
 l)ottles claret, 9,200 bottles other wines, 489,344 
 bottles ale and porter, 174,921 bottles mineral waters, 
 34,400 bottles spirits; 34,360 lbs. tobacco, 63,340 
 cigars, and 56,875 cigarettes. 
 
 The heaviest item in the annual consumption of 
 the Company is of course coal, of which 356,764 tons 
 are burnt — nearly equal to 1000 tons for every day in 
 the year. This quantity of coal, if built as a wall 
 four feet high and one foot thick, would reacli from 
 Land's End to John o' Groats' House. 
 
 With regard to the aggregate employment of 
 labour by the Cunard Company, it includes 34
 
 l«58-by.] CHANGES IN THE SHIPPING WOULD. :-]07 
 
 captains, 146 officers, 628 engineers, boiler-makers 
 and carpenters, 665 seamen, 916 firemen, 900 
 stewards, 62 stewardesses, 42 women to keep the 
 upholstery and linen in order, with 1,100 men of a 
 shore gang, or about 4,o06 people to run the ships, 
 which traverse yearly a distance equal to five times 
 that between the earth and the moon ! 
 
 Since the time when George Burns became con- 
 nected with shipping, the large fleet over which he 
 presided, and his firm owned, has represented from 
 first to last no less a sum than upwards of seven 
 millions sterling. 
 
 Thirty years after his retirement from business, 
 Mr. Burns took as keen an interest in everj^thing 
 that related to shipping as he did when he was 
 bearing the burden and heat of the day. As he sat 
 upon his lawn and watched the Clyde steamers 
 skimming over the waters, his thoughts would often 
 go back to the old, old days of which he, alone of all 
 his compeers, had any remembrance. During his 
 lifetime greater changes had taken place in the 
 shipping world than in the three thousand years that 
 had elapsed since the Argo was launched. He 
 watched the rise and progress of the power of steam, 
 which has brought together all the nations of the 
 earth for their common good, and has done for the 
 material well-being of mankind what printing did for 
 the inter-conmiunication of ideas and the develop- 
 ment of intellectual power. He saw the little
 
 308 SIR GEORGE BURSS. [Chap. XV. 
 
 Comet start on her first journey ; and he saw the 
 Great Eastern as she hiy off Greenock in her hist 
 days. Between these periods all the great problems 
 of naval architecture had virtually been set at rest, 
 and it had been demonstrated that there were no 
 engineering difficulties in size, and no practical limit, 
 except expediency, to the amount of power that 
 might be applied to steam navigation. 
 
 To glance, however rapidly, at the great changes 
 he witnessed during the period specified, would 
 require much more space than we have at our 
 disposal. To one aspect of the subject, and one 
 only, will we call attention here. For the last 
 half-century, and more, there has scarcely been 
 a session of Parliament without legislation on Mer- 
 chant Shipping ; numberless committees and com- 
 missions have been appointed to consider schemes 
 for the improvement of our mercantile marine, and 
 measures innumerable have been passed having for 
 their object the safety, welfare, and progress of 
 British ships and seamen. The result has been that 
 lighthouses have been multiplied and improved ; 
 sound-signals have been established ; harbours have 
 been constructed, deepened, and made accessible ; 
 charts have been perfected ; the classification of 
 ships has been revised ; tonnage measurement has 
 been reformed ; an excellent system of ship registry 
 has been established ; masters, mates, and engineers 
 have been required to pass examinations, and can 
 be cashiered if drunken or incompetent ; offices are
 
 1858-8U.] LEGISLATION ON MERCHANT SHIPPING. 309 
 
 set up where seamen are engaged and discharged, 
 where they receive their wages, and where their 
 characters are recorded ; savings banks and money 
 orders are provided for them ; they have summary 
 means of recovering wages ; special provision is made 
 concerning their food, medicine, and lodging. Life- 
 boats and rocket apparatus for saving life from ship- 
 wreck are established round the coasts ; every wreck 
 is made the subject of an investigation more or less 
 stringent ; shipwrecked property is protected from 
 plunder ; international rules have been made for 
 preventing collision ; an international code of general 
 signals has been established, as well as an inter- 
 national system of signals of distress ; and the old 
 law of merchant shipping has been once and again 
 codified. Above all, burdens and restrictions of all 
 kinds, general and local, have been removed, so that 
 ship and sailor are now absolutely free from all 
 burdens, except such regulations and such taxes as 
 are needed for their own welfare.* 
 
 In procuring these measures, Mr. Burns played an 
 important although not always a conspicuous part. 
 His wide knowledge of everything connected with 
 ships and shipj)iug, his keen business capacity, his 
 far-sightedness, and his unwavering integrity, gave 
 value to his advice, which was eagerly sought and 
 generally acted upon. Not invariably, however. 
 
 * See an article in The ijtiartcrly Fievitic on " The Progress of 
 Engineering Science," No. 228, 18G3; and one on "Merchant 
 Shipping," No. 2H1, 1876.
 
 310 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XV. 
 
 When the Amended Shipping Act was passing 
 through the House of Commons in 1854, for instance, 
 Mr. Cardwell * placed the manuscript of the Bill in 
 the hands of Mr. Burns with an introduction to Mr. 
 Thring (afterwards Lord Thring), of Lincoln's Inn, 
 who had the charge of drawing it up, in order that 
 they might go over it together. Eeferring to this 
 interview, Mr. Burns, in conversation with the 
 writer, said : — 
 
 I went very carefully into it, and effected, as I supposed, some 
 improvements. I especially drew attention to the penalties 
 attachable to owners in case of accidents to life or property. Lord 
 Campbell's Act, which was applicable at first to railways and not to 
 shipping, was, to a considerable extent, incorporated in principle 
 into the Shipping Bill. To this I was strongly opposed, and my 
 argument was briefly this : Let there be penalties stringent, but 
 not fatal to a shipowner. Tlie Board of Trade reserves to itself 
 the power of sanctioning officers in the mercantile marine, and an 
 owner has to comply with their rules. Suppose that an owner has 
 bestowed very particular attention to the quality of his ships and 
 the character of his officers ; his ship sails to India, or elsewhere, 
 an accident takes place, and he (through no fault of his own) is 
 liable to be punished to the extent of tlie whole value of his sliip, 
 and ruined. When a change of Ministry took place, Mr. Cardwell 
 left the Board of Trade and was living at Whitehall Gardens, where 
 I saw him. ' I can now speak to you,' he said to me, ' much more 
 freely than I could when I was on the otlier side of the street.' He 
 approved of my views on the subject. 
 
 A long time afterwards, when Lord Stanley of Alderley was 
 President of the Board of Trade, I had occasion to argue very much 
 in the same strain with him. Mr. Cardwell's Bill having been passed, 
 
 Afterwards Viscount Cardwell.
 
 1858.] THE SECRET OF SUCCESS. 811 
 
 I used the arj,niment with Lord Stanley that one of our American 
 steamshiiis cost upwards of £150,000 (the cost of steamships now 
 amounts to more than donl)k' that sum), and tliat we were hahle to 
 be amerced in the whole amount. He lau,i,died and said, ' You're 
 very well oft" to have such a ship.' I replied, ' Yes, but if you are 
 lying at night with the knowledge that you may wake up in the 
 morning and find yourself ruined by such a loss, you would not 
 sleep very comfortably.' His reply was that hitherto the law had not 
 operated severely upon shipowners who took every precaution to 
 prevent accidents. ' True,' I replied, ' but tliat is not a sound basis 
 to rest such vast interests upon.' Eventually a much more sensible 
 and satisfactory basis was found. 
 
 For himself and his own ever-increasing commer 
 cial relations, Mr. Burns had laid it down as a 
 business principle that his highest interest lay in the 
 safety of every enterprise — that the loss of ship, 
 cargo, passengers, or crew, would be liia loss ; and 
 therefore-, while trusting in Providence for protection, 
 he looked with an anxious eye to everything which 
 could conduce to the safety of his ship — to her build, 
 her equipment, her loading, her manning, and her 
 navigation. 
 
 The secret of Mr. Burns' success is not however 
 to be attributed to his sagacity or his shrewdness, or 
 even to the soundness of the business principles on 
 which he acted. His success was the outcome of 
 his character. No man ever knew him say a word 
 that was not the exact and literal truth ; no one ever 
 heard of any business transaction of his that was not 
 absolutely lionourable in the minutest ])articular. 
 He was accurate in all his dealings, faithful to every
 
 5512 Slli GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XV. 
 
 trust, tenacious of every promise, disdaining to take 
 the least advantage of the weakness, or cupidity, or 
 incapacity of any man. Every action, great or small, 
 came before the tribunal of conscience, and, dis- 
 regarding the judgment of men, he could not and 
 would not engage in any undertaking upon which 
 he was unable to ask God's blessing. 
 
 It was this honest, straightforward trustworthiness 
 that drew men to him, and justified the confidence of 
 more than one who said, " If George Burns is pre- 
 pared to go into any scheme, I am prepared to go in 
 with him." 
 
 "A sincere man," says a quaint old writer, "is 
 not gilded, but gold ; not a splendid and burnished 
 plating outside to cover some baser metal within, but 
 all the way through to the heart what he outwardly 
 appears to be." 
 
 And such a man was George Burns. What he was 
 in the counting-house or the committee-room, he 
 was in the chamber of prayer or at the communion 
 table, and the self-same principles that made him a 
 faithful servant of God made him a faithful man of 
 business.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LIFE AT WEMYSS BAY, 
 
 When Mr. Burns retired fi'om l)usiiiess, be pur- 
 chased the whole of Wemyss Bay, and built for him- 
 self a handsome house in one of the most charming 
 positions of this lovely spot. Wemyss House 
 is a picturesque structure, lying back from the 
 road and nestling under a luxuriantly wooded cliff. 
 It stands only thirty or forty yards fi-om the shore, 
 and commands delightful views over the Firth of 
 Clyde. Just opposite is Innellan and Toward, with 
 Rothesay in the distance ; in front is Bute, with its 
 magnificent background of the mountains of Arran ; 
 to the left lies the pleasant village of Skelmorlie, 
 stretching towards Largs, while Great and Little 
 C umbrae lie low on the horizon. 
 
 Lawns and gardens, fringed and interspersed with 
 fine clumps of evergreen and flowering trees and 
 shrubs, surround the house, at the rear of which 
 rises a background of rock to the height of about 
 112 feet. 
 
 Once it was rock, and rock only ; inaccessible for
 
 314 SIB GEOBGE BUliNS. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 use to the regions beyond. But some years after 
 Mr. Burns had made Wemyss House his summer 
 residence, Mrs. Burns, who was incessant in her 
 phihmthropic labours throughout the neighbourhood, 
 happened to say how pleasant it would be if it were 
 possible to pass over the rock instead of always 
 having to go round by the road. It was one of his 
 chief pleasures in life to give surprises of affection, 
 and to gratify any wish of one to whom he was so 
 tenderly attached, and, keeping his own counsel, he 
 determined to make those rough places plain. 
 Calling to his aid the good services of his head 
 gardener, Mr. Henderson, he set to work, with the 
 result that the almost perpendicular rock was con- 
 verted into a region of fairy-like beauty. 
 
 Viewed from below, there is nothing to suggest 
 anything but crags tastefully clothed with deciduous 
 trees and choice shrubs intermingling with each 
 other in natural fashion. No one would inuigine 
 that all this wealth of arboreal growth is a skilfully 
 contrived screen to conceal the existence of a score 
 or more of surprises in the shape of irregular terraces 
 cut out of the solid rock, bowered walks, grottoes, 
 and exquisite flower-gardens. From every change 
 of elevation a fresh and interesting view is obtained 
 of the lovely landscape which spreads out in wonder- 
 ful breadth and variety to the south-east and west. 
 Access to these terraces is by a series of flights of 
 steps from the w^estern end of the lower lawn, and 
 fi'oni the eastern end by zigzag walks of easy
 
 1859-00.] WEMYSS HOUSE AND CASTLE WEMYSS. 'Mrj 
 
 gradients, all perfectly concealed, so that no artificial 
 line is visible. 
 
 On the npj)erniost terrace is a fine range of plant 
 and fi'uit houses, the largest of which is devoted to 
 a superb specimen of the New Zealand fern-palm 
 (Ci/athea dealbata), believed to be the largest and 
 finest in Europe. This last terrace is 112 feet above 
 the level of the lawn surrounding the house, and its 
 outer edge is only about 100 yards in direct line from 
 the shore of the Firth. 
 
 It has been well said that '' the working out of so 
 much picturesque beauty from bare, barren crags in 
 so limited an area has been no mean feat of land- 
 scape gardening skill, and the result seems like a 
 realisation of the Babylonian gardens of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar."* A year after Mr. Burns had taken up his 
 residence in Wemyss Bay, his son, John Burns, was 
 married to Emily, daughter of George Clerk Arbuth- 
 not, of Mavisbank House, Midlothian ; and in the 
 following year his second son, James Cleland Burns, 
 was married to Selina Louisa Colquhoun, daughter 
 of William Laurence Colquhoun, of Clathick, Perth- 
 shire. Mr. James Cleland Burns took up his 
 abode at Lochside, Lochwinnoch, while Mr. John 
 Burns settled down at Castle Wemyss. 
 
 Unless the reader can picture to his mind's eye 
 the position of the house of Mr. Bm-ns, and the 
 
 * The Gardeners Chronicle, August IH, 1888, in which a full 
 description is given of the gardens of Wemyss House and of Castle 
 Wemvss.
 
 ;-31G Slli GEORGE BVBNS. [Chai-. XVI. 
 
 castle of ]]is son, mucli of the succeeding part of 
 this narrative will he to some extent unintelligihle. 
 Castle Wemyss is a lovely mansion, hnilt upon a 
 rock at the extreme edge of the promontory where 
 the river Clyde widens into the Firth of Clyde. 
 Every one acquainted with the West Coast of 
 Scotland, knows this well-situated and elegantly 
 designed castle. It was huilt in three different 
 portions at three different times, and was converted 
 into one harmonious whole, in the old Scotch 
 l)aronial order of architecture, hy a man of distinct 
 genius, one Mr. Billings, who unhappily died soon 
 after the completion of the work, upon which he has 
 left literally the impress of his own hand in some 
 singularly good stone-carving. 
 
 Sweeping lawns surround the castle on the land- 
 ward side, studded with clumps of evergreens and 
 tiowering shruhs, where, through vistas of ornamental 
 trees, exquisite views — never the same for two hours 
 together — are obtained of Dunoon and the rugged 
 peaks of Arran. Gardens and plantations slope 
 down to the shore, where a handsome red sandstone 
 pier forms a harhour and a landing place for the 
 hoats of the yacht in which Mr. John Burns spends 
 most of his sinnmer-time. 
 
 Wemyss House is just outside the castle grounds, 
 but, handsome as is the residence of Mr. Burns, it 
 bears no comparison with that of his son. The reason 
 may be readily explained in this manner. Mr. 
 Burns, when he retired from business, naturally felt
 
 IHIKI-DU.] ll'Oii'A',S' (JF I'lIILANTtmul'Y. ;U7 
 
 that he was neariug the end of his jouiMiey, while 
 his son was, comparatively speaking, only just 
 heginuing. Both were " given to hospitality" in an 
 unusual degree, and such perfect harmony existed 
 in every w^isli, thought and feeling between parents 
 and son, that, while ready to share all things in 
 common if need be, the elders reserved to them- 
 selves those chances of quiet repose which were 
 not so necessary to the happiness of their 
 children. 
 
 So it came to pass that the guests at Castle 
 Wemyss were guests at Wemyss House and vice 
 versa, and the interests of all, in working for the 
 connnon good, were one. 
 
 Mr. Burns' life at Wemyss Bay w^as " full-orbed," 
 and we can only in this chapter glance at some 
 phases of it. 
 
 Works of philanthropy in divers forms became the 
 main business of his life in his retirement. He was 
 a conscientious man in all things, and he gave 
 liberally to almost every form of charitable work. 
 But he did not let his "right hand know what his 
 left was doing," and nothing can be said here of the 
 extent of his benefactions. 
 
 It is not the cost, however, that makes the real 
 value of any gift, but the painstaking kindness, the 
 thoughtful tenderness, the kindly sympathy that 
 accompany it. And through all those thirty years ■ 
 and more of his retired life at Wemyss Bay, 
 scarcely a day passed in which he and his wife
 
 318 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 did uot make some home happier, cheer the heart 
 of some poor weary plodder, or minister to the 
 necessities of " him who was ready to perish." 
 
 The demands upon the henevolence of Mr. Burns 
 were ahnost innumerable, and he was wont to re- 
 spond to them all, or nearly so. It was his custom 
 not to give large sums to any one object, but to 
 contribute to an iniinite variety of objects. 
 
 He not oidy gave himself, but in so far as he 
 could he inspired others to give, and no man knew 
 better than he how to put a charitable petition in 
 train. 
 
 He loved to assist poor and struggling churches, 
 and to help towards building new ones ; he and his 
 wife put into circulation books that they thought 
 would be as silent messengers in households and do 
 good ; he was interested in evangelization on the 
 Continent, and rarely withheld a solicited sub- 
 scription ; he watched the good services to the poor 
 of London and other cities rendered by his friend 
 Lord Shaftesbury, and backed up his labours by 
 contributions to such movements as, for instance, 
 the Watercress and Flower Girls Mission. 
 
 The demands were incessant. A packet of letters 
 from applicants lies before the present writer. In one. 
 a poor family, wishing to leave Ireland, ask Mr. Burns 
 to give them a free passage. In another, a minister 
 has a friend who is extending Sunday-school opera- 
 tions in liio de Janeiro, which " will be like a light- 
 house on a dark and dangerous coast, the light of
 
 1860-90.] DOING CrOOD. 319 
 
 God's truth streaming from it." Another says, " I 
 always remember what Mr. Burns said to me after 
 the misfortune I had, when he gave me the £100 : 
 that he had pleasure in doing a good turn when good 
 comes out of it." Good came out of it in the case 
 in point ; it was the social salvation of the man and 
 his family. 
 
 One letter is from the secretary of a society who 
 grumhles because he has not had a larger subscrip- 
 tion, instead of giving thanks for what he has re- 
 ceived. To this Mr. Burns appended the reply he 
 sent : — 
 
 I reserve to myself the right of judging from time to time what 
 I will give, or whether I will give anything at all. This practice 
 is and has been my custom with regard to all institutions. 
 
 Although Mr. and Mrs. Burns joined together so 
 successfully in their works of charity, they had to 
 share the common lot of philanthropists, and suffer 
 occasional imposition. To one such occurrence, Sir 
 T. H. Farrer, waiting fi'om the Trinity yacht Galatea, 
 on the 6th of September, 1883, to Mr. John Burns, 
 refers :■ — 
 
 I was sorry that I did not see your father, with whom I had so 
 nuich pleasant intercourse thirty years ago. Indeed his name, 
 and our visit to lona yesterday, carried me back to a still earlier 
 memory when my first wife, then Fanny Erskine, Avas taken by 
 Mrs. ]>urns in one of their steamers to lona, and where, after ]\Irs. 
 Burns had kindly and charitably purchased all the stockings they
 
 320 Slli GEOliGE BURNS. [Chap. XYJ. 
 
 had knitted, she found on opening the large packet they had 
 Dovigbt that they had sold her all their old stockings, worn in 
 holes and dirty, liniocent, helpless Islanders ! 
 
 In the welfare of seamen, it was only natural that 
 Mr. Burns should take a special and a lifelong- 
 interest. He had done nuich for the men of his 
 own fleet, hut he hailed every oj)portunity of ad- 
 vancing the moral and spiritual condition of seamen 
 generally. It grieved him to find, for example, 
 from official documents forwarded from our North 
 American Colonies and fi'om the West Indies, that 
 in ahout the year 1854, more than 58,000 seamen 
 (British suhjects) annually fi"equented those harbours, 
 while the provision for their moral well-being was 
 of the most scanty description, and none whatever 
 by the direct and immediate agency of the Church 
 of England. 
 
 Various societies were originated, and agencies set 
 to work to alter this state of things, in which he 
 took part in conjunction with his old friends, 
 the Piev. C. B. Cribble, Admiral Sir Edward Parry, 
 Admiral Sir James Hope, and others. 
 
 One of the institutions in which Mr. and Mrs. 
 Burns took a lively interest, was the Irish' Island 
 Society, founded by Mrs. Pendleton, of Dublin, in 
 1818, for promoting the scriptural education and 
 religious instruction of Irish Roman ' Catholics, 
 chiefly through the medium of their own language. 
 By this instrumentality, thousands of Irish- 
 speaking people have been instructed in the art of
 
 18G0-90.] SIR GEORGE CORNEWALL LEWIS. 321 
 
 reading in the vernacular, their text-book being 
 selected portions of the Bible. Flowing from this, 
 there has been a constant succession of Scripture- 
 readers and missionaries, with churches and school- 
 houses in their train. 
 
 From those early days when Mr. Burns, as a 
 young man, commenced his business career by 
 travelling in Ireland, he had taken a deep interest 
 in the people and the unhappy state of their country. 
 It was borne in upon his mind that the only remedy 
 lay in the enlightenment of the young by education, 
 the unfettered circulation of the Scriptures, and 
 kindly help and sympathy. 
 
 The '' Irish question," whether taken up by private 
 philanthropists or public bodies, or by the State, 
 bristles with difficulties, and so Mr. Burns found. 
 He was greatly interested in the spread of education 
 in Scotland, and especially among the ever-increasing 
 population of Glasgow ; but work in that behoof was 
 sadly hindered by the immigration of the Irish, 
 and the parochial school system, in consequence, 
 received its death-blow. 
 
 At one time Mr. Burns was brought much into 
 communication with Sir George Cornewall Lewis, 
 who visited him at Glasgow, and was extremely 
 anxious to know about the progress of immigration 
 from Ireland. 
 
 I gave him (says Mr. Burns) all the information I could obtain 
 as to tliG number we carried from Belfast, especially in harvest 
 
 21
 
 322 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 time, and the result for the whole year came out very much as 
 follows : Of every hundred brouj^dit across, ninety-four were 
 returned by our steamers to Ireland, most of them being harvest 
 labourers, leaving only six per cent to settle in Scotland. After 
 that period, the number remaining in Scotland increased to a 
 marvellous extent. 
 
 An admirable institution in which Mr. and Mrs. 
 Burns were much interested was the Pilgrim Mission 
 of St. Chrischona, near Basle. It was established in 
 1840 by Mr. C. F. Spittler, who, in 1815, had founded 
 the celebrated Basle Missionary Societ}^ He con- 
 ceived the novel idea of utilising an old ruined 
 church, which had been turned into a cart-house by 
 the farmer who owned the adjoining fields. Having 
 obtained the permission of the Government to use 
 the church. Father Spittler gathered around him a 
 number of young men of the artizan class with the 
 object of training them as Christian missionaries, 
 and then sending them forth to gain their liveli- 
 hood by the work of their hands and at the same 
 time to preach the gospel. From a very small 
 beginning the Pilgrim Mission grew and prospered ; 
 scores of young men were sent forth as evangelists 
 in Palestine, Egypt, Nubia, Central Africa, as well 
 as in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland ; a cluster of 
 houses sprang up round the old church, a printing- 
 press and book-binding establishment did good 
 auxiliary work, and many other forms of usefulness 
 came into operation. Associated with the institu- 
 tion was a Home of Eescue for men of all ages and
 
 1860-90.] FAMOUS MISSIONAIUES. 823 
 
 conditions who had gone astray, and who, suhmitting 
 to strict discipline, constant manual labour, and total 
 abstinence, expressed their wish to return to paths of 
 righteousness. 
 
 All the teachers of the institution, as well as the 
 students, worked without salary, satisfied with the 
 apostles' rations, " having food and raiment, let us be 
 therewith content." Mr. and Mrs. Burns went to 
 Basle on one occasion on purpose to inspect the 
 mission, and to acquaint themselves fully wdth the 
 scope of its operations, and thenceforth they never 
 ceased to take an active interest in its welfare. 
 They received a hearty welcome from the leaders, but 
 venerable Father Spittler was absent. He died in 
 1867, in his eighty-sixth year ; and his adopted son, 
 now working in a distant country in the same good 
 cause, was for a long time the guest of Mr. Burns, 
 who held him in high esteem. 
 
 Mr. Burns was President of the Glasgow Branch 
 of the Church Missionary Society, and this brought 
 him into contact with many great and good men, 
 wiio rallied round him not only when he presided at 
 the annual meetings, but whenever there was any 
 fresh wave of activity. The annual deputations 
 fi'om the parent society, of which Mr. Burns was 
 also a governor, were always received and enter- 
 tained at his house in Brandon Place, Glasgow ; and 
 the visits of such men as Weitbrecht, whose abundant 
 labours are known in all the churches, or of Leupolt, 
 the missionary at Benares at the time of the Mutiny,
 
 324 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 were occasions of great pleasure, for Mr. Burns 
 entered into all the minutiffi of their work with the 
 keenest interest, and greatly relished the stories of 
 peril, adventure, and success they had to tell. 
 
 Every organisation that had for its object the 
 welfare of the Jews, he not only supported with his 
 contributions, but aided by all other means within 
 his power. To him the Jew was God's standing 
 miracle on earth. 
 
 One day the present writer drew Mr. Burns into 
 a long conversation on God's ancient people, and a 
 recollection of that conversation • is, briefly, as 
 follows : — 
 
 For sixty years I have never omitted praying for the Jews in 
 
 the daily prayers of our household. I have from early life taken 
 
 a strong interest in them, and the societies established for their 
 
 spiritual welfare. My wife and I were always fond of attending- 
 
 their synagogues both in London and abroad. In the synagogue 
 
 at Carlsbad, one of the officials came to me and asked that 
 
 I would read the law. I declined, but sitting next to the 
 
 Chaplain to the Enghsh Embassy in Berlin, himself of Israelitish 
 
 descent, I asked him what was meant by it, as I was not a Jew. 
 
 He said, ' It is meant as a compliment, but it is always expected in 
 
 such cases that some contribution to the funds should be given.' 
 
 I said, ' Will they put a phylactery upon me ? ' He said, ' No, 
 
 they will only invest you with a scarf.' I have since learned that 
 
 the custom of expecting a subscription is disapproved of now. In 
 
 Carlsbad it is usual for visitors to subscribe to some of the public 
 
 institutions, and one of the police calls and asks to which of such 
 
 institutions the contribution is to be devoted. I desired that mine 
 
 might go to the Jews' Hospital, when the canvasser looked at me 
 
 with astonishment, and said, ' Oh, nobody ever subscribes to that ! "
 
 1860-90.] RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 325 
 
 The study of prophecy may be said to be ahnost 
 Hmited in the present day to the Evangelicals. It 
 does not advance the interests of tlie High Church 
 party — it is a stone of stumbling and a rock of 
 offence to Broad Churchmen. 
 
 .The views of a man of strong common sense, 
 combined with strong Christian principle, who for 
 sixty years not only studied the whole of the Bible, 
 but made it a subject of daily prayer, cannot fail to 
 be of interest. Here are some crude recollections of 
 a conversation with Mr. Burns, in which he stated 
 his opinions to the present writer : — 
 
 I have always found mucli comfort in the doctrine of the Second 
 Coming of our Lord, and to a considerable extent I agree with the 
 writings of Elliott, and more recently with those of Mr. Grattan- 
 Guinness, but I do not understand or appreciate fanciful inter- 
 pretations, except as they agree exactly with the Bible. It seems 
 to me to be helpful to one's faith to think of things to come. We 
 meditate upon God in the past and in the present ; we should 
 think of Him equally as in the future. I have never had a feeling 
 in common with those whose gloomy views represent the world as 
 growing more and more wicked, until the Lord should come to 
 destroy and annihilate. At the same time I do not overlook the 
 saying, ' When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the 
 earth ? ' I would rather think of the knowledge and love of Christ 
 as growing and expanding until He came, and with Him the resti- 
 tution of all things. I believe that there will be upon the earth a 
 Millennial glory ; that subsequently there will be a falling away, 
 and after that the end will come. But I have not arrived at the 
 opinion of many of my most intelligent and valuable friends that 
 our Lord may be expected to appear to-day or any present day. 
 But when He shall appear we shall see Him, and every one who 
 has this hope in HUn will purify himself even as He is pure.
 
 320 Slli GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 With regivnl to the Jews, I certainly gatlier from the Scriptures 
 that they will return to their own land, and I read the passages 
 relating to their restoration in as literal a sense as I read those 
 relating to their dispersion. For me, every individual Jew has an 
 interest ; he is a living witness to the truth of Christianity and of 
 the Bible ; and for centuries has been God's witness in the world. 
 Every Jew is a warning to those who reject God's mercy or despise 
 His threatenings. Although a homeless race, and clinging to a 
 hopeless faith, they are still the ' People of God,' and I think the 
 blackest pages in the history of our country have been those in 
 which we, as a nation, have taken advantage of their unhappy 
 position, and have treated them with injustice and cruelty. Al- 
 though the veil is still over their hearts, I cannot doubt that it 
 will be removed. God hath not cast away His people whom He 
 foreknew, but for the individual Jew, as for the nation at large, 
 the only hope lies in a reception of our Lord as the Messiah of 
 God. 
 
 Closely allied to the coucern of Mr. Burns for tlie 
 Jews, was his interest not only in their country, but 
 in all the Bible lands surrounding it. He watched 
 with intense pleasure the growing prosperity and 
 usefulness of the Cairo schools under the able 
 management of Miss Whately, and did what he 
 could to assist them. But there was nothing 
 in the East which absorbed him more than the 
 education of the children of Mohammedans, 
 Druzes, Maronites, and Greeks, in the hill-country 
 of Lebanon. 
 
 In 1852, a Methodist gentleman, Mr. Lothian, of 
 the neighbourhood of Carlisle, went to Syria, and 
 there became acquainted with a Syrian family 
 named Saleebey. He lived with tliem for a consider-
 
 1852-70.] THE LEBANON SCHOOLS. 327 
 
 able time, and assisted in getting up schools in their 
 district, El Schweir, near Beyroiit. On his return 
 to this country he brought with him young Saleebey. 
 After a time. Lady Leitli wrote to Mrs. Burns 
 introducing him, and asking if she could render 
 him any assistance. She found that when he 
 arrived in this country he had asked a porter 
 where he could lodge, and had been sent to a dwell- 
 ing, which, on visiting, she considered to be any- 
 thing but a desirable one. She therefore invited 
 him to Brandon Place, and there he stayed for a 
 long time. Mrs. Burns energetically took up the 
 cause of the schools, and through her influence a 
 society was formed in the Lebanon, having for its 
 object the education of the children of Mahom- 
 medans, Druzes, Maronites and Greeks, in a very 
 populous neighbourhood. 
 
 It is no exaggeration to say that every fresh step 
 in the progress of these Lebanon Schools was under 
 the immediate observation or direction of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Burns. It would not interest the general 
 reader to narrate the many vicissitudes through 
 which these schools passed, but in the spring of 
 1870, at the instigation of Mr. Burns, Principal 
 Lumsden of the Free Church, and Dr. Alexander 
 Duff, the celebrated Indian missionary and reformer, 
 went out to Lebanon to inspect them. Their report 
 was in all respects satisfactory, and the result was 
 that the schools were taken up by the Foreign 
 Mission Scheme of the Free Church of Scotland,
 
 328 Slli GEOliGE BUIiNS. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 that they are still carried on under the same 
 management, and are not in connection with any- 
 other Lehanon schools. 
 
 Mr. Burns did not sympathise with the "utter- 
 most parts of the world " at the expense of his own 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 The Roj^al Infirmary of Glasgow, of which Dr. 
 John Burns was the first house-surgeon ; the Mag- 
 dalen Society ; the Glasgow Branch of the London 
 City Mission, whose founder, the justly esteemed 
 David Nasmyth, was a personal friend ; the Cottage 
 Home for Infirm Children, and the House of Shelter 
 for Women — these, and many more, were all institu- 
 tions in which Mr. Burns delighted. Nor was he 
 interested only in the philanthropic labours which 
 made so heav}^ a demand upon his own time and 
 that of his wife ; he participated in and sympathised 
 with the good works of his children, all of whom 
 have been distinguished for their ready and liberal 
 support of measures calculated to improve the 
 moral, social, and religious condition of the people 
 of Glasgow, so that an appeal for support to a 
 deserving object was never made to them in 
 vain. 
 
 Mr. Burns watched with fatherly pride the valu- 
 able services rendered by his son John in assisting to 
 establish the Cumberland training-ship — an institu- 
 tion which, in its proved results, has done more than 
 all the rest of the industrial institutions of Glasgow 
 put together to reform the street Arabs, and to inspire
 
 1889.] BOOKS AND READING. 329 
 
 them with higher aims and hetter motives in Hfe. 
 Nor were Mr. John Burns' activities less in connec- 
 tion with other societies, w^hich embrace within their 
 pale those of the humblest ranks of life. 
 
 Mr. Burns spent much of his time in reading, and 
 kept well abreast of the current literature of the 
 day. It was a never-failing source of delight, and 
 at the age of ninety- three he was studiously reading 
 Landell's " Central Asia," in two volumes, having 
 just before finished Drummond's "Natm-al Law in 
 the Spiritual World," concerning which he wrote : 
 " The consequence of his Biogenesis chapter is so 
 decisive in favour of evangelical teaching on the 
 subject of conversion, that it is impossible it could 
 be palatable to the carnal mind." He guarded 
 himself, however, against giving unqualified approval 
 of the work. 
 
 One of his chief pleasures was the study of 
 religious books, and all through life everything he 
 could lay his hands upon dealing with the Evidences 
 of Christianity he read and studied carefully. He 
 was a life member of the Victoria Institution, and 
 received regularly its valuable publications, which he 
 read with interest and profit, as evidences in 
 support and proof of the historical accuracy of the 
 Scriptm^es. It w^as not that he was in any kind of 
 religious difficulty, but that he liked to be furnished 
 with a good reason for the hope that was in him. 
 Nor did he confine himself to the works that advo- 
 cated the tenets of any particular sect. Wherever,
 
 330 Slli GEOliGE BURNS. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 and by whomsoever, good Avas Leiug done, therein 
 he rejoiced, yea and would rejoice. 
 
 It was characteristic of the man that he coukl 
 say : — 
 
 For sixty years I have never turned away from the Lord's Supper 
 in any church whatever, where I had the privilege of partaking of 
 it. ]\Iany a time in our travelling days we found the Table spread 
 for us. And my practice is continued by those spared to be still 
 around me, and dear to me. I love the Communion of Saints. 
 
 He was singularly free from religious doubt, and 
 had a childlike faith in the efficacy of prayer. He 
 agreed with what Justin Martyr said in his 
 "Apology": "When we say that prophecies have 
 been delivered respecting future events, we assert 
 not that they were foreseen, because they happened 
 by a fatal necessity, but that God, well knowing 
 what the actions of men would be, and having 
 determined that He would reward every man accord- 
 ing to his deeds, declared by His prophetic Spirit 
 that His dealings with them would correspond with 
 those actions, thus always leading the human race 
 to reflection and repentance, and showing His care 
 and providence for them." From which he argued 
 that they who would have the Divine blessing must, 
 in order to ensure it, walk in the appointed way. 
 All God's ways being regarded as part of God's plan, 
 it did not matter what the circumstances might be — 
 the state of the weather, cattle plague, pestilence, 
 bereavement, domestic anxiety — ho believed that
 
 1852-90.] THE PHILOSOPHY OF PBAYEB. 881 
 
 the laws which governed these things had heen 
 formed with reference to the conduct of men towards 
 Himself. If these things humbled men into sincere 
 prayer, their conduct became incorporated with 
 God's own plan; if they hardened men's hearts, 
 they stood alien to God and liable to His hot 
 displeasure. Blessings might be lost through the 
 neglect of prayer — therefore he would pray, without 
 inquiring too closely in what way " the laws of 
 Nature" might be bent to grant an answer. "Ye 
 have not, because ye ask not," says St. James, and 
 therefore George Burns was wont to take everything 
 to God in prayer, believing, as Dr. Chalmers said, 
 that " God may interfere among the physical agents 
 beyond that limit to which human sagacity can 
 trace the operation of law." 
 
 The plain statements of Scripture on the subject 
 of prayer were, however, ample for the faith and 
 practice of George Burns. We are not aware that 
 he ever attempted to justify either philosophically. 
 Had he done so, he would have used an argument 
 like that employed by John Foster in one of his 
 " Lectures delivered at Broadmead Chapel, Bristol," 
 in which he says: "God has certainly pre-deter- 
 mined what He will do, and His purpose cannot be 
 changed, yet, in many instances, He has pre-deter- 
 mined it to be done, as in answer to ^;r«?/er, and not 
 otherwise, not separately from it ; so that, not to 
 petition for the supposed good, involves a certainty 
 of not obtaining it, and vice versa.''
 
 332 SIB GEOHGE BURNS. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 One little incideut which, although it occurred 
 quite late in his hfe, was nevertheless characteristic 
 of any period of it, will illustrate the character of 
 his faith and prayers. 
 
 Mr. Burns was always a lover of dogs. One that 
 was a great favourite was lost, and his master 
 mourned for him. Every search was made, but 
 without effect, and one evening, when at last he 
 was obliged to give it up as hopeless, he talked 
 much about his old and faithful hiend. It was a 
 trouble to him, for he loved the dog, and in the 
 simplicity of his faith he believed that every shadow 
 of a trouble might be brought before the Heavenly 
 Father in prayer. And so in the family worship 
 that night he prayed " to Him who preserveth man 
 and beast, and without whose knowledge not a 
 sparrow falls to the ground," and reverently asked 
 that " wherever his old friend and companion went, 
 it might please God to lind for him a home where 
 he would be kindly treated." 
 
 " He prayetli well who lovetli well 
 
 Both man and bird and beast ; 
 He prayeth best who loveth best 
 
 All things both great and small ; 
 For the dear Lord who lovetli us, 
 
 He made and lovetli all." 
 
 Like all really good men, Mr. Burns was a lover 
 of humour and bright innocent merriment in any 
 and every form. He saw no piety in dulness.
 
 1860-90.] THE GAITER CLUB. 333 
 
 There was always fun of some sort or other going 
 on where he was ; everybody who had a really good 
 story to tell would take it to him, certain that he 
 would not only see and enjoy the point of it at 
 once, but would "cap" it with another. Every- 
 thing that made life glad and bright and beautiful, 
 song of bird, scent of flower, love of friends, pursuit 
 of ideals, merry jest and " hapj^y thought " — quip, 
 crank, subtilty, oddity, even nonsense itself, were 
 enjoyed in their proper time and place. He was a 
 wise man who said — 
 
 " A little nonsense now and then 
 Is relished by the wisest men." 
 
 Men of mirth were those in whom Mr. Burns de- 
 hghted, provided their mirth was not 
 
 " Of the nature as to make 
 One's fancy chuckle while his heart doth ache." 
 
 A number of such men formed themselves into a 
 society which was styled " The Gaiter Club " — their 
 bond of union being walking tours in Scotland in 
 gaiters, and an annual dinner at which humorous 
 speeches were made and the doings of the members 
 recorded. 
 
 Of this Club Mr. John Burns was President, 
 and Mr. J. Cleland Burns, Secretary ; Dr. Nor- 
 man Macleod was the Chaplain ; and among the 
 members were Sir Daniel Macnee, the painter, Presi-
 
 334 SIB GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 dent of the Koyal Scottish Academy, Laurence OK- 
 phant, Anthony Trollope, John Mac Gregor (" Eoh 
 Roy"), Hon. Evelyn Ashley, Admn-al Sh' James 
 Hope, Lord Kinnaird, Professor Ramsay, Sh- 
 William Thomson, and a host of others ; Mr. 
 Burns being for a long time the only honorary 
 member. He took an unfailing interest in the Club, 
 and well he might — his son and Dr. Norman Macleod 
 were the life and soul of it. Norman Macleod was 
 minister of the Barony Church for twenty-one years, 
 and this fact alone would account for his intimacy 
 with Mr. Burns and his family. Of that intimacy 
 but little will be said here ; but how interesting and 
 refreshing it was, those will appreciate best who 
 knew Dr. Macleod personally. He was one of the 
 most genial, generous, and delightful of companions ; 
 a man of sparkhng wit, of pathos and humour to 
 touch the springs of laughter and of tears at will ; 
 of great intellectual force ; of delicate poetic fancy — 
 a man with an impressive personality, a many-sided 
 character, and a lovable nature. He was at home 
 with old and young, rich and poor, educated or 
 uncultured, and everywhere and with every one he 
 was always frank, open-hearted, cheerful, sym- 
 pathetic, and manly. He was a fi*equeut guest at 
 Castle Wemyss, and most of the stories he told found 
 their way to Wemyss House. Once, when staying 
 at the Castle after a yachting cruise, the minister 
 of the Barony was conducting family worship, 
 just at the intended commencement of which the
 
 1860-90.] DB. NORM AN MACLEOD. 335 
 
 Kev. Dr. Honey, the minister of Inchtnre, came 
 into the room rather late. He had curly hair ; and 
 Dr. Macleod immediately saluted him with, " Come 
 away, Honey; fresh from the comh." But a better 
 story is told of Norman Macleod and John Burns, 
 when together with Anthony TroUope on a tour in 
 the Highlands. On arriving at an inn in Oban late 
 at night they had supper, and then told stories and 
 laughed without stint half the night through. In the 
 morning an old gentleman, who slept in a bedroom 
 above them, complained to the landlord that he had 
 not been able to sleep on account of the noise from 
 the party below; and added his regret that such 
 men should " take more than w^as good for them." 
 '* Well," replied the landlord, "I am bound to say 
 there w^as a good deal of loud talking and laugh- 
 ing; but they had nothing stronger than tea and 
 herrings:' "Bless me," rejoined the old gentle- 
 man, " if that is so, what would Dr. Macleod and 
 Mr. John Burns be after dinner!'' 
 
 When Norman Macleod got hold of a good story 
 it was torture to him to keep it in. One day his 
 brother. Sir George Macleod, heard a capital tale and 
 told it to Norman, taking care, however, to add that 
 he intended keeping it for the Gaiter Club. But 
 Norman was too sharp for him. No sooner had he 
 sat down at the Club meeting than he blurted it out 
 before his brother had a chance of opening his 
 mouth. 
 
 On one occasion at a dinner on board the Heron,
 
 33G Slli GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 Dr. Norman Macleod proposed the health of Mr. 
 John Burns, who was at that time a bachelor — 
 though there was a rumour afloat that he w^as no 
 longer heart-whole — in these words : — 
 
 " Gentlemen/' said the Doctor, " I remember a 
 minister of my persuasion taking for his text the 
 word ' Deevil.' ' Deevil, my frien's,' he said, ' is an 
 awfu' word. If ye tak the '' d" from it, it maks the 
 word " evil " ; if ye tak the " e '* fi^om it, it leaves 
 the word "vile"; if ye tak the "v" from it, it 
 leaves the word " ill " — ill, vile, evil, deevil — eh, my 
 h^iends, it's an aw^fu' word ! ' 
 
 " In like manner, gentlemen, I take for my text 
 the word ' Heron ' — the name of the good ship we 
 are now aboard. If you take the ' n ' from it, you 
 have the w^ord ' hero '■ — the gentleman whose health 
 I have the honour to propose ; if you take the ' o ' 
 from it, you have the word 'her ' — her whom we hope 
 soon to see sitting beside him ; if you take the ' r ' 
 from it you leave ' he,' the gentleman himself; and if 
 you take the ' e ' h'om it you leave the letter ' h ' — 
 and we all hope there'll be no JiitcJi about it." 
 
 The 2nd of April, 1863, was a red-letter day in 
 the history of the Gaiter Club, when a breakfast 
 was given to Admiral Sir James Hope, fresh from 
 his exploits in China. He was the guest of Mr. 
 Burns in Park Gardens, and when he came out of 
 his bedroom in the morning he was greatly aston- 
 ished to find the lobbies and staircase lined with the 
 blue-jackets of H.M.S. Lion, who saluted him.
 
 1803.] LOED PALMEBSTON AND THE " GAITERS." 3;57 
 
 Lord Palmerston was at that time in Glasgow, 
 where a few days previously he had been installed 
 as Lord Rector of the University. He was to have 
 been the guest of Mr. Burns, but the Lord Provost, 
 who lived close by, had also invited him, and very 
 properly he went as guest to the chief magistrate. 
 But he came to the breakfast of the Gaiter Club 
 to be enrolled as an honorary member — the onl}' 
 other honorary member being Mr. Burns. Fifty 
 gentlemen sat down to breakfast — at which Mrs. 
 Burns presided — a goodly assembly of distinguished 
 men. 
 
 After breakfast, on the motion of the President, 
 (Mr. John Burns), seconded by the Rev. Dr. Norman 
 Macleod, Lord Palmerston was duly elected an 
 honorary member of the Gaiter Club. 
 
 There is a famous rule of the Club, which is as 
 follows: "Rule xvii. : -'That at 'Gaiters' there 
 shall be no upright speaking." But Norman Macleod 
 induced Mr. John Burns to waive it upon the occa- 
 sion of the Prime Minister of England being made 
 a member of the Club ; and although the President 
 demurred, he rose proposing Lord Palmerston as a 
 member, followed by Norman Macleod, who also 
 rose, both making upright speeches. 
 
 The minister of the Barony was in great force, 
 and said that " he was sure that the highest Lady 
 in the land would wish all honour to be paid to Lord 
 Palmerston, but he did not know what the Sovereign 
 would say to a subject receiving both the Garter and 
 
 22
 
 nm SIB GEOBGE BUENS. [Chap. XYI. 
 
 t\w Gaiter"; and so on capering away to the great 
 delight of Palmerston and the other Gaiters. 
 
 When it came to Lord Palmerston's turn to reply, 
 lie not only did not rise, but buried half his body 
 under the table, and in that quaint, dij style which 
 distinguished his humour, said, amongst many 
 other good things — 
 
 " Gentlemen, I am very proud and flattered to be 
 associated with such a distinguished body. I am 
 informed, though gaiters have an intimate connec- 
 tion with legs, that no gaiterman is allowed to 
 speak upon his legs. He may speak about his legs, 
 but not upon his legs. Now, as we in these days 
 never show our legs, inasmuch as trousers would 
 conceal even the gaiter if we wore it, you will 
 excuse me if I am very short in my thanks. I can 
 only assure you that whether I wear long gaiters or 
 short gaiters, my memory of your kindness wdll be 
 long, and not short." 
 
 A well-known reporter on the Times staff begged 
 permission of Mr. John Burns to be present at the 
 breakfast, who assented on the distinct under- 
 standing that he was to take no notes. However, 
 Norman Macleod's speech was too much for him, 
 and down it went. But after the breakfast was 
 over, it dawned upon Norman that everything would 
 appear in the Times next morning — and sure enough 
 it would, had not Mr. John Burns succeeded in 
 arresting the appearance of the speech in print, to 
 the fi-reat comfort of the Doctor.
 
 18C3.] LOIW FALMEBSTON SHUTS HIS EYES. 33') 
 
 Lord Palmerston's speech was telegraphed north, 
 south, east, and west, to the utter confusion of mmd 
 of the majority of those who read it. 
 
 Not so, however, to Mr. Archibald Campbell of 
 Blythswood, father of the present Baronet, who 
 wrote the same day to Mr. Burns : "I see you 
 have been presenting Lord Palmerston with a pair 
 of gaiters ; if you could have given him a new pair 
 of legs as well, the gift would have been complete." 
 
 Apropos of the visit of Lord Palmerston to 
 Scotland, it may be mentioned that Mr. John 
 Burns gave him a sail down the Clyde in the Eoyal 
 Mail Steam-ship Wolf, and on going past one of 
 the ship-building yards, he pointed out to the 
 Premier a blockade runner then being constructed. 
 Palmerston looked at the vessel with great interest, 
 but, putting his sleeves across his eyes, he said 
 slyly, '' I don't see her." What most affected the 
 Premier upon this voyage was the Wolf carrying 
 the flag of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 
 at the main, the flag having been woven on purpose 
 from a sketch obtained from the Admiralty to do 
 him honour, as he then held that office. When the 
 TFo// arrived at the Tail of the Bank (off Greenock), 
 H.M.S. Lion and other war-ships saluted the flag 
 with nineteen guns, to which it was entitled ; yards 
 were manned, and all honour paid to the chief of 
 the State. The flag now hangs in the hall at 
 Castle Wemyss, as a memento of a great man and 
 a great occasion.
 
 340 Slli GEORGE BURNS. [Cjiai-. XVI. 
 
 To retiiru to the Gaiter Club. At one of the aimual 
 dinners, Sir Daniel Macnee, — always abounding in 
 anecdote, — told one of his long and most humorous 
 stories of a Highland family in Argyleshire, who, like 
 Eob Koy, had the propensity of 'Miffing," that is, 
 of stealing cattle wholesale. It was a story full 
 of humour, and Mr. Burns followed it the same 
 evening by a sequel. The story was this. Mr. 
 Eobert Stuart, Writer to the Signet in Edinburgh, 
 and also Clerk to the Circuit Court, had recently told 
 him that on the last occasion he was at Inveraray a 
 case of cattle-stealing was brought before the court. 
 Mr. Stuart said the evidence was so imperfect that 
 the judges thought a conviction could not possibly be 
 obtained, although there was no doubt whatever in 
 the minds of all connected with the case that the 
 parties concerned were guilty. The usual proceed- 
 ings went on ; the Crown lawyer stated to the jury 
 his view of the case for the prosecution, and, in due 
 course, the advocate for the panels pled their cause. 
 The jury retired to consult, and brought in a verdict 
 of "guilty." This greatly sm-prised the court, and 
 when, shortly afterwards, Mr. Stuart met the fore- 
 man of the jury in the street, he expressed his 
 surprise at the verdict, and asked how the jury 
 arrived at a conclusion. " WeU," said he, " I 
 said to the jury, ' I have no manner of doubt of the 
 guilt.' " Then, turning to Mr. Stuart, he said, " You 
 read the indictment so impressively, and it was so 
 clear, that I made up my mind from the first ! "
 
 1860-90.] LORD LAWBENCE AND THE '' GAITERS." 341 
 
 Time would fail to tell the thousand and one 
 stories that cluster round the Gaiter Club. Lord 
 Lawrence, grave at times, was almost as full of fun 
 as Lord Kinnaird, grave as he was at times. 
 When, as Sir John Lawrence, he became a member 
 of the Gaiters, Arthur Kinnaird (as he then was) 
 made a most amusing speech in seconding his 
 election, and wound up by saying : 
 
 " Sir John Lawrence has been extolled as the 
 Saviour of India — that, no doubt, is an honour ; but 
 does it not pale into insignificance beside the fact 
 that he has been elected a member of the Gaiter 
 Club ! " and so on, ad lib. 
 
 We have but glanced at a few of the occupations, 
 the interests, and the visitors that made up the sum 
 of daily life at Wemyss House. Until the reader 
 can appreciate the number of the h'iendships, the 
 amount of the correspondence, the fulness of the 
 hospitality, the burden of Church cares, of the 
 " Patriarch of Wemyss Bay," as Mr. Burns was 
 called, he will only have, however, a very partial 
 view of life at Wemyss Bay.
 
 CHAPTEE XYII. 
 
 SOME NOTABLE FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 When Mr. Burns was living at Kirn, near Dunoon, 
 some years before his retirement, he was introduced 
 by the Hon. i\j'thiu* Kinnaird to Captain Trotter and 
 his family, who were at that time making a prolonged 
 stay in Scotland. Captain Trotter was a remarkable 
 man in his day, and his influence lives in the lives of 
 many to whom he was made the means of great 
 spiritual benefit. George Burns found in him at 
 once a man after his own heart, and thenceforth 
 they were fast h-iends till death separated them. 
 
 Captain Trotter was thirteen years younger than 
 Mr. Burns, having been born in 1808. He was edu- 
 cated at Harrow, and in 1825, at the age of seven- 
 teen, entered the 2nd Life Guards, and obtained his 
 troop in 1830. In 1883 he married the Hon. Char- 
 lotte Amelia Liddell, the daughter of the first Baron 
 Kavensworth, and left the Guards three years after- 
 w'ards. 
 
 He was a young man of great energy and activity, 
 an adept in the art of skating, a lover of dancing and
 
 1839.] CAPTAIN TBOTTEB. 348 
 
 of the society in which that amusement was most 
 cultivated ; and withal a man of peculiar suscepti- 
 bility and deep affection. 
 
 In a short biographical notice of him by the 
 late Kev. William Pennefather of Mildmay, it is 
 stated that in a memorandum-book which Captain 
 Trotter kept there was found the following entry : 
 
 " Converted at Paris, by God's grace. Feb. 24, 
 1839." 
 
 One day Mr. Burns said to the present writer : — 
 
 Did I ever tell you the story of Captain Trotter's conversion ? it 
 is very remarkable. His sister was married to Sir Henry Lindsey 
 Betbune, wbo was Plenipotentiary to the Court of Persia at Teberan, 
 and whose son subsequently became ninth Earl of Lindsey. Lady 
 Bethune, during her husband's absence, had gone to Paris, and 
 while there was brought under very deep religious convictions. 
 When Trotter heard of it, he said to his wife, ' I must go to Paris 
 to look after my sister.' His wife replied, ' You need not try to 
 do anything to change her views ; she is like the Methodists, you 
 can make no impression on her in the way you wish.' However, 
 Trotter was not to be dissuaded, and he urged as a reason why he 
 should endeavour to rescue her from the associations by which 
 she was surrounded, ' I owe it as a duty to Bethune.' Captain 
 Trotter went to Paris, and he was so far successful in his mission 
 that Lady Bethune agreed to return with him to England. She 
 only asked one favour, which was that he would remain over 
 the ensuing Sunday, in order that she might once more hear 
 Mr. Lovatt — the Chaplain of the English Church in the Rue 
 Marbceuf, to whose ministrations her change of views was 
 attributable. Trotter went with her, and there and then he was 
 so much impressed with what he heard, that he said to his sister, 
 ' I stayed over the Simday and went to cluu-ch to please you, and now
 
 344 Slli GEOBGE BUENS. [Chap. X^•1L 
 
 I have to ask that you will remain over next Sunday and take me to 
 church this time to please me.' They went, and Trotter was again 
 deeply stirred in his spirit. After the sermon he went into the vestry, 
 and introducing himself to Mr. Lovatt said, ' I come to you as an 
 Englishman, to tell you my feelings and to ask your advice.' He 
 opened his heart fully, and ended by saying, * Am I mad, or if not, 
 what is the meaning of all tliis disturbance in my mind ? ' Lovatt 
 dealt wisely with him, and it ended in both Captain Trotter and his 
 wife becoming truly converted people. 
 
 When he returned home, preparations were in progress for a 
 grand ball to be given in his house at Dyrham Park, Barnet, to 
 which he had made some additions, but instead of the ball a 
 meeting was held for the advancement of home missionary work. 
 
 Dyrham Park soon became a centre of Christian 
 influeDce and activity. His first sj'stematic labours 
 were for the poor of his own neighbourhood ; that 
 same year he became Chairman of the Board of 
 Guardians at Barnet, an office he retained till the 
 end of his life ; and the religious institutions in 
 which he first took an active public interest were the 
 '' Society for Promoting Christianity among the 
 JewSj" and the " Irish Church Missions." 
 
 He soon began meetings in Soho Square for the 
 study of the Scriptures, which were attended by 
 many gentlemen of his acquaintance, who derived 
 much spiritual benefit ; while, in the summer 
 months, he instituted a similar kind of meeting 
 for the farmers on his estate. 
 
 Few men ever possessed in a greater degree the 
 art of speaking naturally upon the deepest spiritual 
 themes ; he could talk without preaching, and being
 
 1851-2.] LABOURS OF CAPTAIN TROTTEli. 345 
 
 intensely in earnest, his words went as barljed arrows 
 to the hearts of men. It did not matter whether his 
 hearers were humble cottagers, waifs and strays of 
 London, or persons holding high position in society ; 
 he spoke to the hearts of all, and told the simple 
 story of the Cross of Christ mth inimitable power 
 and pathos, while every passage of Scripture seemed 
 to be at his fingers' ends. 
 
 Some of the brief entries in his memorandum- 
 book, from which we have already quoted, are mnl- 
 hnn in 2^<^irvo records of the great labours in which 
 he engaged. Thus — 
 
 " .£10,000 raised for Irish Church Missions " sum- 
 marises years of toil and prayer and sympathy for 
 the spiritual woes of Ireland, while the entry, 
 "Cholera, Tarbert, Limerick, September, 1849," is 
 the only record of his faithful personal services 
 among the people when they were stricken by the 
 plague . 
 
 He owed a debt of gratitude to Paris ; how he 
 sought to repay it is told in the entry, " Paris City 
 Mission, began 1852." He had loved his profession, 
 and the brave men who had been his associates, and 
 could " never see a red coat ^^ithout his heart yearn- 
 ing over the soul beneath it." Here is the record of 
 his energy: "Army Prayer Union organised, 1851." 
 But the story of what that mighty organisation 
 wrought, extending wherever a regiment of the 
 British Army was to be found, can never be told. 
 As Mr. Pennefather said, " Many gallant officers and
 
 340 Sin GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVII. 
 
 soldiers gave up their lives iji the Crimean War in 
 the certain hope of a blessed immortality, whose first 
 religious impressions may be traced to the interest 
 which Captain Trotter tool\ in their spiritual wel- 
 fare." 
 
 He was a sound Protestant, and in company with 
 the Earl of Koden and the Earl of Cavan went as a 
 deputation from England to the court of the Grand 
 Duke of Tuscany to plead for Francesco and Kosa 
 Madiai, who w^ere imprisoned in Florence for circu- 
 lating, and assembling a few persons to read the 
 Scriptures. On his return he was asked in all 
 quarters (the incident being regarded with intense 
 interest in Evangelical circles) to give an account of 
 his journey and of his interviews in the prison with 
 the Madiai. He did so, here, there, and every- 
 where, and this became the means of introducing 
 him to the world as a public speaker. He utilised 
 his opportunity, and became one of the most influen- 
 tial lay preachers of his day. One of his constant 
 themes was the enforcement of a diligent study of 
 the Word of God, and he was wont to say " there is 
 no such thing as a short cut to a deep knowledge of 
 the Holy Scriptures." 
 
 Of the home life of Captain Trotter, Mrs. Burns 
 wrote to her son, James Cleland Burns, on one 
 occasion as follows : — 
 
 Dykham Park, Oct. 22, 185(). 
 . . . We are at present visiting Captain Trotter. Such visits 
 are more likely to do your father good than all that the world can
 
 18/50.] LOBD LYXDHUESTS " CONFESSION OF FAITH." 347 
 
 bestow apart from religion. When I look at a family like tliis, sur 
 rounded by all the attractions of the world, in wealth and position 
 in society, yet counting them all as nothing in comparison witli 
 those things which belong to the life to come, I feel surprised at 
 the small amount of self-denial I or mine have ever made for the 
 sake of that blessed Saviour who has done so much for us. 
 
 Captain Trotter's influence among men of educa- 
 tion and position in society was incalculable. An 
 illustration may be given here. One day Mr. Burns 
 showed me a manuscript paper headed, " A Confes- 
 sion of Faith drawn up by Lord Lyndhurst and 
 submitted to Captain Trotter." 
 
 Lord Lyndhurst (formerly John Singleton Copley) 
 was, as everybody knows, a man of brilliant abili- 
 ties, who, from the time when he w^as called to the 
 bar, rose in lame and honour until he became in turn 
 Solicitor-General, Attorney-General, Master of the 
 Rolls, Chief Baron of Exchequer, and three times 
 Lord Chancellor — a man of whom the Bar and the 
 Bench were alike proud. 
 
 The story of his life and labours, his marvellous 
 ability and his far-reaching influence, has been told 
 by Sir Theodore Martin.* 
 
 An important episode in his life has not, however, 
 been included in that admirable biography, and we 
 therefore give it here. On asking Mr. Burns what 
 this ''confession" by Lord Lyndhurst meant, he 
 said: — 
 
 ■'• " Life of Lord Lyndhm-st," by Sir Theodore Martin, K.C.B. 
 Murrav, 1888.
 
 348 Slli GEOIiGE BUENS. [Chap. XVII. 
 
 I will tell you the story as it was told to me by Captain Trotter. 
 At the house of Lady Gainsborough, a series of meetings was estab- 
 lished for the purpose of gathering together members of the higher 
 ranks of society who could not otherwise be induced to attend any 
 religious assemblies. Among those who were always present was 
 Lady Lyndluirst. Captain Trotter was in the habit of addressing 
 the meetings, and on one occasion Lady Lyndhurst came to him 
 and said that she was earnestly desirous that he would come to her 
 house and speak to Lord Lyndhurst. Trotter replied that he could 
 not think of doing so unless he had an invitation in the regular way 
 from Lord Lyndhurst, with whom he was not acquainted. It was 
 not long before Lady Lyndhurst had exerted her influence at home, 
 and had contrived to get the proper hivitation for Captain Trotter, 
 who immediately responded, and went with the direct purpose of 
 broaching religious matters. On his first visit he laid down plainly 
 his intended plan of campaign, saying, ' I have not come here, 
 my lord, to argue, but simply to take the Word of God, and 
 to found upon it whatever I may have to say to you.' For six 
 months Captain Trotter visited Lord Lyndhurst at regular intervals, 
 and lost all heart, for he fancied that he was making no impression 
 upon him whatever. When he was there, numbers of carriages 
 would arrive, but the visitors were informed that Lord Lyndhurst 
 was engaged, and some of them would say, 'Oh, he's with that 
 man Trotter again ! ' Li course of time a change seemed to be 
 coming over Lord Lyndhurst, but frequently, when Trotter was 
 speaking from the Bible, he would say, ' Oh, you have told 
 me all that before ! ' This was disheartening, but Trottor per- 
 severed, and some time afterward, when he was at Tunbridge 
 Wells staying with a gentleman whose name I forget, he had 
 a large meeting upon the lawn, and was surprised and pleased 
 to see Lord Lyndhurst Avhceled in, and sitting amongst the 
 iuidience. 
 
 I should uiontion thai Lord Brougham, although differing from 
 him in polities, was a sincere friend, and at a meeting of the British 
 Association in York spoke in very wnrm terms of his great intellect,
 
 1863.] LAST DAYS OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 349 
 
 and said ' that he reverenced the Scriptures, and constantly testified 
 his dehght in tliern.' 
 
 For some time before his death, Lord Lyndhurst 
 was becoming blind in both eyes from cataract. 
 During this period the subject of rehgion occupied 
 much of his thoughts, and he made an earnest 
 study of the Evidences of Christianity. He employed 
 much time in getting by heart the daily services 
 of the Prayer Book, and the greater part of the 
 Psalms. 
 
 " One morning," says Miss Stewart, a lady who 
 lived as governess and companion to Lord Lynd- 
 hurst's daughters, and whom he held in high regard, 
 " I went into his room with some message or request, 
 and was witness to a scene that I shall never forget. 
 He was in his easy-chair, with a grave, almost a 
 solemn expression on his face, so intent on his 
 employment that my presence was unnoticed. Be- 
 fore him, the Church Prayer Book held open by both 
 her small hands, stood his youngest daughter of 
 seven or eight years of age, hearing him repeat the 
 prayers, and now and then prompting and correcting 
 him. The old man, the judge and statesman, and 
 the little child, so occupied, made a picture that 
 could not be seen wuthout bringing tears to the 
 eyes. He liked no one to hear him his lessons, he 
 said, but his little girl." 
 
 He died in the autumn of 1863, at the age of 
 ninety-two, and his last words, in reply to a ques- 
 tion whether he was happy, were '' Happy ? yes.
 
 350 SIR GEOIiGE BURNS. [Chap. XVII. 
 
 happy ! " and then ^\■ith a stronger effort he added, 
 " supremely happy ! " 
 
 Lord Lyndhurst's " Confession of Faith " suh- 
 mitted to Captain Trotter was as follows : — 
 
 ]\Ian, as created, was liable to sin ; our first parents conmiitted 
 sin, their descendants have continued sinful. God, loving man, 
 whom He had created after His own likeness, resolved to raise him 
 from this sad state, and so take away the sins of the world. God 
 sent His beloved Son as a sacrifice (and who offered Himself as a 
 willing sacrifice) for the accomplishment of this benevolent purpose. 
 God has declared that those who sincerely believe in Jesus, and in 
 His suffering for man's redemption, shall inherit everlasting life. 
 This we cannot fully effect by our o\x\\ unaided efforts, but only by 
 the grace of God, and through the influence of His Holy Spirit. 
 Through faith so attained, we may hope to be accounted worthy of 
 the Kingdom of God, and shall be led to the performance of good 
 works, and to abstinence from sin. It will give us the assurance of 
 God's love and the love of His blessed Son our Saviour, and as a 
 natural consequence be followed by man's love of his Maker and of 
 his Redeemer. Thus, through God's grace and favour, is opened 
 to us the blessed hope of everlasting life in its fulness of joy and 
 blessedness unspeakable. 
 
 A well-known and much-loved man in his day, 
 was the Kev. John East, of Bath. He was very in- 
 thnate with the Eev. W. H. Havergal, of St. Nicholas, 
 Worcester, and with Captain Trotter, by whom he 
 was introduced to Lord Ashley when he was staying 
 at Roseneath in 1850, and thus became acquainted 
 with Mr. Burns. 
 
 Between him and Mr. East there was a warm 
 friendship, and lon^^- after the latter had passed
 
 18.16.] REV. JOHN EAST OF BATH. H.ll 
 
 away, Mr. Burns used to tell interesting stories of 
 his former friend. 
 
 One incident in his life is very striking (.says Mr. Burns) ; 
 it was told to me by himself. When he was a young man, 
 a candidate for ordination, he and several others met in the 
 drawing-room of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The young 
 men generally were chatting with the young ladies — the Bishop's 
 daughters. Mr. East sat apart, very silent and thoughtful. 
 Many years afterwards, when travelling, he attended service in a 
 church — the place and name of the incumbent I do not remember. 
 He was so pleased and satisfied with the sermon that he went into 
 the vestry and introduced himself to the clergyman, fi-om whose 
 conversation he soon perceived that he was an earnest and devoutly 
 Christian man. Then the clergyman said to Mr. East, ' If I know 
 the gospel at all, or preach it acceptably, it is to you that I am 
 indebted for being able to do so.' Mr. East opened his eyes in 
 amazement. * How is that '? " he asked. ' Well,' answered the 
 other, ' you may remember a time when a number of young men 
 were assembled in the Palace of Wells, waiting to go in to the 
 Bishop ; they were all very merry, save one who sat apart, thought- 
 ful and quiet. That made a deep impression upon me, and I said 
 to myself, there must be something earnest and serious in the 
 religion of that man. The impression never left me, and, under 
 the teaching of the Holy Spirit, it was the means of awakening me 
 to a knowledge of the Truth, as I now see it.' 
 
 Mr. East died in 1856, full of 3-ears and of honours, 
 and up to within five days of his death he was actively 
 engaged in the service of his Master. 
 
 Mr. Havergal preached his funeral sermon. They 
 had heen schoolfellows together, and, as boys in a 
 strange place, Havergal had said to him, "East, 
 do 5^ou love home?" That was the bond of their
 
 352 SIh- GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVII. 
 
 friendship, the altar on which they first swore 
 fidelity to one another. The last audible sound on 
 John East's lips was " Home, home ! " 
 
 Bet\Yeen Mr. Burns and Mr. Havergal there was a 
 hearty mutual friendship. They believed in each 
 other, and each loved the other's gifts. Mr. Havergal 
 was a true poet of the sanctuary — his sermons w^ere 
 models of natural, unaffected eloquence, rich in 
 poetic feeling. He knew nothing of the modern theo- 
 logies. When he left Astley, where he had minis- 
 tered for nearly twenty years, he said, in his farewell 
 sermon, " I am not conscious of the slightest change 
 of sentiment upon any topic of importance since the 
 day I first came among you," AYhen he resigned the 
 living of St. Nicholas, AYorcester, where he laboured 
 for fourteen years, he might, with equal truth and 
 propriety, have uttered the same words. 
 
 Another member of this circle of mutual fiiends 
 ^vas the late Earl of Eoden. Every one who knew 
 him well, recognised at once those amiable qualities 
 which distinguished him. He was a country gentle- 
 man and a genial friend. At the same time he w^as 
 an Irish j^olitician of the old Orange school, a 
 staunch champion of those principles of Protestant 
 ascendency associated with " the immortal memory 
 of William III." and the crowning victories of 
 Aughrim and the Boyne. He always regarded the 
 Irish Protestants as the bulwark of the Throne, and 
 looked with suspicion on united Eibbonmen acting 
 under the influence of Komish priests.
 
 1835.] . THE EARL OF BODEN. 353 
 
 The great turniug point of his life, when heart 
 and character were changed and he stood forth as a 
 soldier and servant of the Lord, occurred when he 
 was in his thirty-sixth year. He was walking through 
 the streets of Duhlin on the anniversary of a Bible 
 Society, and idle curiosity, as he supposed, led him 
 to enter the Eotunda where the meeting was being 
 held. He sought a quiet corner, for he was rather 
 ashamed of the company he was in, and as he sat 
 there he heard opinions delivered and sentiments 
 declared which were altogether strange to him, and 
 he said to himself, " If these opinions be true, then 
 I am WTong ; if these sentiments are founded on the 
 Scriptures, which I profess to believe, then I am in 
 error." 
 
 The arrows had hit their mark. He went home 
 and prayed for light, and light came. Henceforward 
 he w^as " on the Lord's side," became an active 
 supporter of all the leading religious societies in 
 Ireland, and used his heart-stirring eloquence not 
 only on great platform occasions, but as lay-preacher 
 in his private chapel at Tullymore in Ireland, at 
 Hyde Hall in Hertfordshire, and as Sunday school 
 teacher and cottage visitor on his estates. 
 
 George Burns greatly admired the character of 
 Lord Eoden, and found infinite pleasure in his 
 society. He had headed the deputation to Florence 
 for the release of the Madiai ; he had attended the 
 Evangelical Alliance at Geneva, and had been 
 brought much in contact with Malau, Gaussen, 
 
 23
 
 354 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVII. 
 
 Merle d'Aubigne, Troncliiu, and others. He had 
 known sorrow, too — the death of his eldest and be- 
 loved son, Yiscount Jocelyn, in 1854, and that of 
 Lady Roden in 18G1, dissolving a union of forty-nine 
 years. 
 
 Towards the later years of his life, Lord Boden 
 w\as in fi'equent correspondence with Mr. Burns. In 
 one letter written in 1867, after deploring that "fi-om 
 the crippled state of his limbs, which would make 
 him only a burden as a visitor," he could not 
 accept an invitation to Wemyss House, he adds : — 
 
 I am rejoiced to hear of the improvement in our dear friend 
 Captain Trotter's health. He is indeed a bright and shining light, 
 and a blessed witness for our dear Master. I trust his health will 
 be long continued, and that there will yet be many who will, under 
 God's blessing, be benefited by his example and ministration. It is 
 wonderful how our Lord blesses the most simple means to comfort 
 and enlighten His people. Some years since, I had a visit from 
 dear Dr. Marsh. He wrote four lines which I pasted up over the 
 chimney-piece in my room ; my friends coming in to visit me, were 
 led to read it, and I had the great happiness of hearing afterwards 
 that one of them, an elderly man and a general in the army, had 
 been converted by this simple occurrence. The clergyman who 
 attended him on his death-bed, wrote me word that my friend 
 charged him to write to me and tell me that those few lines, which 
 at the time I made him learn by heart, had opened liis eyes to the 
 Truth, and were the last words he uttered previous to his dissolution. 
 This encouraged me to get the lines printed on a little card, which 
 I have widely distributed, and I have heard of continued blessings 
 which have followed it. I enclose you one of them hei'ewith as a 
 proof bow God even by such simple means effects His purpose of 
 mercy to naturally ignorant sinners. . . .
 
 1867.] LOUD. BODEN AND DR. MAItSH. 355 
 
 The card bore these words : — 
 
 " In peace let me resign my breath 
 
 And Tliy salvation see ; " 
 
 My sins deserve eternal death, 
 
 But Jesus died for me." t 
 
 " St. Luke ii. 29, 30 ; Psalm xxiii, 4 ; Psalm xxxi. 5 ; 
 1 Corinthians xv. 55, 5G, 57 ; St. John xiv. 2, 3. 
 
 t Psalm li. 3, 4, 5 ; Isaiah xliv. 6 ; Daniel ix. 5 ; 
 Isaiah liii. 4, 5, 6 ; St. John i. 29 ; St. John iii. 14, 15, 
 10, 17, 18 ; Acts xiii. 38, 39 ; Galatians iii. 3-13. 
 
 Mr. Burns could not acknowledge that Lord 
 Boden would, under any ch'cumstances, "be a burden 
 as a visitor," and in September of that same year he 
 had the pleasure of welcoming him as a guest at 
 Wemyss House. Eeferring to this visit, Mr. Burns 
 says : — 
 
 Lord Koden was very infirm in his limbs, and was carried 
 upstairs by his own servant and my butler Walker. He was a 
 strong Protestant, as you know, and I said to him, jokingly, ' I 
 have a number of Roman Catholics working for me here ; if I 
 brought them in to carry you, they would perhaps let you fall.' 
 'No, no,' answered Roden, 'they would not do that; Roman 
 Catholics have always been very kind to me.' 
 
 He had his house at TuUymore open every evening at nine o'clock 
 for reading the Scriptures and for prayer, and all living round 
 Dundalk and neighbourhood were welcome to attend. 
 
 On one occasion, when Dr. Marsh was staying with him, he said 
 one morning at breakfast-time to Lord Roden, ' I'm glad, so far, 
 your coachman was not here this morning.' 'Why?' asked Lord 
 Roden. ' r>ecause he was so terriblv out of tune last night in
 
 356 SIE GEOBGE BUBNS. [Chap. XYII. 
 
 the singing.' Lord Roden said to me. ' He did not know it was 
 myself ! ' 
 
 Lord Roden told us- that when he had Dr. Wolff of Bokhara 
 stapng with him, knowing his peculiar habits, he took him along 
 the corridor of the bedrooms, and showed him particularly the one 
 he was to sleep in, saying, * If you sit up to a late hour, as we hear 
 you do, you will have no difficulty in finding your room.' 
 
 Wolff did sit up long after all the rest had retired to their beds. 
 When he went upstairs he had entirely forgotten the geography of 
 the house, and opened first tlie door of one bedroom, and then of 
 another, and so on, finding each one occupied. At last he went 
 into a room in which there was a gentleman lying in bed very 
 soundly asleep, and as there chanced to be a large bearskin-rug on 
 the floor, Wolff determined to take up his quarters there, wrapped 
 the bearskin-rug about him, lay down before the fire, and fell asleep. 
 In the morning, when the gentleman awoke, he saw a figure 
 covered with a huge bearskin, and in surprise, not to say alarm, 
 he gazed upon the object, totally unable to make out what it could 
 be. The gentleman in question was the Duke of Manchester. 
 
 In 1869, Lord Roden sent a very pressing invita- 
 tion to Mr. and Mrs. Burns to visit liim at Tullymore, 
 but owing to the illness of Mrs. Burns they were 
 unable to accept it. In his letter to that effect, Mr. 
 Burns wrote : — 
 
 It would be pleasant and profitable also, Init we receive it as of 
 (lod's appointment that we cannot avail ourselves of your and 
 Lady Roden's invitation. We have lately had many visitors good 
 and pleasant. My son John has a large steam-yacht, which was a 
 source of great enjoyment to our friends. Now we are alone — the 
 last of our visitors. Lord and Lady Charles Clinton and family, 
 left us this week in the yacht, to be deposited on a visit to friends 
 in the Highlands. They enjoyed our little chapel services and the
 
 1869.] DEATH OF LORD RODEN. 857 
 
 faithful preaching of the gospel. We had also Canon Conway and 
 his family visiting us and joining in little cruises. 
 
 My wife has never been able to go to church to hear Dean 
 ]\IcNeile. I have been telling her he is not the McNeile we used to 
 hear more than thirty years ago in Liverpool, but what he wants 
 in vigour is made up in matured Christian experience. . . . Miss 
 Trotter is at present staying Avith my son and his wife at the Castle. 
 It is only during an interval of relief that she is able to be absent 
 from the vicinity of her father. When we saw him in London he 
 was comparatively bright, but afterwards relapsed, and was ordered 
 to go to the Continent for a year. Mrs. Trotter and he got as far as 
 Ostend, when they were obliged to return by an increase of bis 
 illness. He is now at Lowestoft, but none of his family can see 
 him but Mrs. Trotter and one of his daughters ; therefore Miss 
 Trotter is better here. In spring he was wheeled about for a little 
 at Bristol in a Bath-chair. A friend of ours met him, to whom he 
 said, ' I am in the same school, but now you see the Lord has put 
 me on a higher form.' 
 
 That same year Lord Eoden went to Edinburgh 
 to have the advice of the celebrated physician, Sir 
 James Simpson, and there, in March, 1870, he died, 
 leaving behind him a bright example of j)ure rehgion, 
 consistent and unsullied. 
 
 Six months later Captain Trotter, around whom 
 so many of these associations cluster, also died. In 
 1868, in the midst of abundant labours, he had been 
 smitten down with illness. It was said of him " that 
 the earthly house of this tabernacle in which he 
 dwelt was taken down pin by pin." His strength 
 gave way, his spine became affected, and gradually 
 he lost the power of one limb after another, until 
 the whole frame was paralysed. It was this that
 
 358 Slli QEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. XYII. 
 
 brouglit liim, as he said, into " a new class in God's 
 school;" the once active, energetic man became 
 helpless as a little child, and to the last he retained 
 the Christian simplicity of a little child. 
 
 While Captain Trotter was staying in Scotland 
 in 1850, and a short time after he had become 
 acquainted with Mr. Burns, he wrote to him the 
 following letter : — 
 
 Taebet, Auf/. 16, 1850. 
 
 Let me express my very hearty thanks for your great kindness 
 to us, and for all the trouble yon have taken, I have received both 
 your letters, and look forward, please God, very much to have the 
 pleasure of seeing you to-morrow. 
 
 We have Lord and Lady Ashley here with us for two days from 
 
 Koseneath, where they are living at the Duke of Argyll's. I have 
 
 been telling him about you, and he wants muck to know you and 
 
 have some conversation. I don't know your plans, but could we 
 
 not go over from Dunoon on Monday to Roseneath direct, on to 
 
 the Duke's new pier ? I have arranged with him to do this on 
 
 Monday or Tuesday, and they will not be taken by surprise if the 
 
 weather is fine. You ought to know him. He is a devoted 
 
 man of God, and just now making such a noble stand about the 
 
 Lord's Day. 
 
 Yours very truly. 
 
 And obliged greatly, 
 
 J. Trotter. 
 
 This letter dates the commencement of a friend- 
 ship which lasted through life, and which demands 
 at our hands a separate chapter.
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 THE CAEE OF THE CHURCHES. 
 
 One of the principal labours of Mr. Burns in his 
 retired life was the "care of the churches." At 
 Wemyss Bay and St. Silas's in Glasgow, with its 
 mission church and schools at Partick, he was 
 labouring to present the Church of England to the 
 Scottish people as a thoroughly Protestant, Evan- 
 gelical, and Scriptural Church, and to show that its 
 services and ordinances of Divine worship, and its 
 ministrations among the people, could, without any 
 breach of Christian charity, be carried on in the 
 absence of Episcopal rule. But in the vacancies 
 that from time to time occurred in the churches of 
 which he was patron, it required a vast amount of 
 care to guard against appointing any one who would 
 not make a right use of his freedom fi-om the control 
 of Episcopal authority, or who would not faithfully 
 preach the doctrines and, so far as circumstances 
 would admit, observe the rites and ceremonies of 
 the Church. 
 
 In order to complete the history of Mr. Burns' 
 connection with English Episcopalians in Scotland,
 
 3G0 
 
 Slli GEOUGE BURNS, [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 we must go back to the period at which we left off 
 in a previous chapter.* 
 
 When, in 1849, it was found that certain EngHsh 
 bisliops were supporting the assumptions of the 
 Scottish bishops, it was resolved to meet the 
 threatened danger in the House of Peers. A peti- 
 tion was drawn up, and influentially signed, and a 
 deputation (consisting of Lord Ehbank, Sir James 
 Baird, Brodie of Brodie, Evan Baillie of Dochfour, 
 George Burns, Arthur Kinnaird, Burnley, Gribble, 
 Drunnnond, and Miles, among others) was appointed 
 to visit London. The deputation had interviews 
 with prelates and peers, and especially with Lord 
 Brougham, wdio undertook to present the petition. 
 
 On the 22nd of May this was done, and the 
 debate lasted for four and a half hours. The two 
 archbishops, and many of the bishops, at once 
 expressed their entire concurrence in the prayer 
 of the petition, and stated that they would not 
 object to license in their dioceses clergymen " duly 
 qualified in soundness of doctrine and character, 
 who, having officiated in English chapels in Scotland 
 separate from the Scottish Episcopal Church, do 
 not possess a testimonial from a Scottish bishop." 
 
 The animated discussion in the House of Lords 
 led to no decisive result, but it gave pubHcity to the 
 subject, and so far did good to the cause that Mr. 
 Burns had so much at heart. 
 
 For some years matters went on quietly and 
 =•- See p. 223.
 
 185G.] BISHOP GOB AT. 361 
 
 progressively, with little to call for remark, until 
 the year 1856, when Bishop Gobat, of Jerusalem, 
 paid a visit to Scotland, and without stint or reserve 
 gave his aid to the Enghsh EpiscopaHans there. 
 This brought upon him the most violent abuse, 
 alike from quarters where he expected it, and where 
 he did not. In a letter to Mr. John Burns, referring 
 to the bitterness of the attack made upon him, he 
 says : — 
 
 If I had previously had any hesitation about preaching the 
 gospel in the towns where the Scottish bishops happen to reside, 
 their subsequent conduct would not have failed to convince me of 
 the absolute necessity of faithful servants of God going to carry 
 light where the shades of such men are eclipsing the brightness of 
 the gospel. And I hope and pray that Evangelical bishops and 
 other mniisters of the Church of England may have grace to go 
 and continue with power the work which has been begun in 
 weakness, until the Scottish Episcopal Church either ceases to 
 exist or returns to the truth of God's Holy Word. 
 
 In the autumn, of 1866, the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury with much pomp and circumstance laid the 
 foundation-stone in Inverness of a Cathedral for the 
 "diocese" — so called — "of Moray and Boss in the 
 Episcopal Church of Scotland." 
 
 In doing so he appeared in the capacity of a 
 Dissenter— inasmuch as the Episcopal Church of 
 Scotland is a dissenting community, just as much 
 as the Wesleyans or the Independents or the 
 Eoman Cathohcs are in England, the Established 
 Church in Scotland being Presbyterian.
 
 362 SIU GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XYIIT. 
 
 Not content with placing himself in this extra- 
 ordinary and anomalous position, his Grace made a 
 speech in which he said, " I rejoice to he able to 
 give testimony to my anxious desire to seal the 
 union and connn union between the Episcopal Church 
 in Scotland and the Church of England. That 
 Episcopal Church is the only true representative of 
 the Church of England in Scotland." 
 
 Here was an opportunity that Mr. Drummond 
 was not likely to let pass. Having ascertained from 
 the Archbishop that his speech was correctly re- 
 ported, Mr. Drummond, in a series of pow^erful 
 letters, brought forward the whole question of 
 Scottish Episcopacy and of the position of English 
 Episcopalians. 
 
 We cannot enter into the controversy here further 
 than to quote some of the arguments used by Mr. 
 Drummond to test the conclusion at which the 
 Archbishop had arrived, that the Scotch Episcopal 
 Church w^as " the only true representative of the 
 Church of England in Scotland." 
 
 1. The Scotch Episcopal Church is purely a voluntary and 
 dissenting communion. 
 
 2. She has laws of her own, differing from and independent of 
 those which govern our Church. 
 
 3. She may alter these laws whenever she pleases, without 
 regard to any civil or ecclesiastical judicature in the kingdom. She 
 has done so three times during this century. 
 
 4. These laws enforce a discipline altogether foreign to that 
 which prevails in our Church, giving to the seven Scotch bishops, 
 as a court from which their clergy bind themselves not to appeal.
 
 18GG.] MB. DliUMMOND'S VIEWS. 363 
 
 the power of — ' 1. Admonition ; 2. Suspension ; 3. Deprivation of 
 a pastoral charge ; 4. Degradation.' 
 
 5. These hiws sanction, in congregations already using it, and 
 permit its introduction into any new congregation, a commimion 
 office which Dr. Blakeney, in his work on the ' Book of Common 
 Prayer ' (already a standard work), characterises as ' an instance 
 of decided retrogression towards Rome.' 
 
 6. The Scotch Episcopal Church formally adopted the Thirty- 
 nine Articles in 1804. But how? The Bishop Skinner of that 
 day wrote privately to an eminent layman of his Church that they 
 were to be ' subscribed by Scotch Episcopalians only as Articles of 
 Union, whereby we express our approbation of what the Church of 
 England has intended by them.' To this end he prepared a pre- 
 amble, modifying Articles 17, 25, 35, 3G, and 37. His correspon- 
 dent, however, induced him to abandon this, and to accept his own 
 proposal instead — viz., to subscribe the Articles as they are, ' every 
 subscriber explaining them to himself ! ' Bishop Jolly, neverthe- 
 less, when he signed them frankly declared, ' We must be candidly 
 understood as taking them in unison with that book ("A Layman's 
 Account," &c.), and not think any expressions with regard to the 
 Lord's Supper inimical to our practice at the altar in the use of 
 the Scotch Communion Office.' 
 
 7. Lord Romilly, in his recent judgment in the case of the 
 Bishop of Natal v. Mr. Gladstone and others, refers to churches 
 ' rejecting, as the Episcopal Church in Scotland is compelled to do, 
 the Thirty- seventh Article of the Church of England.' 
 
 8. So recently as 1850, the Scotch bishops, in Synod assembled, 
 took into consideration the case of Gorham r. Bishop of Exeter, 
 and solemnly declared — ' We do not consider the sentence in the 
 case referred to as having any authority to bind us.' Thus ignoring 
 a decision by which your Grace and all the members of our Church 
 are bound, regarding a vital question in one of the most important 
 of the services of the Church of England. 
 
 9. The above handling of the English Liturgy and Articles has 
 never been repudiated by the Scotch Episcopal Church ; and
 
 864 Sill GEORGE BUIiNS. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 cannot be, so long as her canons sanction the use of a communion 
 office involving a priestly miracle which has been deliberately 
 excluded from our office, and as long as the Thirty-seventh Article 
 is by the same canons a dead letter. 
 
 These were nuts which the Archbishop did not 
 crack. In his conchiding letter, however, he said : 
 " There can be httle use in diverging further into 
 collateral topics. My original position was, that a 
 Church governed by bishops, and using the Liturgy 
 of the Church of England as well as accepting her 
 Ai'ticles as its confession, was a more true represen- 
 tative of the Church of England in Scotland than 
 certain congregations which were under no bishop, 
 and which also used the Liturgy and accepted the 
 Articles of the Church of England." 
 
 This, of course, was not the original position of 
 the Primate ; between " the only true representa- 
 tive " and "the more true representative" there is 
 an enormous difference. 
 
 The Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Becord, 
 and other influential papers, took up the question 
 warmly, and the Enghsh Episcopalians gained by 
 the controversy. 
 
 Licidentally we may introduce here a letter fi-om 
 Mr. Burns's old friend the well-known Eev. Dr. 
 Guthrie, in which a curious illustration of the 
 "■ uncertainty of evidence " — wide of the mark at 
 present — is given, and also the strong opinion of 
 the good Doctor on the matter at issue.
 
 186G.] LETTER FROM REV. DR. GUTHRIE. 3G5 
 
 1, Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, Xov. 13, 18GG. 
 
 My dear Mr. Burns, — We were delighted to have a letter from 
 you — it was almost as good as a crack amid the loveliness of 
 Wemyss Bay. Thank Mr. John for his kindness in sending us 
 such a full-charged box of luscious figs. I have been reading 
 Whately's ' Life,' and one of his best ban mots turns on a fig. He 
 was dining at the Vice-regal Lodge. He knew he was no favourite 
 there, and let them know that, calling out as he sought to be helped 
 to some of that fruit — ' A fin for the Archbishop ! ' 
 
 As to the Archbishop of Canterbury, he has done foolishly and 
 unkindly, both. I have no sympathy with the writers of the Times, 
 who find fault with him as if he had been unlawfully poaching on 
 the preserves of a Presbyterian Establishment — that is all stuff. 
 But he was made to speak very foolishly ■s\hen he spoke of the 
 hinds and ploughmen and cottars of the Carse of Gowrie thirsting 
 for Episcopacy ; and I think he spoke wickedly when he repre- 
 sented the Scotch Episcopalians in Scotland as the true representa- 
 tives of the Church of England — that was a most unkind and 
 unfair kick at those who, from their very attachment to the sound 
 and Catholic doctrines of the Church of England, had refused to 
 connect themselves with Scotch Episcopacy. Whatever there may 
 be in that, I am pretty sure the Archbishop now wishes that he 
 had not crossed the border. 
 
 I have, to my own and my wife's great entertainment, discovered 
 
 that that good story of the Archbishop I read in your letter, and not 
 
 in the Life ! I am engaged reading the Life, and thought it was 
 
 there I read it. Is not that funny ? It shows the uncertainty of 
 
 evidence. 
 
 Yours, with affectionate esteem, 
 
 Thomas Guthrie. 
 
 In 1870, a question, AYhich had long been under 
 consideration, arose as to the propriety of obtaining 
 the services, permanently or occasionally, of a 
 Colonial bishop to perform the functions of his
 
 30G Slli GEORGE BUENS. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 office for the English EpiscopaUans in Scotland, 
 instead of sending candidates for Confirmation to 
 Carlisle and other English dioceses. The name 
 of a certain bishop having been brought forward, 
 the opinion of Dr. A. J. Stephens, Q.C., the famous 
 ecclesiastical lawyer, was asked. He gave it in 
 
 these words : " The Bishop of can, after his 
 
 resignation of that See, accept, without any dis- 
 qualification, the office of Bishop over congregations 
 in Scotland, members of the Church of England." 
 
 Public opinion was much divided upon the project. 
 Many of the English Episcopalians in Scotland 
 considered that " their strength w^as to sit still." 
 Hitherto they had been on the defensive, contending 
 for the enjoyment of a liberty guaranteed by law 
 and the Act of Union. To move in the direction 
 contemplated would be to place themselves as an 
 assaulting party on the Scotch Episcopalians, to 
 awaken fresh and more bitter enmity and opposition, 
 and to enter on a conflict destructive of much of 
 the peaceful and, as they thought, righteous position 
 they held. 
 
 The times, too, were out of joint. The eccle- 
 siastical atmosphere was showing unmistakable signs 
 of a gathering storm : the Church of Ireland would 
 in the following year be a free Church ; the Kitual 
 Connnission was soon to publish its report ; impor- 
 tant cases before the Privy Council were pending. 
 It might benefit the cause of the Eitualists if the 
 English Episcopalians in Scotland were to throw
 
 1870.] THE QUESTION OF A BISHOP. 367 
 
 down the gauntlet and oj^enly ignore the Church in 
 Scotland, which the Bitualistic party were looking to 
 as their rallying point. 
 
 There were, in addition, many weak points in the 
 case of the Scotch Evangelicals, the chief of 
 which were — (1) the position of bisho|)s consecrated 
 by, and hound in allegiance to, the see of Canter- 
 bury, when the late Primate, and the one then in 
 office, had declared the Scotch Episcopal to be the 
 only Episcopal Church in Scotland acknowledged by 
 the Church of England ; (2) although there was a 
 hishop ready to come forward and accept the position, 
 there might be insuperable difficulty in finding a 
 successor ; and (3) to have a bishop presiding while 
 under reproof and remonstrance from Canterbury, 
 would tend to place the congregations in the light 
 of separatists fi-om the Church of England, and shut 
 out all English clergymen from assisting them. 
 
 In view of these points, the feeling of Mr. Burns 
 on the question is given in the following letter to 
 Mr. Burnley : — 
 
 Wemyss House, Jidi/ 19, 1870. 
 
 My dear Burnley, — I have been giving the proposal to establish 
 :a Bishopric a great deal of thought, and I think it right to say 
 that, irrespective altogether of the fitness of any particular man 
 to fill the office, my mind is by no means made up as to the advan- 
 tage of the step itself, and therefore I feel bound to say that those 
 who propose carrying the measure into effect must not count on our 
 rendering assistance. Your view may be far more sound and cor- 
 rect under the circumstances than mine, but according to the light 
 I have, and the aspect of things present and future, I should do
 
 3G8 SIR GEOBGE BUBNS. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 wrong if I withheld my opinion, more especially now that you 
 intend going to London, on the subject. Were I to do so, you and 
 others might possibly think that you had been misled. I wish 
 particularly to avoid that as respects John and myself. He is 
 not here, but I think I am expressing his sentiments as well as 
 my owi}. 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 Gkokge Burns. 
 
 Mr. John Burns' concurrence in his father's ^'iews 
 is expressed in the following letter : — 
 
 Castle Wemyss, Jrih/, 1870. 
 
 My dear Father, — . . . There are two sides to this question of 
 a Bishop, and I am not inclined to admit that we cannot thrive 
 without one. ... I have not the slightest dread of our chapels 
 being closed by want of men willing to fill them, there being no 
 legal enactment against clergymen of the Church of England 
 doing so, and it would be showing poor faith were we to think 
 otherwise. No doubt to get a good bishop might be a good thing 
 as far as Confirmation and the rites of the Church are concerned, 
 but how are we to be sui'e of a successor, because we would always 
 have to look to getting a bishop who had been consecrated for a 
 purpose other than coming to Scotland. 
 
 I do not wish in any way to influence the opinion of others, but 
 I think that the matter should be carefully considered apart from 
 the natural wish of some to be under episcopal authority, which 
 personally I do not particularly covet. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 John Burns. 
 
 The mere discussion of the appointment of a 
 hishop gave rise to much bitter feeling, and the 
 opponents of the scheme not only sought to wreck
 
 1870.] A LEGAL OPINION. 8(;!» 
 
 it, but to wreck at the same time the whole position 
 of the EngHsh Episcopalians in Scotland. 
 
 In course of time, however, Mr. Burns, although 
 still failing to see the necessity of any such appoint- 
 ment, felt that it was undeskahle for him to stand 
 aloof, and eventually he and his colleagues fought 
 on in the face of the most bitter opposition, and 
 in the thick atmosphere of controversy. For them- 
 selves they did not care ; they felt that their 
 position was unassailable, backed as it was by 
 Acts of Parliament and the Act of Union. At the 
 same time they considered it would be highly 
 desirable for the sake of the clergymen who 
 assisted them, and who were subject to the 
 interference and the private remonstrance of their 
 bishops, against whose ivishes they were in opposi- 
 tion, to have a case prepared, and the opinion of 
 the best ecclesiastical lawyers obtained. 
 
 The good ofiices of Lord Shaftesbury, and his 
 hiend Mr. Alexander Haldane, Barrister of the 
 Inner Temple, were secured; a case w^as submitted 
 to Dr. A. J. Stephens, directing his attention to all 
 the Acts of the Legislature of Scotland before the 
 Union, bearing upon the subject, and to a number of 
 Acts of the United Kingdom, and he was requested 
 to advise — 
 
 "1. Whether a bishop wdio has held a see in 
 England, Ireland, India, or the Colonies, will, in 
 accepting the office of bishop over the congregations 
 of members of the Church of England, protected 
 
 ii4
 
 370 Slli GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 and allowed in Scotland, commit any act of secession 
 or disqualification in reference to the Church of 
 England ? 
 
 "2. Would the congregations cease to be congre- 
 gations of the Church of England, and their members 
 to be members of the Church of England ? 
 
 ''3. Would such action destroy the legal status of 
 these congregations ? " 
 
 Dr. Stephens went fully into the law of the case, 
 and concluded his opinion in these words : — 
 
 " I am therefore of opinion that all the questions 
 which have now been submitted to me must be 
 answered in the negative." * 
 
 This opinion was published far and wide, and it 
 removed many false impressions, some of which 
 were due to ignorance and some to prejudice. Mr. 
 Haldane, in a letter to Mr. Burns, said : — 
 
 The opinion of my friend Archibald John Stephens, Q.C., has 
 produced a great efiect, and has cleared away the cobwebs of many 
 bewildered prelates and sacerdotalists, as to the Scotch Episcopal 
 Church. I had long felt confident that the law only wanted to be 
 clearly set forth in order to settle the question. 
 
 A case had been laid by a certain Colonial bishop 
 before Sir Eoundell Palmer, f whose ultra-Church 
 prejudices were well known, and referring to this, 
 Mr. Haldane continues : — 
 
 Sir Roundell Palmer was approached, and his opinion was finally 
 
 ■'• For the " opinion " in full, see Appendix. 
 t Now Lord Selbome.
 
 1871.] MR. ALEXANDER HALDANE. 371 
 
 one that concurred with Stephens's on the Statute Law, although 
 he raised a conundi*um about Canon Law, with which we have 
 nothing to do. It was then that I drew the case which brought 
 out the Statute Law of the old Scotch Parliament, confirmed by 
 the British Parliament, and especially by the recital in the Duke 
 of Buccleugh's Act, which blows to atoms all the nonsense that 
 has been talked, of the change in favour of the Scotch Episco- 
 pahans effected by the Duke. 
 
 A review of all the statutes from 1689 to 1864 had 
 resulted in the proof that " there was no Episcopal 
 Church in Scotland recognised as a corporate body, 
 and that Scotch dioceses and territorial ecclesias- 
 tical jurisdiction existed only in the imagination of 
 sacerdotal churchmen." 
 
 Dr. Guthrie, who watched the progress of the 
 controversy with unflagging interest, wi-ote to Mr. 
 Burns : — 
 
 Glasgow, April 24, 1871. 
 My dear Mr. Burns, — ... I read the opinion of Stephens with 
 much interest. You should have a bishop. If you won't take the 
 bull by the horns, and do what the Canon Law of the Catholic 
 Church acknowledges vahd in difficult circumstances, namely, set 
 aside, by a solemn act of the Church, one or more for that office, 
 Mcllvaine of Ohio might float you over the bar. ... I was 
 taken, and my lorded, for a bishop at the royal wedding, and did 
 not repudiate; it was not worth while — besides, we Presbyterians 
 hold every pastor to be a bishop. If we can make out a run to 
 Wemyss Bay, it will be a great pleasure to Mrs. Guthrie and me. 
 
 As we shall not henceforth dwell further on this 
 ecclesiastical controversy, it may be well to state in 
 this place the events following.
 
 372 Slli GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 In 1877, after fortifying themselves with the best 
 legal advice that could be obtained — advice which 
 coincided with the opinion given by Dr. A. J. 
 Stephens in 1871, and reiterated by him in other 
 ^' cases " submitted to him — the EngHsh Episco- 
 palians in Scotland determined to have a bishop 
 of their own, and upon Mr. Burns and his son, 
 Mr. John Burns, the burden of the negotiations 
 fell. 
 
 The position of affairs had become intolerable ; 
 the members of the Church had to take their 
 children for confirmation to Carlisle and the diocese 
 of Durham, but the system was cumbersome and 
 inconvenient. That, however, could have been 
 borne, but after Waldegrave, Villiers, Baring, and 
 others of the same type passed away from those 
 dioceses, bishops of other views occupied the sees, 
 and determined to exclude the candidates fi'om the 
 privileges they had hitherto enjoyed. Meetings were 
 therefore held, here, there, and everywhere in Scot- 
 land, and eventually Bishop Beckles, formerly Bishop 
 of Sierra Leone, w^as invited to take the spiritual 
 oversight of the English Episcopalians, an invita- 
 tion he accepted without hesitation, as he held an 
 " appointment " as vicar in London, from which he 
 could fi-ee himself during the months of May and 
 June, to " visit the different congregations, and 
 perform the rites of his office in such places and 
 at such times as might be required." 
 
 For a time there was great rejoicing among the
 
 1877.] APPOINTMENT OF BISHOP BECKLES. 37S 
 
 Schismatics, as they were called, although not a 
 few rejoiced with trembling. Among these was the 
 Rev. T. M. Macdonald, of Kersal Rectory, Man- 
 chester, an old friend of Mr. Bmiis, and a frequent 
 preacher in the Wemyss Bay Church, who wrote to 
 
 him as follows : — 
 
 March 2, 1877. 
 
 My dear Friend, — I was intending to write a letter of con- 
 dolence, that the mitre bad fallen from your head on to that of 
 Bishop Beckles, but as I see the indignant query of the Guardian, 
 ' who appointed Bishop Beckles ? ' has received an answer in the 
 Record that three Lay Archbishops have done the deed ; and as I 
 regard -J. B. as your representative in the case, I beg to offer my 
 congratulations on your promotion to Archiepiscopal dignity, with 
 the addition of a suffragan under your direction, who, I trust, will 
 be as dvitiful in his Episcopal place at your feet, as it has always 
 been my privilege to be as a humble presbyter. 
 
 The appointment of Bishop Beckles will relieve the position of 
 English Episcopalians in Scotland of an anomaly which was of 
 growing inconvenience, as the generation of young people who were 
 of an age for Confirmation was passing on into another. In this 
 point of ^'iew, and as completing the Episcopal Establishment of 
 English Episcopalians in Scotland, I am very glad of the arrange- 
 ment. One drawback is in the probable future, when it is doubtful 
 if a successor can be found ; but, as you say, I thought it doubtful 
 that any bishop could be found so free from Bench atmosphere to 
 entertain the thought of coming — and sc my doubts may be groimd- 
 less respecting the future, as it proves to be respecting the present. 
 And in any case, the future may well be left to care for itself ; or 
 rather, it may be left to Him whose cause, as I believe, is identified 
 with the faithful refusal of English Episcopalians in Scotland to 
 compromise their loyalty to His truth by accepting the super- 
 intendence of the Scotch bishops. 
 
 The arrangement with Bishop Beckles terminated
 
 374 SIE GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 iinder the agreement made with him for a certain 
 period, and from that time to the present, the 
 Enghsh Episcopahans in Scotland have dispensed 
 with a bishop of their own. In recent years. Dr. 
 J. C. Ryle, the Bishop of Liverpool, has rendered 
 to the candidates for confirmation the good services 
 formerly performed by Bishops Waldegrave, Vil- 
 liers, and Baring. 
 
 We must now go back in the narrative in order 
 to connect the personal history of Mr. Burns, 
 and some of his friends, with these Church pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 In 1858, the Eev. C. P. Miles, who, backed by Mr. 
 Burns, had in his time " fought a whole regiment of 
 Scotch bishops," resigned the living of St. Jude's. 
 It was a great sorrow to Mr. Burns, and he wrote : — 
 
 Dunoon, Jub/ G, 1858. 
 
 My dear Miles, — . . . Your letter saddened, but I cannot say 
 surprised, me. Change upon change is constantly occurring here, 
 and so it will continue until we arrive at that rest that reniaineth 
 for the people of God. Throughout the fifteen years we have been 
 associated, I have never entertained anything but kind feelings 
 towards you, and between us nothing has ever occurred to ruffle 
 our intercourse. . . . 
 
 Since you are to leave us, I am truly happy to think that the 
 
 proposed appointment in Malta seems one well adapted for your 
 
 habits of mind, and you for it ; and if it be ordered that you are to 
 
 go there, I pray God that He may make you eminently useful. . . . 
 
 I shall reserve anything more I have to say, and I have much to 
 
 say, until we meet. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 G. Burns.
 
 1858.] FEIENDSHIP WITH BEV. C. P. MILES. 375 
 
 So long as life lasted, the Mendship between Canon 
 Miles and Mr. Burns remained firm and steadfast, 
 and it was a mutual gratification, as well as a help 
 to them, to open out fi-eely to one another in corre- 
 spondence between the intervals of their meeting. 
 Let us take a glance into the minds of these two 
 men, by selecting a passage or two h'om that mass 
 of correspondence. Mr. Miles, sohcitous for the 
 spiritual welfare of some mutual friends, writes : — 
 
 Their very doubts and fears are the evidence, not of a sceptical 
 rejection of the blessed hope of the gospel, but rather of the 
 sincerity with which they desire to realise all the peace and 
 consolation promised to the children of God. 
 
 Again, Mr. Miles, when mourning the loss of 
 his aged mother, to whom he was tenderly attached, 
 acknowledges a letter from his hiend Mr. Burns, 
 and says : — 
 
 It was not so much the religious truth you conveyed that gave 
 me comfort, for, as you may understand, my memory is almost 
 over-loaded with Scripture, and my constant habit for many years 
 past of quoting texts for the guidance and consolation of others, has 
 made the Divine promises as familiar to me as they are applicable 
 and precious to us all. But it was your sympathy that touched me. 
 It penetrated into my soul, for whilst springing out of Christian 
 love, and pointing to the only source of strength and joy and peace, 
 it was in harmony with nature — that is, your expressions of kindness 
 did not jar upon my natural feelings of distress. Some imagine 
 that advanced age lessens the bond that binds a son to an affec- 
 tionate mother; my experience is to the contrary. She had been the 
 object of my solicitude for many years : for more than sixty years
 
 376 SIR GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. XYIIl. 
 
 I had been lovingly associated with her. How. could it be otherwise 
 than a wrench when, in the dispensation of Divine providence, she 
 was withdrawn from my embrace ! I have felt her death deeply ; 
 the promises of the gospel do not assuage my grief — my grief is 
 natural, and I mourn, and I must continue to mourn, the loss of a 
 mother. 
 
 The old Glasgow days never grew old in the 
 memory of Canon Miles. In one of his letters, 
 written many years afterwards, he says : — 
 
 My memory is so deeply impressed, jQssured, if I may use the 
 term, by recollections of Glasgow and its neighbourhood, that even 
 sleep is not powerful enough to efface the pictures ; for my very 
 ch'cams are often of people and of scenes that belong to the Clyde. 
 
 To the cordial affection of Canon Miles, the 
 hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Burns responded warmly. 
 The following extract h'om a long letter written by 
 Mr. Bm-ns on the 1st of January, 1875, may be taken 
 as an illustration : — 
 
 I write this first effusion of the year in response to your kind 
 letter received at our breakfast table this morning. You never 
 uttered a truer word than when you say our friendship has been 
 unbroken since the first day we met. I may add what I have often 
 said and felt, that the sympathies and structure of our minds in 
 many respects are analogous. It needs not words to find it out. 
 And now for my wife. I think you and she must have sprung from 
 the same character of molecules : you are ' Treasurer, Organiser, 
 Secretary, and Clerk, nay, also errand boy ' ; she all her life has 
 been everything — Collector, Treasurer, President, Secretary, and, 
 in fact, totality of Committee for all manner of institutions. So 
 you two arc identical, as you and I are.
 
 1869.] THE WEMYSS BAY PULPIT. 377 
 
 The filling up of occasional vacancies in the two 
 churches of which he was the joint patron was 
 always an anxiety to Mr. Burns. He felt the 
 responsibihty of appointing men who were to 
 minister in holy things, and of placing them in 
 the peculiar position they were to occupy. To 
 one who was invited to accept the charge, he 
 wrote : — 
 
 I wish to put in my entreaty with as much earnestness as I can 
 express, that you will give this most important matter your favour- 
 able consideration. That you will he very earnest in prayer for 
 guidance I have no doubt, and with our blessed God and Father, 
 who knows we need instruction, I leave it. Our case is one of 
 urgency, and our position one of great importance, and with the 
 blessing of the Holy Spirit resting on the faithful ministration of 
 the servant of Christ, I think would be one of much usefulness and 
 comfort. The people are tractable English Episcopahans, ready 
 to be guided, I hope, into the way of all truth, if faithfully and also 
 wisely dealt with. I am deeply impressed with the importance of 
 doing everything that can be done to lay before you the whole of 
 our case, and then lea%-ing it, where it is already, in God's ordering. 
 
 In October, 1869, Mr. Burns withdrew from the 
 Vestry of St. Silas's, on the grounds that the debt 
 on the Church was entirely discharged ; that he was 
 rarely in Glasgow, except for a very brief period in 
 winter ; and that he had ari^ved at a time of life 
 which pointed to the propriety of the step he was 
 taking. 
 
 The supply of the pulpit in his Wemyss Bay 
 Church throughout the summer months of each year 
 was Mr. Burns's special care. Each minister who
 
 378 SIB GEOliGE BUBNS. [Chap. XYIII. 
 
 came had a nicely furnished parsonage, every atten- 
 tion, and a ready welcome to Wemyss House and 
 the Castle.* 
 
 To record Mr. Burns' anecdotal reminiscences of 
 these clergymen, the large majority of whom were 
 personal friends, would fill a bulky volume ; we can 
 therefore only cull a few specimens, and that almost 
 at random. 
 
 The first who officiated was the Kev. Thomas Tate, 
 grandson of the Tate who ran in harness with 
 Brady in hymnology. Mr. Tate's father was 
 appointed Rector of Edmonton, but soon after the 
 living came into his possession he died. The gift 
 was in the hands of the Dean and Chapter of St. 
 Paul's, and every canon iii rotation had the privilege 
 of giving a nomination. After the death of Tate, the 
 nomination fell to Sydney Smith. 
 
 Mr. Tate told me (says Mr. Burns), that very soon after liis 
 father's death Sydney Smith went to the rectory at Edmonton, 
 and to the surprise of every one at once announced his intention to 
 remain to hnich. He then expressed his wish to see tlie widow of 
 Mr. Tate, but she, so recently bereaved, begged to be excused. But 
 Smith would not hear of a refusal, and after some delay Mrs. Tate, 
 from her bed, put in an appearance. After lunch Smith called for 
 wine, remarking that he had a toast which he was anxious to propose. 
 After a curious preamble he said, * I have risen to propose a toast, 
 and I am anxious to propose it in this place, and under these cir- 
 cumstances. I give you the health of the new Rector of Edmonton.' 
 No one saw the point of his toast, and Mrs. Tate thought his 
 
 * For an alphabetical list of the clergymen who have officiated 
 in "Wemyss ]jay Churcli, see Appendix.
 
 1858-90.] ANECDOTES OF CLERGYMEN. ^71* 
 
 conduct was most unfeeling, until he added, ' The health of the 
 new Eector of Edmonton, the Rev. Thomas Tate,' and then mother 
 and son almost fainted with surprise and joy. 
 
 Another of the Wemyss Bay clergymen was the 
 Rev. Dr. Daniel Foley, a very able and genial man, 
 Professor of the Celtic Language in Trinity College, 
 Dublin. Mr. Burns has many stories to tell of him. 
 He says : — 
 
 Dr. Foley was very much with us. Amongst his many accom- 
 plishments was this, that he was a good swimmer, and a remark- 
 able diver. He taught my son James to swim, and sometimes he 
 would catch hold of him and take him down to the bottom oi 
 the sea. 
 
 On one occasion when a clergyman was staying with us, Foley 
 took him out swimming, and after cautioning him as to what to 
 do when under water, dived with him unexpectedly to the bottom. 
 When he came up he said, ' Oh, Dan, you've nearly killed me ! 
 You forget that I've only got one lung.' 
 
 Foley had a remarkably powerful voice, and could make himself 
 heard by thousands of people in the open air. When Mr. Glad- 
 .stone's intention of disestablishing the Irish Church was looming 
 over Parliament, Dan Foley and some others were appointed as a 
 deputation to visit Scotland for the purpose of opposing his pro- 
 posed scheme. A large meeting was called for Glasgow, in the 
 hope that the matter would be taken up warmly. I said to Foley, 
 * They'll do nothing of the kind.' He rephed, ' Surely Protestant 
 Scotland will stand up for the defence of the Protestant Church in 
 Ireland ! ' I answered, ' Protestant Scotland will do nothing of the 
 kind. You will get a large meeting in the City Hall, and you and 
 the rest of the deputation will be clieered to the echo when you 
 deliver your addresses, and there the matter will end.' The result 
 was exactly as I had predicted.
 
 380 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 With respect to Dan Foley's diving, when he was visiting the 
 mission stations in the islands off Cape Clear, an accident happened 
 to the hoat, and he was thrown into the water. He had on a heavy 
 great-coat and cumbrous boots, and after being long in the water, 
 and his powers of swimming taxed to the utmost, he began to sink, 
 and, when sinking into the deep, all the transactions of his life 
 seemed to come vividly and leisurely to his memory, as though 
 they were being actually repeated. I have often thought of this 
 story of Foley's in connection with the last judgment. Every man 
 must give an account, and it would seem that it is possible in a 
 moment of time for all the cells of memory to be unlocked. 
 
 It always gave a charm to the summer months of 
 the year to have the society of the Wemyss Bay 
 clergy at Wemyss House. 
 
 Mr. Burns greatl}^ relished the high spirits and 
 sparkling humour of John Bardsley, the present 
 Bishop of Sodor and Man, which came out in writing 
 as well as in speech, as the following letter, forward- 
 ing as a present a handsome walking-stick with a 
 crook, will testify : — 
 
 Venerahilisshiri) et i-everendhsiv^o Gecmjio Bnrns, Kinscopo Wemyensi. 
 
 My dear Bishop, — Let me respectfully welcome thy return to a 
 diocese which, needin,!,^ thy presence, has long mourned its absent 
 lord. To me it hath, I confess, often been matter of surprise that 
 thy faithful clergy have not, as in other things, made thee equal to 
 thy mitred bretliren by the possession of a pastoral staff; that 
 marked omission I hasten to supply, and in the future, whether it 
 be thy wish with outstretched hand to hook back thy straying 
 sheep, or, crook in hand, with uplifted palm and triple digits to 
 bless the woolly flock, at such times, standing by thee, I loyally
 
 1873.] DEAN CLOSE. 381 
 
 promise never to wiuk with mine eye, but in all ways to attend 
 thee as becometh faithful allegiance. 
 
 Presbeter Johannes oculus episcopi Wemyensis. 
 
 For Dean Close, of Carlisle, Mr. Burns had a very 
 great regard. Referring to their intercourse, he 
 says : — 
 
 In the later years of our married life, when going to London, we 
 divided the journey into three stages — leaving Glasgow at 2, and 
 arriving in Carhsle about 5,30, in time for dinner at the Railway 
 Station Hotel, where we always went ; we remained in Carlisle 
 until one o'clock the following day, wlien we left for Crewe 
 or Stafford, and on the third day we arrived in London. It was 
 always my habit, when remaining at Carlisle till one o'clock, to go 
 to the Deanery to see Dean Close. He was full of pleasantry and 
 lively anecdote ; he would greet me, when walking towards the 
 Deanery, with ' Here's my inspector come back to look after me.' 
 
 One of his latest letters to Mr. Burns, WTitten in 
 February, 1873, was as follows : — 
 
 My dear Friend, — . . . Don't ask an old man of seventy-six to 
 go a preaching; I get sensibly older and less able to go about. 
 I must, if alive, preach in London in April at Whitehall, a duty 
 which, while I have a leg to stand on, with God's help I will 
 attempt. 
 
 Awful times ! no rest for a weary soul. The hot fires of contro- 
 versy dry up Christian love and spiritual progress. 
 
 Yours most truly, 
 
 F. Close. 
 
 The well-known Hugh MacNeile, Dean of Eipou, 
 was one of the preachers in Wemyss Bay Church
 
 382 Slli GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVIIL 
 
 towards the close of his career. In 1869, in response 
 to an invitation from Mr. Burns, he wrote : — 
 
 I am neither younger nor stronger since I saw you, so that if 
 there be but one clergyman at a time, and if he has to read the 
 whole of our service twice and preach twice every Sunday, I dare 
 not undertake it. I would gladly preach twice if I had not to read, 
 but I would not venture to make myself responsible for both. 
 Twenty years ago it would have made no difference. 
 
 Of course an extra clergyman was found to under- 
 take the routine duties. Eeferring to this visit, Mr. 
 Burns says : — 
 
 One evening my son was going out for a sail, and I, Hugh 
 MacNeile, and others joined him. On board, MacNeile was 
 laughing in an amusing fashion to himself ; I asked the cause of 
 his merriment. ' I am laughing to think that I, a wretched sailor, 
 should have found myself voluntarily on board a yacht.' ' You can- 
 not be a worse sailor than I am,' I said, ' Very well, then, let us 
 make a compact — you will not go yachting again unless I accom- 
 pany you, and I will not unless you accompany me,' and the 
 bargain was kept. 
 
 "When Hugh MacNeile held a Thm'sday-evening lectureship in 
 Liverpool, I and my wife went on one occasion to hear him. He 
 was discoursing upon the history of Jonah, and in the course of his 
 remarks he said : ' One of those serpents in the grass who call 
 themselves Freethinkers, once said to a woman who was attempting 
 to vindicate the inspiration of Scripture, " Are you such a fool as to 
 believe that the whale swallowed Jonah ? " " Yes, I do believe it," 
 she answered, "and if the Scriptures had said that Jonah swallowed 
 the whale, I should have believed that." ' It is not necessary to say 
 that i\IacNeile did not give this illustration of the woman's credulity 
 as an example of faith.
 
 1860-90.] SIR BOBERT PEEL AND COCKROACHES. 3S.i 
 
 Time would fail to tell of the Eev. Fielding Quid, 
 Kector of Tattenhall, in Cheshire, who was con- 
 temporary at Fojde College with the Lawrences, 
 the Indian heroes — a man with all the fervour of 
 Irish eloquence and a most attractive preacher. 
 He often took the services at Wemyss Bay, and Mr. 
 Burns says : — 
 
 I remember one of Quid's sermons on Jonah and his mission to 
 Nineveh ; a kind of refrain ran through the discourse in these 
 simple words, ' Who can tell ! ' I hardly ever hear the expression 
 without hearing again that sermon. 
 
 Or of Canon Savage, of Nuneaton, a very intimate 
 friend, of whom Mr. Burns narrates : — 
 
 Before he went to Nuneaton, he was Rector of Tamworth, Sir 
 Robert Peel's place, with whom he was intimate. He told me 
 a number of things about Peel's habits, amongst them that he 
 had an utter abhorrence of cockroaches, and once, when a cock- 
 roach appeared creeping upon the floor. Savage saw Sir Robert 
 jump up upon a chair to avoid it, and would not come down until 
 the cockroach had ceased to be. 
 
 One of Canon Savage's curates was the Eev. 
 Sholto Douglas, the present Incumbent of St. Silas'. 
 
 Another of the Wemyss Bay clergymen was the 
 Rev. G. Pakenham Despard. 
 
 He was (says Mr. Burns), if not the originator, one of the 
 earliest connected with the Mission to Tierra del Fuego. He in- 
 terested himself in it shortly after the death of Allen Gardiner. 
 Despard came to Glasgow concerning the matter, and stayed in 
 our house for a considerable time. IMy wife took a keen interest
 
 384 SIB GEQRG:E BUIiNS. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 in the Mission, and Avas the means of greatly promoting its pros- 
 perity. When Despard left us, he went to Dublin to organise a 
 society there. Archbishop Wliately was very kind to him, and 
 before taking leave, Despard called to pay his respects and say 
 farewell. Licidentally lie said to the Archbisliop, ' How would you 
 recommend me to commence this Mission ? ' Whately, in his 
 abrupt way, answered, ' Tell the people to wash their faces.' 
 
 A singularly disinterested man was Despard ; he gave up a 
 large income to devote himself to the Mission work. 
 
 After serving the Mission in Tierra del Fuego for a long time, 
 he went to Australia, and was appointed to a church there, where 
 he kept up a correspondence with us. 
 
 In one of his letters, ^vl■itten from Australia in 
 1863, Mr. Despard foreshadowed the present volume. 
 " Yom- last letter was very encouraging and worthy 
 of your Christian principles, and the style of it and 
 of the conversations I have had with you makes 
 me wish and propose that, as a tribute of adoring 
 gratitude to God, you should employ the otiiim of 
 your retired life in composing an autobiography — 
 being God's dealings with a Christian man of busi- 
 ness during fifty years. You will communicate to 
 your fellow-saints in glory this record when they 
 no longer need the support of it in their struggle 
 of faith against sight ; why not give it to fellow- 
 saints when they do need this and every other 
 help in their much tempted, much burdened life ? " 
 
 Mr. Burns did not accede to the request, and 
 never wrote a page of autobiography. More 
 than twenty years elapsed before the question of 
 a biography came before hhn again.
 
 18G1.] KING WILLIAM IV. OF FliUSSIA. 385 
 
 The proceedings in Wemyss Bay Church were not 
 always looked upon with favour hy the neighbouring 
 Presbyterians, as the following incident related by 
 Mr. Burns will show : — 
 
 My son John brought Lome with hiiu a bottle of water from the 
 river Jordan, and in 18G1 his first-born was baptised in the name 
 of George Arbuthnot. Bishop Gobat of Jerusalem, who was staying 
 with John at the time, performed the ceremony, using the Jordan 
 water. It was late in the season, and very cold, and consequently 
 all the gas was lighted in the church (at that time a wooden 
 structure) in order to heat it. A friend, who was then minister 
 of the Free Church in the neighbourhood, told me that one of 
 his elders was passing the church, and afterwards said to him, 
 ' Did I not tell you that they were Papists ? I saw all the 
 candles lighted tip.' The minister was always on friendly terms 
 with us in Church matters. 
 
 Mr. Burns warmly sympathised with the estab- 
 lishment of a bishopric at Jerusalem, and during 
 Bishop Gobat's visit to Wemyss Bay, he took the 
 opportunity of asking him many questions concerning 
 
 the movement and the actors in it. 
 
 I asked him particularly (says Mr. Burns) about the habits of the 
 late King of Prussia, who had been very much caricatured in Punch 
 and elsewhere as being too fond of Madame Cliq^^ot's champagne. 
 Gobat said, ' I'll tell you what happened to myself. At that time 
 the king had a weekly dinner on Thursday which consisted almost 
 entirely of the family, but he kindly invited mo as a guest. The 
 King of Saxony was also present. I paid particular attention to the 
 King of Prussia's habits, which were neither more nor less than were 
 consistent with tliose of an Englishman of rank at a dinner party. 
 I noticed particularly that he partook moderately of whatever wine 
 
 25
 
 386 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XVIIl. 
 
 was served, champagne included. After dinner we all went on the 
 balcony (it was at Potsdam), and he became quite hilarious, and 
 began cuffing the King of Saxony to and fro, and pretending to 
 try and throw him over the railing. If I had not particularly 
 noticed what occurred at the dinner-table, I should have been apt 
 to conclude that there was some truth in Punch's strictures. 
 
 In all matters connected with his care of the 
 churches, Mr. Burns found a true and constant 
 friend in the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, of ^yhonl he was 
 w^ont to tell many pleasant stories. Here is one : — 
 
 When v/e were at Dunoon, we were very intimate with the Rev. 
 Mr. Baine, the Vicar of Ware, who used to preach sometimes in 
 Mr. Burnley's church. Baine told me that once he went to the 
 Lock Hospital on a Sunday to hear Capel Molyneux preach. 
 Arthur Kinnaird was the head and front of that institution, and was 
 always most active in putting strangers into pews. Mr. Baine was 
 standing with others in the passages, when Kinnaird took hold of 
 him and led him to a comfortable seat ; upon which Mr. Baine 
 slipped a shilling into his hand. Kinnaird turned round promptly 
 and pleasantly, and returning the shilling, said, ' We're not 
 allowed to take any money here ! '
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WITH LORD SHAFTESBURY. 
 
 When Mr. Burns, in response to the invitation of 
 Captain Trotter,* went to Roseneath to be introduced 
 to Lord Ashley (or Lord Shaftesbury, as he became 
 in the following year), he found the " great philan- 
 thropist " — as he specially disliked to be called — 
 walking in the grounds wath an enormous stick in 
 his hand, like that of Giant Despair- in the '' Pilgrim's 
 Progress," a stick which on more than one occa- 
 sion figured in the caricature pages of Puncli. He 
 needed it at that time, for his health had given way. 
 Two years previously he had been attacked with 
 severe illness, and before he had recovered, a sense 
 of duty had called him to undertake Herculean 
 labours on behalf of the poor and suffering. More 
 recently he had borne the strain of a residence in 
 London during the prevalence of cholera which had 
 turned it into a city of the plague. Day and night 
 he, and a small band of workers, almost alone in the 
 field, had pleaded for sanitary inspection and reform, 
 and upon him had devolved, during that trying 
 
 * See p. 358.
 
 388 Slli GEOIiGE BUIiNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 period, the onorons dutios of Chairman of the Board 
 of Health. 
 
 In August, 1850, worn out with fatigue and 
 anxiety, he left Loudon for a prolonged stay in 
 Scotland, in the hope that he might renew his 
 strength and be braced up for the w^ork which lay 
 before him in the winter. The Duke of Argyll had 
 lent him Roseneath, the Duke's place on the Clyde 
 — and it w^as here, as we have said, that Mr. Burns 
 found him, leaning on his stick. 
 
 Mr. Burns was not in health or in spirits. Only 
 two months before, he had passed through the 
 greatest trial of his life up to that time — the loss of 
 the Orion, with his brother and other relatives and 
 friends on board, who perished in the WTeck. 
 
 When, therefore, the two busy, earnest, hard- 
 working men sat down together to talk, their hearts 
 opened to each other at once. " Love is never 
 lasting which flames before it burns," but here it 
 began to burn forthwith. Each found that in 
 speaking to the other, it w^as as though he thought 
 aloud. Both were " sound Evangelicals," back-bone 
 Protestants, haters of Popery, lovers of the Jews, 
 and students of Scripture ; botli in their respective 
 spheres were engaged in numberless works of 
 philanthropy ; both were mild Conservatives ; both 
 were, above and beyond everything else, possessors 
 of that vital Christianity which puts the love of God 
 in Christ Jesus in the forefront of all things. 
 
 What they found in eacl] other that day, they
 
 18G8.] CHURCH PASTORAL AID SOCIETY. 389 
 
 foimd more and more as the years rolled on ; the 
 faculty ill one, found a corresponding faculty in the 
 other ; the understanding and the moral sense of 
 one, was enriched by the understanding and the 
 moral sense of the other ; the spiritual affinities of 
 one, were strengthened by the spiritual affinities of 
 the other, and in their long friendship they were ever 
 able to touch the chords of each other's heart. 
 
 We cannot trace the progress and development 
 of that friendship in detail, only here and there 
 can we gather up some stray threads to indicate 
 what the pattern of it was, and, at the risk of antici- 
 pating events to be recorded later on, we will give 
 the whole outline of that friendship here. 
 
 Mr. Burns, it need hardly be said, was in thorough 
 sympathy with the great work, manifold in its 
 forms, but one in its purpose, in which Lord 
 Shaftesbury was engaged. In 1868, " the lay-leader 
 of the Evangelical party," as he was called, made a 
 stirring speech at the Annual Meeting of the Church 
 Pastoral Aid Society. Many addresses had been 
 given in which amusements for the people, an 
 extended system of education, and various other 
 remedies against the evils of the day had been 
 suggested, when Lord Shaftesbury broke into the 
 discussion with his clear and faithful utterance ; 
 " The sole sovereign remedy, in my opinion, is 
 that we should do what we can to evangelise the 
 people by preaching day and night and night and day, 
 preaching on every occasion and in every place, in
 
 890 SIB GEOEGE BURNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 the grandest cathedral and at the corner of the 
 street, in the royal palace and m the back slums, 
 preaching Christ to the people, and determined, 
 like St. Paul, to know nothing among men save 
 Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." He declaimed 
 against " the wretched essays miscalled sermons, 
 mere milk-and-water dilutions of the saving truth," 
 and appealed eloquently for a return to " the simple 
 Evangelical truths of the gospel." 
 
 The whole tone of the speech, as reported in the 
 Becord, its earnestness, manliness, and piety, deeply 
 impressed Mr. Burns, who wrote to Ijord Shaftes- 
 bury as follows : — 
 
 Wemyss House, May IB, 1868. 
 
 Dear Lord Shaftesbury, — I cannot remain satisfied with merely 
 reading your speeches at the present momentous period, and talking 
 with admiration of them to the circle of my acquaintances and 
 friends, but feel impelled and desirous to express my heartfelt 
 thankfulness for your utterances at the Church Pastoral Aid 
 Society. Our rulers in the Church see more or less the impending 
 dangers, but most of them, I fear, are not clear enough and sound 
 enough in their views to see how the evils should be met. There 
 are some good men — truly good men — among the Bishops, whose 
 doctrines are sound and charges excellent, but who, nevertheless, 
 fall under tlie description applied by your lordship of benig 'silent,' 
 so far as boldly placing themselves at the head of their party and 
 facing the danger is concerned. I know that some of them say they 
 are in a minority on the Bencli, and require to act prudently, 
 otherwise they would weaken what influence they possess. This I 
 humbly think is a mistake. 
 
 1 look mournfully at what is going on. I have no reason to 
 be dissatisfied with our position in Scotland as English Episcopa-
 
 1871.] LOUD SHAFTESBURY'S FIRST VISIT. 391 
 
 Hans, so far as our intercourse with Christian people of other 
 denominations is concerned. We have met witli kind considera- 
 tion and respect from all, and their association with us has been 
 complete. But I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that there is 
 a growing apprehension that the organisation of the Established 
 Church has been found deficient for meeting the evils of the times, 
 within and Avithout, so that when the conflict arises, which I fear 
 is coming, little sympathy will be felt with the Church of England 
 as a whole. 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 Very truly, 
 
 G. Burns. 
 
 To this letter Lord Shaftesbury returned the fol- 
 lowmg characteristic repl}' : — 
 
 House of Lords, Mcuj 14, 18G8. 
 
 Dear Mr. Burns, — It is most gratifying to me that you approve 
 what I said at the Pastoral Aid Society. Our Church has got the 
 dry-rot, and is falling to pieces from its own corruptions. 
 
 The laity of her communion are becoming more indifferent 
 every day, and, in the real hour of trial, will stand as motionless 
 as a Ritualistic candlestick. 
 
 You, at any rate, are safe from this charge. No man has 
 done, under God, more to maintain and advance the true scriptural 
 doctrines of the Reformation and the Church of England than you 
 
 have. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 Shaftesbury. 
 
 In 1871, Lord Shaftesbury paid his first long visit 
 to Wemyss Bay. It was a memorable year in his 
 experience as well as in that of his fiiends. He 
 had always loved Scotland, and Scotland had always 
 loved him. It was there the first public honour was
 
 392 SIB GEOBGE BUBNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 ever accorded him — the presentation of the freedom 
 of the town of Xairn. Now, however, he was to 
 be feted in a royal manner by the city of Ghisgow% 
 and the honours w^re to be given him while he 
 was a guest for the first time of the Burns family. 
 
 It was arranged that he should stay at Castle 
 Wemyss, instead of at Wemyss House, as the 
 former was better suited for the entertainment of 
 the many friends wdio were to meet him, while in 
 Glasgow he would be the guest of Mr. Burns at his 
 towm house in Park Gardens. 
 
 The early part of the year had been full of excep- 
 tionally busy work for Lord Shaftesbury. He had 
 been fighting the battle of the chimney-sw^eeps, of 
 the children cruelly employed in brickfields, in hope- 
 lessly attempting to resist the Ballot Bill, and finally 
 in attempting to improve it ; and in addition he had 
 been in much domestic trouble in consequence of the 
 illness of his family and the giving way of his own 
 health. 
 
 It was therefore a great relief to him when, at the 
 end of August, health having been partially restored 
 in his household, he started for Scotland. 
 
 In his diary * Lord Shaftesbury wrote : — 
 
 Castle Wemyss, Scotland, Aui/. 29. 
 All safe hitherto, by God's goodness. Travelled to Carlisle and 
 slept there. Arrived here on 27th with Vea t and Hilda. | The 
 
 * Inserted by pirniission of the Hon. Evelyn Ashley, 
 t Lady Templeniore. J Lady Edith Ashley.
 
 1872.] A BOUND OF ENGAGEMENTS. 393 
 
 place is beautiful, the house supremely comfortable, and the people 
 of it kind, hospitable, and pleasant beyond all description. On 
 Sunday, 27th, had Boidtbee, the Principal of our Training College, 
 for officiating minister ; and he gave us two right good, first-rate 
 sermons. His second, on the text ' We love God, because He first 
 loved us,' was equal to the best. 
 
 On the following day Lord Shaftesbury left 
 Wemyss Bay for Glasgo^Y, to receive the Freedom 
 of the City. Mr. Burns and Mr. John Burns 
 accompanied him and the other guests, including 
 Lord Lawrence, the Hon. Aiihur Kinnaird, the 
 Hon. Evelyn Ashley, Sir Harry Parkes, British 
 Minister at Japan, and many more. After the 
 ceremony, Lord Shaftesbury proceeded to Lenzie 
 Junction to lay the foundation-stone of the Glas- 
 gow Convalescent Home. Next day (Tuesday) he 
 attended a monster demonstration in the City Hall 
 in favour of Sabbath observance. On Wednesday 
 he visited various institutions of the city, laid the 
 foundation-stone of Stonefield Free Church in the 
 afternoon, and spoke at a great meeting of the Youug 
 Men's Christian Association and other societies in 
 the evening. On Thursday he attended a conference 
 on " City " and other Home Missions, and in the 
 evening a "People's Meeting" on the Glasgow 
 Green, when the factory workers presented him with 
 an address. Later in the evening, a conversazione 
 in his honour was held in the Corporation Galleries, 
 and on Friday he proceeded to Inveraray in the 
 E.M.S. Camel.
 
 394 Slli GKOBGE BUBNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 In all these engagements Lord Shaftesbury ^Yas 
 received with the greatest enthusiasm. Throngs 
 of people watched his progress through the city ; 
 thousands pressed into the halls and buildings where 
 he was to speak, and where his arrival was greeted 
 by the whole assembly rising and saluting him with 
 cheers and the waving of handkerchiefs ; while in 
 the out-door demonstrations the factory hands, the 
 artisans, and the poor folk generally, hailed him with 
 unexampled enthusiasm. 
 
 During this time Lord Shaftesbury and his family, 
 Lord Lawrence, Sir Harry Parkes, the Hon. Arthur 
 Kinnaird, and many others, were the guests of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Burns in Park Gardens. On the first 
 night, in accordance with his invariable custom, 
 irrespective of who might or might not be present, 
 Mr. Burns conducted family worship, and offered up 
 an extempore prayer. Lord Shaftesbury w^as greatly 
 struck by this, and taking Mr. Burns aside he said, 
 " Like Abraham, you connnand your household after 
 you." 
 
 It was a peculiarity of Lord Shaftesbury's to give 
 familiar names to those he specially loved, and fi'om 
 that time forth he designated Mr. Burns "Abraham" 
 and his wife " Sarah." On returning to Castle 
 Wemyss, which stands on an eminence, Lord Shaftes- 
 bury named it "the Hill Country," while Wemyss 
 House, on the level of the shore, he called "Hebron." 
 Everything seemed to lend itself to the continuation 
 of the analogy, and even Walker, the faithful butler
 
 1871.] ON BOABD THE " CUMBERLAND." 395 
 
 of Mr. Burns, came in for the nom de ijlume of 
 " Eliezer of Damascus." 
 
 Eeferring to the events in Glasgow, Lord Shaftes- 
 bury wrote in his diary * : — • 
 
 Sept. ls«.— After several days of intense work and speechifying, 
 back here last night (Castle Wemyss^ by special train. Must be off 
 again immediately by steamboat to Inveraray. No time to record 
 anything except humble, hearty, and eternal thanks to Almighty 
 God, who has so wonderfully sustained me in body and mind, and 
 has so wonderfully prospered everything in the affair, even to the 
 smallest particle. From the time we began the campaign to the 
 hour we ended it, not an hour was interposed of bad weather. 
 And yet the large proportion of our Avork was in the open air. 
 Ought we not to bless God for this ? Is it presumption so to do ? 
 I trow not. The whole affair, had we been exposed to wet, must 
 have been a sad failure. 
 
 On the next morning Mr. Burns, and Mr. and 
 Mrs. John Burns, with a large party including Lord 
 Shaftesbury and three of his family, Lord Lawrence, 
 Sir Harry Parkes, and Mr. and Miss Shaw Lefevre, 
 left Wemyss Bay in the Camel, and proceeded to 
 Inveraray, where they spent the afternoon, returning 
 later in the day to the Camel, on board of which 
 Her Eoyal Highness the Marchioness of Lome 
 and the Marquis of Lome — who had been married on 
 the 21st of March of that year — the Duke of Argyll, 
 Earl Percy, and a host of others, embarked, and spent 
 the night, proceeding towards the Cumberland by 
 
 * " Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury," vol. iii. 
 p. 297.
 
 396 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 way of Arran. An incident of the voyage is told by 
 Mr. Burns thus : — 
 
 On this voyage, Lords Shaftesbury and Lawrence were Hke 
 schoolboy's. After kmcheon, on the Loch going up to Liveraray, 
 Lord Shaftesbury suddenly rose, and in an eloquent speech pro- 
 posed his own health ; but taking the character and life of Lord 
 Lawrence as his own, he said, ' Some people call me the " Saviour 
 of India," others the '* Conqueror of the Punjaub," but by whatever 
 name I go, I am a very great man,' and so on, telling many in- 
 teresting stories of Lawrence. As soon as he sat down. Lord 
 Lawrence rose and said that he, too, wished to propose his own 
 health. He began by saying that he was the greatest philan- 
 thropist of the day, and had been picking up little boys and girls 
 out of the gutters all his life ; and so on he went through the life 
 of Shaftesbury, making a niost humorous speech which, coming 
 from the grave Lord Lawrence, astonished every one present. 
 
 The visit to the Cumberland traming ship con- 
 duded Lord Shaftesbury's long series of public 
 labours — for it is needless to say he had to speak 
 on every occasion — and then he was able to give 
 himself up wholly to the enjoyment of cruises with 
 Mr. John Burns, and to the home-life of Castle 
 Wemyss — " that hospitable place, blessed in its 
 position and climate, and blessed in its possessors," 
 as he wrote. 
 
 To Lord Shaftesbury the visit to Wemyss Bay 
 was so restful and enjoyable, that for fourteen years 
 in succession he never omitted to spend some months 
 of each year with his family under the hospitable 
 roof of Mr. John Burns. To Lord Lawrence the 
 visit was equally beneficial. The heat and excite-
 
 1871.] LORD LAWRENCE. 397 
 
 inent of a great meeting that he had attended in 
 the early part of August had seriously affected his 
 health, and he had gone northward to recruit, taking 
 Wemyss Bay on his return journey. Writing to 
 Mr. Burns from Brockett Hall, in November, Lady 
 Lawrence said : — 
 
 We have a grateful remembrance of your kind hospitality to my 
 dear husband in the autumn. The complete change was of great 
 use to him, and he can never forget the happy time he spent with 
 you. 
 
 Many were the pleasant little anecdotes which 
 Mr. Burns was wont to tell of the " Saviour of 
 India." He says : — 
 
 I knew him intimately. When he was Sir John he was 
 staying with my son John, who took him out in one of the large 
 steamers with a very numerous family party. The sea was smooth 
 as glass ; every shadow was reflected in the water as in a mirror. 
 They went round Arran, and when off the coast were ready for 
 lunch. 'Come down, Sir John, and have some lunch,' said 
 J. B. ' No, thank you,' said Sir John, * I won't go down ; I'm 
 reading.' Afterwards he came to me and said : ' Now I'll tell 
 you ; I am a shocking sailor. Your son, James, gave me some 
 tonic liqueur called " the doctor." I was afraid of sea-sickness, for 
 I cannot stand the sea. Six weeks on my way to India I was sea- 
 sick, ' 
 
 When he was appointed Viceroy of India, Jamie sent him a 
 dozen bottles of an American tonic called ' the doctor.' When he 
 came back as Lord Lawrence, I said, ' How did you get on with 
 "the doctor"? He shook his head and laughed. It had not 
 cured his sea-sickness, and he was no better sailor than he had 
 beeu. 
 
 Very interesting were his conversations upon Indian matters.
 
 398 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 On one occasion lie told my wife that it was the custom for the 
 Viceroy to go to church in a state carriage. ' But I would not 
 countenance that,' he said ; ' I just took my cotton umbrella for the 
 sun. Of course my conduct gave rise to a great deal of discussion. 
 People said it was not keeping up the proper state, and that was 
 the exact point on which I differed with the people. An oflUcial 
 cortctjc is not the proper state for the observance of religious duties.' 
 The last time I saw him was in 1H7H, the year after my dear wife 
 died. I was in London, and called upon him. Near Queen's Gate 
 I met him on the road ; he was leaning on the arm of his wife, 
 almost blind. But he knew me at once by my voice. He pressed 
 me to dine with him, but I could not ; I was not in spirits. That 
 was the last I saw of him, except forenoon visits in his house. 
 
 In August, 1872, Lord Shaftesbury made another 
 long visit to Wemyss Bay. Clouds were gathering 
 around him at that time which were soon to break 
 in unexpected ways. Shortly after his return the 
 Countess of Shaftesbury was stricken down with 
 illness, and in a few weeks passed away. Mr. Burns 
 wrote to him in his sorrow, and received the following 
 touching reply : — 
 
 Oct. 23, 1872. 
 
 Deak Abkahaji, — For so I must call you, though I gave the 
 name in livelier days. Biit it is a good name on the present 
 occasion, for ' he looked,' as I must now more than ever look, * to 
 the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.' 
 
 ' Pardon you,' my dear friend, ' for writing to me.' Why, 
 I love you for it, and rejoice in the sympathy of believmg and 
 praying people. 
 
 I do not disguise the fact, that, old as I am, the blow is terrific. 
 But God give me grace not to repine or murmur, but to confess 
 with devout gratitude His wonderful goodness that He allowed me
 
 1873.] THE CONFESSIONAL. 399 
 
 to live, for forty years, in union witli such a woman, and then took 
 her to Himself for ever, to perfect security and joy. 
 
 Faith in the all-atoning blood of Christ was the dominant feeling 
 of her heart and the sentiment of her life. Here is a special mercy 
 m itself. 
 
 God be with you in life and death. Give my heartfelt love to 
 dear old Sarah, and may our Lord be with you for ever and ever. 
 
 Shaftesbury. 
 
 The following year was the most sorrowful in 
 Lord Shaftesbury's life. He was mourning the loss 
 of his wife and daughter. " They are never out of 
 mind, hardly out of sight," he wrote. " St. Giles's 
 is solitary and sad." 
 
 But he struggled on through all the wearisome 
 work of May meetings, labouring among the tedious 
 machinery of philanthropy and fighting the hopeless 
 battle against the spread of Kitualism and Neology. 
 
 In July of this year, the threatened introduction of 
 the Confessional into the Church of England drew 
 from him one of his strongest philippics. Wri ting- 
 to him on the subject, Mr. Burns said : — 
 
 My heart warmed with thankfulness when I read, immediately 
 on pul)lication, your noble protest against the Confessional. This is 
 a crisis in which we must have substantial and fearless exposure of 
 the evil. A strong outspoken effort is required to rouse the indigna- 
 tion of the country, and may God in His mercy grant that the 
 means employed may be effectual. Irrespective of the religious 
 aspect, it is surprising that men of sound mind and right feeling 
 remain so passive, under the threatened flood of abomination and 
 thraldom. Such a bolt as that you launched upon the ' Baalites ' 
 could hardly fail, in present circumstances, of being followed by
 
 400 SIB GEOIiGE BURNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 bodily suffering to yourself, iind we were indeed grieved this 
 morning by your letter to John to learn that you had been ill and 
 confined to bed. 
 
 Abraham and Sarah hope that your visit to Hebron may be 
 attended with beneficial consequences. 
 
 It was with the first gleams of new hope that Lord 
 Shaftesbury turned towards Scotland, where every- 
 thing that affection could devise was done to cheer 
 him in his loneliness and sorrow. 
 
 We cannot do better than let him tell his own 
 story of this visit in extracts fi-om his diary hitherto 
 unpublished : — 
 
 Julij 2dih. — Off OJxni in the Ferret. Reached Castle Wemyss 
 on Saturday night at twelve o'clock ; remained there Sunday. 
 Started on the 28th, and moored, after a sail of about one hundred 
 miles, in a safe and peaceful bay of the Island of Jura, Day 
 sublimely beautiful — God be praised for it — from four in the 
 morning till the moment of bed-time ; started at half-past five in 
 the morning, and reached this place at half-past nine. Again, for 
 the third time, are we enjoying the munificent hospitality of our 
 most kind and excellent friends the Burns family, the like of whom 
 I have never known. 
 
 Au(j. 10th, Sinida;/, Castle Wewi/ss. — Returned here yesterday 
 afternoon safe and sound. God be praised. Lots of rain and 
 wind, but lots also of enjoyment and health. We thank Thee, 
 Lord. 
 
 A glorious time " The Ferrets," as the occupants 
 of Mr. John Burns' yacht were named for the time- 
 being, enjoyed. They visited lona and Staffa ; 
 landed in tlie Isle of Rum, then proceeded to Storno-
 
 1873.] SOME PLEASANT CRUISES. 401 
 
 way, along the whole eastern side of Lewis and 
 Harris, "wild and iuhospitahle and without a trace 
 of life ; " then driven by wind and rain to Portree, 
 and, when fine weather came, along the coasts of 
 Skye, Inverness, and Argyleshire to Wemyss Bay. 
 
 Other pleasant cruises were taken and places of 
 interest visited. One spot in particular, Ochtertyre, 
 had a special charm for Lord Shaftesbury, where he 
 visited Mr. James Cleland Burns, who, like himself, 
 was mourning the loss of his wife. He refers to it in 
 his diary thus : "A happy and healthy time at 
 Ochtertyre ; here again after an interval of fifty-three 
 years ! First came in 1820, year of Queen's trial, with 
 my college and life-long friend George Howard, now, 
 I trust, in heaven." 
 
 Referring to his cruise. Lord Shaftesbury wrote : — 
 
 Auij. liih, Arruclutr. — Head of Loch Long, on board Ferret. 
 Eemained quietly on Sunday and Monday at Wemyss. Sunday 
 perhaps the most beautiful day ever known in Scotland. Sun 
 bright and warm ; landscape clear as crystal. j\Ionday less so. 
 Made up arrears of papers, wrote letters, and blessed God all day. 
 
 Again aboard Tuesday. A fearful storm of rain and wind ; it 
 appeared hopeless. Started for Loch Katrine ; occasional showers, 
 but day picked up. Ought we not to be thankful that we saw Loch 
 Katrine, and the Trossachs in perfection ? Back to Arrochar in 
 afternoon. 
 
 Aufi. 15th. — Yesterday afternoon flag of the Ferret hauled down, 
 our voyaging ended. We bless Thee, Lord, for a happy and 
 healthy time. Gave to all on board a copy of the ' Pilgrim's 
 Progress,' from the captain to the 'trimmer'; a good, obliging, 
 civil crew. May the grace and mercy of God, in Christ Jesus, 
 watch over them for ever. 
 
 2G
 
 402 SIB GEOBGE BUENS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 All J. lG//(. — Tlie day opens very unfavourably. The Jubilee 
 Singers expected, and a large party invited to hear them, and of 
 necessity in the open aii-. May we not pray for fine weather ? 
 God be gracious to them ; they are on a holy mission. 
 
 Aiuj. 2'2)id. — Yesterday returned to Wemyss l>ay. To-day very 
 fine ; crossed to Castle Toward to lunch with Mr. Finlay. Much 
 thought of what further account I can be in this world. It is good 
 and right to abide God's time. He is wise, beyond all conception 
 wise. Sir H. Holland, eighty-six years of age, is gone ofi' for a 
 journey to Piussia and Siberia. Why, I dare not think of such a 
 thing ! and what good should I do, if I did ? Only grant, Lord, 
 that so long as I breathe on this earth I may be employed in Thy 
 service, Thou blessed Saviour of mankind. 
 
 AiKj. 2-ith, Swulay. — Yesterday, City Missionaries from Glasgow 
 invited by good old Burns, the father and patriarch. Had to 
 address them, but felt somewhat low and dispirited. Yet if any- 
 thing were said according to the mind of our dear Lord, and to 
 their encouragement, I praise and bless Thee. 
 
 It was not until the end of the month that Lord 
 Shaftesbury left his "home in the North," as he 
 used to call Castle Wemyss. When he did, he wrote 
 in his diary : — "We have stayed here very long, in the 
 enjoyment of un1)ounded kindness. Our home, now 
 solitary, without the light and life of ni}^ blessed and 
 beloved Minny, did not, as heretofore, call us away." — 
 It was always with regret that he tore himself from 
 Castle Wemyss. — " Its external and internal charms 
 are alike equal. Nature is rarely so beautiful as 
 here, and society rarely so kind. May every blessing 
 of time and of eternity descend on this family — on 
 them, on theirs, on old Abraham and Sarah, and on 
 all they love in Christ Jesus."
 
 1871-84.] AT CASTLE WEMYSS. 403 
 
 On the occasion of Lord Shaftesbury's first visit 
 to Wemyss Bay, his hosts abandoned him, as we 
 have seen, to ahnost a surfeit of public life ; but after 
 that year they did everything in their power to pro- 
 tect him from being called ui^on to speak or take 
 part in any public movements in Glasgow or else- 
 where. They knew that as the years went on, what 
 he w^anted in his holiday time was rest and recrea- 
 tion, and many of the happiest days of his life were 
 spent under their auspices. On one occasion Lord 
 Shaftesbury said to the present writer (who at that 
 time, from having seen so many of his letters headed 
 ^' Castle Wemyss," w^as under the impression that it 
 was his own estate in the North!): "It is not my 
 estate at all ; but it is my northern home. I can 
 never thank God enough for the dear Burns family ; 
 I believe that, humanly speaking, my visits to them 
 have added ten years to my life." 
 
 Free to do as he pleased, with a suite of rooms for 
 his own uninterrupted use, in the midst of exquisite 
 scenery, and with carriages, boats, yachts, and all 
 that heart could wish at his disposal. Lord Shaftes- 
 bury revelled in his freedgm. *' I long for Wemyss 
 Bay," he wrote, " as a schoolboy longs for his 
 liolidays." 
 
 To Mr. John Burns, whom he was wont invariably 
 to address by speech and letter as " J. B.," he once 
 said, "You are the best host I ever knew; you enter- 
 tain 3^our guests by never entertaining them at all." 
 A trifling incident or two will illustrate how com-
 
 404 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 pletely he was '' at homo " in liis Scottish head- 
 quarters. He was in the habit of dispensing with 
 the formaUty of evening-dress at dinner, and wore 
 instead a short and easy velvet coat. The feelings 
 of his valet were somewhat outraged at this, especi- 
 ally on one occasion, when he said to him — 
 
 " There will be eighteen to dinner, to-night, my 
 lord." 
 
 ''Well?" 
 
 "Eighteen is a good number, my lord." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " Shall I put out your dress suit, my lord ? " 
 
 "No ! " roared Lord Shaftesbury, in the voice he 
 was wont to give out the number of a hymn at a 
 "monster" meeting. "I'm at Castle Wemyss ! " 
 
 One day a visitor who had called upon him, re- 
 marked upon the pleasantness of the rooms he was 
 occupying. "Yes," said Lord Shaftesbury, "they 
 are very pleasant, but the whole place is mine, only 
 I confine myself as a rule to these rooms, and allow 
 J. B. to do what he likes with the rest ! " 
 
 Lord Shaftesbury at Wemyss Bay was very unlike 
 Lord Shaftesbury at Exeter Hall. Away from the 
 heat and turmoil of controversy, and the harassing 
 business of philanthropy ; away fi-om the sight of 
 slums and misery, away from the annoyances of 
 consequential secretaries and persistent beggars, he 
 gave himself up to quiet rest and enjoyment. The 
 gloomy views that settled round liiiu like a cloud when 
 in London, seemed to be swept away by the sea and
 
 1871-84.] THE HILL COUNTRY AND HEBRON. 405 
 
 mouiitain air of Wemyss Bay, and it was proverbial 
 that wherever the ripple of laughter was to be heard 
 and the most fun was going on, there Lord Shaftes- 
 bury was invariably to be found. 
 
 Every day he used to go down from the " Hill 
 Country " to " Hebron " to see Mr. and Mrs. Burns, 
 and spend some time with them. It would fill a 
 volume to record Mr. Burns' reminiscences of his old 
 friend. We select one or two almost at random : — 
 
 Sitting one day upon the lawn, Lord Shaftesbury said to me, 
 * If I followed my inclination, I would sit in my armchair and take it 
 easy for the rest of my life ; but I dare not do it, I must work as long 
 as life lasts.' I had many conversations with him on religious 
 questions. He was in the habit of walking quietly and thoughtfully, 
 and then suddenly giving out the result of his cogitation. On 
 returning from Church one Sunday forenoon, we walked together 
 as we generally did, and wdien opposite the gate of this house he 
 stood still, and said to me, ' Did you ever think of these remarkable 
 words in Scripture, "the wrath of the Lamb"? — the Lamb, an 
 emblem of gentleness, and yet, on account of sin, these words are 
 applicable to Him.' 
 
 Lord Shaftesbury told me many stories connected with the 
 people with whom he had worked. He said that Oastler of 
 Huddersfield had helped him greatly in his Factory legislation. 
 Oastler, who was on the Eadical side, was very desirous to have an 
 interview with the Duke of Wellington, who was at that time 
 Premier. The Duke had no wish to see him, but Oastler persisted, 
 and at last, the Duke having consented to receive him, he presented 
 himself at Apsley House. Lord Shaftesbury asked how the Duke 
 received him. 'He was standing with bis back to the fire,' 
 answered Oastler, " and did not ask me to sit down, biit said, with 
 a slap on his thigh, " Mr. Oastler, God has endowed me with a 
 good understanding. Speak on ! " '
 
 406 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 Lord Shaftesbury told me a curious circumstance connected 
 with Hone, the author of the ' E very-day Book.' It was told to 
 him by Mr. Plumptre, M.P. for Kent, who, being present at a 
 meeting of the Directors of the Religious Tract Society, in London, 
 was surprised to see Hone there. On the breaking up of the 
 meeting. Hone went to him and said, ' I noticed that you looked 
 at me very much, and no doubt you were wondering why I should 
 be here. I will tell you. I was walking up from Blackheath to 
 London, and came to a part of the road where two ways diverged, 
 and I did not know which way to take. I saw a little girl sitting 
 in a garden with a book in her hand. I went in to ask for informa- 
 tion, and after I had found out what I wanted, I said to the girl, 
 "What book is that you are reading?" She answered, "The Bible." 
 "Oh," I said, " surely that is not a book for a child like you to 
 read?" "^Yhy not?" she replied; "my mother reads it, and gets 
 all her comfort from it." Well, I walked on towards London, and 
 the reply of that child haunted me. I felt that I had never gone 
 into a proper examination of that book, so as to make it a source 
 of comfort to myself, and I determined that I would do so. I have 
 made that examination, with the result that it has entirely changed 
 my opinions with regard to the Bible, and that is the reason why 
 I am here.' 
 
 At one time when Lord Shaftesbury was staying with us he 
 became acquainted with good John Henderson, who established 
 a prize for the best essay on the Sabbath, which prize fell to the 
 lot of the author of ' The Pearl of Days. ' Lord Shaftesbury asked 
 me what was the business that he carried on with his brother. I 
 told him a drysalter ; ' perhaps you do not know what that is ? ' 
 ' I presume,' said Lord Shaftesbury, ' it is the sale of dried fash.' 
 He was greatly astonished when I told him it was the sale of 
 chemicals for bleaching and other purposes. 
 
 We must not linger to tell of the annual visits 
 and all that was said and done in them, but 
 rather pass on to glance at some of the frequent
 
 1874.] DRY HOT IN THE CHURCH. 407 
 
 letters that were exchanged between Lord Shaftes- 
 bury and Mr. Burns, and the members of his 
 family. 
 
 In 1874, his mind was greatly disturbed about the 
 state of the Church, especially in connection with 
 the Public Worship Bill, and, in his correspondence 
 with Mr. Burns, he was wont to open his mind as 
 freely as when he was writing in his diary. Here is 
 one example : — 
 
 Oct. 29, 1874. 
 
 Dear Abraham, — Clouds are gathering and storms threatening 
 in greater number and force than when I left you at Hebron. 
 Matters, both infidel and superstitious, are going railway-speed — 
 they pass every station, and no man living can say what is their 
 terminus. 
 
 I find an universal opinion that the late Brighton Congress 
 has revealed the nakedness of the land. The laity and the clergy 
 are separated by an impassable gulf. They can agree neither in 
 doctrine nor discipline. 
 
 I do not anticipate Disestablishment. I expect collapse — 
 sudden and complete. The dry rot is in her, and she will go down 
 some morning in dust and uproar. God be with us ! His long- 
 sufiering has been good ; and He has not abandoned us until we 
 had abandoned Hi»i. 
 
 But here is something before us. As God rejected the Jews 
 and called the Gentiles, so now, He is preparing to reject the 
 Gentiles and recall the Jews. A capital thing for you and Sarah ! 
 But what shall we do — and what will many do — if Wemyss House 
 is let because the worthy proprietors of it are gone to Pales- 
 tine ? 
 
 Our farmers here alternately chuckle and grumble. The wheat- 
 harvest has been di\'ine — they cannot, though they would willingly 
 do so, deny it ; but then they have the sore place of the labourers
 
 408 SIB GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 and the reduced price of meat, aud the necessity of some complaint 
 
 or other. . . . 
 
 Love to every one about you. May God preserve and bless you 
 
 all. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Shaftesbury. 
 
 To Mr. John Burns, Lord Shaftesbury was in the 
 habit of frequently writing. They had many inte- 
 rests in connnon, and training- ships was one of them. 
 The following letter will give an illustration of the 
 tone of the correspondence : — 
 
 The Saint,* Dec. 19, 1874. 
 
 Dear J. B., — Your letter, with its enclosure, has this instant 
 arrived. I will read it forthwith. The School Board and the 
 Secularists have, I doubt not, stirred the Government to take 
 training-ships into their own hands. They will, thus, be able to 
 eliminate all religious teaching, as the public, having no individual 
 conscience, shares the conscience of every form of belief and 
 unbelief, and finds its satisfaction in setting aside everything on 
 which it can act. 
 
 The Goliah, a parochial training-ship, is, I hear, a sad proof 
 how duties such as these are discharged officially. 
 
 We were delighted to hear of young Mackenzie's escape, and 
 his father's promotion. The Admiralty seems to 'deviate,' as 
 Dryden would say, ' into justice.' 
 
 The world has had a cold. We are barkiug and sneezing in 
 the South, as you in the North. We, however, are at leisure, 
 comparatively so ; but you cannot be ; — and, indeed, such is man's 
 frailty, or wickedness, or ignorance, that unless, by God's goodness, 
 
 * The familiar name Lord Shaftesbury gave to his estate, St. 
 Giles's, Cranborne, Dorset.
 
 1874.] THE EMPIRE " UP FOR SALE." 409 
 
 we had a presiding heart, not only a presiding mind, over the 
 Cunard Company, we might hear of more than one La riata in 
 traversing the Atlantic. 
 
 What a loss ! what a sacrifice ! and what iniquity is some- 
 where ! Even your Company could not have produced nobler 
 specimens of men than the Chief Engineer and the Captain. 
 
 All, I gather by jonv silence, is well in the Hill Country, but 
 Sarah is ailing in the Plains below. Bless her dear soul ! God in 
 His mercy restore her to health and strength. I grieve that 
 Abraham should be disquieted. I have nothing but commonplaces 
 to offer ; it would be wonderful indeed if one found a new consola- 
 tion for so ancient a sorrow. 
 
 The next Session will be full of efforts, doubts, fears, mis- 
 givings, ' men's hearts failing them,' but, in some cases, en- 
 couraging them in evident progress of evil. But I do not foresee 
 any decided issues, unless, indeed, Dizzy's constitution should 
 break down, and this vast Empire be again 'put up for sale.' 
 Ecclesiastical questions will be prominent, but I can hardly think 
 long, as the House of Commons will be very restive under a large 
 consumption of its time in squabbles about eastward position, green 
 silk garments, incense and genuflexions. The Law Tribunal will 
 never be completed. There is as yet no judge, and, were there a 
 judge, there is no salary to pay him with. The Act was neither 
 more nor less than a gust of wind, which blew down one half of the 
 house and left the other half standing, but incapable of repair. 
 
 My best love to your dear and excellent wife, with my sincere 
 thanks to you and her for all your kindness. 
 
 Shaftesbury. 
 
 The personal influence of Lord Shaftesbury can 
 never be properly estimated. It lives in a thousand 
 lives. A casual word spoken in his earnest manner, 
 or a few lines written in his easy and pleasant style, 
 won their way to the hearts of men, who took from
 
 410 Silt GEOIiGE BUBNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 him counsels to which they would prohably have 
 been deaf if presented by others. 
 
 A specimen of this Christianly and fatherly soli- 
 citude comes out in a letter to Mr. John Burns, from 
 which we will quote. 
 
 In the early part of 1870 there had been several 
 terrible railway accidents, one near Huntingdon, in 
 which twelve i)ersons had been killed on the spot — 
 the eldest son of Dion Boucicault, the actor, and the 
 only son of Noble, the sculptor, being among the 
 number. 
 
 Mr. John Burns had been staying in London, and 
 was called away hastily before he could see Lord 
 Shaftesbury, who wrote to him : — 
 
 It is a great disappointment to me that you leave London so 
 soon. I had much to say; but no matter. You must make me a 
 promise ; I earnestly and seriously request you never to start on a 
 railway journey before having committed yourself to the care of our 
 Lord, as though you were going to the field of battle. God for 
 ever be witli you and yours. 
 
 Many friendly letters passed from time to time 
 between Lord Shaftesbury and Mr. and Mrs. Burns 
 Thus to Mrs. Burns he writes : — 
 
 Fi'h. 20, 1875. 
 You are always thinking of me, my dear old friend ; but then, 
 in return, I am always thinking of you. The marmalade has 
 arrived, and I shall have, along with Hilda and the rest, ' a feast 
 of fat things ' (and so on).
 
 1875-6.] LETTERS OF LORD SHAFTESBURY. 411 
 
 Feb. 24, 1875. 
 I receive every day fresh treatises to show that we, the Anglo- 
 Saxons, are the lost ten trihes. We are bad enough for anything ! 
 Material and spiritual idolatry are as rife among us now, as among 
 them formerly. 
 
 In liis letters to Mrs. Burns he frequently gave an 
 epitome of current subjects of interest, as in the 
 following extract : — 
 
 Jan. 12, 1875. 
 
 I am glad to have your approval of the Cabmen's Rests. It is 
 an ill-used class, and with far less of demerit than they have credit 
 for. . . . 
 
 Two of our Chichester boys went down in the Cospatrick. Coller, 
 an admirable boy, was saved along with Macdonald — the two others 
 were lost. 
 
 What a season of horrors ! — the Ld Plata, the calamity at 
 Shipton, and the great moral degradation of England in the visit 
 of the Lord Mayor of London to open in Paris the temple to 
 Venus and Bacchus, Jupiter and Juno. You won't do such things 
 in Palestine. 
 
 In 1876, Lord Shaftesbury sent to Mr. Burns a 
 pocket edition of the Psalms. " The book is worn, 
 and stained with ink, but it will sometimes remind 
 you of me and our conversations on Israel, and his 
 future glories." 
 
 In acknowledging its receipt, Mr. Burns replied: — 
 
 The little book which you have carried as an unobserved com- 
 panion has, I am sure, afforded you solace and support. This 
 agrees with the experience of all who receive its Divine inspira- 
 tion. These Psalms wei-e the Songs of Zion in the Hebrew Church,
 
 412 SIE GEORGE BUENS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 and are equally, or more so, now, under the Christian development. 
 ' Kemember the word unto Thy servant upon which Thou hast 
 caused me to hope.' 
 
 There were ulso frequent little interchanges of 
 friendly gifts, and in 1879, when acknowledging the 
 receipt of a box containing " the good things of 
 Hebron," Lord Shaftesbury adds: '^Very many 
 thanks ; they bring back many reminiscences that 
 are solemn, though not really sad " — the allusion 
 being to the memory of Mrs. Burns, who delighted 
 in ministering to the comfort of her revered friend. 
 
 One subject in wdiich both were equally interested 
 w^as the w^elfare of the Jews, and this often formed 
 the burden of a part of their correspondence. Lord 
 Shaftesbury was never w^eary of pleading their cause 
 in public, and Mr. Burns was never weary of hearing 
 of his successes. In 1880, when, on a charge of 
 Nihilism, the Jews were threatened with expulsion 
 fr'om Eussia, Lord Shaftesbury wrote : — 
 
 These charges against a people the most quiet, obedient, and 
 peace-loving on the face of the earth, are wicked and utterly false as 
 against the nation. . . . But if the expulsion takes place, will not 
 many of the exiles seek a refuge in the land of their forefathers ? 
 . . . It is a singular, nay, a providential coincidence with present 
 circumstances, that the Government are about to send out to Con- 
 stantinople as Ambassador, Mr. Goschen, a man inheriting great 
 intellectual vigour of mind and power of perseverance. 
 
 The allusion to the Jews in the following letter 
 is in connection with a great meeting at the Mansion 
 House, at which Lord Shaftesbury presided : —
 
 1882.] LOBD SHAFTESBURY AND THE JEWS. 413 
 
 24, Gkosvenor Square, March 1, 1882. 
 
 My dear old Friend, — The ' tribute ' lias arrived, worthy of 
 the place and the donor. How steady your handwriting is ! Why, 
 you are younger than I am by twenty years.* 
 
 We are in a sad plight in public affairs — private are not much 
 better. I am shocked and alarmed by the total absence of all real 
 patriotism on either side of politics ; people do not know where 
 they are, or what they say, so drunk are they with party spirit. 
 Meanwhile, the country suffers, and no one gains anything but the 
 infidels and the extreme Kadicals. May God bless and prosper you. 
 I wish you joy of the grand success we have had at the Mansion 
 House and elsewhere, on behalf of i/our people. It was a special 
 intervention of a merciful Providence. 
 
 Love to J. B., Mrs. J. B., and all the J. B's. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Shaftesbury. 
 
 Mr. Burns not only rejoiced to bear from Lord 
 Shaftesbury himself about the labours in which he 
 was engaged ; it gratified him to hear from other 
 friends their opinion of the great philanthropist. 
 Many of Mr. Burns' friends knew this — knew that he 
 was wont to pray for the success of every great eifort 
 in which Lord Shaftesbury was about to engage ; 
 knew that he would render special thanksgiving to 
 God when those labours were crowned with success ; 
 knew that he would send some stimulating and 
 encouraging word if by chance they failed. 
 
 Thus the Eev. T. M. Macdonald writes fr'om Man- 
 chester, soon after Lord Shaftesbm:y had received a 
 
 * Lord Shaftesbury was in the habit of speaking jocularly of 
 Mr. Burns, wlio was his senior by seven years, but looked much 
 younger, as "My young friend."
 
 414 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 splendid ovation in that city, to his old friend Mr. 
 Bums as follows : — 
 
 Kers.\i, Rectory, Manchester, 
 
 Jiihj 14, 1883. 
 
 My dear Friend, — We were delighted with Lord Shaftesbury's 
 visit. He was so well, so vigorous, and so happy, and the ovation 
 he received at the Free Trade Hall was so singular a demonstration 
 of hearty and grateful respect for the man to whom Lancashire 
 especially, but the whole country, owes so much. The vast and 
 packed crowd in the Free Trade Hall on Monday night behaved 
 splendidly. The representatives of the various Christian work for 
 the children of the poor — Refuges, Lidustrial and Ragged Schools 
 — spoke admirably ; and when one who was himself a ragged boy, 
 found in Charter's Street and taken to school — now a respectable 
 and Christian citizen, in good position, came forward to present the 
 magnificently illuminated and framed address (which was carried 
 to the platform by four children), the interest reached its climax. 
 There were many eyes moist while * Mr. Tliomas Johnson,' this 
 ragged boy grown into an excellent and useful citizen, addressed 
 Lord S. in plain, natural, and deeply grateful and affectionate 
 words. I wish I could have photographed the scene when Lord 
 Shaftesbury came forward and grasped that honest man's hand, 
 acceptnig in the same spirit the loving gratitude of the repre- 
 sentatives of his class. Lord S. said it was not given to many 
 men to have such feelings as that grand meeting and its pro- 
 ceedings awakened in his bosom. 
 
 Honours more enduring and a dignity higher than his earldom 
 belong to the man who has so steadily, for more than fifty years, 
 and with so grand success, lived for the poor and the outcast 
 and the oppressed. . . . "Would that England had many such 
 heroes ! . . . 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 T. M. Macdonald.
 
 1887.] PESSIMIST VIEWS. 416 
 
 Lord Shaftesbury always felt that his fiiends in 
 Wemyss Bay were so fully in sympathy with him, 
 that even if they could not invariably endorse his 
 peculiar views in relation to the spiritual history of 
 the times, they would at least appreciate the motives 
 which induced him to give them constant expression. 
 Many of his letters have reference to these matters, 
 and are full of pessimist sentiments. The following 
 is an example : — 
 
 St, Giles's House, Cranborne, 
 
 Dec. 29, 1877. 
 
 Well done, J. B., you wortliy son of that dear, grand old 
 patriarch, whom God bless in time and in eternity ! But mark 
 the progress of things. The secrets of men's hearts are being 
 revealed ; and before long it will be found that nineteen-twentieths 
 of our people, clerical and lay, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, 
 are in a state of disbelief. This disbelief will run its course and 
 (strange to say, but true) will prepare the way for the restoration of 
 Popery, that short yet powerful dominion it is again to exercise 
 over the minds and souls of men. ' Then cometh the end ' ; for 
 that condition of things can be encountered only by the personal 
 presence of our most precious Lord, who will destroy Anti-Christ 
 by 'the brightness of His coming.' 
 
 Is that day far off, or is it near ? Well, we must not fix times 
 or seasons, but we may speculate on ' signs.' You yourself may 
 live to see it. Certain I am that I and old Abraham must see it 
 .(as it was seen by the first Abraham) in faith and hope 
 
 Love to every one. 
 
 Ever yours truly, 
 
 S. 
 
 As old age came on apace, preventing him fi'om
 
 416 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 doing many things he had been wont to do in years 
 gone by, it never prevented Lord Shaftesbury from 
 making his annual visit to Wemyss Bay. 
 
 " The Session has been very trying," he wrote 
 on one occasion to Mrs. John Burns, "and I am 
 impatient for rest and repose. ... 1 am specially 
 longing for Castle Wemyss, because there I can go 
 out or come in, walk or lie down, eat and drink, or 
 fast, as I like; in short, I can feel at home." 
 
 Often he would express his desire to be at " The 
 Castle." " There is," he would say, " but one real 
 Castle, and that is yours." 
 
 In August, 1884, he paid his last visit to his old 
 Scotch home, and one brief entry in his diary 
 reveals a world of tender interest : " Sept. 18th. 
 Sat a long time with Abraham at Hebron." In 
 1885, he wrote his last long letter to his old 
 friend : — 
 
 24, Geos\t:nor Square, Fc'1>. 25, 1885. 
 
 My dear old Friend, — ' The good things of Hebron ' have 
 arrived safely, and rich they are in size and number, and I was 
 delighted to receive the announcement of their departure in your 
 own young and vigorous handwriting. 
 
 I was glad to see J. B. so much better. No one knows what 
 health is until he has lost it, and then we remember, or at least we 
 ought to remember, the numerous and indescribable mercies we 
 enjoyed in our youth. 
 
 ^Ve are renewing the whirl of politics ; we are entering on a 
 scene of convulsions, social, domestic, and imperial, that will shake 
 us to our very foundations. Many will admit so far ; but my 
 apprehensions carry me still farther, and I believe that the clay of
 
 iHHo.J IN WEMYSS BAY CHURCH. 417 
 
 Great Britain is drawing to its close. But so seems the case of 
 nearly all the kingdoms of the earth. I suppose that there is 
 hardly one (including even the Republic of America) that is not 
 rife with spoliation, confusion, and anarchy. Well, then, that looks 
 like the end of all things. God grant that it may be so. 
 
 I am better ; I am improving gradually ; but I have not as yet 
 much power of activity. I am kept a great deal to the house, and 
 can do little or no public business. 
 
 Whether I shall ever see you again in the flesh is very doubtful, 
 but I shall ever respect and love you. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Shaftesbuey. 
 
 These two veterans never met again in the flesh 
 to talk over old days and fight their battles o'er 
 again. On the 1st of October in that year the 
 labourer's task was done, and Lord Shaftesbury was 
 called to his rest. 
 
 Should the reader ever visit Wemyss Bay, he will 
 be sure to see the beautiful church there and when 
 he enters it, he will not fail to observe an exquisite 
 stained-glass window, by Clayton and Bell, over the 
 pew where the great philanthropist sat for fourteen 
 summers in succession. It is a memorial of the 
 tiiendship we have attempted to describe in this 
 chapter, and it bears the family legend which so 
 well describes Lord Shaftesbury's life — ''Love and 
 Serve." 
 
 27
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 IK THE GLOAMING. 
 
 As the quiet years went on, new duties were added 
 to former ones, new friendships were formed or old 
 ones revived, fresh interests were awakened with the 
 progress of the times — and still the river of life ran 
 on at Wemyss Bay smooth and tranquil. 
 
 It is no exaggeration to say that there was not 
 a movement in Glasgow having for its object the 
 welfare of the people, in which Mr. and Mrs. 
 Burns did not directly or indirectly take part. 
 Their charity was of the broadest and most apostolic 
 kind, and realised the aspiration of one who wrote — 
 " Oh, for a lofty generosity and a spirit of holy 
 charity that shall make us heartily rejoice in truth 
 wherever found, in goodness wherever seen, in noble 
 deeds by whomsoever done, though by those who 
 do not take truth in the same form as we may most 
 approve, who do not receive goodness exactly as we 
 most love, whose way of worshipping and serving 
 the Heavenly Father differs from our way ! What 
 a wi^etched state are many in who believe that 
 those not w^ith them are not with Christ ! The
 
 1800.] JOHN HENDERSON, OF PARK. 41f> 
 
 spirit of Christ is broader than the broadest sect, 
 the love of Christ is higher than the highest church, 
 the truth of Christ is deeper than the deepest 
 thoughts of the best and noblest minds. Oh, 
 to cultivate and cherish the disposition that can 
 rejoice in love and truth beyond the narrow limit 
 of sect or church ! that can look through the 
 outward differences and discern the inward unity of 
 those who differ and yet are one in Christ ! that 
 can embrace lovingly all who love Him, and rejoice 
 in the progress of every movement, by whomsoever 
 started, which brings the sinner to the Saviour, the 
 child to the Father." 
 
 It would be pleasant to linger over the busy years 
 of Christian labour in which Mr. and Mrs. Burns 
 took so active a share, and to introduce some of 
 the workers and their work. Bat time would fail to 
 tell of these, even if this were the appropriate place, 
 and we wish now to bring before the reader some of 
 the men with whom Mr. and Mrs. Burns were on 
 terms of intimacy, and whose lives influenced theirs, 
 and then pass on to narrate some phases in their 
 more personal history. 
 
 At the home of John Henderson, of Park, in 
 Eenh'ewshire, on the banks of Clyde, George Burns 
 was a h'equent visitor. Mr. Henderson was well 
 known for his unwearied work in promoting the 
 observance of the Sabbath. It was he who insti- 
 tuted prizes for essays on the subject which brought 
 forth one of the best little books ever written in
 
 420 SIE GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XX. 
 
 advocacy ot" the claims of the Sabbath, entitled 
 " The Pearl of Days." It was written by a young 
 girl, was awarded the hrst prize, and was warmly 
 taken up liy the Keligious Tract Society. 
 
 It was in the house of John Henderson that Mr. 
 Burns first became acquainted with the Rev. Merle 
 D'Aubigne, with whom he remained on terms of 
 intimacy until D'Aubigne's death m 1872. 
 
 He was almost the last of that galaxy of eminent 
 ministers associated with the movement begun in 
 1816, and called the Second Reformation of Geneva, 
 the story of which is told in the " Lives of the 
 Haldanes." 
 
 Mr. Merle D'Aubigne, in an address which Mr. 
 Burns heard him deliver at Edinburgh, gave an 
 account of the event which decided the whole 
 curi'ent of his future life, in these words : — 
 
 When I and M. Monod attended the University of Geneva, 
 there was a Professor of Divinity who confined himself to lecturing 
 on the immortality of the soul, the existence of God, and similar 
 topics. As to the Trinity, he did not believe it. Instead of the 
 Bible, he gave us quotations fi'om Seneca and Plato. St. Seneca 
 and St. Plato were the two saints whose writings he held up to 
 our admiration. 15ut the Lord sent one of His servants to Geneva ; 
 and I well remember the visit of Eobert Haldane. I heard of him 
 first as an English or Scotch gentleman who spoke much about 
 the Bible, which seemed a very strange thing to me and the other 
 students to whom it was a closed book. I afterwards met Mr. 
 Haldane at a private house along with some other friends, and 
 heard him read from an English Bible a chapter from Romans 
 about the natural corruption of man — a doctrine of which I had
 
 1830-90.] MERLE D'AUBIGNE. 421 
 
 never before heard. In fact I was quite astonished to hear of men 
 being corrupt by nature. At last, I remember saying to Mr. 
 Haldane — 'Now I see that doctrine in the Bible.' ' Yes,' replied 
 that good man ; ' but do you not see it in your heart ? ' That was 
 but a simple question, but it came home to my conscience. It 
 was the sword of the Spirit ; and from that time I saw that my 
 heart was corrupted, and I knew from the Word of God that I 
 could be saved by grace alone. So that if Geneva gave something 
 to Scotland at the time of the Reformation — if she communicated 
 light to John Knox, Geneva has received something from Scotland 
 in return in the blessed exertions of Robert Haldane. 
 
 In the turmoil that ensued in Geneva, D'Aubigne 
 escaped to Leipsic, where he attended the lectures 
 of the celebrated Church historian, Neander. Later, 
 on visiting Frankfort, he found that the third cen- 
 tenary jubilee of the Keformation was about to be 
 celebrated at Eisenach. Thither he went, and it 
 was in the midst of these celebrations that he 
 formed the design of writing the " History of the 
 Eeformation." 
 
 Mr. Burns was a backbone Protestant, and found 
 great pleasure in the society of D'Aubigne, to whom 
 he could open his mind freely on religious subjects 
 of common interest, for D'Aubigne, unlike his hiend 
 Dr. Caesar Malan, was comparatively fi-ee fi-om 
 theological crochets. When D'Aubigne went back 
 to Geneva, his son, who remained in Glasgow to 
 learn business, until he left for New York, became 
 a frequent visitor in the house of Mr. Burns at 
 Brandon Place. 
 
 Another of Mr. Burns' intimate friends and ire-
 
 422 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XX. 
 
 quent correspondents was Lieutenant-Colonel James 
 Gardner. They had been boys together in the 
 Grammar School at Glasgow. Gardner knew the 
 family of Dr. Cleland well, and was intimate with 
 Mrs. Burns wdien she was a girl, and always called 
 her " Jeanie Cleland." 
 
 After leaving school, Mr. Burns did not meet with 
 his old friend for many years. When they did, 
 they found the old feelings of affection as fresh as 
 ever, and in the leisure of life's eventide, they loved 
 to tell the story of their past to one another. 
 Some episodes in Colonel Gardner's career are 
 remarkable, and his name will always be pleasantly 
 and gratefully associated with that of the valorous 
 Sir Henry Havelock. 
 
 In 1823, Lieutenant Henry Havelock, then in 
 his twenty-eighth year, embarked for India in the 
 General Kycl. During the voyage he came into 
 contact with Lieutenant Gardner, through whose 
 instrumentality he was brought to that crisis in 
 his spiritual life which shaped his eternal destiny. 
 Havelock has thus described the great turning point 
 in his history : — 
 
 It was while the writer was sailing across the wide Atlantic 
 towards Bengal, that the Spirit of God came to him with its offer 
 of peace and mandate of love, which, though for some time re- 
 sisted, at length prevailed. Then was wrought that great change 
 in his soul which has been productive of unspeakable advantage 
 to him in time ; and he trusts has secured him happiness in 
 eternity. The Oencral Kyd, in which he was embarked, conveyed
 
 1823.] HENBY HAVELOCK. 423- 
 
 to India Major Sale, destined hereafter to defend Jellalabad ; but 
 she also carried out a humble, unpretending man, James Gardner, 
 then a lieutenant in the 13th Foot, now a retired captain, engaged 
 in home missionary work and other objects of Christian benevo- 
 lence in Bath. This excellent person was most influential in 
 leading Havelock to make public avowal by his works of Chris- 
 tianity in earnest." 
 
 Throughout the voyage Gardner ministered to 
 him in things spiritual, and lent him the " Life of 
 Henry Martyn " and Scott's "Force of Truth," 
 both of which he read with great interest and 
 profit. "Before the voyage terminated, Havelock," 
 says his biographer, " had added to the qualities of 
 the man and the soldier the noble spirit of the 
 Christian ; and thus was he accoutred for that 
 career of usefulness and eminence which has en- 
 deared him to his fellow-countrymen. Vital religion 
 became the animating principle of all his actions, 
 and a paramount feeling of his duty to God rectified 
 and invigorated the sense of his duty towards man." 
 
 On arrival in Calcutta, Gardner and Havelock 
 shared the same rooms together for some weeks, and 
 when they separated, Havelock said to Gardner — 
 " Give me your hand ; I owe you more than I owe 
 to any man living." Their friendship lasted through 
 life, and some of Havelock's letters to his " spiritual 
 father " are among the most interesting in his 
 memoir. 
 
 When the intimacy between Colonel Gardner and 
 
 ■■' Quoted in Marshman's " Life of Havelock."
 
 424 Sin GEORGE BUliNS. [Chap. XX. 
 
 George Burns was resumed, they visited from time 
 to time, and corresponded fi'equentl_y. The following 
 are extracts from letters of Colonel Gardner : — 
 
 11, Elm Place, Bath, Dec. 5, 1859. 
 
 I have not forgotten your kind offer of the Prophet's Chamber, if 
 I come to Scotland ; but, although I have long made a resolve to 
 visit the old land once more, something has always intervened to 
 prevent my doing so, I am now getting an old man, although I 
 have some remains of Light Infantry movements about me, and I 
 trust I may be able, before it is too late, to put my much-longed-for 
 visit in force. I know I shall see all things changed and much 
 enlarged after an absence of tircnUj-fuur years, but it would be a 
 curious satisfaction to walk solitary through old frequented scenes 
 once known, and to gather up some wisdom from regarding the 
 past. . . . 
 
 I wonder if any, or many, of our Allison class-fellows are in 
 existence, and whether on the Lord's side. Writing to you warms 
 and revives my heart with recollections of early days, but ' many a 
 weary foot I have trod since Auld Lang Syne,' yet bright, very 
 bright, have been the marks of the Lord's goodness to me, to mine, 
 and to my children. . . . 
 
 I shall indeed account it a great happiness to "\asit you in 
 Scotland, and shall look forward to the summer with expectation. 
 I am gratified by Mrs. Burns' remembrance of me, and shall feel 
 sincere interest in seeing her and my old school-fellow once more. 
 
 The writing of this letter seems to have unlocked 
 the doors of memory, for a few days later he wrote 
 another long letter, of which the following is a 
 portion : — 
 
 ... I remember the time well when you and I as boys sat 
 together on the same form in the Grammar School, and the close
 
 1859.] LETTER FliOM COLONEL GABBNEli. 425 
 
 intimacy, I would say affection, which then existed between us, and 
 how often we mutually gave up places in the class to come down to 
 each other. The form we usually sat on was certainly not an 
 upper form, nor we over- studious, but perhaps respectable. Our 
 chief delight was in rehearsing marvellous tales to one another, 
 and I think your stories very much excelled mine in interest, and so 
 greatly were we absorbed at times that sudden castigation came 
 upon us by surprise. You may wonder that I, who have been 
 knocked about the world, and in all climates for so many years, 
 should remember such things, and so accurately; but I hold that 
 early impressions are the strongest, nay, I would say are im- 
 perishable. I still remember some names of good Mr. Allison's 
 last class, but none more vividly or affectionately than my amiable 
 companion, George Burns. Is it, therefore, a strange thing that 
 our present communications should be most interesting to us both ? 
 God has been most gracious to us from our youth, and called us to 
 a knowledge of Himself and His great Salvation, and has enabled 
 us to cast our bread upon the waters, and by His continued grace 
 our children also have tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious : 
 this is such a tale of mercy the fulness of it can only be 
 realised in eternity, and to know so much after a lapse of not less 
 than forty-four long years— (for I entered the Army, and finally 
 left Scotland in 1815)— is indeed good news as it were from a far 
 country. 
 
 We must not call such things * gossip,' — blessed things they are, 
 and if I were with you I would tell you much, ever to be thought 
 of with gratitude by me, of my choice friends the late Sir Henry 
 Lawrence and the noble Havelock (my own son in the faith), my 
 early mihtary companions. They are gone, but we remain to 
 struggle against enemies too potent for us, but not too great while 
 we lay hold of the strength which alone is all sufficient. . . . 
 
 In 1868, Colonel Gardner wrote : — 
 
 My dear Mr. Burns. — . . . First let me say how gratified I 
 was by your kind visit to Bath, and simply to see me, your old and
 
 426 SIB GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. XX. 
 
 true friend ; such pleasures do not occur every day, and to see you 
 and dear Mrs. Burns, your son and his wife, was indeed to me a 
 pleasure I shall never forget. We were kind and intimate friends 
 in the days of our youth, and God having graciously added another 
 ingredient by His grace in our hearts, we may believe that that 
 sacred bond cannot be broken. 
 
 When at the York House, Mrs. Burns asked me concerning the 
 family of the ' Havelocks,' and I could only refer her to Marshman's 
 Life of my late friend, Sir Henry ; but what is curious enough, the 
 sheet of the Record newspaper you gave me that evening seems 
 to contain a solution to the question ' From whence come the 
 Havelocks?' I have cut out the notice, and now send it to you 
 for Mrs. Burns. = = If my friend was really descended from the 
 Prince of Denmark, his is no mean origin ; and if blood be indeed 
 handed down from generation to generation and prove itself in 
 great deeds, no man can give proof of higher or more noble descent 
 than the famous Sir Henry, whose Christian character stands 
 transcendent among military heroes. . . . 
 
 Believe me to be your very old and affectionate friend, 
 
 James Gardner. 
 
 Witli Lis former partners in business, and their 
 families, Mr. Burns remained on terms of sincere 
 friendship. He was mterested in their business 
 successes, and not less so in their personal joys and 
 sorrows. It was no small distress to hhn, therefore, 
 when, in 1865, he received from Mr. (afterwards Sir) 
 
 * The following is an extract from the cutting : — " HA\Ti:LocK 
 AND Hamlet. — Oin- Enghsh romance of ' Havelok the Dane ' has 
 just been translated into Danish prose by Kristian Koster. . . . 
 The book has some excellent notes, showing, among other things, 
 that ' Havelok ' is the English 'Hamlet.' The names are in fact 
 the same, says Mr. Henry Bryn J. Juflsson, an Icelandic critic. . . . 
 — Athena II III.''
 
 1865.] DEATH OF SIE SAMUEL CUNAED. 427 
 
 Edward Cunard, the intelligence of the illness and 
 death of his old friend and partner, Sir Samuel 
 Cunard. 
 
 26, Prince's Gardens, London, April 28, 1865. 
 My father just now desired me to send bis sincerest wishes 
 to you for your welfare and all your family, and this is the last 
 message, I fear, you will ever receive from him. He has passed 
 through a week of intense suffering, has never once uttered a 
 complaint since he has been ill, and has been constant in his 
 thanks to God for His support throughout a long life, and the 
 blessings He has bestowed upon him. He took the communion to- 
 day with all who are with him. Mr. Gordon, the clergyman, said 
 he never saw any one more happy in his mind, or better prepared to 
 die. He expresses his firm belief in the mediation of our Saviour, 
 and feels that he can only be saved through Him. He may yet 
 linger a short time, but he thinks himself that his hours are 
 numbered, and we shall soon have to close his aged eyes, and fold 
 his aged hands, when their owner will be no longer old. 
 
 Believe me very sincerely yours, 
 
 E. CuNAED. 
 
 x\ few hours after this letter was written, Sir 
 Samuel Cunard passed away. In communicating 
 the sad intelligence to Mr. Burns, Sir Edward 
 wrote : — 
 
 God granted his wish, that he should retain his consciousness 
 and intelligence to the last ; and when I told him that I was going 
 to write to you, and asked him if he had anything to say, he 
 desired me to send his warmest regards to you and ]Mr. Maclver, 
 and then raising his head again, he said, ' Particularly to Mr. 
 Bums.' He has within the last week fi-equently spoken of you in 
 the strongest terms of affection, and referred to years long past. 
 Through all the troubles and vexations which afterwards sprung
 
 428 SIB GEOliGE BURNS. [Chap. XX. 
 
 up, he never ceased to entertain the same regard he always had for 
 you and ^Irs. Burns, and John and Jamie. No death-bed could 
 have been happier than his. 
 
 In 1871, Mr. James Burns, the brother and partner 
 in business of Mr. Burns, died at the age of eighty- 
 two. He was a good and holy man, and his removal 
 made a great blank in many circles. He had been 
 blessed with abundant wealth, and had used it aright. 
 None of the merchant princes of his day contributed 
 more largely than he to all kinds of benevolent and 
 religious objects. In the wynds of Glasgow and in 
 his father's old parish of the Barony, the great work 
 of evangelising the masses was largely fostered by 
 his numificence. He belonged to a type of character 
 almost peculiar to Scotland, and which even there 
 is rapidly passing away. Calm, unimpassioned, re- 
 ticent ; standing in the old paths persistently, yet 
 ready to help those who struck out into paths that 
 were new ; simple and self-denying in his mode of 
 life ; unconventional and unostentatious in his piety ; 
 full of ])odily health and mental vigour to the last — 
 he lived the whole of his life. 
 
 In the business of " G. and J. Burns " he confined 
 himself almost exclusively to the local aiTangements 
 of finance, and he did it well.* But he took little or 
 
 * Old Dr. Burns of the Barony used to say of his son George, 
 " If he gets a sixpence in his pocket, it will burn a hole till it gets. 
 out." And Mr. Burns gives this testimony to his brother James, 
 " He was always far more deliberate in financial matters than I 
 was, and wisely held his hand in regard to time and circumstance."
 
 1872.] A GOLDEN WEDDING. 429 
 
 no part eagerly in those large measures which made 
 the great successes of the firm. He never had any- 
 thing to do with obtaining Government grants or 
 amending oppressive shipping laws, nor was he ever 
 within a public office in his life, or even in London 
 at any time on business. 
 
 In a biographical notice of Mr. James Burns, 
 the Eev. Dr. Macniillan records that " his 
 religious life was thoroughly natural, forming 
 no separate element, but blended with his busi- 
 ness and ordinary life, making an attractive and 
 consistent whole. He spent long hours in solitary 
 communion with God. Far into the night, alone in 
 his own room, he read and prayed ; and more than 
 once was he found by his faithful attendant in the 
 morning asleep on his knees beside the unused b^d — 
 the spirit willing, but the liesh weak." 
 
 On the 10th of June, 1872, Mr. and Mrs. Burns 
 celebrated their golden wedding. It had never been 
 a custom of theirs to take any notice of their 
 wedding-day, and on this eventful occasion they 
 were away in Paris for rest and relaxation, and for 
 the purpose of giving three of their grandchildren 
 a first glimpse of the Continent. But they did not 
 escape the congratulations of their family and 
 friends. 
 
 A pleasant little glimpse of life and character 
 comes out in the following correspondence : —
 
 430 SIR GEOIiGE BUBNS. [Chap. XX. 
 
 Mr. Bums to Mr. Joloi Buruii. 
 
 HuTKL DU Ruin, Pakis, .fioie 14, 1872. 
 
 My deak John, — I certainly did not expect congratulations for 
 the lOtli, and had we been at home the day would have passed 
 over without outward observation, as is our wont. But our 
 absence has been the occasion of bringing out much, and valued, 
 Christian affection from those who are most dear to us. We have 
 a happy home, founded on the affections of our family, and en- 
 compassed with the richest blessings our Heavenly Father bestows 
 on His childi-cn travelling by His grace towards the eternal home 
 our loving Saviour has gone to prepare. Far longer than the 
 Israelites' wanderings through the wilderness has been our sojourn, 
 and goodness and mercy have followed us all our days. Not one 
 good thing that the Lord promised has failed ; notwithstanding 
 that the parallel to Israel's rebellions holds lamentably true in my 
 experience. Blessed be God, not because He saw anything good in 
 us, for we have indeed been rebellious and self-seeking ; but because 
 He loved us, and for His own name's sake, has He done wondrous 
 things in our salvation. 
 
 May the Holy Spirit continue to guide us through all our life, 
 and may the Divine blessing rest on Emily ''•'■ and you, and on 
 Ena t and Jamie, and on all our descendants and relations. 
 With warm affection, your loving Father, 
 
 G. Burns. 
 
 In acknowledging a handsome present, the joint 
 gift of her two sons, Mrs. Burns wrote : — 
 
 Hotel du Ehin, Paris, June 15, 1872. 
 
 My dear John and Jajies, — I am just in receipt of your joint 
 
 letter, and have great difficulty in replying to it. My object in not 
 
 naming the fiftieth anniversary of our marriage was simply fi'om 
 
 the apprehension of some demonstration on your part. I thank 
 
 Mrs. John Burns. + Mrs. James Cleland Burns.
 
 1872. J BEIiEAVEMENT. 431 
 
 you most truly for this renewed proof of your aft'cction. Tlif 
 motive which prompted the gift, I receive with thankfuhiess to God 
 who puts it in your power, and the atiectionate feehng to carry out 
 this substantial proof of your regard. But I do not feel that I 
 required any further proof of your affection. With regard to pur- 
 chasing anything here with the money, I hope you will not mis- 
 understand me when I say, in St. Paul's language (although in a 
 minor sense), ' I have everything and abound' in this world's goods; 
 so, with your permission, I would rather use your money as I have 
 done before, in cheering the hearts of those who have not been so 
 fortunate. Age chastens our desires ; what I longed for when 
 young and <(i}dd not (jot, now these things seem of little value com- 
 paratively. The feeling of old age comes very vividly to my 
 remembrance. It just occurs to me that it would be well, for those 
 who succeed us, to keep your remembrance of oxir fiftieth anni- 
 versary u-ith an inscrptiion. Perhaps a watch, as I have none but 
 a very small one that is of little use. 
 
 My dear sons. 
 
 This from your loving 
 
 Mother. 
 
 This after-thought, "lest," as she said, "it should 
 seem a cold recognition of their thoiightfiilness to 
 lay out the money in charity," was adopted, and 
 brought pleasure to all. 
 
 The jubilee year of Mr. and Mrs. Burns ended 
 sadl3^ The young and beautiful wife of their son, 
 Mr. James Cleland Burns, was called away to her 
 eternal home, leaving five daughters and a wide circle 
 of relatives and friends to mourn her. To her devoted 
 husband the loss was irreparable, and the blow 
 peculiarly severe. But in the dark hours of his 
 bereavement he felt the force of that sweet saying
 
 432 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XX. 
 
 of the Holy Book, " As oue whom his mother com- 
 forteth." Mrs. Bm-ns brought all the strength of 
 her strong love and character to his aid, and minis- 
 tered to him in a thousand ways. In one of her 
 letters at this time she wrote to hhn : — 
 
 Dec. 27, 1872. 
 Grief deepens after the first ,<,nish is passed, and but for the 
 strength from above would be overwhelming, AVlien our great trial 
 took place at Calderbank, I was able for every duty so calmly that 
 other people might have supposed that I had no grief; but when all 
 was over of positive duty, then came the reaction. . . . But as our 
 need is, so the Lord sends strength, and fits us for the new pphere 
 of exercise. A good minister said to me, ' Never look into the 
 grave, that can yield no comfort ; look to the glorified spirit now 
 with Jesus, for ever done with sin and sorrow. In this we can not 
 only have peace but joy.' 
 
 It was about this time that Lord Shaftesbury w^as 
 called upon to bear the double loss of wife and 
 daughter. In acknowledging a letter fi'om Mr. John 
 Burns, he wrote : — 
 
 Dec. 22, 1872. 
 A heavy affliction has indeed fiillen upon me, but God in His 
 goodness has vouchsafed so many comforts in the assurance I have 
 of their everlasting happiness, that I almost fear to feel sorrow. 
 How deeply I sympathise with your brother. God in His special 
 mercy be with him. I see how gentle is the affliction that has 
 fallen on me compared with his. 
 
 Time passed by, but not with heahng in his wings. 
 In his Perthshire house, Mr. Cleland Burns had 
 placed in his bedroom a beautiful bust of his late
 
 1872.] AN ANTIDOTE TO SOUnOW. 433 
 
 wife, and one day when Lord Shaftesl)ury paid 
 him a visit, lie took him into his room to show 
 him the exquisite memorial. After looking at it, 
 and admiring it without a word, Lord Shaftesbury 
 went down on his knees, and offered up a prayer full 
 of tender sj^mpathy and inspiring hope. Then, as he 
 rose fi'om his knees, he took the hand of his friend 
 and said, "Jamie, plunge into the affairs of life!" 
 It was the course he himself pursued when the great 
 sorrow of his life came upon him, and which he con- 
 tinued until the day of his death. 
 
 Mr. Cleland Burns took his advice, followed his 
 example, and found the strength and comfort he 
 needed. 
 
 28
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE DAllKNESS DEEPENS. 
 
 Life at AYeniyss Bay was very calm, very peaceful, 
 and full of joy. The few clouds that overshadowed 
 it fi'om tmie to time only made the sunshine 
 brighter by contrast, as an occasional discord makes 
 the harmon}' of music sweeter. 
 
 Friends were abundant, children and grandchildren 
 vied with one another in love and tenderness to the 
 "old folks," whose love for one another increased in 
 richness and beauty as the years wore on. 
 
 Everything that wealth and affection could procure 
 was theirs to enjoy, and above and beyond all there 
 rested upon them the " peace of Grod which passeth 
 understanding." 
 
 But in the early summer of 1877 came the dark- 
 est cloud that had ever overshadowed the life of 
 Mr. Burns. One day in June, Mrs. Burns, who had 
 previously been in unusually good health, was taken 
 suddenly ill. At lirst it was thought to be only an 
 attack of rheumatism, but after the lapse of a few 
 days Dr. Kirkwood, the intimate friend and medical 
 adviser of the family, submitted that it w^ould be
 
 1877.] GATHERING CLOUDS. 4;J5 
 
 desirable to have another opinion. Mr. Burns did 
 not think it was necessary, having such perfect con- 
 fidence in the skill of Dr. Ivirkwood, but when he 
 quietly reiterated his opinion and paused — in that 
 pause the eyes of Mr. Burns, " which had been 
 holden," as he said, were opened, and for the first 
 time he saw the critical state of affairs. Painful as 
 it was to himself, he was always thankful she was not 
 to be left a widow. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. John Burns were in Carlsbad at the 
 time, and were immediately telegraphed to return at 
 once. While the anxious hours were passing in We- 
 myss House, they were speeding home in hot haste, 
 further telegrams reaching them at every halting 
 place. The end was not far off"; and the heart of 
 Mrs. Burns was fixed upon her son's return — she was, 
 as it were, keeping herself alive by sheer force of 
 will until he should be home again. Between them 
 there was the most intense affection ; they were 
 more like lovers than mother and son. All plans 
 and purposes, hopes and projects, were shared in 
 common, and heart opened to heart in all the little 
 things of life, as weU as in its greatest concerns. 
 
 One Sunday morning, the last but one she was to 
 spend on earth, Dr. Kirkwood endeavoured to rouse 
 her from drowsiness by bringing in some of the 
 grandchildren to her bedside. She revived almost 
 instantly, and sent for one after another of the 
 grandchildren, and then the butler, the servants, 
 and others, with each of whom she shook hands
 
 436 SIR GEOIiGE BUENS. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 and bade a tender farewell. Slie spoke to each 
 one separately, thanking them for all they had done 
 for her, and giving a word of affectionate exhortation 
 to each. She spoke in a clear, hrm voice, without 
 a falter, and discriminated accurately as to the 
 character of each individual. Every one to whom 
 she spoke was struck with the appropriateness of the 
 words addressed to them. It was (as in patri- 
 archal days) as if the veil of the future were lifted, 
 and words were spoken in the light of eternity. 
 
 One who was present remarked " that he had never 
 heard purer English, without a word out of place, 
 and without the necessity of substituting one word 
 for another." 
 
 Later in the day, she said very calmly, " Now, 
 Greorge, I want nothing on my coffin but my name 
 and age." 
 
 But the end was not yet ; with that w^onderful love 
 which is stronger than death, she held on tena- 
 ciously clinging to life, and would not yield to the 
 ever nearing approach of the last enemy until 
 she had once more embraced her son. And then 
 he arrived, and was wdth her till the change came. 
 Very solemn and beautiful were those last days — 
 spent in the calm, sweet prophetic certainty that 
 heaven was near, and that " immortality was being 
 swallowed up of life." 
 
 "I have no triumphant joy," she said, "but calm 
 confidence." She sent a message to her old friend 
 Lord Shaftesbmy. " Tell him," she said, " it is from
 
 1877.] FAITH LOST IN SIGHT. 437 
 
 the confines of Eternity." On many occasions she 
 repeated to her husband the 90th Psalm. When she 
 had uttered the words, "The days of the years of 
 our life are threescore and ten ; and if by reason of 
 strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength 
 labour and sorrow," she paused and said, " I have 
 had the labour, but not the sorrow." One day she 
 said to him, "I must soon leave you, George, but 
 you will often think of me, and always when you 
 walk on these beautiful terraces." Those exquisite 
 terraces he had made to gratify her wish. 
 
 Through all her life she had lived in pure and 
 simple religious faith, and when the set time came, 
 He who had been with her through all life's long 
 journey was with her as she entered the valley 
 which leads into the eternal light. " I feared I was 
 not to see Jesus," she said. "But I see Him now; 
 He is all my salvation." Death was deprived of its 
 terrors, the grave of its victory ; and ere she crossed 
 the narrow boundary which divides the worlds, faith 
 was lost in sight. " The crown ! the crown ! " she 
 said, when articulation was almost gone; "it is a 
 bright reality." 
 
 When all was over, the blinds were drawn do^Mi, 
 but Mr. Burns said " Nay ; draw them up again : she 
 is not dead, she has entered into fuller, even eternal 
 life." Then he gathered his family around him, and 
 Ann Fraser, the faithful attendant of his late wife, 
 saying he wished to incorporate her with them, 
 and read the fourth chapter of G-alatians (in which
 
 438 SIR GEOIiGE BURNS. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 is told the spiritual sigDificance of the life of 
 Sarah, the wife of Abraham), and after that he 
 read the passages in the twenty-third chapter of 
 Genesis, referring to the compact made by the 
 patriarch for the burial of his wife in the cave of 
 Machpelah. The old designation, "Abraham and 
 Sarah," by which they had so long been known to 
 Lord Shaftesbury, w^as evidently in his mind. 
 
 After the reading, he offered prayer ; and it was 
 characteristic of the man that in that hour of human 
 desolation, his heart was resting so peacefully upon 
 the promises of God that he could command himself 
 to offer up words of extempore prayer. In his sup- 
 plications he asked that God would assist him in 
 preparing for the mortal remains of his wife a last 
 resting place in the spot she loved so well. 
 
 A few^ days later, Mr. Burns wrote to an old 
 friend : — 
 
 . . . Sixty years' fervent love before and after we were able to 
 have a house of our own, lias been terminated by my beloved wife 
 being taken home before me to our Father's House. 
 
 She was yesterday carried by her own people tb rough the garden 
 where she had her last walk, and laid in peace in a chamber behind 
 the little church she loved so well — prepared, like Abraham's cave 
 in Machpelah, by the kindness of my friends, who worked night 
 and day. . . . The day was pure and bright, and our dear friend 
 ]'.urnley said it was not like a funeral at all ; everything was so 
 simple and beautiful, with none of the usual emblems of woe. The 
 service was read by John Bardsley, of Liverpool, and, in its quiet- 
 ness, came home to our hearts. I was surprised to see all the 
 surroundings enlivened by her own beautiful roses and flowers. 
 The flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
 
 1877.] LETTER FliOM CANON GRIBBLE. 439 
 
 From all (juarters — from high aud low, from rich 
 and poor — there poiu'ed in upon Mr. Burns letters of 
 love and sympathy. There were upwards of three 
 hundred of them, hut the following fi-om his old 
 friend Canon Gribhle stands out from the rest, as 
 it contains a vivid sketch of the life and character 
 of Mrs. Burns : — 
 
 British Embassy, Pera, Juhj 13, 1R77. 
 My dear and honoured Friend, — The mail which arrived this 
 morning brought me an envelope with the Avell-knoAvn initials 
 in the corner. I have been so long accustomed to receive 
 pleasant notices of matters interesting to you, and therefore 
 to me, that on opening it I expected a ' slip ' from a paper contain- 
 ing a record of some useful work done in Glasgow, or perhaps a 
 speech from J. J>. The enclosure affected me very deeply. Happily 
 I was alone in my vestry, and could give way to my thoughts ; they 
 wBre a rush of remembrances, recollections of that admirable Chris- 
 tian lady, and her rare qualities ; love, energy in every Christian 
 work, with singular power of organisation, with which she was 
 blessed in no ordinary degree, of doing the work of Christ in the 
 joyous spirit wliich threw a charm over all she did, and won for 
 her the love of all whom she brought under her nfluence. My 
 next thoughts were of you and your children. You are now alone, 
 as far as loneliness leaves you in your old age, without the presence 
 of that bright spirit and happy mind. Your wife was endowed with 
 no ordinary gifts, and their combination was remarkable. She had 
 warm love and sound judgment ; her tender affection for you and 
 her family was a type of what St. Paul enjoins as the model of a 
 Christian matron (see Epistle to Titus). Her piety had its root in 
 home life, but it was fresh without fussiness, gentle without harsh- 
 ness. Her excellent common-sense and large-minded view of 
 Christ's doctrine, tempered her zeal for the conversion and improve- 
 ment of her fellow-creatures ; so that, while a pattern of Christian
 
 440 SIR GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 matrons in home life, she had discretion in her out-door works for 
 the poor and distressed. There was ready earnestness for work, 
 and great ability without a taint of fanaticism. Your wife had the 
 advantage of a nature-given intelligence, and strong aflfection; this, 
 however, of itself would not have made her the woman she was : 
 the real explanation of her great power is that she was taught by 
 the Divine Spirit to know and feel herself a sinner saved by grace, 
 and that Jesus was her personal Saviour, and love to Jesus was the 
 mainspring of her powerful action at home and abroad. 
 
 Such a perception and feeling of Christ's love, with her reverence 
 for God's Holy Word, engrafted on a singularly fine mind, explains 
 the secret of her power. 
 
 My dear Burns, I picture to myself my last visit to you in 1870 : 
 you enjoying your rare taste in gardening ; J. B. rushing down on 
 his return from his work in Glasgow, clasping the dear mother, and 
 whirling her round on the lawn ; she, as young as ever, enjoying 
 the merriment. It was a happy scene. I picture also to myself 
 you, in your deep sorrow ; I see you in humble prayer, and rising 
 from it with resignation to the will of God. I see you in your 
 beautiful garden, and imagine what passes through your mind : 
 ' She has been taken before me ; I shall soon follow her, and we 
 shall meet again. 1 shall die, as she died, in firm faith in Jesus, 
 not having our own righteousness, but that which is of God by 
 faith in Jesus ; our sins washed out by faith in the blood of Him 
 who was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness 
 of God in Him." 
 
 I am ever affectionately yours, 
 
 C. B. Gribble. 
 
 Great as was the bereavement of Mr. Burns, the 
 loss, it need not he said, was keenly felt hy his sons. 
 Among the letters they received was one from their 
 old friend Mr. Laurence Oliphant to Mr. J. Cleland 
 Burns, in which this characteristic passage occurs : —
 
 1877.] CABMEN'S BESTS. 441 
 
 I cannot write condolences. There can be nothing more blessed 
 than the departure of one who, having filled up the full measure of 
 her life in works of unselfish benevolence, then goes to those still 
 brighter uses in which she will now be employed. I have no doubt 
 you will feel her influence remaining with you. We are accustomed 
 to consider death in such a difi'erent light from the world at large, 
 that it is robbed of all its terrors, and the separation has become 
 so slight between this world and the other to us, that we scarcely 
 seem to lose those who apparently leave us. I hope it may be the 
 same with you. 
 
 Next to her own family there were none who 
 mourned her loss more deeply than the poor of 
 Glasgow, and the workers on thek behalf. She was 
 Lady President of the City Mission, and there was 
 scarcely a member of that mission by whom she 
 was not personally known, one of her greatest plea- 
 sures being to have gatherings of the missionaries 
 from time to time in her house. But the cause to 
 which her name will ever be pre-eminently attached 
 was her work among Cabmen, for whose welfare she 
 exerted herself with increasing care for a quarter of 
 a century, and did more than any other indi\ddual 
 for their social as well as their spiritual interests. 
 Cabmen's " Eests " were introduced into Glasgow 
 through her instrumentality. She had long regarded 
 sympathisingly the sufferings of cabmen fi'oiii the 
 want of shelter during trying weather, and on hearing 
 of the idea of " Rests," she lost no time in having 
 them provided in Glasgow. In proof of the apprecia- 
 tion and gratitude of the cabmen for all her labours 
 in their behalf, four hundred men connected with the
 
 442 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 " hired carriages " of Glasgow presented to her, in 
 1875, a memorial, and the following extract h'om it 
 tersely expresses the feelings of the community 
 towards her : " The true cathohc spirit of your 
 liberality, which aided the needy irrespective of 
 creed or denomination, is worthy of the highest 
 admiration." The Cottage for Incurables at Mary- 
 hill ; the Outdoor School for the Blind ; and the 
 House of Shelter, were also specially embraced in 
 the schemes in wdiich she actively interested herself 
 for the relief of distress and affliction. But her 
 greatest work was among the individual poor, to 
 whom she was unsparing in her bounty, and as 
 unostentatious as she w^as the most cheerful of 
 givers. 
 
 On the tombstone of Mrs. Burns there is the 
 simple inscription, " Jane Burns, died 1st July, 
 1877, in her 84th year," and above are the words, 
 " I dwell among mine own people." The origin of 
 the selection of that verse is curious and interesting. 
 Whenever there were grand doings at the Castle, 
 her son would say, " Come up, mother, and dine 
 with us;" to which she would sometimes reply, ''No, 
 John, I dwell among mine own people." The dignity 
 of it, the quiet sarcasm, as it were, in the sense in 
 which she used it, the grace of it as illustrating her 
 ow^n self-containedness, all struck her son, w^ho asked 
 his father to allow these words to be placed upon the 
 tomb. 
 
 When, in his prayer on the day of his wife's death.
 
 1878.] A MEMORIAL CHURCH. 448 
 
 Mr. Burns had asked for l)i\ iiic lu'lp to carry out a 
 purpose he had in view, the idea in his niind was t(j 
 rear to her memory a permanent church to replace 
 the httle wooden structure that then existed. Not 
 long afterwards the work was commenced. With 
 great skill the rock was hollowed out behind the spot 
 where she had been interred, and in course of time 
 there arose one of the most complete and substantial 
 places of worship in the West of Scotland, the whole 
 of the design of exterior and interior, by Mr. Burnet, 
 the architect, being carried out under the direction of 
 Mr. Burns. It is Gothic in style, and is built of the 
 red sandstone of Wemyss Bay, the interior walls 
 being of polished red and light-grey freestone, rare in 
 a building of this size, which has ample pew accom • 
 modation for two hundred persons. 
 
 The whole of the interior is in exquisite style, and 
 beautiful in design and finish. Here the taste of Mr. 
 Burns had ample scope. Over the elegantly carved 
 teak-wood screen at the back of the chancel are the 
 Burns and Cleland crests, with their respective 
 mottoes, " Ever ready " and '' Xon sibi," while 
 running under both of them is the text, " I dwell 
 among mine own people." AVhen the question of 
 decoration came to be discussed, Mr. Burns would 
 allow nothing in the chancel but a plain handsome 
 table without any " altar cloth," nor anywhere in the 
 church a representation of saints or angels. A 
 handsome stained-glass window, by Clayton and Bell 
 of London, adorns the western end of the church.
 
 444 SIR GEOBGE BUENS. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 Mr. Burns saw about that time a very beautiful 
 window in the octagon between the House of Lords 
 and the House of Commons, composed entirely of 
 various shapes of glass without flowers or figures, 
 and somewhat after this pattern the large window at 
 the west of the church was designed. The only con- 
 cession he would make was for the introduction of 
 a shield, a sword, and a helmet — emblems of the 
 armour of God — the motto at the foot of the window 
 being, " Put ye on the whole armour of God." 
 
 Mrs. Blackburn, ^^■ell known as the talented wife 
 of Professor Blackburn of the University of Glasgow, 
 and whose drawings, illustrative of natural history, 
 are famous under the initials of "J. B.," was the 
 first to discover — and she did so at a glance — that a 
 creature had crept in, and no other than " the liov 
 of the tribe of Judah." 
 
 The situation of the church at the base of the high 
 cliffs near the shore road, fiinged on both sides with 
 trees of rich foliage, is very beautiful, and every 
 one who knows the West Coast of Scotland has seen 
 its graceful spire, over a hundred feet high, standing 
 out against its leafy background, or has heard across 
 the waters the music of its eight-bell chimes. 
 
 On the 16th of June, 1879, the church w^as opened 
 for public worship, when the Eev. J. W. Bardsley 
 (now Bishop of Sodor and Man) officiated. 
 
 Not a few were sorry when the little wooden 
 structure, endeared by so many sacred associations, 
 was no more, although they could not but feel that,
 
 1878.] A GALLANT SAILOIi. 44'. 
 
 as the uew building stood on the same site, and had 
 been raised under such touching circumstances, it 
 was in some respects made more sacred and beloved. 
 
 A year after Mr. Gribble had written the letter, 
 from which we have quoted, on the death of Mrs. 
 Burns, he too was called to his rest, for 
 
 '• To live in hearts we leave behind 
 Is not to die," 
 
 "A man greatly beloved" was Charles Gribble. He 
 was a sailor every inch of him, with all a sailor's 
 enthusiasm, unselfishness, and generosity. When 
 he left St. Jude's in 1846, he became incumbent of 
 the church attached to the Sailors' Home in London 
 — an institution in which the Prince Consort took a 
 lively interest — and here he remained for ten years. 
 He loved seamen, and " cared for their souls." He 
 established a floating church on the Thames, and at 
 his own expense built and kept a small schooner 
 yacht, which he fitted up with a view to holding 
 religious services on board, and in which he used to 
 make constant excursions among the densely crowded 
 shipping of the river. 
 
 On the recommendation of the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury he was appointed by Lord Clarendon, 
 in 1857, Chaplain to the Embassy at Constan- 
 tinople, a post he held uninterruptedly for over 
 twenty-one years. He did a wonderful work in 
 the Levantine ports, inquiring into the treatment of
 
 446 Sin GKOUGE BURNS. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 British seamen, establishing hospitals and homes, 
 and spending some months of every year in a cutter 
 of his own, visiting the neglected seamen of the port, 
 as well as attending to his duties to the Embassy. 
 A strange and adventurous life he led. During the 
 frequent outbreaks of cholera he never deserted his 
 post ; his house and property were destroyed in the 
 great fire ; and once he narrowly escaped being 
 made Bishop of Gibraltar. 
 
 Mr. Gribble, in writing h-om Constantinople to 
 Mr. Burns in 18G3 to congratulate him upon his 
 recovery from an attack of small-pox, gives a hint 
 at the difficulties in his own path and how he over- 
 came them. 
 
 I am miicli occupied here with trials, duties, and cares ; these, 
 too, kill mo over and anon, but the spirit of life comes in again, and 
 then, like the Two Witnesses, I get upon my legs and prophesy 
 until floored by some whacking reaction. But by these things men 
 live, and in them is the life of our spirit. 
 
 Mr. Burns had many stories to tell of his old 
 friend. He says : — 
 
 Gribble was the most unselfish man I ever knew. One trifling 
 incident may be taken as a sample of the whole current of his 
 action. Some one had given him a box of tea, of which he was 
 particularly fond, and he was found dividing it out, every leaf of it, 
 to people whom he thought needed it more than himself. 
 
 My son John took him out as his guest to Palestine, where they 
 had much intercourse with Bishop (iobat and Mr. Finn, British 
 Consul in Jerusalem. One day at the public table in the Holy 
 City my son and Gribble fell in with an American. They got into
 
 1878.] ANECDOTES. 447 
 
 conversation about the latitude of Calcutta, and the American took 
 an opposite "view. He insisted upon his view of the matter, and 
 was most pertinacious on the point. Gribble struck in and flatly 
 contradicted him; whereupon the American said, ' Stran,^or, you 
 know nothing at all about it ; I guess it don't rest with your pro- 
 fession to talk on that subject.' Gribble took no notice of the 
 offensive remark, but went on quietly taking his soup. When he 
 had finished he turned to the American and said, ' Let me give 
 you a word of advice, never to talk too strongly unless you know 
 to whom you are speaking. I was in the East India Company's 
 Navy, and professionally had occasion to know the latitude 
 accurately.' 
 
 Afterwards my son John, with Alexander Crum Ewing and 
 Gribble went through the Crimea, where they were entertained at 
 headquarters. John wished to get into Simferopol immediately 
 after Sebastopol had fallen. He was told it would be impossible for 
 him to get in unless he was mounted as a staff-officer. He was 
 thereupon donned in the full costume and accoutrements, and in 
 this guise rode forward. On his way he got into the company of 
 another staff-officer, rigged out in the same way. They challenged 
 each other, and in conversation John satisfied himself that his 
 companion was an adventurer. On the strength of this he charged 
 him. ' Sir, you are an impostor.' The gentleman, virtuously indig- 
 nant, immediately demanded an explanation. ' I mean, then,' 
 said John, ' that you are the same as myself, that you are no staff- 
 officer.' It turned out that the gentleman was a war correspondent 
 well known to fame. 
 
 Gribble was a very careless dresser ; he would wear a white duck 
 or canvas coat, and when he was with my son John at headquarters 
 at the mess, the commanding officer, to the surprise of all, turned 
 to the canvas-coated gentleman and said, ' The clergyman will say 
 grace.' 
 
 The last service that the Burns family could do 
 for their old fiiend was, when his health had broken
 
 448 sue GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 clown from over-work in Constantinople, to give him 
 a passage home. But the rehef came too late ; it 
 was with difficulty he could be got on board, and 
 before the vessel reached Malta he had gone to his 
 rest.
 
 CHAPTEK XXII. 
 
 A BKIGHT OLD AGE. 
 
 The great trial of Mr. Burns's life he bore as became 
 a Christian. He did not abandon one single thing 
 with which " her blessed memory " was associated, 
 and Wemyss House continued, as it had ever been, 
 a centre of holy influence, the birthplace of friend- 
 ships, and the scene of pleasant hospitalities. 
 
 After the death of his wife, Miss Ann Fraser, 
 who, as a faithful and valued familiar attendant to 
 Mrs. Burns, had endeared herself to the home 
 circle by her long and affectionate services, became 
 his housekeeper, and throughout the long years 
 of his old age gave to him the best of her life, 
 with its manifold gifts of tenderness and sympathy. 
 
 The years, solitary in one sense, had in them no 
 shadow of loneliness. His son John was daily in 
 and about the house, tenderly solicitous with 
 regard to everything that could contribute to his 
 father's happiness. Mrs. John Burns entwined 
 herself around the old man's heart, and in all things 
 sought to hll the vacant places there ; his son James 
 Cleland, ever fertile in devising means for the grati- 
 
 29
 
 450 SIB GEOliGE BUBNS. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 fication of his father's wishes, was a frequent in- 
 mate of the house ; while grandcliildren abundant 
 vied with one another to bring the best of their 
 powers to brighten the dechning years of one for 
 whom they had an intense affection, and who was to 
 them the ideal of all that was beautiful in Christian 
 home life. 
 
 In 1878, Mr. Burns went up to London, and he 
 says : — 
 
 The only invitation to dinner that I accepted on my visit to 
 London, in 1878, was to Lord Kinnaird's in Pall Mall. I was on 
 very intimate terms with him, so I wrote and said, ' I'll be very 
 glad to dine with Mistress Kinnaird.' Kinnaird was a friend of 
 forty years' standing — an intimate friend and frequent visitor. He 
 used to say, ' I never consider I have come to Scotland, unless I 
 come to stay at Wemyss Bay.' 
 
 The last time I saw Kinnaird was at Ferntower, where Jamie 
 lived, in Perthshire. He had come from Rossie Priory, and had 
 brought his daughter Emily to see me. Lady Kinnaird was not 
 able to undertake tlie journey. He very much wanted me to go to 
 Eossie, and I could have gone, as I could now, as far as travelling 
 is concerned, but visiting does not suit me. After luncheon, 
 Kinnaird and I sat together on the lawn. He was very frail, and 
 he put his hand in mine and held it there. ' Look at these old 
 fogies,' said the grandchildren as they saw us there. But it is a 
 pleasant memory. About a year after that he died. 
 
 We do not propose to follow in order the years 
 as they passed, but rather to look at the fruit they 
 yielded. 
 
 Although the shadows of life were lengthening, 
 Mr. Burns seemed sometimes to be quite unconscious
 
 1881.] GETTING BID OF FLUMMERY. 451 
 
 of the fact. Thus, in 1882 he became one of the 
 Vice-Presidents of the Prayer Book Eevision Society. 
 
 It was only when he was unable to attend the 
 meetings that he retired from being President of the 
 Glasgow Continental Society, although still con- 
 tinuing to take an interest in it ; and at the same 
 period he requested the Directors of the Magdalen 
 Institution to accept his resignation as one of 
 the Vice-Presidents, but they unanimously begged 
 that he would allow his name to remain, to which he 
 cheerfully consented, there being no onerous duties 
 connected with the office. 
 
 Much of his time was taken up in correspond- 
 ence, and many of his letters were full of life and 
 humour. We select two as specimens. His son, 
 Mr. J. Cleland Burns, had given evidence before 
 the Scottish University Commission, and announced 
 the fact in a telegram. Mr. Burns replied : — 
 
 My dear Jamie, — Your telegram received reminds me of what 
 your grandfather used to say of a minister who, on coming down 
 from the pulpit after having sorely belaboured himself into perspira- 
 tion — his performance being nevertheless much to his own satis- 
 faction — was, greatly to his discomfiture, accosted by an elder, thus : 
 ' Hech ! sir, ye must be mightily relieved by getting such a quantity 
 
 of flummery off your stomach.' 
 
 G. B. 
 
 The following was written in his eighty-sixth 
 year : — 
 
 1, Park Gardens, Jan. 31, 1881. 
 
 My dear Jamie, — When I received from you this morning a 
 registered letter, I anticipated finding something very valuable,
 
 462 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 instead of wliicli I found only a cork, iuid bad results connected 
 with it. I sent it downstairs at breakfast-time to Mr. Wood.* He 
 said it was not a worm, but a small minute beetle with loui^ 
 proboscis and wini^s for tlying — the little creature that bores the 
 small holes seen in old wooden furniture, and called worm-holes. 
 
 I not only have lost Madeira, but fine rich port Avhich I got from 
 old James McCall, in "Wilson Street, some forty years ago. . . . 
 
 What do you think of Wood telling at the dinner-table last night 
 that he and his children ate and were very fond of rat pie ? He 
 said the rat was a cleanly and dainty-feeding animal ! As for 
 horse-fiesh, it was excellent. I might bring myself to cat horse- 
 flesh, but not rat. Let the rats be taken as they are in Paris, 
 for skinning to make gloves. I believe in the siege they were 
 
 eaten. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 G. Burns. 
 
 An old man himself, Mr. Burns loved old men, and 
 sympathised with them. It is a cmious thing that, 
 so far as we are aware, no hook has been written on 
 old age. It was Longfellow who said, " I venerate 
 old age ; and I love not the man who can look with- 
 out emotion upon the sunset of life, when the dusk 
 of evening begins to gather over the eye, and 
 the shadows of twilight grow broader and deeper 
 upon the understanding." It is quite true, as 
 Madame de Stael once wrote, that "it is difficult to 
 grow old gracefully," Ijut there are many who have 
 overcome the difliculty, and with them " their last 
 days are their best days." 
 
 Surely there is nothing more beautiful than to 
 
 * The late Rev. J. G. Wood, the well-known naturalist, who was 
 staying in the house when on a lecturing tour in Scotland.
 
 1882.] CORBESPONDENCE WITH DEAN CLOSE. 453 
 
 see old age satisfied with its solitude, pleased Tvdth 
 its tranquil enjoyments, and resting, serene and 
 dignified, on the confines of two worlds; looking 
 hack with a calm satisfaction on a well-spent 
 life, and looking forward with a well-grounded 
 hope for a hetter life to come. 
 
 Let us cull here a few specimens of Old Lives — of 
 men who were friends and compeers of Mr. Bums, 
 to whom they opened their hearts without reserve. 
 
 Thus, in 1882, his old friend Dean Close, when very 
 near the end of his long life-journey, wrote to him 
 and enlisted his sympathies in the Hugh MacNeile 
 Memorial — the founding of a Biblical professorship 
 in St. John's Hall, Highbury. He says : — 
 
 I am anxious to finish this work before I die. God lias graciously 
 opened my lips once more to declare His truth as well as an old 
 man of eighty-five can do ; as the excellency of the power is not of 
 us, but of God, we may leave results to Him. I am still carried 
 upstairs, and I can walk but little. I think one of my head attacks 
 will probably release me. But His holy will be done. 
 
 These were the good Dean's last words to his old 
 friend, who replied : — 
 
 Both of us are now far advanced on the voyage of life. I am 
 nearly two years ahead of you, and when formerly I used to be 
 crossing from Folkestone to Boulogne with those I loved, and lying 
 prostrate on deck, unable to lift my head, they would say to me, 
 ' We see now the French land;' and by and by would add, ' In half 
 an hour we shall be inside the harbour of Boulogne.' You and I 
 are now coming in sight of Emmanuel's Land, and soon shall see 
 Him, who is the Lord of the inheritance which is incorruptible.
 
 454 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 uudefiled, and that fadetli not away, reserved in heaven for us ; we 
 shall see Him and he like Him ; we know not what we shall be, 
 but we can trust that He will arrange everything for us in the 
 right way. . . . 
 
 Three years ago I had a very severe illness which lasted a whole 
 year, beginning with gout and ending with jaundice. It pulled the 
 strength out of me, but, although my walking powers, like yours, 
 are impaired, God has been pleased to restore me to most sound 
 and perfect health otherwise. For two winters past I have been 
 able to go to my house in Park Gardens, where John and his wife 
 and family live with me during my stay. Good health is at all 
 periods of our life a great blessing, and ' fair health ' is an especial 
 comfort in advancing years. 
 
 In 1882, on the anniversary of his eightieth birth- 
 day, Colonel Gardner wrote to his old friend for the 
 last time. There is something exceedingly touching 
 and beautiful in this hiendship of a long life, and in 
 the letter, from which an extract is given below, 
 there is a charming naivete in their mutual con- 
 fidence : — 
 
 19, Kensington Place, Bath, Oct. 13, 1882. 
 
 My evbu dear old Friend, — Thanks many for your budget, and 
 especially for your letter. It is well, in all cases, to be brought 
 face to face with Divine truth, and in your remarks regarding our 
 mutual condition, I felt it was well to be reminded of Jesus and 
 His unfailing love, and that all things are working for our eternal 
 good. It is very natural to feel cast down and depressed in our 
 reduced and failing health, and we are prone to forget the loving 
 Hand that guides and governs all. This I feel, too, often. How 
 good, at such a season, the voice of a dear friend as in your letter. 
 Jesus knows, and is only trying our faith to prepare for the higher 
 good in His o^vn perfect way. . . . 
 
 I am surrounded by good people here who speak with such surety
 
 1882.] FRIEND AFTEB FRIEND DEPARTS. 455 
 
 of possessing eternal life now ; — certainly an experience I do not 
 possess. I have hitherto stood afar off and beat upon my breast, 
 and cannot speak as they do. I know Jesus died for all while in 
 our sins, and through this I hold as a reason that my sins are 
 put away and my hope for divine life rests in Jesus' sake. . . . 
 What is your real feeling, dear friend, on this all-important 
 matter ? Pray do tell me. 
 
 The letter then passes on to current topics, and 
 oonchides : — 
 
 Our Father will not forsake, but will show His tender pity and 
 love, and we can only wait and admire the loving-kindness and 
 goodness of the Lord. Truly God is good to every one ! 
 
 Strengthen my hands, dear old friend, by prayer and wise counsel, 
 which I feel God has richly bestowed on you, and believe me, 
 Ever your constant and loving old friend, 
 
 J. Gardner. 
 
 It is the trial of old age to see Mend after friend 
 depart. But it has its compensating aspect, as the 
 Eev. Dr. William Blair pointed out when returning a 
 letter to Mr. Burns in August, 1883. He says :— 
 
 The letter of Admiral Ingram I return with much pleasure. 
 "What a host of noble Christian men you know, besides the great 
 gathering in the Upper House who will welcome you on your 
 arrival home. What a blessing to have the friendship of the best 
 of earth, and what a prospect of meeting the best in heaven. . . . 
 You will observe that Dr. Moffat has reached the sunny shore at a 
 very advanced age. He will doubtless have re-joined Livingstone 
 long ere this, and had much to tell of the good cause. 
 
 The letter of Admiral Ingram, alluded to above, 
 after ackno^Yledging ''Selections from Leighton, 
 by Dr. Blair," adds :—
 
 456 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chapj XXII. 
 
 My poor messmate and old friend, Crawford Caffin, has gone to 
 his long rest. I am sure his would be a peaceful end — a good man, 
 doing all he could below to win a crown above. I often wish ive 
 could meet again ere the command comes to join the ranks of 
 the great multitude. I am now in my eightieth year. . . . Good- 
 bye, my dear old friend, and may God bless you. 
 
 Auotlicr old friend, writiDg about tins time, says: — 
 
 There is no satisfaction except in spiritual service. With life 
 closing in, and the shadow of the judgment seat looming in the 
 distance, every act of duty becomes increasingly solemn. 
 
 Admiral Sir James Crawford Caffin died in May, 
 1883 ; a peaceful end, spared from every suffering, 
 and with all his children around him. 
 
 Two years before, he had written to Mr. Burns to 
 announce the death of a mutual frieud. Sir Duncan 
 Macgregor, the father of Mr. John Macgregor (Rob 
 Eoy), whose wife was the daughter of Sir Crawford 
 Caffin. He says : — 
 
 I want to tell you of dear Sir Duncan's last moments. He had 
 always and often told me, when speaking of his end, that although 
 he did not wish to dictate to God how he should die, yet, if it were 
 His will, he prayed that it might be sudden, without any death-bed 
 scenes, and that he might be ever kept in a state to meet Him. 
 Well, in our dear friend's case, God fully answered his prayer, for 
 if ever a man was kept waiting for His call, it was he. His was 
 not a death, but a sudden translation from death to life. I was 
 with him twenty minutes before his departure, and the last to clasp 
 his hand or speak to him. He hailed me as usual, ' Well, my dear 
 friend, how are you ? ' And on my replying ' I need not put that 
 question to you, for you look better than ever ' — ' Yes,' said he, 
 ' thank God it is so.' We had a little talk about heavenly things.
 
 188:5.] SETTING SAIL. 457 
 
 and tlien I said I would come again to-morrow. He then said, 
 'Good-bye, good-bye ; God Almighty bless you,' and I left. Twenty 
 minutes after, Colonel Brooke came to me and said that the soul 
 of the dear saint had taken its flight. 
 
 Commenting on this letter, Lord Shaftesbury wrote 
 to Mr. Burns : — 
 
 Sir Duncan was a grand venerable patriarch, worthy to rank, in 
 the sight of God and man, with the best of ancient days. 
 
 Old age is healthy when it lives mainly in the past 
 and the future, and this is the characteristic of most 
 of the veterans who were cotemporary with Mr. 
 Burns. And w^hen they set sail to the far-off land, 
 it was without misgiving that they bade one another, 
 not a last adieu, but an cm revoir, discussing mean- 
 while their prospects and their hopes with the calm 
 assurance of men who have proved the faithfuless 
 of the God in whom they had trusted. 
 
 Thus Mr. Burns' old friend and ''London Pastor," 
 the Rev. R. W. Dibdin, writes in 1883 :— 
 
 My dear Brother, — I must in my seventy- eighth year leave off 
 calling myself an old man, when you in your eighty- eighth are 
 hindered from writing only by gout in the hand. . . . No doubt the 
 saints will know each other at the coming of the Lord, when ' we 
 which are alive shall be caught up to meet,' &c., but I never saw 
 any proof that they know each other in the intermediate state. 
 We shall not be ' like Christ ' till He comes again — in body, that 
 is to say. We are like Him in spirit, and shall never be any better 
 to all eternity in that respect, for the spirit which is ' born of the 
 Spirit ' is perfectly holy, and cannot be more so, however the flesh 
 may lust against it. . . .
 
 458 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 It was in 1838 I first saw you and your sainted wife. I was your 
 guest, and met Robert Montgomery at dinner, and preached for 
 Baptist Noel's Society in his church. Montgomery w'as very Hvely, 
 and called me ' Mr. Sobersides,' to the amusement of Mrs. Burns. 
 Who would think that forty-five years have passed since then ? 
 It seems but yesterday, and you as young as ever — nearly. 
 
 Ever yours aft'ectionately, , 
 
 R. W. DiBDIN. 
 
 Another old friend, the Eev. W. Ackworth, wrote 
 in the same month of the same year : — 
 
 I see so many changes around me that I am kept mindful that 
 the last and most momentous of all changes cannot be very remote. 
 To us, my dear old friend, may it be to leave the dulness of our 
 mortal nature for the \avacity of a spiritual and endless life. Well- 
 nigh forty years have not obliterated the remembrance of the happy 
 days when we strolled along the beach at Dunoon, and walked to 
 the House of God in company. It was a very small and unpre- 
 tending edifice, but it was consecrated by the presence of the Chief 
 Shepherd and Bishop of souls. Dr. Marsh and I were the first 
 occupants of its pulpit, as the present Bishop of Rochester and 
 myself of your more ornate and beautiful church at Wemyss Bay. 
 Let me hear how it prospers. ... If I were to resent all the mis- 
 doings of our Episcopal heads, which, you know% the mitre has a 
 tendency to soften, I must long ere this have found a refuge in 
 some other community. As it is, I continup to help old Mother 
 Church, with her many infirmities, to the best of my ability. 
 
 In 1886, Mr. Alexander Beattie, in writing to Mr. 
 Burns, with whom in earlier years he had been 
 actively engaged in Christian work in Glasgow, 
 said : — 
 
 You are my senior by almost ten years, but I am feeling the 
 weight of three score years and ten, and the ' labour and'sorrow '
 
 188(J.] OCTOGENARIANS. 450 
 
 of that ajije tell upon me, but I am able to do tome little work 
 for our Ilfaveiily Master as well as other public duties. May He 
 keep you and me faithful unto death. Among some old letters I 
 found the enclosed from your dear father, received not very long 
 before I went to India in 1829. I think you will like to read it, 
 and you can see how the light of Christian love and hope shone 
 on his closing years. May we be like him, and in due time join 
 his happy spirit in the realms above.* 
 
 A year later, the Eev. Dr. David Brown, Principal 
 of the Free Church College in Aberdeen, in acknow- 
 ledging a sketch of Mr. Burns' life given in one of 
 the Glasgow papers, wrote : — 
 
 Who is there, I wonder, that should be more thankful than you 
 for the talents given you, to push your way from small beginnings 
 to such success as you have achieved, and such a position as you 
 occupy ; and to add to that, to have been blessed with such 
 physical vigour and mental freshness, that at your great age you can 
 survey the whole past of your life, with wonder and gratitude to Him 
 whom I know you have chosen as your chief good and eternal 
 portion, and at the same time enjoy present life and the society of 
 old friends, can read and write with ease and freshness of memory'. 
 Well, dear friend, may your remaining time be as before, and 
 more abundant, and may you meantime with all these mercies get 
 humbler, saying with old Jacob, ' I am not worthy of the least of 
 all . Thy mercies, for with my statf I passed over this Jordan (or 
 began life from nothing) and now I am become two bands.' For 
 
 * In the course of the letter referred to. Dr. Burns said : " My 
 bodily strength is declining so fast, that for some time past I have 
 been confined to the house, and stand much in need of the prayers 
 of my fi-iends for support in my increasing infirmities, and in the 
 near prospect of my departure hence. May I be enabled to per- 
 severe unto the end, and to finish my course with joy."
 
 460 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 myself, in my eighty-fifth year, I also ' am a wonder to many,' for 
 I have no aihnents at all, and have not had for untold years, save 
 that I hear ill, and sec ill — but what is that ? I see to nrite with 
 ease, and that I value exceedingly. Last year I resigned my 
 Chair, and so teach no longer, but I am still, after thirty years, 
 Principal of the Free Church College, and take a lively interest in 
 it ; and besides a good deal of letter-writing (for I have correspon- 
 dents in the United States as well as in England and Scotland), 
 I write for the periodicals, and try to give forth to my younger 
 brethren some of the ' wisdom ' which years should teach. . . . 
 And now, in closiug, I honour you for the work which you, and 
 one or two with you, have done in providing j/ospel services for the 
 Episcopalians of Scotland, in place of the stuff which the Scotch 
 Episcopalian body provides them with. 
 
 One of Mr. Burns' many friends and correspondents 
 was the Rev. Dr. Macduff. They were in the 
 habit of sending one another little tokens of their 
 mutual regard. Thus, in 1885, Mr. Burns sent to 
 Dr. Macduff a packet of Lord Shaftesbury's letters 
 to read. By a coincidence they reached him when 
 he w^as staying at Folkestone, on the morning after 
 he had been to see No. 12, Clifton Gardens, the 
 house where Lord Shaftesbury died. " I visited it," 
 he says, " very nuich as the pilgrims of the Middle 
 Ages would visit the shrine of some holy saint." 
 
 In 1888, in acknowledging a letter of condolence 
 on the death of his wife. Dr. Macduff WTote : — 
 
 How wonderfully kind it was of you to write me so sympathetic 
 and valued a letter. You know, too well, what it is when the life 
 and light of tlie home goes out, but we both, thank God, can 
 rejoice in ' the hope full of immortality.' ... It is a supreme 
 gratification that I can still claim you as a true Christian friend.
 
 1888.] COEBESPONDENCE WITH Dli. MACDUFF. 401 
 
 A little later on in the same year, Dr. Macduff sent 
 a copy of his latest work to Mr. Burns. On opening 
 the book, Mr. Burns alighted on a passage which he 
 said so exactly coincided with his view of God's 
 dealings with hini in his own life, that it would be 
 impossible to tell it in more apt words. The passage 
 is as follows : — 
 
 How many sublime influences are at work in moulding our 
 opinions and purposes, and giving shape to our life-future ! 
 
 Apparently, indeed, to ourselves, existence, with its thoughts 
 and schemings and surroundings, its hopes and fears, its complex 
 and contradictory movements and impulses, often appears like the 
 child's kaleidoscope — a passive plaything, the sport of fitful and 
 wayward combinations. 
 
 But not so. In the experience of most, there comes a time 
 which brings with it the retrospective assurance of design and 
 order in the moral as in the material world. No ' fortuitous con- 
 currence ' of the old philosophy, no shuttle of * destiny,' good or 
 bad luck, weaving capricious patterns ; but a settled plan of the 
 Great All- wise Artificer, which, when viewed as a complete and 
 harmonious whole, will evoke at last the tribute of unhesitating 
 lips — ' He hath done all things well.' 
 
 In acknowledging the receipt of the volume, Mr. 
 Burns ^^Tote : — 
 
 Wejiyss House, Ma)/ 9, 1B8B. 
 My dear Friend, — Your token of kind remembrance of me, 
 entered my heart immediately on its receipt. First the touching 
 dedication to the Dear Memory, and afterwards to the home feel- 
 ings raised within me ; many of the fragments speaking words of 
 wisdom and peace to me. The morning I received the ' Eipples 
 in the Moonlight,' I opened the book at page seventy-two and
 
 462 SIE GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 seventy-three, not by design, and I will not say by accident, but 
 by purpose of God. Truly I can say many sublime influences 
 have been at work, from my boyish years onward, to mould and 
 shape my future life. I say not in temporal things, blessings 
 innumerable, but in spiritual and eternal interest. Even when 
 God, in His infinite wisdom and love, did not allow mc to go wholly 
 unpunished, but spoke terrible things in righteousness, I could, 
 years and years after the cloud was lifted, see His meaning to have 
 been to save me from settling down to a portion amongst things 
 temporal, leaving out things unseen, but eternal. 
 
 I do indeed thank Him for all the suffering and darkness 
 necessary in the discipline of education for the future state of my 
 existence in His blessed Presence. I now should be sorry if any 
 trial had been left out to mar the fitting for hereafter. I thank 
 my God and Heavenly Father for all. I feel shy at entering into 
 the General Assembly of the First-boi-n in Heaven, and as if I would 
 brush through the nearest and dearest, into the arms of Jesus, 
 who will place me in my position, and order all conditions for me 
 then as now. 
 
 What more can I say but express my affectionate regard for you, 
 and add, in all sincerity, your friend, 
 
 G. BUENS. 
 
 Thank God for these cheery old men, with their 
 hopeful words as they hoist their sails and launch 
 away for " the land that is very far off ! " If men, 
 in this sceptical age, ask — and they do ask, "What 
 can your Christianity do ? it is effete and played 
 out," surely we may point them to men such as 
 these, who, at the close of long lives, hiew in whom 
 they had believed, knew the port to which they 
 were sailing, and were ready and willing to go forth 
 from life to life, and from land to land, eager to see 
 the things which hitherto eye had not seen, or heart
 
 1888.] HABITS OF A NONOGENAItlAN. 463 
 
 conceived, but which they were confident the love 
 of God had prepared for their eternal joy. Let the 
 flippant agnostics bring forth a record from all their 
 annals of quiet confidence and holy joy equal to this, 
 and we will acknowledge that their creed is worthy 
 of consideration. 
 
 But we must now look more particularly at the 
 old age of Mr. Burns, and not lose sight of him in 
 the midst of his friends. Among many little traits 
 which indicated the exceptional preservation of his 
 system, it may be mentioned that at the age of 
 ninety-four, he could read and write without the 
 aid of spectacles, and daily performed the critical 
 operation of shaving without the usually indispen- 
 sable assistance of a looking-glass ! It was his 
 custom to take exercise in his grounds with un- 
 covered head, and those who were privileged to 
 witness him at such a time will never forget the 
 beautiful and touching picture of this fine-looking 
 old gentleman, with his plentiful snow-white locks 
 exposed to view, inhaling with evident relish the 
 fresh breezes from the Firth of Clyde. 
 
 I drive about summer and winter in au open carriage (said the 
 cheery man about that time), and I have never been subject 
 to colds. It must be something constitutional in the family. My 
 brother, who was a physician, always drove about in his carriage 
 without his hat, and never knew what a cold was. 
 
 With most nonogenarians it is usual for the 
 intellect and the senses to become dull and clouded,
 
 464 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 and they gradually glide into a state of senility and 
 second childhood ; but that was far from being the 
 case with Mr. Burns — his mind was clear, active, and 
 acute as ever, and he employed many hours of each 
 day in the intelligent study of scientific and religious 
 works, taking also a lively interest in the doings of 
 the world around him. He retained in his own 
 hands the management of his financial arrangements, 
 and frequently astonished those immediately con- 
 nected with him by his unfailing memory and the 
 unerring accuracy of his judgment. 
 
 His correspondence was very large, and yet he 
 undertook it with the relish of a young man, while 
 his plain, firm handwriting was marvellous for his 
 great age.* 
 
 Moreover, he entered into the current questions 
 of the day with singular keenness, carefully reading 
 the Times every morning, and a mass of periodical 
 literature, religious and secular. 
 
 In times of great public excitement he was always 
 eager for the latest intelligence, for which the Castle 
 of his son afforded exceptional facilities, there being 
 telephonic communication between his oflice in 
 Jamaica Street, Glasgow, and his library in Wemyss 
 Bay — a distance of thirty-two miles ! A voice in. 
 Glasgow was thus able to speak through the tube 
 the very latest news of the hour, and whenever this 
 was of exceptional interest, it immediately found its 
 way to Wemyss House. 
 
 * See facsimile on frontispiece.
 
 1887.] THE NEW BABONY CEUBCH. 4G5 
 
 An instance of Mr. Burns' vigour is to be found in 
 the fact that, at the General Election of 1887, he 
 journeyed from Wemyss Bay to Glasgow and back 
 the same day (a distance of over sixty miles) in 
 order to record his vote in favour of the Unionist 
 candidate for his district. On arrival at the polling- 
 booth he was recognised by Dr. Cameron the 
 Liberal candidate, who came forward and shook 
 hands with him, saying magnanimously, " Long 
 may you live, Mr. Burns, to come and vote against 
 me." But a more striking proof of the extraordinary 
 vitality of Mr. Burns is to be found in the fact that, 
 on the occasion of the laying of the memorial-stone of 
 the new Barony Church, Glasgow, in June, 1887, he 
 not only graced the scene by his venerable and kindly 
 presence, but imparted an additional interest to the 
 proceedings, and delighted the large assemblage of 
 people, by the delivery of a highly entertaining 
 speech, tinctured throughout with much racy 
 humour. 
 
 Although it goes over some of the ground we 
 have travelled together in the earlier chapters of 
 this book, we venture to insert a portion of the 
 speech here as reported in the public press. He 
 said : — 
 
 The first thing I have to do is to find an apology for speaking, 
 and the only true one is that there is no one here (as I believe) who 
 has been so long and so early associated with the Barony parish 
 as myself. I cannot indeed claim to be a son of the manse, for 
 1 was born in the ' Holy Land ' ; there not being then, any more 
 
 80
 
 466 SIR GEOliGE BURNS. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 than now, a manse for the minister of the Barony parish. My 
 father received in lieu thirty pounds a year as manse money, and, 
 Hke the Apostle Paul when in Rome, he dwelt ' in his own hired 
 house ' in George Street. The tenements — one to the front of the 
 street, and one to the rear — were inhahited hy the Rev. Dr. Balfour 
 of the Outer High Church, and by three other ministers besides my 
 father. This ecclesiastical conglomeration gave rise to the popular 
 name * Holy Land ' — and there, as I have said, I was born. Well 
 do I remember, when a boy, walking with my father up the Bell o' 
 the Brae on Sabbath days to church, the little boys and girls 
 making their bows and curtseys as their minister — with his bands 
 on, according to custom — passed and smiled on them. Great 
 changes in the manners of the people have since taken place ;, 
 but, although society has altered, it has not lost its respect and 
 love for faithful ministers of the gospel. The old Barony formed 
 one of three churches under the same roof. Of the other two,, 
 one was called the Outer High Church and the other the Inner.. 
 The Barony was in the crypt, and, however interesting from its 
 quaintness iind beautiful carved pillars, it had many inconveniences 
 as a place of worship. In a survey held on one occasion, it was 
 reported that in some parts the sitters could neither see nor hear. 
 This gave rise to the gibe of these seats being called ' believers' 
 seats ' — as tliey had to take everything on trust. If church buildings 
 were frequently quaint, so also was the freedom between pulpit and 
 pew. Shall I give you an instance which occurred to my father ? 
 From necessity the pulpit was low, as any of you who have visited 
 the crypt must have seen. It was surrounded by a bench, wliich 
 I recollect was used specially as a seat of honour for the elders. 
 My father was assistant, and afterwards successor, to Mr. Hill, the 
 minister of the parish. On a day when my father was preaching, 
 Mr. Hill was sitting on the bench surrounded by his elders, one of 
 whom fell asleep, and gave audible signs of it. This, Mr. Hill thought, 
 was a very bad example to show to the congregation — so much so, 
 tliat merely to awaken him was not sufiicient. He accordingly 
 ruised his tall figure, and laid his hand on my father's shoulder.
 
 1887.] A BlilLLIANT SPEECH. 4G7 
 
 and, pointing to the unfortunate elder, said, ' John, rebuke him.' 
 This -svas rather a queer and embarrassing interruption to the 
 sermon. Well, the Barony congregation removed from the crypt 
 to their new church, which may now be called the old Barony, in 
 the first year of the present century. Mr. Adam, the architect, 
 had a specimen of the Gothic before him in the cathedral, and of 
 the Grecian in the infirmary, and he thought it would be a fine 
 contrast to make the new church of the old Haxon style. In the 
 contrast he certainly ^succeeded, whatever we may think of the 
 lines of beauty. 
 
 We come now to the present church, which rectifies the defects 
 of the one we have left. And here let me express warmly the hope 
 that the faithful services of your minister now befox-e you may long 
 be continued in vigour.* Thanks be to God, He has hitherto 
 carried on a blessed succession of true gospel teaching. My 
 father removed from George Street to live in a house he built on 
 the Barony Glebe, and there the foundation of Christian life was 
 laid in me, and you may be sure the Shorter Catechism was not 
 neglected— and I revere its sound summary of doctrine — but I 
 had better say nothing of what I felt as a thoughtless boy about 
 ' learning the questions.' I now express my gratitude for the 
 goodness and mercy which have followed me all my hfe. My 
 father in his very old age was ever glad to see his friends, and to 
 converse with them, which he always did cheerfully — but in the 
 midst of his speaking he would insensibly glide off into prayer, and 
 a constant reference was made in it to joining the General Assembly 
 and Church of the First-born in Heaven. Let us have the same 
 trust in Christ, and so be followers of those who now, through faith 
 and patience, are inheriting the promises. . . . 
 
 You will kindly excuse my having spoken so much of my father, 
 but I think it is not inappropriate to the present interesting 
 occasion, seeing that he was seventy-two years minister in the 
 Barony — dyuig wlien he was in his ninety-sixth year — and I am 
 now in my ninety-second year. 
 
 "" The Rev. Dr. Marshall Lans:.
 
 408 SIR GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 Einging cheers and a burst of applause, such as 
 has rarely been heard, followed the conclusion of the 
 speech, which, although delivered in the open air and 
 before thousands of persons, was heard by every one, 
 even to the farthest outskirts of the crowd.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF A NONOGENARIAN. 
 
 Mr. Burns was a master in the art of conversation. 
 Always bright, cheerful, and interesting, he never 
 wearied a visitor by talking too much, or made him 
 uncomfortable by not talking enough. Some one 
 has defined the art of conversation as " not only 
 saying the right thing in the right place, but far 
 more diificult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing 
 at the tempting moment." 
 
 Although Mr. Burns was singularly fr-ee in his 
 style of speech — ;]ust speaking out h^ankly fi'om his 
 heart, he never said anything which his hearers 
 might reasonably wish he had left unsaid. Full of 
 that charity which thinketh no evil, hopeth all 
 things, believeth all things, he never spoke ill 
 of any one, or allowed conversation to degene- 
 rate into gossip — the deadly weapon of those 
 " who murder characters to kill time" — a pastime, 
 unfortunately far more prevalent in "pious com- 
 pany " than in any other. 
 
 " Some men," says Caleb Cotton, the laconic 
 writer, " are very entertaining for a first interview,
 
 470 SIB GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. XXIII. 
 
 but after that they are exhausted, and run out ; on 
 a second meeting we shall find them very flat and 
 monotonous ; like hand-organs, we have heard all 
 their tunes." 
 
 Mr. Burns was the very reverse of this ; his well- 
 stored mind, his marvellous memory drawing on 
 large experiences, nuide him even to the last one 
 of the most delightful of companions to old and 
 young, for the truth and sense, the wit and humour 
 of his conversation, and for the underlying ground- 
 work of pure and unconventional Christianity upon 
 which it was based. He realised to a great extent 
 the ideal of Cowper, who said — 
 
 Conversation, choose what theme we may, 
 And chiefly when rehgion leads the way, 
 Shoukl flow, like waters after summer showers, 
 Not as if raised by mere mechanic powers. 
 
 We propose to give in this place some fragmentary 
 selections from his store of anecdote. 
 
 It is always a pleasant thing when a man in 
 extreme old age goes back with bright, happy, and 
 boyish thoughts to his boyhood and youth. 
 
 In the course of some passing remark about the 
 weather, Mr. Burns said to the present writer in 
 1888 :— 
 
 I remember distinctly that on the 4th of June, 1800, my future 
 wife, Jeanie Cleland, was at old Provost Hamilton's beautiful 
 place, called North Park, on the banks of the Kelvin. It was
 
 1888.] BEMINISCENCES OF YOUTH. ill 
 
 George the Third's birthday, and the apple-trees, then beginning 
 to blossom, had their branches broken down by the weight of tbe 
 snow. 
 
 When I was a boy (he said on another occasion) I had a passion 
 lor climbing steeples or towers. One day the beadle of the cathe- 
 dral indulged me by opening the tower and allowing me to ascend, 
 but I could not resist the temptation to be mischievous, and I set 
 the great bell going, greatly to the consternation of the kind beadle. 
 This passion for climbing continued with me. When I went on 
 the Continent I always ascended the high towers, such as the spire 
 of Strasburg Cathedral and the Vendome Column. I climbed 
 above the bell of St. Paul's in London, and on to the scaffolding 
 when the old bell exhibited in Regent's Park was taken down, and 
 I always afterwards was in the habit of taking my grandchildi-en 
 to the top of St. Paul's. 
 
 Practical joking appears to have been a good deal 
 in vogue in Mr. Burns's young days ; and from the 
 merry way in which he was wont to recall certain 
 incidents, it would seem that he was not ni the 
 habit of frowning grimly on the players. 
 
 One of Dr. Chalmers' Sunday-school teachers, Mr. Higgle, was 
 greatly disconcerted one day to find that his desk was occupied ; 
 the young rogues of his school having captured a stray ass, brought 
 it into the room, and mounted it upon the rostrum appointed to the 
 superintendent. Dr. Chalmers and I had a good hearty laugh 
 together over this incident, which leads me to mention another : — 
 
 The Bogles of Gilmourhill — where the University now stands 
 — were rather proverbial for practical humour. One of the younger 
 members of the family, along with some other young men, found 
 the ass of a costermonger standing in a court of the Saltmarket. 
 The latter had left his cuddy and barrow and gone into an adjoin- 
 ing house to sell something. Bogle and his companions unyoked
 
 472 Slli GEOEGE BURNS. [Chap. XXIII. 
 
 the ass, coutrived to get it upstairs, put its bead looking out of a 
 high window, and then decamped. When the man came out and 
 found his ass gone, he was greatly concerned, and began looking 
 everywhere for the animal, but iu vain. During the interval a 
 crowd had collected in the court. The costermonger could not 
 find out what was the matter till one of the crowd called out to 
 bim, ' There's your ass looking at you out of yon window.' 
 
 The same mischievous fellows on another occasion procured a 
 ladder, which they placed against the statue of King William at 
 the Cross. It was railed and high, and their professed object was 
 to decorate the statue with a flag. It was dark at night when this 
 occitrred. When all was ready, they asked a man who was looking 
 on to mount the ladder and fix the flag ; but no sooner bad he 
 hegun the operation, than the ladder was withdrawn, and the 
 bewildered man found himself perched on King William, the 
 rogues having run off and left him ! 
 
 In my early days there was only one church in Glasgow that 
 bad an organ, and that one was not in the obscure Roman Catholic 
 Church as you might suppose, but in the small Episcopal Church 
 at the entrance to the Green of Glasgow. In consequence of this 
 innovation the church was called derisively ' The Whistling Kirk.' 
 Some time after that, Dr. Ritchie, of St. Andrew's Church, Glasgow, 
 endeavoured to introduce a small organ to assist the psalmody, 
 which was notoriously bad in all the Scotch churches. The case 
 was brought before the Presbytery, and was decided against bim.-^' 
 
 * In a '* Statement of Proceedings of the Presbytery of Glasgow 
 Relative to the Use of an Organ in St. Andrew's Church in the 
 Public Worship of God on the 23rd of August, 1807," it is senten- 
 tiously stated in the preface that " The Presbytery of Glasgow were 
 determined not to suffer such a palpable innovation to creep into 
 the Church of Scotland. They considered it, therefore, their sacred 
 duty to pass a judgment upon the illegality of the measure, and 
 to set the qnestion for ever at rest, at least with the congregations 
 under their jurisdiction."
 
 ISSa] ANECDOTES. 473 
 
 When Dr. Ritchie was appointed to the Divinity Chair in Edin- 
 burgh, a caricature picture was circulated representing him as on 
 his journey to that city with a barrel-organ on his back, playing 
 the tune — * I'll gang nae mair to yon toon.' 
 
 It was the custom when I was a youth, as it still is in some 
 places, for the elders of the church to stand at the doors on 
 Sundays superintending collection plates. Provost French was a 
 sitter in St, Enoch's Church, and on one occasion he put a half- 
 crown into the plate and was about to take out two shillings, 
 intending only to contribute sixpence, when the elder interposed 
 by exclaiming, ' Na, na, mon ; whatever goes in theere is saacred ! ' 
 
 On another occasion the Provost, in walking, observed on the 
 street a nice-looking oatmeal and suet pudding — called in Scotland 
 a white pudding. He caught it up on the point of his stick and 
 dropped it into the plate, whereupon the elder rebuked him for 
 mocking God's poor. ' If God's poor,' he replied, ' are not content 
 with the white pudding, they don't deserve to get anything.' 
 
 The Eev. Mr. Thorn, of Govan, who was Moderator of Presbytery 
 at the time of my father's ordination and performed the ceremony, 
 was very humorous, but sometimes a little bit profane. Once at 
 a Presbytery meeting there was a young man about to receive 
 ordination. Thorn disliked him, and thought little of his abilities. 
 Instead of placing his hands on the head of the candidate, he 
 reached forth his stick for that purpose. An exclamation of horror 
 ran through the church, but Thom, not in the least disconcerted, 
 quietly said, ' Timber to timber.' ' 
 
 One day when Mr. Thom was preaching, a member of his 
 congregation, not remarkable for his piety, was sitting in the front 
 gallery, and in drawing out his pocket-handkerchief a pack of cards 
 flew out and spread below. 'Hech, mon,' exclaimed Thom, 'but 
 your psalm-book has been loosely bound ! '
 
 474 SIB GEORGE BUBNS. [Chap. XXIII. 
 
 Dr. Cleland Lad a very nice villa near Riitherglen, and just 
 about the time when Dr. Chalmers made his appearance in Glasgow, 
 his daughter — my wife to be — taught a Sunday school in conjunc- 
 tion with ]\Iargaret Smith of Muir Bank, who afterwards became 
 my brother James's first wife. The Rev. Mr. Dick was at that 
 time minister of the Established Church at Rutherglen. He was 
 a good, kind-hearted man, and simple in his manner. One day he 
 saw some boys in his orchard stealing the fruit. He ran out, 
 stick in hand, to catch them in the act, but when he saw them 
 scrambling down the trees in hot haste, he called out, ' Take 
 care, take care, lest ye hurt yourselves.' 
 
 In my very early days there was a notable citizen named James 
 i\IacNair, a member of a family well known in and around 
 Glasgow, MacNair was extremely cute and keen in taking 
 advantage of any circumstance that could advance his interests. 
 His hand-writing was not plain. One day he wrote a letter to 
 a wholesale house in London ordering 2 cwt. of copperas. The 
 London man read the order as 2 cwt. of capers, and wrote to 
 MacNair saying that he had searched all London and could not 
 make up the quantity, but was sending on as large a supply as 
 he could manage to get. MacNair was rather nonplussed when 
 he received this reply, but his natural sagacity at once came to 
 his aid, and he got up a flaming announcement that he had in 
 stock ' a new, rare, and much esteemed relish for use in sauces.' 
 This induced a considerable demand. Meanwhile capers had 
 become scarce in London, and his correspondent wrote to him 
 begging him to spare some of the large quantity he had received. 
 MacNair at once saw his chance. His price had gone up amaz- 
 ingly, and he could only sell at that price. So, by his sale in the 
 shop, and by selling back to London, he made a very good profit 
 out of a transaction which with most men would have proved a 
 loss. 
 
 Lj those days, and later, cold rum-punch, of which lemons or
 
 1888.] ANECDOTES. 475 
 
 limes formed a component part, was a famous drink. On one occa- 
 sion MacNair had only just two boxes of lemons on hand, and he 
 Avanted to purchase more, as thei'e was a considerable supply in 
 Glasgow, but not at the price which was asked. So he set two 
 men to work to carry his two boxes of lemons on two barrows. 
 The riusc succeeded. The impression got abroad that MacNair had 
 received a large supply from a distance, prices at once came down, 
 and then MacNair purchased ! 
 
 Talking about rum-punch reminds me of a well-known character 
 and benefactor in Paisley, Mr. Love. He was an eccentric man, 
 and kept bears in his garden, just to gratify his liking for animals. 
 Once he fell ill, and went to Edinburgh to consult Dr. Ciregory. 
 During the interview, Dr. Gregory said, ' I know what is the cause 
 of your illness — it is the cold rum-punch which is so much drunk 
 in the west.' Love made no reply, but put a fee of a guinea into 
 the doctor's hand, and moved towards the door. Just as he was 
 going out, he looked over his shoulder at the learned doctor and 
 said, ' I hinna tasted a drap o' cauld punch these thirty years 
 past ! ' 
 
 In my early business days, John Wood was Chairman of the 
 Excise in London, now called the Inland Revenue. He was in 
 Glasgow with Captain Percy, of the Northumberland family, and 
 was frequently at the Excise Office — a fine office in the Custom 
 House Buildings at Greenock. John Wood, from his boyhood, 
 was intimate with Sir Charles Wood (afterwards Lord Halifax), and 
 he used to say to me that Charles Wood, as a boy, would, if he 
 came to a gate, always leap over instead of pausing to open it. 
 That was characteristic of his whole life — he dashed through every- 
 thing in which he was engaged. 
 
 Talking about the Excise, I must tell you a story my father used 
 to narrate of Collector Corbett, of Glasgow. One day, in company, 
 the conversation turned upon smuggling, and tea was particularised 
 as one of tlie contraband articles brought in. One of the gentlemen
 
 470 Slli GEOliGK BURNS. [Chap. XXIII. 
 
 present said, in reply to a remark of Corbett on the vigilance of the 
 Excise, ' I'll pledge myself to smuggle in tea in your very presence, 
 and by the conspicuous route of the Glasgow Bridge.' The 
 challenge was accepted, and at the time appointed the transaction 
 took place. In the evening the company met again, when the 
 gentleman who had made the challenge said to Collector Corbett, 
 ' Well, did you seize the tea which was brought in to-day ? ' ' No,' 
 he answered, ' I saw no tea brought in, and we had our men 
 zealously on the watch.' 'Well,' said the gentleman, 'it was 
 brought in, in your very sight, and I will show you where it now 
 is.' The collector was dumbfounded, and asked how it was possibly 
 done. ' You were upon the Glasgow Bridge,' said the gentleman, 
 ' and on the watch ; what did you see ? ' 'I saw a variety of 
 things,' and he named them ; ' I saw also a funeral procession, 
 and a very large number of mourners following the hearse. 
 ' Well,' said the gentleman, * the tea was inside that hearse.' 
 
 Eeference has already been made in these pages 
 to Mr. Jeffrey, commonly called by his familiars 
 Frank Jeffrey. Concerning him, Mr. Burns says : — 
 
 He finished his education at Oxford, and on his return he 
 was called to the Bar, became Lord Advocate, and attained to 
 the Bench of the Court of Session under the title of Lord 
 Jeffrey. ^Yhon he was called to the r)ar, he acquired great reputation 
 and prospects of success. At one time ^Ir. IMcQueen sat on the 
 Bench under the title of Lord ]iraxfield ; his property being at 
 New Lanark, he was familiarly called 'Old l^raxy.' He spoke 
 broad Scotch, and was quaint and forcible in his expressions from 
 the Bench. On Jeffrey's appearance at the Bar some time after, 
 ' Old Braxy ' said, ' The laddie has tynt (lost) his Scotch and hasna 
 ta'en on the English.' On another occasion, when capital punish- 
 ment Avas inflicted for various misdemeanors and crimes, it fell 
 to the lot of Lord ]^raxfield to pronounce sentence of death on a 
 poacher, which he did in the usual solemn maimer. He was
 
 1888.] ANECDOTES. 477 
 
 personally acquainted with the men in tlie country, and after the 
 sentence was formally pronounced, he said, * John, you'll l)e hang't, 
 and that'll he a wernin' to ye.' 
 
 ^^'hen Kohert Owen came to New Lanark to take charge of the 
 cotton-mills hclonging to David Dale (whose daughter he afterwards 
 married), he resided at Braxfield House, and early in his career 
 foinided several schools. His efforts to advance education were at 
 first approved, hut puhlic opinion changed on his puhlishing a 
 pamphlet entitled, ' A New View of Society.' ^Many a time I saw 
 him come to the Glasgow office of New Lanark Mills. He was 
 the first gentleman I saw wearing a frock-coat, a very unusual 
 article of attire at that time. Gentlemen wore long-tailed coats 
 and white neckcloths, and even to very late in my lifetime this 
 custom was continued hy elderly men. During a large portion of 
 my life I wore a dress-coat, large-frilled shirt, and white neckcloth, 
 in the forenoon. I could name many wdio never put on a surtout, 
 amongst them my brother James, but he gave up the white neck 
 cloth. It was several years after Robert Owen's time ere surtouts 
 became general for forenoon costume. Mr. Owen dressed well, and 
 many were his visits to Mr. Wright's own room in the office, and 
 serious conversations sometimes ensued. Mr. Wright told me of 
 one of them in which he urged on him the importance of the 
 truths contained in the Bible. Mr. Owen was much impressed, 
 and with tender emotion, the tears starting to his eyes, said, ' Mr. 
 Wright, I wish I could believe.' 
 
 In 1832, a grand banquet was given in the large hall at the Cross 
 •of Glasgow, called the Coft'ee Eoom. The late Duke of Gordon 
 was chairman, and among the prominent speakers was the -well- 
 known Patrick Robertson, Advocate, afterwards a Judge hy the 
 name of Lord Robertson. He had an enormously powerful voice, 
 •and in speaking he made use of Earl Grey's famous speech in 
 which occur the words 'Whisper of Faction,' in opposition to
 
 478 SIB GF.ORGE BURNS. [Chap. XXIII. 
 
 the Reform Bill. Robertson thundered oiit, ' This, this is the 
 whisper of a faction ! ' 
 
 The same Patrick Robertson was full of fun and mischief. A 
 widow lady in Edinburgh liad a foible of speaking of great people. 
 On one occasion she left a message to the effect that if any one called 
 they were to be informed that she had gone to call on Lady Deas, 
 wife of Lord Deas, a Judge in the Court of Session. It so happened 
 that Patrick Robertson called at her house, and received the message 
 left for callers. Shortly afterwards he met the widow in the street, 
 and said to her, ' I have just been calling at your house ; the servant 
 said you had gone out to buy cheese.' (This rhymed in with 
 ' Deas.') 
 
 I believe I am the oldest Justice of the Peace for Lanarkshire, 
 living. I attended to the duties of the office in my former days, 
 but from my occupation in business, I was frequently very glad to 
 get my friend Baillie Martin to act as my substitute in court. At 
 that time ]\Ir. Douglas, who commonly went under the name of John 
 Douglas, and was the son of a minister of the Church of Scotland, 
 in Ayrshire, was a great punster. On one occasion, when Mr. 
 Middleton married a Mrs. Lockie, John Douglas said to me, ' It 
 would appear that ]\Irs. Lockie preferred a vnddle tmc to a hnr 
 
 When Mr. Kirkman Finlay was contesting the representation of 
 Glasgow — which was composed of five burghs, including Rutherglen, 
 where his warm friend Dr. Cleland, my father-in-law, lived in a 
 villa he possessed — John Douglas, being an ardent supporter of 
 his, applied all his persuasive powers to the wives of the Town 
 Councillors, giving each a benevolent kiss, at the same time 
 slipping a guinea from his own lips into theirs. The vote before 
 the passing of the Reform Act lay entirely with the corporations of 
 the five burghs. On tliat occasion, a dinner being given by Mr. 
 Finlay in Rutherglen, Lord Archibald Hamilton presiding, one of 
 the Town Councillors at the lower end of the table called out, * My 
 lord, they are not drinking fair here.' ' Gentlemen,' replied his
 
 1888.] POLITICAL VIEWS. 479 
 
 lordship, ' take off your glasses.' ' It's no that,' again shouted the 
 councillor, ' they are here drinking twa for ane.' 
 
 Never at any period of his life did Mr. Burns take 
 any prominent part in politics, nor, as a matter of 
 fact, was he much of a politician. Late in life he 
 said when reviewing some of the great movements 
 that had marked the annals of his times : — 
 
 In my early days I did not take much interest in political affairs, 
 but in later years I have been ranked amongst the Conservatives, 
 although I have never occupied any very prominent position 
 amongst them. I may describe myself as being satisfied that 
 the constitution of our country is well balanced, and gives an 
 example of great liberty combined with efficient moderate control. 
 For instance, I value highly the House of Peers, as a balancing 
 weight against Avhat I fear is, at the present time, a too democratic 
 tendency in the House of Commons. I am not willing to surrender 
 the term ' Liberal ' entirely to the opposite party, because I have 
 had liberal tendencies all my life. I think, however, that our too 
 rapid progress should be controlled by checks, and that the 
 Upper Chamber furnishes wise and salutary restraints. My con- 
 fidence was shaken in Peel, but it recovered as I observed his 
 action with regard to the Corn Laws. I lamented the way in 
 which the Reform Bill was carried, by threats such as those used 
 by Lord Grey, who proposed to create an extra number of peers. 
 I also regretted, in 1829, that what was called Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion was unavoidably yielded. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers took an opposite view, and thought that it would 
 give to Ireland an opportunity for conferring upon the Roman 
 Catholics an open Bible more fully than they then possessed. 
 His view, as the event has proved, was chimerical. 
 
 In 1847, Mr. Burns was staying at Bath, It
 
 480 SIB GEORGE BUIiNS. [Chap. XXIII. 
 
 Wiis the same year in which Lord Ashley — at that 
 time personally unknown to him — was returned as 
 Member of Parliament for that town after a severe 
 contest, his opponent being Mr. Eoebuck, one of 
 his bitterest antagonists in the Factory agitation. 
 Eeferring to his visit to Bath, Mr. Burns says : — 
 
 I frequently attended the ministry of Mr. Jay, and also of Mr. 
 Tottenham of Kensington Chapel. At that time there were about 
 three hundred chair-men in Bath ; their services were valuable in 
 taking people to balls and concerts, and also in preserving order, as 
 they were all sworn in as special constables, and they were ready 
 for taking part in the suppression of any disturbances in that 
 stirring and stormy year. One Sunday when I was going to Mr. 
 Tottenham's church, there was an elderly gentleman, lame or 
 frail, being wheeled along in a Bath-chair going to the same church. 
 By some misadventure the chair was upset, and he w^as thrown 
 upon the ground. A crowd collected, and prompt assistance was 
 proffered, but he took up his crutch and held them all at bay, crying 
 out, ' There shall no one help me but a Tory ! ' Party spirit was 
 running very high at that time, as you may judge by this incident ! 
 
 Mr. Burns took a great interest in the personal 
 history of the captains of the Cunard fleet. Many 
 of them were in the employment of the Com- 
 pany for a great number of years — Captain W. 
 McMickan, for example, now Commander of the 
 Umhria, and Commodore of the Fleet, who has 
 covered more than two millions of miles in crossing 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 Some of the older captains had "points" upon 
 which Mr. Burns liked to dilate.
 
 1888.] MAKING LAND TO THE MINUTE. 481 
 
 There was Captain Harrison of the Asia, on his way to Hahfax 
 encountering a dense fog off the Banks of Newfoundland. At the 
 breakfast -table he told his passengers that he should reach the land 
 at three in the afternoon. The day wore on, when, close to the 
 hour named, the cry came from the look-out, ' Breakers ahead ! ' and 
 down went the helm. Harrison, who stood amidst a knot of anxious 
 passengers, took out his watch and calmly remarked, 'Very good, 
 made land to the minute ! ' 
 
 A cool customer was Theodore Cook, who had commanded no 
 less than twenty-four of the Cunard ships, the very type of a 
 skilful captain, with ' a nerve of cold blast steel.' One day he was 
 taking his noon observations, when a cloud interrupted his vision ; 
 a passenger coming up, said, ' Captam Cook, I'm afraid that cloud 
 prevented you from making your observation.' * Yes, sir,' replied 
 the potentate of the sea, 'but it did not hinder you from making 
 yours.' 
 
 Hugh Main was captain of one of our smacks, and when steam 
 was put on, he was for many years commander of several of the 
 Liverpool steamers. 
 
 He was a large heavy man — his brother was the keeper of the 
 hotel in Inverkip — (all the family Avere large) and Hugh Black, our 
 agent in Greenock, used to say, ' the Mains are all of " hoodge "" 
 (huge) dimensions.' Hugh Main went by the sobriquet of the 
 Hu-niani' Captain. He had a dog on board, his constant companion 
 on all his voyages. It was a great favourite with the passengers, 
 and on its collar was engraved, ' I am Hugh Main's dog; whose dog 
 are you ? ' Main suffered greatly from weakness in his legs, making- 
 it very dithcult for him to stand, which he did, however, very much 
 by night and by day, for he was devoted to his profession. This 
 weakness led him to resign his position as captain, but we made 
 liim our agent at Greenock. 
 
 Captain Duncan was another of ours. He was in the Highland 
 
 81
 
 482 -S7i? GEOEGE BUBNS. [Chap. XXIII. 
 
 Hervice. On one occasion the Duchess of Sutherland, Mistress of 
 the Robes to the Queen, was coming on board to go to Dunrobin, 
 and the captain was asked by an attendant to substitute for the 
 ordinary small gangway a larger one which was at hand for the use 
 of liorses or cattle, as he thought it more dignified. Captain Duncan 
 replied, in his own quaint way, that * there was no occasion for it, 
 as her grace could get on board quite well l)y the little one,' ending, 
 ' she's no an raUfent ' (elephant). 
 
 A significant little story of Mr. Burns may be 
 recorded in this connection. Once he had to speak 
 very strongly to this Captain Duncan, and quite 
 worked himself up to emphasise his displeasure. 
 Some time afterwards, Captain Duncan was told that 
 at the interview Mr. Burns was really very angry. 
 "Was he," said the captain; ''I never knew it." 
 
 When we had the Castle at Dunoon on lease, the pier was just 
 l)elow it. One evening when it was dark a vessel approached and 
 hailed, and was answered by a voice from the pier. ' Do you belong 
 to the pier,' shouted the skipper of the vessel. ' Na, na,' replied 
 Donald Macdonald, the pier-master, ' the pier belongs to me.' 
 * Weel, weel, can ye tak a rope ? ' 
 
 Mr. Burns's recollections of hiends, acquaintances, 
 and contemporaries, would fill a volume. We can 
 therefore only give a few fragmentary passages. 
 Sometimes the mere mention of the name of a place 
 would bring up a train of memories bridging over half 
 a century, and the curious part about his reminis- 
 cences was that in recalling events or people he would 
 rarely hesitate about a name or a date, but speak with 
 the utmost precision on these points.
 
 1888.] RECOLLECTIONS OF EAIiLY FlilENDS. 483 
 
 I knew of Mr. Dachmont very well through my fatlier, and in 
 the early part of the century he was an intimate friend of David 
 Dale. In the course of his mercantile life he travelled frequently 
 on horseback with Mr. James Finlay. A mercantile correspondent 
 visited him from time to time at Glasgow on his journey fi'om 
 England. On one occasion, after family worship, ho said, ' Mr. 
 Dachmont, I have heard you often in prayer use the expression that 
 the Lord would grant us a competency. What does that mean ? ' 
 To which Dachmont laughingly replied, 'It means a little more 
 than we have.' 
 
 In the days of Mr. James Finlay — that is to say, during the last 
 century — there were no mail coaches to London, nor even stage 
 coaches, and the journey was undertaken on horseback. Mr. Finlay 
 and Mr. Dachmont set out together : their tastes and habits were 
 fairly well alike, with this exception, that Mr. Dachmont had an 
 abhorrence of pork. When they arrived at Newcastle, Mr. Finlay 
 told the waiter to send up some well-dressed pork cutlets, and to 
 call them veal cutlets. The two gentlemen partook pleasantly of 
 the dinner, and Mr. Dachmont said, 'Well, the English know much 
 better how to cook veal cutlets than we do, I never tasted any so 
 good.' Mr. Finlay said nothing about the deception, but fell in 
 with the praise ; and on the following day, when riding together 
 towards the south, Mr. Dachmont again alluded to the excellence 
 of the veal cutlets. Finlay then told him it was pork, when 
 Dachmont immediately got off his horse, turned very pale, and 
 said he felt ill even at the thought of it. 
 
 I knew the Colonsay family well. The old gentleman was a 
 handsome, magnificent man, and his wife a stately looking woman. 
 They visited us, and, like other Highland chieftains, he attended 
 the great cattle market annually held in Falkirk, called the ' tryst." 
 He was at one time there with his cattle, when a dealer was anxious to 
 have some conversation with him, but did not know him personally. 
 He was told, in a kind and jocular way, that if he went to the tryst.
 
 484 SlJi GEORGE BUBNS. [Ch.vi>. XXIII. 
 
 and looked out amongst the crowd, lie would be sure to see liim, as 
 lie would be the largest and handsomest man there. 
 
 His eldest son was a leading advocate in Edinburgh, and became 
 President of the Court of Session under the title of Lord Colonsay ; 
 having been also M.P. previously for the County of Perth, and Lord 
 Advocate. Another son, Archibald, was a Writer to the Signet in 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 At the time of the great stir in religious circles about the opinions 
 of Bishop Colenso of Natal, one of the islanders in the island of 
 Colonsay said to another, * Hech ! it's a terrible thing ; I hear that 
 Colomai/ doesna beheve in Moses ! ' The other replied, ' Pm sure 
 it's no him ; it must be his brither Archie ! ' 
 
 I used, at one time, to think that Sir Andrew Agnew was the 
 most practical Sabbatarian I knew, for he told me that it was his 
 custom on Sunday to give every servant in his employment the 
 opportunity of going to church. He would not allow anything to 
 be cooked but potatoes. One day my wife mentioned this to my 
 old friend Sir Edward Parry, then staying with us in Glasgow, 
 who replied in his quiet way, ' I go farther, I don't even allow the 
 potatoes.' 
 
 Admiral Baillie Hamilton, who, when I first know him as Captain 
 Hamilton, was Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty, was a fre- 
 quent visitor and a staunch friend. He was with Dr. Guthrie when 
 on his death-bed at Hastings. 
 
 The last time he came liere he was staying with John, but he 
 came to see me, and we had a wall\ in the garden. He was going 
 off the next day to visit my son -lames at Ferntower. Standing at 
 the back of the conservatory he said, ' Do you know that you and 
 I have been friends for forty years ? ' ' Yes,' I replied, ' I know 
 it well.' We had a long walk, and when he left he said to Ann 
 Eraser, ' Good-night, Ann,' in such a singularly impressive way 
 I never forgot it. When he went to Ferntower he was in good 
 health, and my son wrote to me, ' I have your cheery admiral here,
 
 1888.] ANECDOTES. 485 
 
 he is in excellent spirits.' He went on from thence to Skye, where 
 he spent some time shooting. He got back to Portree, intending to 
 leave on a certain day. There he was taken ill, and he sent a 
 telegram to his wife, ' Shall be detained here for a day or two.' 
 Lady Harriet Hamilton, knowing his habits, at once took alarm, 
 started off, and reached Skye just in time to see him expire. 
 
 Talking of Hamilton reminds me of his sister. Lady Haddington, 
 who had occasion to go to Redmayne's shop in London to make 
 some purchases. She heard the assistants saying one to another, 
 ' Two and ten.' She was very simply dressed, as was her wont. 
 When she went home to Admiralty House, she said to her maid, ' I 
 wonder what those people in the shop could mean by saying " Two 
 and ten." ' The maid, curious to relate, had once been employed 
 as an assistant at Redmayne's, and she coloured up and kept quiet. 
 On being pressed she said, ' Well, it was a password sent round the 
 shop for the assistants to keep their eyes open and see that nothing 
 was picked up; "two," according to the code, meant "keep your 
 two eyes open " ; " ten " meant " watch the movements of her ten 
 fingers." ' Lady Haddington continued to dress simply, notwith- 
 standing the estimate that had been formed of her. 
 
 Lord Shaftesbury was a great friend of the Duke of Wellington, 
 and used to give me many anecdotes of him. The duke told him 
 of a very singular occurrence which took place at Waterloo. At 
 one moment in the battle the duke was left alone, his aide-de-camps 
 having been despatched with messages, when a gentleman in plain 
 clothes rode up to him, and said, 'Can I be of any use, sir'?' 
 The duke looked at him, and instantly said, ' Yes ! take that pencil 
 note to the commanding officer,' pointing to a regiment in the 
 very heat of the engagement. The gentleman immediately com- 
 plied, and galloped through the thick of the fight and delivered the 
 note. After the battle the duke made every inquiry, but though 
 he for long used all the means in his power, he never could trace to 
 whom he was indebted, and he told Lord Shaftesbury that he con-
 
 486 SIR GEOHGE BURNS. [Chap. XXIII. 
 
 sidered it one of the most gallant deeds that bad ever come under 
 Lis notice, as the gentleman who did it could have had no prospect 
 of reward or honour. 
 
 Mr. John Burns was in the habit of coming down 
 to Wemyss House every day, and sometimes several 
 times a day, and telHng his father many a good story. 
 These Mr. Burns would treasure up in his memory, 
 and would tell again with relish, clothed in his own 
 pleasant form of language, and given with the sunny 
 smile and the quaint manner that invested them with 
 an irresistible charm. But if we were to enter upon 
 this field, it is so exceeding broad, we should never 
 draw the reminiscences to a close. We cannot, 
 however, resist the temptation to relate just one 
 '' Castle story." 
 
 Once when the Earl of Caithness was stayhig at the Castle, 
 several people were at dinner, and amongst them was Pro- 
 fessor Grant, the distinguished Professor of Astronomy in the 
 Glasgow University, We had a great deal of interesting conver- 
 sation, as we always had when Grant was of the party. Lord 
 Caithness had scientific proclivities, and he and Grant soon got 
 deep into discussion upon astronomical matters, in the course of 
 which Grant happened to remark that Jupiter was in its prime at 
 that present time for observation. 
 
 Afterwards, when we adjourned to the drawing-room, some of us 
 stood at the end window, which commands a delightful view up the 
 Clyde. It was a clear, beautiful night, and the subject of Jupiter 
 was renewed, when Caithness and Grant exclaimed, ' There it is ; 
 a magnificent sight ! ' and dilated upon it a good deal. Presently 
 Captain Gordon, of H.M.S. BlKck i'////rr (now Admiral Gordon), 
 who was beside us, broke out in his strong Aberdeen dialect,
 
 1888.] CASTLE STOEIEb\ 487 
 
 * Gentlemeu, that's not Jupiter at all — that's the Clocli Light- 
 house ! ' 
 
 Grant told John that he must not make a joke of it, or tell 
 it abroad, but some time afterwards when he met my son, he said, 
 'Oh, ye did not keep the story to yourself; when I was out to 
 dinner lately the party set upon me, bantering me, and saying, 
 " Have you seen the Wemyss Jupiter lately?" ! '
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 HONOURS. 
 
 Life was clesigued to be beautiful from beginning 
 to end. As the hour before sunset is the lovehest 
 in the day, as October is the ripest month of the 
 year and the richest in colours, so old age, serene, 
 virtuous, and happy, has a charm not less fascinating 
 than the graces of infancy, the hopes of youth, or 
 the vigour of manhood. Oftentimes the end of 
 summer is more glorious than the summer itself; 
 and sometimes, though rarely, old age is so round 
 and rich and bright and beautiful as to make youth 
 seem poor in comparison. It was so in the case of 
 Mr. Burns. 
 
 Until the early part of the spring of 1888 no 
 thought of a biography appears to have entered his 
 mind, and then it was not his own idea, but was 
 put there by those who loved him. At first lie 
 smiled at it, then shrunk from it. But when it 
 was suggested to him that perhaps the story of his 
 life, simply told, might influence other lives ; that an 
 old age such as his belongs, according to the great 
 scheme of life, to every individual if he only knows
 
 1888.] PREPARING A BIOGRAPHY. 489 
 
 how to l)uil(l it ; that hundreds of personal friends 
 would he gratified to have his acknowledgment how- 
 well God had dealt with him all through the years — 
 these considerations prevailed, and when, in March 
 of that year, I was invited to spend some time at 
 Wemyss Bay for the express purpose of throwing 
 open the floodgates of his memory, I looked forward 
 to the visit with as much pleasure as he did mis- 
 giving. A ery soon, however, the satisfaction was 
 mutual, and as long as I live I can never forget that 
 period of my life and his w^hen we went together 
 over the long past, now laughing over some comical 
 story, or w^ading through correspondence brown 
 with age, or drinking in the inspiration of lives 
 long passed away from earth — sometimes driving, 
 or sitting in the sunshine on the lawns, at others 
 making morning visits to his bedroom, or spending 
 long cosy afternoons in the library, when he let 
 me see into his heart of hearts, as well as into the 
 outward circumstances of his life, and without a 
 note-book or external aid of any kind, would tell 
 me anecdotes, describe events, and give the details 
 of historical movements with a precision simply 
 marvellous. "Here comes the chiel takin' notes," 
 he would say laughingly, as I entered his room, 
 and then we would proceed to talk of what he, a 
 boy of ten, did on the day when the victory of 
 Trafalgar was celebrated, or discuss the day's Times 
 and the Parnell Commission. 
 
 Truly a wonderful old man was he. It was utterly
 
 490 Slli GEORGE BUliNS. [Chap. XXIV. 
 
 impossible for any one to know him and not to love 
 hi]n, and it was equally impossible to know and love 
 him and not to be impressed with the singular grace 
 and charm of his Christian character; the "beauty 
 of holiness " shone and sparkled in every word and 
 action, and made the merry laugh and genial smile 
 as impressive as praj^er and praise. 
 
 I said at the time, and repeat it here, that if the 
 Bible were blotted out of existence, if there were no 
 prayer-book, catechism, or creed, if there were no 
 visible Church, I could not fail to believe in the 
 doctrines of Christianity while the " li\dng epistle " 
 of his life remained in my memory. 
 
 Instead of the biography being a trouble to iiim, 
 it became a distinct pleasure. Old boxes, desks, and 
 drawers were ransacked, and as fresh documents, 
 long since forgotten, and some that had not seen 
 the daylight for two-thirds of a century, were found, 
 it filled his heart with new thankfulness as he 
 reviewed all the way in which he had been led, 
 and the goodness and mercy that had followed him 
 all the days of his life. 
 
 He would sometimes speak to friends who visited 
 him of what was being done. To one (the Rev. 
 David Beith) he said : — 
 
 Men say that I have had a very successful life, that mine has 
 been a highly prosperous career — and it is true, and I am most 
 thankful for it. But in looking back as I do now, this reflection 
 gives me no real satisfaction ; there is nothing in the fact upon 
 Avhich I can rest. ]3ut when I read, as I have been reading lately,
 
 1888.] THE ''BEAUTY OF HOLINESS." 4'Jl 
 
 letters written by myself as a young man sixty or seventy years 
 ago, and find that llicn I was decided for Christ, that knowledge 
 indeed rejoices my heart in my old age. 
 
 "The beautiful smile," says Mr. Eeitli, "in the 
 bright clear eyes, the light on the fine sweet face, 
 as he spoke these words, I can never forget." 
 
 From any Pharisaical pride in his religion he was 
 absolutely free. He was of a higher type than those 
 who are merely called, and it may be called truly, 
 " very rehgious people." He was by habit too much 
 of the " thorough gentleman," in the real sense of 
 the phrase, to have had anything false or untruthful 
 in his outward manner, and he was too loving, both 
 towards God and man, to be anything else than 
 transparent, simple, and unaffected in all that he 
 said or did. 
 
 His heart remained h-esh and young, open to all 
 good and happiness in the world, to all truth, beauty, 
 and joy ; his sympathies were with little children as 
 well as with aged saints ; his laughter over a good 
 story, or a good joke, was still as infectious as his 
 sympathy with sorrow. 
 
 To him " the world was only w^hat was not of the 
 Father ; while all that was of the Father — all that 
 is worth knowing and loving in social life, all that is 
 according to God's will in nature, from the flowers 
 of earth to the stars of heaven — he rejoiced in." 
 
 Even his old love of sight-seeing remained as keen 
 as ever, and one day in September he started off to 
 see the Glasgow International Exhibition ! He went
 
 492 SIB GEOBGE BUENS. [Chap. XXIV. 
 
 from Wemyss House to tlie station in his Bath-chair, 
 took the train to Glasgow, spent the day in the 
 exhibition, and drove fr-om thence to Glenlee (a 
 distance of twelve miles), the beautiful place of Mr. 
 Cleland Burns, vacated on the death of his wife, and 
 to which he had returned after nearly twenty years' 
 absence. There Mr. Burns remained for two days. 
 On his return to Wemyss Bay he drove to the Castle 
 in order to see Sh John and Lady Kennaway, who 
 were staying there, then back to Wemyss House, 
 where he sat in the garden for two hours receiving 
 and entertaining ^dsitors. A marvellous old man 
 truly ! 
 
 In the spring of the following year an event of 
 peculiar interest occurred. 
 
 One bright May morning he was in his room with 
 Ann Fraser, his faithful friend, and Mary Hay Bums, 
 his youngest grandchild, Mr. and Mrs. John Burns 
 and the rest of his family being' away yachting, when 
 a letter and telegram were placed in his hands, which 
 he quietly opened. The letter was from the Marquis 
 of Salisbury, and ran thus : 
 
 Foreign Office, M«!j 23, 1889. 
 I have the pleasure of informing you that Her Majesty has been 
 pleased to direct that a Baronetcy of the United Kingdom should 
 be conferred on you on the occasion of her birthday, in recognition 
 of the great benefits which your enterprise and administrative 
 power have preserved to the commerce of the country. 
 I am, 
 
 Yours very faithfully, 
 
 Salisbury.
 
 1889.] THE BABONETCY. 493 
 
 The telegram was from the Marquis of Lothian, 
 Secretary for Scotlaud, and was as follows : 
 
 I have great gratification in informing you that Her Majesty is 
 graciously pleased to confer upon you the honour of a Baronetcy 
 on the occasion of Her Majesty's birthday. 
 
 He was greatly overcome, and no wonder. 
 Suddenly, when lying in bed, almost alone, and 
 ninety-four years of age — the oldest recipient of 
 such an honour in the world's history — he realises 
 that Her Gracious Majesty, the head of our social 
 system, has recognised his life - work and has 
 conlerred upon him a high honour. 
 
 What followed is almost too sacred to tell, and 
 is perhaps as unique as the conferring of the 
 baronetcy. 
 
 The old man bowed his snowy head in his hands, 
 and thanked the King of kings and the Lord of 
 lords, blessing Him for putting it into the hearts 
 of others to give him this honour, praying that he 
 might use it aright, and w^hen it should descend 
 to his beloved son that he might sustain it unsullied, 
 and through all the future of his life w^alk humbly 
 with God. 
 
 Then the old patriarch blessed Mary Hay Burns 
 and Ann Fraser, and afterwards, when talldng to 
 them, said, " I know that God would never have 
 allow^ed it if it should have an evil effect on the 
 welfare of my soul. If it had come in earlier life it 
 might have liindered my spiritual progress." Then,
 
 494 Slli GEOBGE BUBNS. [Chap. XXIV, 
 
 as old memories llcaslied before him, he added, " How 
 proud my brother, the doctor, would have been if he 
 had lived to see the Barony boy made a Baronet ! " 
 
 Busy days in Weinyss Bay followed. Seventy 
 telegrams, hundreds of letters from all parts and 
 persons, came pouring in, while almost every news- 
 paper in the land had its notes and comments ; the 
 burden of which was that the act was peculiarly 
 appropriate, that a life spent for the good of his 
 country and his fellow-men entitled him to the 
 honour, while his historic connection with one of 
 the greatest commercial undertakings in the world 
 made his claim a stronger one ; it was a recognition 
 of the fact that to the enterprise, intelligence, and 
 foresight of men like him the country owes its 
 position and prosperity. 
 
 For himself the mere title was of little account ; 
 the value of the distinction was that it was the 
 expression of his sovereign's favour, and a " recog- 
 nition of all that God's grace had enabled him to be 
 and to do." He was much more touched by the 
 kind letters and messages of congratulation than by 
 the honour itself, although that he fully appreciated. 
 
 Now that his name was brought prominently 
 before the public. Sir George had to meet the 
 inevitable interviewer, and a visit from a repre- 
 sentative of TJie World he found to be interesting 
 and amusing, and very kindly.* What seems to 
 have principally struck the reviewer was the fact 
 
 ^ Celebrities at Home, No. jidcxxxix., December 11, 1881*.
 
 188<J.] KEEPING UP OLD FlilKNDSHIPS. 495 
 
 that he was talking to a man who was born in the 
 year of AYarren Hastings' acquittal ; who clung 
 tremblingly to his mother's skirt in the Old Barony 
 Kirk on that darksome watch-night which ushered in 
 the nineteenth century and the " year of dearth " ; 
 who could remember the magistrates issuing a 
 solemn proclamation against the eating of hot rolls, 
 and his mother conveying him certain dainty morsels 
 surreptitiousl}' in spite of the injunction, and who 
 had heard, nearly ninety years since, from his 
 venerable grandfather's lips the story of the stirring 
 events of 1715. 
 
 There are many devices for making old age 
 miserable. One of them — probably the most prolific 
 source of self-inflicted torture — is to keep up the 
 anniversaries of births, deaths, and marriages of 
 relatives and friends. Sir George was above all such 
 pettiness. He did not believe that joy or sorrow 
 was to be subject to arbitrary times and seasons, 
 and, as we have seen, would have allowed the 
 anniversary of his own golden wedding to pass 
 unobserved. 
 
 But he loved to keep up old friendships, and 
 it was a source of comfort to him to the very last 
 to receive letters from those who, like himself, had 
 adhered with firmness to the first principles of their 
 faith, and had stood fast to their old love of Divine 
 truth without having been carried away by any of 
 the divers winds of doctrine, or influenced by the
 
 496 SIB GEOBGE BURNS. [Chap. XXIV. 
 
 "different schools of thonglit." It comforted him 
 to know that there were still thousands who had not 
 bowed the knee to the Baal of philosophic systems, 
 who could still write and talk and preach evangelical 
 truth as it flowed from the lips of the Saviour and 
 His apostles, and who were zealous to contend for 
 " the faith once delivered to the saints." 
 
 His old friend Canon Miles, who had worked with 
 him shoulder to shoulder in former days, said in one 
 of his latest letters : — 
 
 God knows His owu and is known of them, and come what may 
 as a trial to prove the faithful, the elect will continue steadfast to 
 the end ' huildnij to Jems,'' looking to nothing else ; nstiiuj upan 
 Jems, resting upon nothing else ; and rcjuiviwi in Jcsm, rejoicing in 
 nothing else. This doctrine I publicly taught some fifty years ago, 
 I never deviated from it — you are my witness ; and now in my 
 seventy-ninth year I hold and cling to the same precious truth 
 ' complete in Christ,' who is our All in All, our righteousness, 
 sanctificatio)!, and redemption ; He in us and we in Him — in Him 
 the UnchaiKjeahle, the Eternal. So may we, in our time, like Simeon 
 in his, depart in peace and rest in our blessed Lord for ever and 
 ever. 
 
 The days of correspondence were nearly at an 
 end ; rheumatic gout in the hand made it almost 
 impossible for him to use a pen, and though he was 
 able to the last to send his words and wishes by 
 the hand of another, the interchange of letters 
 necessarily lost much of its old charm. 
 
 He was still capable of a full share of enjoyment, 
 and in the spring of 1890 he loved to sit in the
 
 1890.] SUNSET. 497 
 
 gardens and watch the annual renewal of the great 
 miracle of vegetation, or on the upper lawns to see 
 the shipping entering or leaving the Clyde. 
 He had everything that, as Shakespeare says, 
 
 shdidi} accompany old age, 
 As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends. 
 
 And, as he sat thus, he could say : 
 
 And so beside the Silent Sea 
 
 I wait tbe muffled oar ; 
 No barm from Him can come to me 
 
 On ocean or on shore. 
 
 Very solemn were those last days on earth, when 
 he was gathering from the garden of the horder- 
 land, where alone they grow, " the great passion- 
 flower of Grod's love, the crown of thorns, the blood- 
 red rose, and the amaranth of the eternal realm." 
 
 All the most beautiful phases of his character 
 shone out with sunset glories ; his perfect acqui- 
 escence in God's will, as he lay calmly in the shadow 
 of the wings of the Almighty, and the intensity 
 of his compassionate sjanpathy with suffering. 
 Wounded and bruised affections, blighted capacities, 
 broken and defeated hopes, desolation, solitariness, 
 silence, sorrow, anguish, and sin — all things that 
 caused or consummated the " death of life," touched 
 him keenly. At the same time he had the most 
 intense interest in the young, and all the avenues 
 to his heart were open to them. Everything bright 
 
 32
 
 498 SIB GEORGE BURNS. [Chap. XXIV. 
 
 and beautiful, joyous and glad, seemed in him to 
 have the charm of dewy freshness. All the world 
 was a mirror revealing the image of God ; all its 
 gladsome sounds — song of birds, plash of ocean, 
 words of friends — echoes of His voice. His spiritual 
 sympathy with God caused him to see men and 
 things in the intense light of the Divine love, and 
 his whole being was filled with charity, patience, 
 forbearance, and good. 
 
 It is difficult to depict the beauty of his Christian 
 character without incurring the charge of exaggera- 
 tion under the unconscious influence of personal 
 affection, but one who knew and loved him well, 
 said, "It is the most perfect embodiment I have 
 ever seen of the character of Jesus Christ." While 
 another bore this testimony, " He lives so closely in 
 communion wdth God, that when I am with him I 
 seem to be conscious of another Person, unseen, but 
 always there." This sense of God's presence was 
 not necessarily conveyed by anything he said — it 
 pervaded his whole being. 
 
 Throughout the early months of the year he had 
 several severe attacks of illness, which were borne 
 with exemplary patience though attended with great 
 suffering, and it became apparent to those who 
 watched him closely that the end was not far off. 
 
 On the '28th of May he was well enough to be 
 wheeled in his chair along the Bay, but he was in 
 great pain, and begged to be taken back to the house, 
 saying quietly, " I shall never see the Bay again."
 
 1890.] TALKING TO GOD. 499 
 
 A pretty white tent had been erected on the lawn iu 
 front of Wemyss House, and on a sofa there he had 
 enjoyed some pleasant days in the warm sunshine. 
 Here he tarried for awhile, and received a number 
 of special friends, conversing with them cheerfully 
 and instructively. Many were struck with the 
 beauty of his appearance. A bright flush, caused 
 by the pain he was suffering, overspread his face, 
 and gave him so fresh and healthy a look, that one 
 of the visitors, who had seen him for the first time, 
 thought him looking hale and hearty, and could 
 scarcely credit the fact that he was so ill. 
 
 The next day being wet, he spent the afternoon in 
 the library, reading at intervals " The Apocrypha," 
 edited by Dr. Henry Wace, and a monthly magazine 
 relating to the Jews. For three days after this he 
 was suffering intense pain, no sooner getting rid of 
 one complaint, than another and a worse one set in. 
 
 All through this time, and through many previous 
 months of more or less suffering, he was attended 
 night and day by his loving and faithful Ann Fraser, 
 who anticipated every wish, and ministered to him 
 w4th a wealth of tenderness and affection. 
 
 Now, as ever, prayer w^as the very breath of his 
 spiritual life, and quiet contemplation its daily bread. 
 Even to the last he spent the early morning hours in 
 ^' talking aloud to God," and pouring out to Him all 
 that concerned the best interests of those he loved, 
 whose names, in the beautiful simplicity of his faith, 
 he was wont to mention. Next to the Bible
 
 500 Sin GEORGE BUIiNS. [Chap. XXIV. 
 
 he loved the writings of Pascal, and even in his last 
 illness quoted passages from his works. God, 
 heaven, unseen and eternal things, were intensely 
 real to him from the day when he " put on Christ," 
 to the day when he " saw Him and was made like 
 unto Him." In all the weary hours of suffering and 
 weakness which marked the close of his earthly 
 career, this realisation of the unseen became more 
 and more vivid, and some of his utterances, while 
 quietly waiting God's time and will, are very 
 beautiful. 
 
 I had a wearisome night, and I felt I might be called away at 
 any moment. I thought that last night was to be my last. . . . 
 He kept me awake that I might have communion with Himself. 
 I do not see Him, but I know He is in this very room. 
 
 Oh, my God, how loving, how loving Thou art ! What more 
 could have been done than Thou hast done in redeeming us ? Oh, 
 let me thank aloud, and praise my God, from whom all blessings 
 flow. 
 
 Oh, my God and Saviour, how many and how wondrous are Thy 
 ways. How unspeakable is Thy love. Never now can I be lost. 
 As sure as Christ is, I am saved ! 
 
 I will wait Thy time, God ! Thy will shall be my will. I 
 cannot learn that lesson unless I learn it here. In heaven all will 
 be joy and rest. 
 
 I have very near thoughts of God and Christ, and almost a 
 glimpse in at the door to heaven. If it were not for these glimpses 
 it would be a terrible shadow to mc, but God illuminates the road 
 by His presence, going up with me.
 
 1890.] LAST WORDS. 501 
 
 God has revealed enough for our salvation, but not for our 
 curiosity. 
 
 I long to see Thee, Jesus, but not a moment before Thou 
 pleasest. 
 
 Oh, the bright glory ! The Throne of God and the Lamb ! I 
 shall be there. I do not care who else I am to see. I shall see 
 Jesus, and be like Him. 
 
 I long to speak to Jesus. I deserve nothing, but in Him I am 
 deserving. He has united me to Himself with an everlasting 
 bond. 
 
 His interest in many of the subjects relating to 
 work for the Master was as keen as in the days of 
 his activity, thus : — 
 
 I pray for Ireland, and for all those there who are in darkness. 
 I pray for my friend Captain Kearney White, who is working 
 there for the good of others, and doing what he can to bring the 
 Word of God to perishing souls. I pour out my heart in supplica- 
 tion for that country, that it may be brought out of darkness into 
 His marvellous light. 
 
 For two days before his death his voice failed. He 
 was quite conscious to the very last, and tried hard 
 to speak, but could only utter a word now and again. 
 These were, '' Lord Jesus, come, come ; I am 
 waiting, I am ready." " Home, home." " Give me 
 patience to wait Thy time, but Thou knowest what 
 I suffer." 
 
 The prayer was answered ; pain passed away, 
 peace like sunshine rested upon him, and on Monday
 
 502 SIB GEOBGE BUIiNS. [Chap. XXIV. 
 
 the 2url of June, at mid-day, he fell asleep in the 
 arms of his son John, who, with his wife, their three 
 daughters, and Ann Fraser, were around his bed. 
 Thus the grand old saint w^ent Home, and death was 
 
 Not more than the sudden lifting of a latch — 
 Naught but a step into the open aix' out of a tent 
 Already luminous with light. 
 
 On Thursday, the 5tli of June, while the flags of 
 all the ships in the harbours of Glasgow and Greenock 
 and in the port of Liverpool and elsewhere were at 
 half-mast, in the presence of crowds of relatives, 
 friends, and neighbours, many of whom have figured 
 in the pages of this book, the mortal remains of Sir 
 George Burns were borne by the sailors of his son's 
 steam yacht Capercailzie to their last resting-place 
 in the rock-hewn cave, and deposited beside the wife 
 he loved so tenderly and so long. 
 
 " Eulogy is not biography," say the reviewers, and, 
 as a general rule, they are right. But Sir George 
 Burns was an altogether exceptional man — everybody 
 loved him, and I have found it impossible to write of 
 his excellences in cold, critical language. 
 
 After his decease letters poured in upon his son, 
 Sir John Burns, the successor to the title and 
 estates, from all quarters, and from every rank and 
 class in society, testifying to the respect and love in 
 which his father was universally held. Let a few 
 brief extracts fi'om these letters, written by well-
 
 1890.] A MAN GREATLY BELOVED. 505 
 
 known people of the land, bear out the estimate 
 given in these pages of the character and work of 
 Sir George Burns, the Patriarch of Wemyss Bay. 
 
 You can have nothing but pride in the thought of his life. . . . 
 No other word than beautiful is suited to him. . . . Altogether 
 admirable and loveable all round. . . . You must, indeed, have 
 often thanked God to have made you his son. ... I have known 
 of no relationship so delightful to look at as yours to him, and no 
 life continued to anything like the age in all outward perfectness as 
 his was. No man could see him to the last without being the 
 better for it. 
 
 So loveable, wise, and large-hearted. Not readily shall any of 
 us forget that kindly, benevolent countenance that kindled with 
 exquisite humour when surveying the little foibles and weaknesses 
 of men — that face so winsome in its mingled strength and 
 
 sweetness. 
 
 Your father, one of those great men who in our century has 
 helped to make our Empire and the Nation what it is, has left 
 us after a long life that will ever be a great example to his 
 descendants. 
 
 The finest old man it has ever been my good fortune to know. 
 Requiescat in pace — honoured, esteemed, beloved by all who knew 
 him. 
 
 One of the best of fathers, the noblest of citizens, and as pure, 
 honourable, and saintly a man as ever lived. His life was spotless 
 and his end peace. Memory is the only friend that grief can call 
 its own, and the sweet memories of his career will be a boon to you 
 and cast a lustre on the path of all descended from him.
 
 504 SIB GKOBGE BUliNS. [Cuap. XXIV. 
 
 For him it is far better. He had lived long and lived much ; 
 enjoyed largely God's goodness ; served faithfully his blessed 
 Master ; and inspired many with the sense of a devotion saintly 
 yet human, all thought pervaded by an unearthly beauty, yet 
 seeking, in that which is, to realise the heavenly ideal. May we 
 follow him who so closely followed Christ. 
 
 His death will make a blank in many homes and haunts, and I 
 can imagine no greater joy to him than to meet the many and 
 many in the land beyond who he has been the means of leading to 
 the Saviour. 
 
 He was a wonderful epistle of Christ, and there was no doubt 
 about the reading — it was always so open, so true, so expressive. 
 You could not be with him without feeling the power of the Master 
 in him. 
 
 What more complete an idyll or more absolutely splendid than 
 that of your father's earthly career. 
 
 I have never had the privilege of knowing one with so many 
 qualities of mind and heart and character, and in so high a degree 
 and so beautiful a combination as there were in him. . . . His 
 knowledge was extensive, his opinions were wisely formed and firmly 
 held, and he was as ripe in Christian faith and experience as he 
 was in years. 
 
 His presence was an inspiration and incentive to a good and 
 holy life. He leaves a cherished memory which shall long shine 
 bright for the encouragement of others. 
 
 THE END.
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 I. 
 
 SCOTCH EPISCOPAL COMMUNION. 
 
 The following is the full text of the Case submitted to Counsel, 
 and the Opinion thereon : — 
 
 Case. 
 
 The attention of Counsel is directed to the following Acts of 
 the Legislature of Scotland before the Union with England : — 
 
 1st. Act let William and Mary, dated 22nd July, 1689, Whereby 
 the Legislature of Scotland abolished " Prelacy and Episcopal 
 Jurisdiction." — [Scotch Acts of Parliament, vol. ix., page 104, 
 intituled " An Act for abolishing ' Prelacie.' "] 
 
 2nd. An Act ratifying the Confession of Faith, dated 7th July, 
 1690.— [2nd Will, and Mary, 7th July, 1690, vol. ix., p. 117.] 
 
 "3rd. An Act for settling the peace and quiet of the Church, and 
 declaring the Presbyterian Church Government and Discipline 
 " to be the only Government of Christ's Church within [that] 
 kingdom." — [3rd Will, and Mary, 12th June, 1693, vol. ix., 
 p. 303.] 
 
 Counsel's attention is also directed to the following Acts of the 
 United Kingdom : — 
 
 1. 
 
 Act for an Union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, 
 ratifying the before-mentioned Acts abolishing Prelacy and estab- 
 hshing the Presbyterian Government as the only Government of
 
 506 APPENDICES. 
 
 the Church within the kingdom of Scotland in terms of the 
 articles of Union between the two kingdoms. — [5 and G Anne, 
 cap. 8 (170G).] 
 
 2. 
 Act 10 Anne, cap. 7, Whereby Toleration was granted to 
 " congregations " to meet and assemble for the exercise of Divine 
 worship to be performed after their own manner by Pastors 
 ordained by a Protestant Bishop." And such Assemblies are 
 designated as " Episcopal meetings and congregations." — [10 
 Anne, cap. 7 (1711).] 
 
 3. 
 
 Also, to the four following Penal Acts chiefly directed against 
 the Non-juring Episcopal clergymen and congregations in 
 Scotland : — 
 
 5 Geo. I. cap. 29 (1718). 
 19 Geo. 11. cap. 38 (174G). 
 19 Geo. II. cap. 39 (174G). 
 21 Geo. 11. cap. 34 (1748). 
 
 4. 
 
 Also, to the following Act partially repealing penalties, 82 Geo. 
 III. cap. G3 (1792), intituled, " An Act for granting relief to 
 Pastors, Ministers, and Lay Persons of the Episcopal Communion 
 in Scotland." 
 
 5. 
 
 Also, to 3 and 4 Vict. cap. 33 (1840), commonly called Bishop 
 Blomfield's Act. 
 
 14 and 15 Vict. cap. GO (1851), Ecclesiastical' Titles Act. 
 
 And, finally, 27 and 28 Vict. cap. 94 (18G4). 
 
 And especially to sec. 2nd of the last-mentioned Act defining 
 the words "Protestant Episcopal Church in Scotland " to mean 
 " Episcopal Communion in Scotland " as in 32 Geo. III. cap. G3. 
 
 The attention of Counsel is also directed to a copy of the 
 London Gazette, dated 13th November, 18G6, in which is contained 
 the order for a Public Thanksgiving addressed by Her Majesty in
 
 APPENDICES. 507 
 
 Council " to all ministers and preachers as well of the Established 
 Church in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, ((s nf the 
 Kpiscoptil Communion, protected and allowed bi/ an Act passed in the 
 tenth year of the reign of Her Majesty Qneen Amxe, cap. 7," being the 
 Act before alluded to for tolerating " Episcopal meetings and 
 congregations." 
 
 Dr. Stephens is requested to advise : — 
 
 1. Whether a Bishop who has held a See in England, Ireland, 
 India, or the Colonies, will, in accepting the office of 
 Bishop over the congregations of members of the Church 
 of England, protected and allowed in Scotland, commit 
 any Act of Secession or Disqualification in reference to the 
 Church of England ? 
 
 2. Would the congregations cease to be congregations of the 
 
 Church of England, and their members to be members of 
 the Church of England ? 
 
 3. Would such action destroy the legal status of these con- 
 srregations ? 
 
 OPINION. 
 
 In 1689 the Legislature of Scotland abolished in that kingdom 
 " Prelacy and Episcopal Jurisdiction ; "' and the same Legislature, 
 shortly afterwax'ds established the Presbyterian Church Govern- 
 ment and Discipline "to be the only Government of Christ's 
 Church within [that] kingdom." 
 
 The effect of these existing statutes is, that there is now no 
 Episcopal territorial Jurisdiction in Scotland : — from which it 
 follows, that there can now be no legal Episcopal L>i<icexes in 
 Scotland. 
 
 Under 10 Anne, cap. 7, Toleration was granted to " Congre- 
 gations " to " meet and assemble for the exercise of Divine worship, 
 to be performed after their own manner by Pastors ordained by a
 
 508 APPENDICES. 
 
 Protestant Bishop " — and such assemblies were designated as 
 •' Episcopal Meetings and Congregations." — That Law is now in 
 force. 
 
 The privileges thus given to " I'd.stors," arose, not from their 
 being umlcr a Bishop ; but from their having been ordained bi/ a 
 Protestant Bishop. 
 
 The Toleration granted by this Statute was in derogation of 
 the Jurisdiction of the Established Church of Scotland. Its 
 object was to exempt Episcopal (■(i}i</re[/titi(>ns meeting under 
 " Pastors " ordained by a Protestant Bishop, from being inter- 
 fered with, by such Established Church. 
 
 These (■(int/retjation.s are dealt with, as independent of each other, 
 and have tlie like rights and privileges. 
 
 Under 19 Geo. II. cap. 38, and 21 Geo. II. cap. 34, the right to 
 minister in such Episcopal Meetings or Congregations was limited 
 to '* Pastors " who had been ordained by some Bishop of the 
 Church of England or Ireland : — thus excluding from the Tolera- 
 tion given by 10 Anne, cap. 7, " Pastors " who had Letters of 
 orders from a Scotch Bishop. 
 
 The Legislature treated these two bodies of Episcopalians as two 
 distinct sects : — (1.) Under Pastors of English or Irish ordination, 
 Episcopalians could assemble in any number for Public Religious 
 worship; but, (2.) Under a Scotch Bishop, or a minister of 
 Scotch ordination. Episcopalians could not assemble for Public 
 Religious Worship. 
 
 These special restrictions placed upon " Pastors " of Scotch 
 Episcopal ordination, were removed by 32 Geo. III. cap. G3, and 
 have not since been re-enacted; at the same time, such Act (by 
 section 2) requires, that every person who shall exercise the 
 function of a Pastor or "Minister in any Episcopal Chapel, 
 Meeting House, or Congregation in Scotland, should subscribe a 
 Declaration of Assent to the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of 
 England," and tlie 4th section provides for the punishment of 
 ministers olhciating, without having qualified according to th 
 directions of the Act.
 
 APPENDICES. 509 
 
 The effect of this Statute is, that Pastors of Scotch Episcopal 
 ordination, on signing tlie Thirty-nine Articles, are noir again able 
 to avail themselves of the Toleration granted by 10 Anne, cap. 7, 
 equaUij with " Pastors " ordained by a Bishop of the Church of 
 England or Ireland. 
 
 All these Congregations were in 32 Goo. III. cap. 63, sect. 2, 
 described " as Congregations of Persons in the Episcopal Com- 
 munion in Scotland, meeting for Divine Worship." 
 
 By 27 and 28 Vict. cap. 91, the designation of " Protestant 
 Episcopal Church in Scotland " was applied by direct reference to 
 32 Geo. III. cap. 63, to the Episcopal Communion in Scotland as 
 mentioned in that Statute, thus including under the phrase " The 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in Scotland," all the Congregations 
 availing themselves of 10 Anne, cap. 7. 
 
 Under the order in Council of Nov. 10th, 1866, which directed a 
 Public Prayer and Thanksgiving, the status of the Episcopalians in 
 Scotland is defined as being " The Episcopal Communion protected 
 and allowed by an Act passed in the tenth year of the Reign of Her 
 Majesty Queen Anne, chapter seven." 
 
 These rights and privileges thus conferred are, in respect of the 
 clergy, cumulative or additional to the rights and privileges pre- 
 viously possessed in England or Ireland by Bishops, Priests, or 
 Deacons, ordained by a Protestant Bishop. 
 
 The like observation applies to the rights and privileges conferred 
 upon the lay members of such congregations. 
 
 The exercise of these statutable, cumulative, or additional rights, 
 will not constitute any act of " Secession " or " Disqualification" 
 in reference to the Church of England, nor destroy the legal status 
 of such congregations. 
 
 I am therefore of opinion, that all the questions which have now 
 been submitted to me, must be answered in the negative. 
 
 (Signed) 
 A. J. Stephens, 61, Chancery-lane. 
 
 22nd February, 1871.
 
 510 APPENDICES. 
 
 II. 
 WEMYSS BAY CHURCH. 
 
 The following are the names of the Clergymen who have 
 officiated in the English Episcopal Church at Wemyss Bay since it 
 was opened in 18G0 until the end of the season of 1890 : — 
 
 Rev. Thomas Tate, Rev. C. B. Gribble, Rev. Henry Bell, Rev. 
 William Ackworth. Rev. James O'Hara, Rev. Canon Thorold (now 
 The Right Rev. The Lord Bishop of Rochester), Rev. Dr. Foley, 
 Rev. Canon Miles, Rev. G. Birch, Rev. Drummond Anderson, Rev. 
 Dr. Nolan, Rev. C. G. Rankin, Rev. Marcus Rainsford, Rev. Canon 
 Savage, Rev. Clarmont Skrine, Right Rev. Dr. Gobat (the Bishop 
 of Jerusalem), Rev. James Consterdiue, Rev. Prebendary Mac- 
 donald. Rev. Vincent Jackson, Rev. John Fawcett, The Venerable 
 Archdeacon Taylor, Rev. Dr. Willis, Rev. Theodore Cavell, Rev. W. 
 Champneys (afterwards Dean of Lichfield), Rev. E. F. Boyle, Rev. 
 Thomas Tomlinson, Rev. Walter Turpin, Rev. W. F. Peacocke, 
 Rev. John Maynard, Rev. W. Milton, The Right Rev. Dr. Smith, 
 Lord Bishop of Victoria, Rev. Sholto D. C. Douglas, Rev. George 
 Reid, The Venerable Archdeacon Philpot, Rev. W. S. Lewis, Rev. 
 C. D. Marston, Rev. W. F. Bickmore, Rev. A. M. W. Christopher, 
 Rev. G. P. Hathaway, Rev. Canon Forrest, Rev. John Lynch, Rev. 
 Richard Irvine, D.])., Rev. Fielding Ould, Rev. G. G. Gubbins, 
 Rev. John W. Bardsley (now The Right Rev. Lord Bishop of 
 Sodor and Man), Rev. Thomas W. Powell, Rev. Canon Bardsley, 
 of Manchester, Rev. A. Haworth, Rev. Richard Bardsley, Rev. 
 Charles Bardsley, The Very Rev. Dr. Macneile, Dean of Ripon, 
 Rev. Robert Arbuthnot, Rev. Dr. Boultbee, Principal of London 
 College of Divinity, Rev. N. V. Fenn, Rev. J. C. Wright, Rev. 
 Charles Bullock, Rev. T. Boultbee, Rev. Mowbray Trotter, Rev. 
 E. Maguire, Rev. Dr. Rutledge, Rev. Canon Lefroy (now Dean 
 of Norwich), Rev. E. Davies, Rev. Dyson Rycroft, The Venerable 
 Archdeacon Brest, Rev. W. Scott Moncriefif, Rev. W. Jamieson, 
 Rev. Alfred Daniel, Rev. John Bristow, Rev. Canon Bell, Rev. J. 
 Barton, of Cambridge, Rev. Flavell Cooke, D.D., Rev. Thomas
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 511 
 
 Good, Rev. Frederick Peake, LL.D., The Venerable Archdeacon 
 Boutflower, ilev. A. N. Fawcett, Rev. W. B. Askhi, Rev. W. Stuart 
 Ross, Rev. J. H. Honeyborne, Rev. James E. Kelly, Rev. H. E. 
 Noyes, Rev. C. H. Ramsden, Rev. L. Nicholson, The Venerable 
 Archdeacon Richardson, Rev. Arthur Cornford, Rev. Wm. Richard- 
 son, Rev. J. Sutton Moxley, Rev. Edward Forbes, Rev. W. L. 
 Rainsford, Rev. Henry Martin, Vicar of Newcastle, Right Rev. 
 Bishop Beckles, Rev. Snowden Smith, Rev. G. R. Moncrieff, Rev. 
 Webb - Peploe, Rev. E. G. H. Caswell, Rev. Canon Howell of 
 Wrexham, Rev. J. Havart Prothero, Rev. Conrad Greene, Rev. 
 John Mathews, Rev. Canon Greig, Rev. Archdeacon Whately, 
 Rev. D. Cooper Hunt, Rev. Filmer Sulivan, Rev. George Tonge, 
 Rev. David Reith, Rev. W. Seaver, Rev. A. G. Wilcox, Rev. Dr. 
 Hannay, Vicar of Belfast, Rev. James Rowe Hannay, Rev. Dr. 
 Latham, Rector of Wexford, Rev. Canon Tate, Vicar of Stradbroke. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE STEAM FLEET SINCE THE FIRM OF G. & J. 
 BURNS WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1824, INCLUDING 
 THE STEAM SHIPS OF THE CUNARD SERVICE 
 SINCE ITS ORIGIN IN 1840 
 
 Glasgow and Belfast, Glasgow and Londonderry, and Glasgow 
 
 AND Larne. 
 
 No. Name. 
 
 Wood or 
 Iron. 
 
 Paddle or 
 
 Screw. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Horse 
 Power. 
 
 1. Fingal, ... 
 
 .. wood. 
 
 paddle. 
 
 1824 .. 
 
 296 . 
 
 . 210 
 
 2. Eclipse, ... 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1825 .. 
 
 168 . 
 
 . 160 
 
 3. Belfast, ... 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1825 .. 
 
 181 . 
 
 . 150 
 
 4. Rapid, 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1825 .. 
 
 389 . 
 
 . 350 
 
 5. Toward Castle, 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1831 .. 
 
 163 . 
 
 . 150 
 
 6. Glenalbyn, 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1831 .. 
 
 200 . 
 
 . 165 
 
 7. Antelope, ... 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1833 .. 
 
 273 . 
 
 . 230 
 
 8. Arab, 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1833 .. 
 
 275 . 
 
 . 220 
 
 9. Circassian, 
 
 ... do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1836 .. 
 
 270 . 
 
 . 220 
 
 10. Tartar, 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 183G .. 
 
 383 . 
 
 . 340 
 
 2,598 2,185
 
 512 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Glasgow and Belfast, Glasgow and Londonderry, and Glasgow 
 AND Larne (continued). 
 
 No. 
 11. 
 
 12. 
 13. 
 14. 
 15. 
 
 10. 
 17. 
 18. 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 22. 
 28. 
 24. 
 25. 
 20. 
 27. 
 28. 
 29. 
 30. 
 31. 
 32. 
 33. 
 34. 
 35. 
 30. 
 37. 
 38. 
 39. 
 40. 
 41. 
 42. 
 43. 
 44. 
 45. 
 40. 
 47. 
 48. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Brought 
 
 Foyle, 
 
 Aurora, 
 
 Thetis, 
 
 Laurel, 
 
 Stork 
 
 Elk, 
 
 Stag, 
 
 Lynx 
 
 Gh-affe, 
 
 Wolf, 
 
 Roe (No. 1), 
 Fox (No. 1), .. 
 Roe (No. 2), .. 
 Fox (No. 2), .. 
 
 Buffalo, 
 
 Llama, 
 
 Camel, 
 
 Weasel, 
 
 Racoon, 
 
 Bear, 
 
 Ferret, 
 
 Hornet, 
 
 Wasp, 
 
 Grampus, 
 
 Seal, 
 
 Walrus, 
 
 Mastiff, 
 
 Rook, 
 
 Alligator, 
 
 Dromedary, 
 
 Gorilla 
 
 Lizard, 
 
 Locust, 
 
 Lamprey, 
 
 Limpet, 
 
 Buzzard, ... 
 
 Hare, 
 
 Adder, 
 
 Wood or 
 Iron. 
 
 Paddle or 
 Screw. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Horse 
 Power. 
 
 forward.. 
 
 
 
 2,598 
 
 2,]85 
 
 wood. 
 
 paddle, 
 
 1838 .. 
 
 . 200 . 
 
 .. 170 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1839 .. 
 
 . 459 . 
 
 .. 480 
 
 iron. 
 
 do. 
 
 1845 .. 
 
 . 345 . 
 
 .. 430 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1850 . 
 
 . 428 . 
 
 .. 500 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1851 . 
 
 . 432 . 
 
 .. 570 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1853 . 
 
 . 499 . 
 
 .. 700 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1854 .. 
 
 . 499 . 
 
 .. 720 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1854 . 
 
 . 499 . 
 
 .. 720 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1800 . 
 
 . 077 . 
 
 .. 900 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1803 . 
 
 . 070 . 
 
 .. 1000 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1803 . 
 
 . 540 . 
 
 .. 750 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1803 . 
 
 . 540 . 
 
 .. 850 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1804 . 
 
 . 559 . 
 
 .. 950 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1804 . 
 
 . 559 . 
 
 .. 950 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1805 . 
 
 . 080 . 
 
 .. 1050 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1805 . 
 
 . 080 . 
 
 .. 1050 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1800 . 
 
 . 091 . 
 
 .. 1050 
 
 do. 
 
 screw. 
 
 1800 . 
 
 . 488 . 
 
 .. 500 
 
 do. 
 
 paddle, 
 
 1808 . 
 
 . 831 . 
 
 .. 1200 
 
 . do. 
 
 screw. 
 
 1870 . 
 
 . 091 . 
 
 .. 840 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1872 . 
 
 . 344 . 
 
 .. 400 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1874 . 
 
 . 548 . 
 
 .. 000 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1874 . 
 
 . 550 . 
 
 .. 000 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1877 . 
 
 . 080 . 
 
 .. 900 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1877 . 
 
 . 078 . 
 
 .. 900 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1878 . 
 
 . 870 . 
 
 . 1750 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1878 . 
 
 . 872 . 
 
 .. 1750 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1878 . 
 
 . 430 . 
 
 .. 400 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1881 . 
 
 . 932 . 
 
 .. 1850 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1881 . 
 
 . 922 . 
 
 .. 1850 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1H81 . 
 
 . 929 . 
 
 .. 1850 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1881 . 
 
 . 411 . 
 
 .. G50 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1881 . 
 
 . 411 . 
 
 .. 050 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1881 . 
 
 .. 311 . 
 
 .. 000 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1882 . 
 
 .. 475 . 
 
 .. 502 
 
 steel. 
 
 twin 
 screw* 
 
 1884 . 
 
 .. 831 . 
 
 .. 2300 
 
 . do. 
 
 screw, 
 
 1887 . 
 
 .. 817 . 
 
 .. 1340 
 
 . do. 
 
 paddle, 
 
 1890 . 
 
 .. 975 . 
 
 .. 4500 
 
 25,509 41,137
 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 
 513 
 
 
 Glasgow 
 
 AND Liverpool. 
 
 
 
 No. Naiuc. 
 
 Wood or 
 Iron. 
 
 Paddle or 
 h^crew. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Horse 
 
 Power, 
 
 1. Glasgow, 
 
 wood. 
 
 paddle, 
 
 1828 .. 
 
 . 280 
 
 .. 250 
 
 2. Ailsa Craig, ... do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1829 .. 
 
 . 297 
 
 .. 250 
 
 3. Liverpool, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1830 .. 
 
 . 330 
 
 .. 340 
 
 4, City of Glasgow (1), do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1830 .. 
 
 . 300 
 
 .. 300 
 
 5. John Wood, ... do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1832 .. 
 
 . 370 
 
 .. 340 
 
 6. Clyde, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1832 .. 
 
 . 342 
 
 .. 360 
 
 7. Manchester, ... do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1832 .. 
 
 . 385 
 
 .. 400 
 
 8. Gazelle, 
 
 .. .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1832 .. 
 
 . 300 
 
 .. 250 
 
 9. Vulcan, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1834 .. 
 
 . 450 
 
 .. 450 
 
 10. Colonsay, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1834 .. 
 
 . 711 
 
 .. 560 
 
 11. Eagle, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1835 .. 
 
 . 640 
 
 .. 560 
 
 12. City of Glasgow (2), do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1835 .. 
 
 . 650 
 
 .. 560 
 
 13. Unicorn, 
 
 do. 
 
 do 
 
 1836 .. 
 
 . 649 
 
 .. 560 
 
 14. Actteon, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1837 .. 
 
 . 685 
 
 .. 640 
 
 15. Fire King, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1838 .. 
 
 . 564 
 
 .. 570 
 
 16. Commodore, ... do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1838 .. 
 
 . 705 
 
 .. 820 
 
 17. Achilles, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1839 .. 
 
 . 992 
 
 .. 1000 
 
 18. Admiral, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 . 930 
 
 .. 900 
 
 19. Orion, 
 
 iron. 
 
 do. 
 
 1847 .. 
 
 . 899 
 
 .. 1120 
 
 20. Lyra,... 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1849 .. 
 
 . 592 
 
 .. 620 
 
 21. Camilla, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1849 .. 
 
 . 529 
 
 .. 560 
 
 22. Beaver, 
 
 do. 
 
 screw, 
 
 1854 .. 
 
 . 365 
 
 .. 320 
 
 23. Zebra, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1855 .. 
 
 . 792 
 
 .. 1020 
 
 24. Otter, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1855 .. 
 
 . 473 
 
 .. 470 
 
 25. Panther, 
 
 do. 
 
 paddle, 
 
 1856 .. 
 
 . 702 
 
 .. 930 
 
 26. Leopard, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1858 .. 
 
 . 691 
 
 .. 930 
 
 27. Harrier, 
 
 do. 
 
 screw, 
 
 1858 .. 
 
 . 384 
 
 .. 300 
 
 28. Heron, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1860 .. 
 
 . 624 
 
 .. 600 
 
 29. Ostrich, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1860 .. 
 
 . 624 
 
 .. 600 
 
 30. Pengum, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1864 .. 
 
 . 680 
 
 .. 720 
 
 31. Beagle, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1864 .. 
 
 . 454 
 
 .. 400 
 
 32. Snipe, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1866 .. 
 
 . 638 
 
 .. 650 
 
 33. Raven, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1869 .. 
 
 . 778 
 
 .. 6,50 
 
 34. Bison, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1871 .. 
 
 . 1015 
 
 ... 700 
 
 35. Owl, ... 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1872 .. 
 
 . 914 
 
 .. 1335 
 
 20,734 21,035 
 
 33
 
 514 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Glasgow and Highlands. 
 
 No. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1. Stafl'a, 
 
 2. Invernese, 
 
 3. Rob Pioy, 
 
 4. Heleu M'Gregor, 
 o. Maid of Morveu, 
 C. Brenda, 
 
 Sliandon, ... 
 Dolphin, ... 
 CuUoden, ... 
 Locli Fyne, 
 Plover, 
 
 12. Cygnet, ... 
 
 13. Lapwiug, .. 
 
 14. Curlew, 
 
 15. Merlin, 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 9. 
 10. 
 11. 
 
 Wood or 
 
 Paddle or 
 
 Iron. 
 
 Screw. 
 
 wood. 
 
 paddle. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 iron. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 
 screw, 
 paddle, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Tear. 
 
 Tonnage 
 
 1832 . 
 
 .. GO 
 
 1832 . 
 
 .. 70 
 
 1834 . 
 
 .. 70 
 
 1835 . 
 
 .. 70 
 
 1835 . 
 
 .. 65 
 
 183() . 
 
 .. 100 
 
 1838 . 
 
 .. 105 
 
 1844 . 
 
 .. 249 
 
 1840 . 
 
 .. 150 
 
 1847 
 
 .. 85 
 
 1848 
 
 .. 150 
 
 1848 
 
 .. 70 
 
 1848 
 
 .. 70 
 
 1840 
 
 .. 77 
 
 1850 
 
 .. 140 
 
 1,051 
 
 Horse 
 Power. 
 
 95 
 
 87 
 
 95 
 
 95 
 
 90 
 
 130 
 
 175 
 
 280 
 
 180 
 
 00 
 
 200 
 
 170 
 
 140 
 
 135 
 
 240 
 
 2,172 
 
 Glasgow and Fieth of Clyde. 
 
 No. Name. 
 
 1. Dunoon Castle, 
 
 2. Rothesay Castle, 
 
 3. Edinburgh Castle, 
 
 4. Inveraray Castle, 
 
 5. Duntroon Castle, 
 0. Cardiff Castle,... 
 
 7. Craignish Castle, 
 
 8. Dunrobin Castle, 
 
 9. Pioneer, 
 
 10. Pilot, 
 
 11. Petrel, 
 
 Wood or Paddle or 
 Iron. Screw. 
 
 wood, paddle, 
 iron, do. 
 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Tonnage 
 
 1840 ... 
 
 190 
 
 1840 ... 
 
 180 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 114 
 
 184(i .. 
 
 211 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 247 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 207 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 207 
 
 lK4(i .. 
 
 207 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 197 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 . 133 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 . 192 
 
 Horse 
 Power. 
 
 180 
 300 
 175 
 370 
 395 
 200 
 200 
 450 
 300 
 210 
 320 
 
 2,085 
 
 3,220
 
 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 
 515 
 
 LiVEBPOOL AND AMERICA. 
 
 No. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Wood or 
 Iron. 
 
 Paddle or 
 
 Screw. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Horse 
 Power. 
 
 1. 
 
 Britannia, 
 
 wood, 
 
 paddle, 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 . 1154 . 
 
 .. 1350 
 
 2. 
 
 Acadia, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 . 1135 . 
 
 .. 1350 
 
 3. 
 
 Caledonia, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 . 1138 . 
 
 .. 1350 
 
 4. 
 
 Columbia, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1840 .. 
 
 . 1175 . 
 
 .. 1350 
 
 5. 
 
 Margaret ("iJ/^t^or"). do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1842 .. 
 
 685 . 
 
 .. 750 
 
 6. 
 
 Hibernia, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1843 .. 
 
 . 1421 . 
 
 .. 1570 
 
 7. 
 
 Cambria, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1845 .. 
 
 . 1424 . 
 
 .. 1570 
 
 8. 
 
 America, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1848 .. 
 
 . 1826 . 
 
 .. 1800 
 
 9. 
 
 Niagara, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1848 .. 
 
 . 1825 . 
 
 .. 1800 
 
 10. 
 
 Canada, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1848 .. 
 
 . 1831 . 
 
 .. 1950 
 
 11. 
 
 Europa, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1848 .. 
 
 . 1918 . 
 
 .. 2070 
 
 12. 
 
 Satellite (Tender) 
 
 , iron. 
 
 do. 
 
 1848 .. 
 
 . 157 . 
 
 .. 200 
 
 13. 
 
 Asia, 
 
 wood, 
 
 do. 
 
 1850 .. 
 
 . 2227 . 
 
 .. 2350 
 
 14. 
 
 Africa, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1850 .. 
 
 . 2226 . 
 
 .. 2350 
 
 15. 
 
 Arabia, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1852 .. 
 
 . 2393 . 
 
 .. 3000 
 
 16. 
 
 Australian, 
 
 iron, 
 
 screw. 
 
 1852 .. 
 
 . 1402 . 
 
 .. 1720 
 
 17. 
 
 Sydney, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1852 .. 
 
 . 1402 . 
 
 .. 1720 
 
 18. 
 
 Andes, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1852 .. 
 
 . 1440 . 
 
 .. 1720 
 
 19. 
 
 Alps, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1852 .. 
 
 . 1440 . 
 
 .. 1720 
 
 20. 
 
 Jackal (Tender), 
 
 do. 
 
 paddle, 
 
 1853 .. 
 
 . 180 . 
 
 .. 300 
 
 21. 
 
 Emeu, 
 
 do. 
 
 screw. 
 
 1854 .. 
 
 . 1538 . 
 
 .. 1860 
 
 22. 
 
 Jura, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1854 .. 
 
 . 2241 . 
 
 .. 2000 
 
 23. 
 
 Etna, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1855 .. 
 
 . 2215 . 
 
 .. 2000 
 
 24. 
 
 Persia, 
 
 do. 
 
 paddle. 
 
 1856 .. 
 
 . 3300 . 
 
 .. 3500 
 
 25. 
 
 Calabria, 
 
 do. 
 
 screw. 
 
 1860 .. 
 
 . 2901 . 
 
 .. 2000 
 
 26. 
 
 Olympus, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1860 .. 
 
 . 2415 . 
 
 .. 1040 
 
 27. 
 
 Marathon, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1860 .. 
 
 . 2403 . 
 
 .. 1040 
 
 28. 
 
 Hecla, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1860 .. 
 
 . 2421 . 
 
 .. 1060 
 
 29. 
 
 Atlas, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1860 .. 
 
 . 2393 . 
 
 .. 1060 
 
 30. 
 
 Scotia, 
 
 do. 
 
 paddle, 
 
 1862 .. 
 
 . 3871 . 
 
 .. 5000 
 
 31. 
 
 China 
 
 do. 
 
 screw, 
 
 1862 .. 
 
 . 2638 . 
 
 .. 2000 
 
 32. 
 
 Tripoli, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1863 .. 
 
 . 2061 . 
 
 .. 1046 
 
 33. 
 
 Cuba, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1864 .. 
 
 . 2668 . 
 
 .. 2200 
 
 34. 
 
 Java, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1865 .. 
 
 . 2696 . 
 
 .. 2200 
 
 35. 
 
 Aleppo, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1865 .. 
 
 . 2143 . 
 
 .. 1040 
 
 36. 
 
 Tarifa, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1865 .. 
 
 . 2146 . 
 
 .. 1040 
 
 37. 
 
 Malta, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1865 .. 
 
 . 2243 . 
 
 .. 1040 
 
 38. 
 
 Palmyra, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1866 .. 
 
 . 2144 . 
 
 .. 1040 
 
 39. 
 
 Russia, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1867 .. 
 
 . 2960 . 
 
 .. 3200 
 
 40. 
 
 Siberia, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1867 .. 
 
 . 2497 . 
 
 .. 1200 
 
 78,293 68,556
 
 616 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Liverpool and America {continued). 
 
 No. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Wood or 
 Iron. 
 
 Paddle or 
 Screw. 
 
 ■year. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Horse 
 Power. 
 
 
 Brou 
 
 gbt forwai 
 
 •d 
 
 
 78,293 
 
 68,556 
 
 ■41. 
 
 Samaria, ... 
 
 u'on, 
 
 screw, 
 
 1808 . 
 
 .. 2574 
 
 .. 1200 
 
 42. 
 
 Batavia, ... 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1870 . 
 
 .. 2553 
 
 .. 1500 
 
 43. 
 
 Abyssinia, 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1870 
 
 .. 3253 
 
 .. 2100 
 
 44. 
 
 Algeria, . . . 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1870 
 
 .. 3297 
 
 .. 2100 
 
 45. 
 
 Parthia, ... 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1870 
 
 .. 8160 
 
 .. 1820 
 
 46. 
 
 Bothnia ... 
 
 ... do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1874 
 
 .. 4535 
 
 .. 3000' 
 
 47. 
 
 Saragossa, 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1874 
 
 .. 2100 
 
 .. 1100 
 
 48. 
 
 Scythia, ... 
 
 ... do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1875 
 
 .. 4550 
 
 .. 3000 
 
 49. 
 
 Gallia, 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1879 
 
 .. 4809 
 
 .. 5000 
 
 50. 
 
 Otter (Barge), 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1880 
 
 .. 287 
 
 .. 200 
 
 51. 
 
 Catalonia, 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1881 
 
 .. 4841 
 
 .. 2700 
 
 52. 
 
 Servia, 
 
 .. steel. 
 
 do. 
 
 1881 
 
 .. 7392 
 
 .. 9500 
 
 53. 
 
 Cephalonia, 
 
 iron, 
 
 do. 
 
 1882 
 
 .. 5517 
 
 .. 3100 
 
 54. 
 
 Pavonia, ... 
 
 .. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1882 
 
 .. 5587 
 
 .. 3100 
 
 55. 
 
 Aurania, ... 
 
 .. steel. 
 
 do. 
 
 1883 
 
 .. 7209 
 
 .. 9600- 
 
 50. 
 
 Oregon, ... 
 
 .. ■ iron, 
 
 do. 
 
 1883 
 
 ... 7375 
 
 ..12500 
 
 57. 
 
 Skirmisher (Tender) steel. 
 
 twin 
 screw. 
 
 1884 
 
 007 
 
 .. 9000 
 
 58. 
 
 Umbria, ... 
 
 ... do. 
 
 screw. 
 
 1884 
 
 ... 7718 
 
 ...15000' 
 
 59. 
 
 Etruria, ... 
 
 ... do. 
 
 do. 
 
 1885 (say) 7718 
 
 ..15000 
 
 163,513 169,076 
 
 Liverpool and Mediterranean, and Liverpool and Havre. 
 
 No. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Wood or 
 Iron. 
 
 addle or 
 Screw. 
 
 1. 
 
 Taurus, 
 
 iron, 
 
 screw. 
 
 2. 
 
 Teneriflfe, 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 3. 
 
 Balbec, 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 4. 
 
 Melita, 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 5. 
 
 Karnak, 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 6. 
 
 British Queen, 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 7. 
 
 Lebanon, 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 8. 
 
 Damascus, 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 9. 
 
 Stromboli, 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 10. 
 
 Palestine, 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 11. 
 
 Kedar, 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 12. 
 
 Sidon, 
 
 . do. 
 
 do. 
 
 13. 
 
 Morocco 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Y.ar. 
 
 Tonnage 
 
 1853 
 
 .. 1120 
 
 1853 
 
 .. 1120 
 
 1853 
 
 .. 774 
 
 1853 
 
 .. 1000 
 
 1853 
 
 .. 1126 
 
 1853 
 
 .. 771 
 
 1855 
 
 .. 1383 
 
 1856 
 
 .. 1214 
 
 1856 
 
 .. 734 
 
 1858 
 
 .. 1377 
 
 1800 
 
 .. 1875 
 
 1801 
 
 .. 1853 
 
 1801 
 
 .. 1855 
 
 Horse 
 Power. 
 
 750 
 750 
 000' 
 750- 
 750 
 000 
 700 
 700 
 000 
 800 
 1)00 
 900- 
 900 
 
 16,274 9,760
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 517 
 
 Liverpool 
 
 AND Mediterranean, and Liverpool and H. 
 
 vvre 
 
 
 (contmued). 
 
 
 
 No. Name. 
 
 Wood or Paddle or .y„„. 
 Iron. Screw. '■'^"• 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Horee 
 Power. 
 
 
 Brought forward 
 
 .. 16,274 
 
 9,760 
 
 14. Corsica, 
 
 iron, screw, 18G3 
 
 ... 1134 
 
 .. 750 
 
 1.5. Demerara 
 
 ... do. do. 1872 
 
 ... 1904 
 
 .. 1000 
 
 10. Trinidad, 
 
 do. do. 1872 
 
 ... 1899 
 
 .. 1000 
 
 17. Nantes, 
 
 do. do. 1873 
 
 ... 1472 
 
 .. 750 
 
 18. Brest, 
 
 do. do. 1874 
 
 ... 1472 
 
 .. 750 
 
 1!). Cherbour 
 
 g, ... do. do. 1875 
 
 ... 1614 
 
 .. 830 
 
 
 25,769 
 
 14,840 
 
 SteaiM Yachts Owned by Sir John Burns, Bart. 
 
 No. Name. 
 
 Wood or Paddle or ^ea^, 
 Iron. Screw. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Horse 
 Power. 
 
 1. Matador, 
 
 iron, screw, 1879 
 
 ... 233 
 
 .. 260 
 
 2. Jacamar, 
 
 do. do. 1882 
 
 ... 446 
 
 .. 420 
 
 3. Capercail 
 
 zie, ... do. do. 1883 
 
 ... 526 
 
 ... 600 
 
 
 
 1,205 
 
 1,280 
 
 
 SUMMAEY. 
 
 
 
 No. of 
 "Vessels. 
 
 ( 
 
 Trade. 
 
 Glasgow and Belfast, J 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Horse 
 Power. 
 
 48 ... \ 
 
 Glasgow and Londonderry, > 
 Glasgow and Larne, ) 
 
 25,569 ... 
 
 41,227 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 35 ... 
 
 Glasgow and Liverpool, 
 
 20,734 ... 
 
 21,035 
 
 15 ... 
 
 Glasgow and Highlands, 
 
 1,651 ... 
 
 2,172 
 
 11 ... 
 
 Glasgow and Firth of Clj'de, 
 
 2,085 ... 
 
 3,220 
 
 59 ... 
 
 American, 
 
 163,513 ... 
 
 169,076 
 
 19 ... 
 
 Mediterranean and Havi-e, ... 
 
 25,769 ... 
 
 14,840 
 
 a ... { 
 
 Steam Yachts owned by ] 
 Sir John Burns, ) 
 
 1,205 ... 
 
 1,280 
 
 190 
 
 240,526 
 
 252,850 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1890, a few weeks after the death of Sir 
 George Burns, the Jubilee of the Cunard Company was celebrated.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Accident, Immunity from, of the 
 
 Cunard Company, 298 
 Ackwortli, Rev. W., 458 
 Adamson, Frederick, 90, 91 
 Admiralty and Post Office, 2G3 
 Admiralty, Lords Commissioners 
 
 of, 192 
 Af,'new, Mr. James, 287 
 
 Agnew, Sir Andrew, 249, 250, 287, 
 484 
 
 Ailsa Craig, The, 157, 159 
 
 Ainslie, Mr. WilUam, 281 
 
 Alison, Sir Archibald, 181 
 
 Allen, Mr., 65 
 
 Allison, Mr., 46 
 
 American line of steamers es- 
 tablished, 291 
 
 Americans subsidize the Collins 
 Company, 296 
 
 Anderson, Dr. John, 16, 240 
 
 Anderson, James, 78, 118 
 
 Anderson, Professor, 67 
 
 Anecdotes of Sir G. Burns, 470-79 
 
 Angus, Mr., 46 
 
 Anti- Slavery Society, 32 
 
 Ai-buthuot, George Clerk, 815 
 
 Arctic Expeditions, 206, 207 
 
 Argyll, Duke of, 388, 395 
 
 Arkwright, 122 
 
 Army Prayer Union, 345 
 
 Arnot, Rev. W., 218 
 
 Ashley, Hon. Evelyn, 334, 393 
 
 Ashley, Lord {see Lord Shaftesbury) 
 Atlantic Steam Mail Service, 192 
 Atlantic Voyage undertaken by a 
 
 steamer, 190 
 Australian mail contract, 260 
 Aijr, The, collision of, 154 
 
 Bated, Alexander, 63 
 
 Balfour, Dr., 34, 47, 55, 56, 71, 87, 
 91,99 
 
 Balmano, Dr., 62 
 
 Balmano, Miss, 63 
 
 Bardsley, Bishop, 380 
 
 Bardsley, Rev. J. W., 444 
 
 Barony Church, 24, 25, 28, 36, 51, 
 71, 137 
 
 Barony Church, Scott's description 
 
 of, 29-30 
 Barony Church, The new, 465 
 Barony Glebe, Attack on, 107 
 Basle Missionary Society, 322 
 Beatson, Colonel, 181 
 Beatson, Mrs., 181 
 Beckles, Bishop, 372, 373 
 Bell, Henry, 154 
 Billings, Mr., 316 
 Blackburn, Mrs., 444 
 Blackburn, Professor, 444 
 Black, Rev. Dr., 166, 167 
 Black, Hugh, 481 
 Black, Mr. Archil lald, 148
 
 INDEX. 
 
 519 
 
 Bolton, j\[r., C)! 
 
 Britannia, The, 201, 202, 203 
 
 British anil Foreign Bible Society, 
 The, 32, 73 
 
 "British and North American 
 Boyal Mail Steam Packet 
 Company, The," 201 
 
 Brougham, Lord, 3G0 
 
 Brown, Cornelius, 47 
 
 Brown, Kev. Dr. Thomas, 186 
 
 Brown, James, 47, 48 
 
 Brown, llev. Dr. David, 459 
 
 Burder, llev. Dr., 85 
 
 Bm-gess Ticket, G. Burns's, 121 l 
 
 Burne, Thomas, 21 
 
 Burnley, Mr. W. F., 216, 224 
 
 Burn, John, covenant of, 18-21 
 
 Burn, John, grandfather of Sir G. 
 Burns, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22 
 
 Burns, Allan, brother of Sir G. 
 Burns, 38, 39, 40, 42, 53, 54, 62, 
 74, 75, 76 
 
 Burns, Allan, nephew of Sir G. 
 Burns, 219, 220, 287 
 
 Bm'DS, Colonel John, nephew of 
 Sir G. Burns, 287 
 
 Burns, Dr., father of Sir G. Burns, 
 16, 21-25, 27; 30-34, 50-53, 73, 
 91, 120, 166, 168, 185 
 
 Burns, Dr. John, F.R.S., eldest 
 
 brother of Sir G. Burns, 36, 38, 
 
 53, 54, 74, 75, 106, 157, 167, 219, 
 
 220, 276, 278, 287, 328, 346 
 
 Burns, Elizabeth, sister of Sir G. 
 
 Bums, 53, 166, 279 
 Burns, George, his birth, 15, 34 ; 
 boyhood memories, 35 ; his 
 schooldays, 44-49 ; with his father 
 and his friends, 50-64 ; enters 
 mercantile life in ofl&ce of New 
 Lanark Cotton Spinning Com- 
 pany, 65 ; his scientific tastes, 
 66, 67 ; his early religious con- 
 victions, 70-71 ; joins the Sunday 
 School Union, 72 ; treasurer of 
 
 the Penny-a-Week North-West 
 District Society, 73 ; attends the 
 ministry of Dr. Wardlaw, 73, 74 ; 
 forms an intimacy with Dr. 
 Chalmers, 78 ; attends Chalmers' 
 "Astronomical Discourses," 79; 
 teaches in the Sunday School, 
 82 ; on the Committee of the 
 Glasgow Auxiliary to the Mora- 
 vian Missions, 87 ; his close rela- 
 tions with Chalmers, 89-93 ; en- 
 gaged to Jeauie Cleland, 93, 94 ; 
 admitted a Burgess and Guild 
 Brother of Glasgow, 120; becomes 
 an unsalaried clerk, 122 ; enters 
 into partnership with his brother 
 James as general merchant, 122 ; 
 traveller for the firm in England 
 and Ireland, 124-34 ; his regard 
 for the Sabbath, 124 ; his mar- 
 riage, 137 ; extending his busi- 
 ness, 147 ; becomes a shipowner, 
 149; sees the first steamer, the 
 Comet, start, 153 ; appointed to 
 agency of Glasgow and Belfast 
 line of steamers, 155 ; encourag- 
 ing the use of steam, 156 ; 
 suggests the appointment of 
 chaplains, 158 ; conquers oppo- 
 sition of rival companies, 162, 
 163 ; family relations, 164-71 ; 
 away from home, 171-76 ; drawn 
 towards the Church of England, 
 177 ; attaches himself to St. 
 Jude's Episcopal Church, Glas- 
 gow, 178 ; his intimacy with 
 Montgomery, 181 ; occupying 
 Rose Bank, 182 ; watching the 
 steam navigation of the Atlantic, 
 191-92 ; introduced to Samuel 
 Cunard, 196 ; joins Samuel 
 Cunard in founding the Cunard 
 Company, 197 ; at Glasgow super- 
 intendmg affairs of the new 
 company, 201 ; on a visit to
 
 o20 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 London, 204 ; frieudsliip formed 
 with Sir E. Tarry, 200; family 
 life, 209; his friends, 212; his 
 interest in the Disruption contro- 
 versy, 216 ; affection for his 
 brother John, 219 ; interested in 
 the controversy between English 
 and Scottish Episcopalians, 233- 
 42 ; his religious life, 243-46 ; 
 at Homburg, 247 ; his views on 
 the Sabbath question, 249 ; his 
 growing friendships, 253-56 ; 
 takes charge of the tour of the 
 Queen in the Highlands, 200-61 ; 
 friendship with Captain Caffin, 
 262 ; declines to take part in the 
 Australian mail service, 265-67 ; 
 offers to carry the Greenock and 
 Belfast mails free, 270 ; opposes 
 incorporation of vessels with rail- 
 way, 272-75 ; family bereave- 
 ments and catastrophes, 276-79 ; 
 gives up the Western Highland 
 service, 280 ; loses his only 
 daughter, 288 ; American com- 
 petition with Cuuard line, 292- 
 97 ; retires from business, 297 ; 
 divides his shares in the Cunard 
 Company between his sons, 302 ; 
 retains interest in shipping 
 matters, 307-12 ; retires to 
 Wemyss Bay, 313 ; his works of 
 philanthropy, 317 ; lifelong con- 
 cern for the welfare of seamen, 
 320 ; interested in spread of educa- 
 tion, 321 ; encourages missionary 
 societies, 322-23 ; strong interest 
 felt for Jews and people of 
 Bible lands, 324-27 ; his love for 
 religious books, 329-31 ; fondness 
 for dogs, 332 ; President of " The 
 Gaiter Club," 333 ; friendships 
 with Captain Trotter, Eev. John 
 East, Rev. W. H. Havergal, and 
 Earl of Roden, 343-58 ; takes 
 
 part in the controversy between 
 Scottish and English Episcopacy, 
 3()0 ; his friendship with Rev. C. 
 P. Miles, 375 ; anecdotal reminis- 
 cences of clergymen, 378-86 ; 
 intimacy of Lord Shaftesbury 
 with his family, 387-417 ; con- 
 cerned in the welfare of Glasgow, 
 418; further friendships, 417-26; 
 his relations with his former 
 partners, 420-27 ; celebrates his 
 golden wedding, 429 ; bereave- 
 ments, 431 ; illness and death of 
 his wife, 434-30 ; rears a memo- 
 rial church to his wife's memory, 
 443 ; in his ripe old age, 449-68 ; 
 becomes Vice-President of Prayer 
 Book Revision Society, 451 ; his 
 habits as a nonogenarian, 463 ; 
 lays the memorial-stone of the 
 new Barony Church, Glasgow* 
 465 ; his powers of conversation, 
 469-70 ; some of his anecdotes, 
 470-79 ; his political views, 479- 
 80 ; recollections of captains of 
 the Cunard fleet, 481-82 ; of early 
 friends, 482-87 ; baronetcy con- 
 ferred upon him, 492 ; congratu- 
 lations on the event, 493-94 ; his 
 last days, 495-501 ; and his death, 
 502 
 
 Burns, George, 39 
 
 Burns, George, son of Sir G. Burns, 
 174 
 
 Burns, Isabella, 37 
 
 Burns, James, brother of Sir G. 
 Burns, 53, 54, 91, 122, 148, 156, 
 218, 428 
 
 Burns, James Cleland, son of Sir 
 G. Burns, 35, 174, 188, 209, 261, 
 277, 302, 315, 333, 401, 431, 432, 
 440, 449, 451 
 
 Burns, John, son of Sir G. Burns, 
 188, 199, 209, 210, 279, 302, 315, 
 328, 333, 337, 339, 367, 372, 388,
 
 INDEX. 
 
 521 
 
 393, 395, 390, 408, 410, 435, 485, 
 
 492, 502 
 Burns, Margaret, daughter of Sir 
 
 G. Burns, 188, 208, 288 
 Burns, Mary Hay, granddaughter 
 
 of Sir G. Burns, 492, 493 
 Burns, Mrs. John, 449, 492 
 Burns, Mrs., mother of Sir G. 
 
 Burns, 33 
 Burns, Mrs., wife of Sir G. Burns, 
 
 GO, 94, 120, 141, 174, 183, 211, 
 
 314, 327, 419, 430, 434, 435, 436, 
 
 470 
 Burns, Eachel, niece of Sir G. 
 
 Burns, 142, 168, 171, 287 
 Burns, Sir G. {see George Burns) 
 Burns, Sir John {see Mr. J. Burns) 
 
 Cabmen's " Rests," 441 
 
 Caffin, Admiral Sir C. (see Captain 
 
 Caffin) 
 Caffin, Captain, 201, 262, 266, 284, 
 
 285, 286, 287, 456 
 Caithness, Earl of, 486, 487 
 Caledonian Railway Company, 273 
 Caledonia, The, 201 
 Camden and Percy Societies, 214 
 Cameron, Dr., 465 
 Campbell, Mr., 166 
 Campbell, Mr. Archibald, 339 
 Camperdown, Lord, 170 
 Canadian mails, 221 
 Canning, Lord, 272 
 Canterbury, Archbishop of, 240, 
 
 300, 301, 302, 445 
 Capercailzie, The, 502 
 Cardwell, Mr., 310 
 Carrick, Robert, 09 
 Castle Wemyss, 315 
 Cavan, Earl of, 346 
 ' Celebration Day," 202 
 Chalmers, Dr., 77, 78, 79, 80, 83-89, 
 
 90, 92, 103, 104, 107, 114, 117, 
 
 471, 474, 480 
 Changes in Sliipping World, 307 
 
 Chaplains, Institution of, 158 
 Chapman, David, 145 
 Charlotte, Princess, Death of, 88 
 Church, A Memorial, 443 
 Church of England service, 177 
 Church of Scotland, Early practice 
 
 in, 57 ; 59 
 Church Missionaiy Society, 328 
 Church Pastoral Aid Society, 389 
 "City of Glasgow Steam Packet 
 
 Company, The," 1(^1, 163, 195, 
 
 196 
 Citi/ of Glasgoiv, The, 161, 163 
 Clanricarde, Lord, 270, 271 
 Clarendon, Lord, 445 
 Cleland, Dr., 35, 38, 60, 139, 187, 
 
 422, 474, 478 
 Cleland, Jeanie {see Mrs. G. Burns) 
 " Cleland Testunonial, The," 187 
 Clermo7it, The, 151, 152 
 Close, Dean, 381, 453 
 Clugston, Miss Beatrice, 58 
 Clugston, Mr., 58 
 Clyde, The, Improvement of, 150- 
 
 51 ; trade upon, 150 ; steam 
 
 upon, 151 
 " Clyde Trust," 151 
 Coatsworth, Mr., 135 
 " Coffin brigs," 192 
 Colenso, Bishop, 484 
 Collapse of Collins Company, 297 
 Collins Company, The, 293-97 
 Collins, Mr. E. K., 293 
 CoUins, Sir WilHam, 86 
 Colonsaj', Lord, 484 
 Colquhoun, Selina Louisa, 315 
 Columbia, The, 201 
 Comet, The, 152, 153 ; loss of, 154 
 "Confession of Faith " of 1581, 17, 
 
 18 
 Connal, Mr. Wilham, 197 
 Connal, Sir Michael, 148 
 Constantine, Grand Duke, 260 
 Controversy between Scottish and 
 
 English Episcopacy, 360-364
 
 522 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cooper, Sir Astley, 38 
 Con'espoiuleuce between Bishop 
 
 Skinner and Sir W. Dunbar, 
 
 227-229 
 Cotton Trade in Glasgow, 122 
 Country- in 181G-20, Disturbed state 
 
 of, 104, 105 
 Covenant of John Burn, 18-21 
 Crichton, Dr., 39, 40 
 Crichton, Miss, 40 
 Croker, John WilHam, 213 
 Croker, Mr. Thomas Crofton, 213' 
 
 215 
 Crypt, The, 26 
 Cumherluncl training ship, 328, 395, 
 
 390 
 Cunard Company, 197, 294, 302 
 Cunard Company registered as 
 
 Joint-stock Company-, 302 
 Cunarders as troopships, 303 
 Cunard Fleet, Captains of, 480 
 Cunard, Mr. Edward, 222, 301, 427 
 Cunard, Mr. William, 302 
 Cunard Service since 1840, 511 
 Cunard, Sir Samuel, 193, 194, 196, 
 
 197, 200, 202, 204, 295, 301, 427 
 Curtis, Sir William, 141 
 
 Dachmont, Mr., 483 
 
 Dale, David, the " Benevolent 
 
 Magistrate of Glasgow," 37, 65, 
 
 122, 182 
 Dangers of the Atlantic voyage, 
 
 190-91 
 D'Auljigue, Eev. Merle, 420, 421 
 Deas, Lady, 478 
 Despard, Rev. G. Pakenham, 383, 
 
 384 
 Dibden, Eev. 11. W., 250 
 Dick, Rev. Mr., 474 
 Dickson, Dr., 71 
 *' Discourses, Astronomical," Dr. 
 
 Chalmers', 79, 80, 84 
 Disruption, The, 216, 218 
 Dixon, W. S., 145 
 
 Donaldson, James, 161, 196 
 Drnmmond, Rev. Mr., 234, 240, 362 
 Duff, Captain, 176 
 Duff, Dr. Alexander, 327 
 Dunbar, Rev. Sir WiUiam, 226, 227, 
 
 230, 233, 234 
 Duncan, Captain, 481, 482 
 Duncan, James, 142 
 Duncan, Rev. John, 37, 61 
 
 Eadie, Dr., 159 
 East India Company, 194, 195 
 East, Rev. John, 350, 351 
 Eghnton, Lord, 270, 274 
 Enterprise, The, 160 
 Episcopacy, Scotch, 362 
 Episcopalians, English, position of, 
 
 241, 359, 361, 366, 369, 372, 373 
 Erskine, Rev. Ebenezer, 16 
 Estabhshed Church of Scotland, 
 
 158 
 Establishing a mail service between 
 
 England and America, 192 
 
 Farewell Sermon, Dr. Chalmers') 
 
 117 
 Farrer, Sir T. H., 319 
 "Father of the Church of Scotland," 
 
 177 
 Fausset, Rev. Mr., 135 
 "Ferrets, The," 400 
 Finlay, Mr. James, 483 
 Finlay, Mr. Kirkman, 62, 478 
 Fitch, John, 151 
 
 FitzClarence, Lord Adolphus, 2()l 
 Fleming and Hope, Messrs., 146, 
 
 147 
 Fleming, John I'ark, 198 
 Foley, Rev. Dr. Daniel, 379 
 Foreign Mission of Free Churchy 
 
 327 
 Foreman, Rev. Adam, 58 
 Forester, Lord, 238 
 Forrest, Mr., 71 
 Franklin, Sir John, 207
 
 INDEX. 
 
 62S 
 
 Fraser, Miss Ann, 437, 449, 484, 
 
 492, 493, 499 
 Free Churcb, 158 
 French, Provost, 473 
 Fulton, Robert, 152 
 Fund, The Kinloch, 105 
 
 " G. AND J. Burns," 149, 160, 196, 
 
 428 
 " G. and J. Burns and J. Martin,'' 
 
 157 
 " G. and J. Burns," Steam Fleet 
 
 since 1824, 511 
 " Gaiter Club, The," 333, 335, 336, 
 
 337, 340 
 Gardner, Lieutenant-Colonel, 47) 
 
 422, 423, 424 
 Gas m Glasgow, 67 
 General Assembly of the Church of 
 
 Scotland, 17 
 George III., Jubilee of, 48 
 George IV.'s visit to Edinburgh, 
 
 139-41 
 German Seventh-day Baptists, 32 
 GilfiUan, James, 135 
 GilfiUan, Peter, 83, 84, 85, 99, 107 
 Glasgow and South Western Rail- 
 way, 270, 272, 274 
 Glasgow Auxiliary to the Moravian 
 
 Missions formed, 87 
 Glasgow Convalescent Home, 393 
 Glasgow International Exhibition, 
 
 188 
 Glasgow Joint Stock Company, 145, 
 
 156 
 Glasgoiv, The, 157 
 Gobat, Bishop, 240, 361, 385, 446 
 Gordon, Admiral, 486 
 Graham, Mr., 274 
 Grant, Professor, 486 
 Graj', Mr. and Mrs. R., 135 
 " Great Ocean Race, The," 295 
 Great Western, The, 190, 191, 197 
 Greenock Railway Company, 281 
 Grey, Lord, 480 ' 
 
 Gribble, Rev. C. B., 237, 238, -111, 
 
 320, 360, 445, 446 
 Guthrie, Rev. Dr., 364, 371, 484 
 
 Hacker, Ludwig, 32 
 
 Haddington, Lady, 485 
 
 Haldane, Mr. Alexander, 369, 370 
 
 Haldane, Mr. Robert, 420, 421 
 
 Halitax, Lord, 475 
 
 Hall, Mr. S. C, 214, 215 
 
 Hamil, Dr., 70 
 
 Hamilton, Captain, 259, 260, 277 
 
 Hamilton, Lord, Archiljald, 478 
 
 Hamilton, Admiral Baillie, 484 
 
 Hamilton, Stevenson, 33 
 
 Hanna, Rev. Dr., 80 
 
 Harley, Mr., 48 
 
 Harrison, Captain, 481 
 
 Havelock, Lieutenant Henry, 422, 
 
 423 
 Havelock, Sir H., 47 
 Havergal, Rev. W. H., 278, 352 
 Henderson, John, 419, 420 
 Henderson, Mr., 314 
 Hepburn, Captain, 158 
 Herbert, Hoc. Sidney, 222 
 High Church (or Cathedral) of 
 
 Glasgow, 25 
 Highland Service named " The 
 
 Royal Route," 261, 280 
 Hill, James, 52 
 Hill, Rev. Laurence, 52 
 HiU, Rev, Rowland, 85 
 Hodgson, Mr., 127. 128, 130, 134, 
 
 147 
 Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, 181 
 Honey, Rev. Dr., 335 
 Hope, Admiral Sir James, 320, 334, 
 
 336 
 House of Commons inquiry into 
 
 contract packets, 297 
 Howard, George, 401 
 Howells, Rev. Mr., 135 
 Hugh MacXeile Memorial, 453 
 Hunter, Samuel, 72
 
 524 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Hutcbeson, Mr. Alex., 282 
 Hutchesou, Mr. D., 147, 148, 2G0, 
 
 282 I 
 
 Incorporation of Weavers, 122 
 Ingram, Admiral, 455 
 Irish and Scotch mails, 2G9 
 Irish Church Missions, 344 
 Irish Island Society, 320 
 Irons, Dr., 135 
 Iron ships ridiculed, 189 
 Irving, Itev. Edward, 107, 108, 109, 
 115, 117 
 
 James Watt, 159 
 " J. and G. Burns," 149 
 Jay, Eev. William, 480 
 Jeffrey, Mr. Francis, 113, 476 
 " Joceline's Crj-pt," Description of, 
 27-28 
 
 Kennaavay, Sir John and Lady, 
 
 492 
 Kidd, John and Alexander, 145 
 " King George's " chaplains, 159 
 Kingham, Mr., G3 
 King, Mr., 33 
 King, Mrs., 33 
 Kinloch Fund, The, 105 
 Kinnaird, Hon. Arthur, 342, 380, 
 
 393, 394 
 Kinnaird, Lord, 334, 341 
 Kirkwood, Dr., 435 
 Knox, John, 182 
 
 Labour employed by Cunard Com- 
 pany, 30G 
 
 "Lady of the Bank, The," 183 
 
 Lardner, Dr., 189 
 
 Latrobe the elder, 87 
 
 Lawrence, Lord, 393, 39G, 397 
 
 Lawrence, Sir J., 341 
 
 " Leaves from a Note Book in the 
 Highlands," 261 
 
 Lebanon Schools, 327 
 
 Lefevre, Mr. and Miss Shaw, 395 
 
 Leith, Lady, 327 
 
 Letters between Dr. Burns and 
 
 daughter Rachel, 1G9, 171 
 Letters from George Burns to Rev. 
 Dr. Smith, 30; Jeanie Cleland, 
 94, 95, 98, lOG, 115, 128, 132, 
 133, 134, 136, 137; P. Gilfillan, 
 Esq., 103, 113 ; Mrs. Burns, 144, 
 145, 172, 173, 174, 175, 17G, 204, 
 205, 206, 212, 216 ; Sir E. Barry, 
 208 ; Miss Maclver, 244 ; A 
 Friend, 245, 268, 288, 438 
 Captain Caffin, R.N., 263, 266 
 284; Lord Canning, 272; Eev 
 W. F. Burnley, 367 ; Rev. C. P 
 Miles, 374, 376; Bishop Bards 
 ley, 380 ; Lord Shaftesbury, 390 
 412 ; Mr. John Burns, 430 ; Mr 
 James Cleland Burns, 451 ; Dean 
 Close, 453; Eev. Dr. Macduff, 
 461 
 Letters of Lord Shaftesbury to 
 
 Mr. John Bm-ns, 408, 410, 415 
 Letters of Mr. Chalmers to Mr. 
 
 Gilfillan, 99-102, 110-113 
 Letters to George Burns from 
 Dr. William Blair, 16, 455 ; Dr. 
 Smith, 31 ; James Brown, 48 ; 
 his father, 165 ; his wife, 183, 
 211, 283; Eev. Eobert Mont- 
 gomery, 184, 223 ; Sir Edward 
 Pari-y, 208 ; John Burns, his son, 
 210, 368 ; J. C. Burns, his son, 
 210; T. Crofton Croker, 215; 
 Eev. Wm. F. Burnley, 217, 231 ; 
 Dr. J. Burns, 220 ; Lord Sandon, 
 221 ; Eev. C. P. Miles, 235, 
 375, 496; Su- Andrew Agnew, 
 251 ; Sir William Hooker, 253 ; 
 Rev. E. W. Dibdin, 257, 457; 
 Captain Caffin, E.N., 262, 285, 
 457 ; Rev. W. H. Havergal, 278 ; 
 Mr. Andrew Aldcorn, M.D., 280 ; 
 Mr. J. 0. Mitchell, 289 ; Captain
 
 INDEX. 
 
 525 
 
 Trotter, 358 ; Bishop Gobat, 
 361 ; Rev. T. Guthrie, 365, 371 ; 
 Mr. A. Haldaue, 370; Rev. T. 
 M. Macdonakl, 373, 414; Deau 
 Close, 381, 453 ; Dean MacNeile, 
 382 ; Rev. G. Pakenhain Despartl, 
 384; Lord Shaftesbury, 391, 407, 
 410, 412, 413, 416, 432 ; Colonel 
 Gardner, 424, 425, 454 ; Sir E. 
 Cunard, 427 ; Canon Gribble, 
 439; Rev. W. Ackworth, 458; 
 Rev. Dr. David Brown, 459 ; 
 Rev. Dr. Macduff, 460 
 
 Lindsay, Mr., 294 
 
 Liae, The Cunard. 19S 
 
 Liverpool, The, 157 
 
 Lockhart, Dr., 63 
 
 Lockhart, Col., 63 
 
 Lockhart, Mr. Lawrence, 160 
 
 Lockie, Mrs., 478 
 
 Logan, Rev. G., 57 
 
 London Missionary Society, 56 
 
 Lord's Day Society, 252 
 
 Lome, Marchioness of, 395 
 
 Lome, Marquis of, 395 
 
 Lothian, Mr., 320 
 
 Love, Dr., 55, 56, 99, 287, 475 
 
 Lumsden, Principal, 327 
 
 Lyndhurst, Lord, 347, 348, 349, 
 350 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, 180 
 MacBrayne, Mr. David, 53, 282 
 MacBrayne, Mrs. (sec Elizabeth 
 
 Burns) 
 Macdonald, Donald, 482 
 Macdouald, Rev. T. M., 373, 413 
 Macduff, Rev. Dr., 460, 461 
 MacGregor, Mr. John (" Rob 
 
 Roy"), 334 
 Macgregor, Sir Duncan, 456 
 Maclver, David, 160, 161, 162, 163, 
 
 196, 197, 200, 204, 267, 302 
 Maclver, Miss, 244 
 Maclver, Charles, 295, 301, 302 
 
 Macleod, Rev. Dr. Norman, 159, 
 
 333, 334, 387 
 Macleod, Mr., 34 
 Macleod, Sir George, 335 
 McMickan, Captain, 480 
 Macmillan, Rev. Dr. Hugh, 218, 
 
 429 
 MacNair, Mr., 57, 474, 475 
 McNanghten, Mr., 148 
 Macnee, Sir Daniel, 333, 340 
 McNeile, Rev. Hugh, 180, 381 
 MacXeil, Sir John, 181 
 McQueen, 476 
 MacTear, Mr. George, 155 
 Magdalen Asylum, 70 
 Mail contract, Australian, 266 
 Mail Service, Atlantic, 192 
 Main, Captain Hugh, 481 
 Majestic, The, 161 
 Malan, Dr. Caesar, 142, 421 
 Malan, Major, 143 
 
 Manson, Mr., 46 
 
 Marsh, Dr., 240 
 
 Martin, Baillie, 478 
 
 Martm, James, 145, 156 
 
 Martin, Sir T:, 347 
 
 Martin, Thomas, 145, 156, 157 
 
 "Matthie and Martin," 157 
 
 Matthie and Theakstone, Messi's., 
 145, 146 
 
 Matthie, Mr. Hugh, 145, 147, 154, 
 156, 157 
 
 Melvill, Mr., 194, 195 
 
 Melvill, Rev. Henry, 195, 212 
 
 Middleton, Mr., 478 
 
 Miles, Rev. C. P., 224, 230, 238, 
 374, 376 
 
 "Minister's Funeral, The," by 
 Rev. Robert Montgomery, 186 
 
 Mitchell, Mr. James, 281 
 
 Moucrieff, Mr. Hugh, 276 
 
 Monday morning breakfasts to 
 church workers, 93 
 
 Monod, M., 420 
 
 Montgomery, James, 86, 87
 
 526 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Montgomery, Rev. Robert, 179, 
 180, IBl. 183, 223, 224, 234, 242 
 
 Montgomery's letter to Mrs. 
 Burns, 183-4 
 
 Morris, Miss, 27(5 
 
 Muir, Rev. Dr., 217 
 
 Mushet, Mr., 34, 50, 57 
 
 Napier, Mr, Robert, IGl, 195, 
 
 201 
 NasymtLi, David, 328 
 Navigation of Atlantic, Steam, 191 
 New Lanark Cotton Spinning 
 
 Company, 65, 122 
 Nicholson, Mr. Francis, 215 
 Nomenclature of Cunard ships, 201 
 Northcote, Sir Stafford, 274 
 Noviomagians, Society of, 214 
 
 " OcE.\N Lines," projected, 193 
 01ij)hant, Laurence, 334, 440 
 Orion, Wreck of the, 276-77 
 On-, Sir Andrew, 274 
 Ould, Rev. Fielding, 383 
 Owen, Robert, 65, 477 
 
 Palmer, Sir Roundell, 370 
 Palmerston, Lord, 337, 338, 339 
 Parkos. Sir Harry, 393, 394, 395 
 Parry. Sir Edward, 191, 205, 206, 
 
 207, 320, 484 
 Pascal, 500 
 
 "Patriarch of Wemyss Bay," 341 
 Peel, Sir R., 205 
 Pendleton, Mrs., 320 
 Pennefather, Rev. W., 343, 345 
 Percy, Captain, 475 
 Percy, Earl, 395 
 Philpotts, Bishop, 84 
 Pilgrim Mission of St. Chrischona, 
 
 322 
 Playfair, Mr. James, 87 
 Powney, Colonel, 238 
 Prayer Book Revision Society, 
 
 451 
 
 Presbyterian form of Church 
 government, established in 
 Scotland, 25 
 
 Prince Albert, 48, 205, 445 
 
 Principles of the Cunard Company, 
 299 
 
 Public Worship Bill, 407 
 
 Queen, The, 48, 205, 260, 261 
 Queen's tour in the Highlands, 
 260, 261 
 
 Raikes, Robert, 32, 33 
 Ramsay, Professor, 334 
 Rathbone, Mr. Wilham, 136 
 Receipts of Cunard Company the 
 
 first seven years, 199 
 Reddie, Mr. C, 268 
 Reform Bill of 1832, 176 
 Reith, Rev. David, 490, 491 
 Relations between Lord Shaftes- 
 bury and Sir G. Burns, 387-417 
 Religious Tract Society, 420 
 Ritchie, Dr., 472 
 Robertson, Lord, 478 
 Roden, Earl of, 346, 353-57 
 Roebuck, Mr., 480 
 Roscoe, Mr., 136 
 Rose Bank, description of, 182 
 Rowatt, Mr. Alexander, 27 
 Royal Infirmary of Glasgow, 328 
 "Royal Route, The," 261, 280 
 Russell, Bishop, 230, 233, 236 
 Russell, Lord John, 205 
 Russell, Rev. Mr., 143 
 Russell, Mr. Scott, 189 
 Ryle, Bishop, 374 
 
 Sabbath Evening Schools estab- 
 lished in Glasgow, 81 
 Safety, Precautions for, 301 
 Saleebey, 326, 327 
 Salisbury, Marquis of, 492 
 Sandon, Lord, 175, 176, 221 
 Saunders, Mr., 59
 
 INDEX. 
 
 527 
 
 Savage, Canon, 383 
 
 Scotch and Irish Mails, 269 
 
 Scottish Episcopal Church, 224, 
 
 22;-), 22G, 23G, 237, 239, 300, 3G7 
 Scotch Episcopal Communion, 
 text of case submitted to 
 Counsel, 505 
 Scotch Episcopal Communion, 
 opinion of Counsel on text of 
 case submitted, 507 
 Scottish University Commission, 
 
 451 
 Scott, Sir W., 26, 29, 139, 214 
 Sentence on Rev. C. P. Miles, 232 
 Shaftesbury, Lord, 318, 350, 369, 
 386, 391, 417, 432, 433, 436, 457, 
 480, 485 
 Shipping Act, Amended, 310 
 Ships to be used in war time, 198 
 Simeon, Mr., 59 
 Simpson, Sir J., 357 
 Sirius, The, 189, 191 
 Skinner, Bishop, 227, 229, 233, 
 
 236, 363 
 Smith, Margaret, 474 
 Smith, Mr. John, 85, 86 
 Smith, Rev. Dr., 30, 31, 218 
 Smith, Sydney, 378 
 Smith, Thomas, 78 
 Society for Promoting Christianity 
 
 among the Jews, 344 
 '* Society of Noviomagiaus, The," 
 
 214 
 *' Solemn League and Covenant, 
 
 The," 17 
 Spittler, Mr. C. F., 322 
 Spreull's Land, 53 
 Steamboat Bill, 175 
 Steamboat, The first, 151 
 Steamers " floating hotels," 304 
 Steamer, The first, on the Clyde, 
 
 153 
 Stephens, Dr. A. J., Q.C., 366, 369, 
 
 370, 372 
 Stevenson, Captain Allan, 61 
 
 Stevenson, Elizabeth {see Mrs. 
 
 Burns) 
 Stevenson, Mr., 46, 137 
 Stevenson, Mr. Adam, 35 
 Stirling, Mr., 155 
 Stock, Rev. Thomas, 32, 33 
 Stonefield Free Church, 393 
 Strognoff, Count, 42 
 Sunday Schools, Origin of, 32 
 Sunday Union Society, 72 
 
 Tatk, Rev. Thomas, 378 
 Taylor, Principal, 51, 52 
 Tennent, Mr. Hugh, 113 
 Theakstone, Mr., 145 
 Thom, Rev. William, M.A., 24, 
 
 473 
 Thomson and McConnell, 161 
 Thomson, Dx*. Thomas, 66 
 Thomson, Sir W., 334 
 Thring, Lord, 310 
 Travelling in the days of Bixrns's 
 
 father, 125 
 Trollope, Anthony, 334, 335 
 Trotter, Captain, 342, 343, 346, 
 
 347, 348, 350, 354, 357, 358, 387 
 Troubles in Scottish Episcopal 
 
 Church, 226, 242 
 Twain, Mark, 301 
 
 Ure, Dr. Andrew, 66, 67 
 
 Venn, Rev. Henry, 59, 231 
 Victoria and Albert, The, 261 
 Victualling the Cunard Fleet, 305-6 
 ViUiers, Bishop, 231, 372, 374 
 
 Wage, Dr. Henry, 499 
 Wardlaw, Dr. R., 72 
 Wardlaw, :\Ir., 72, 73, 74, 76, 91 
 War, The Radical, 105 
 Washington, George, 123 
 Wason, Mr., M.P., 274 
 Watercress and Flower Girls 
 Mission, 318
 
 528 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, 205, 212, 485 
 Wem^-ss Bay Cliurcli, Clergymen 
 
 who have officiuted iu, 510 
 Wemyss Bay, Description of, 313-4 
 Wemyss Bay Pulpit, 377 
 Wemyss House, 315 
 Western Highlaml service, 280 
 Wliatel3', Archbishop, 384 
 Whately, Miss, 32G 
 Wilberforce, William, 84, 104 
 WilUam Hiiskisso)i, The, 159 
 William, King of Prussia, 385 
 Williamson, Mr., 34 
 Wilson, Elizabeth, 181 
 
 Wilson, ]\Ir. Joseph, 252 
 Wilson, Professor John, 181 
 Wood, John, 113, 478 
 Work in Glasgow, Chalmers', 103, 
 
 104 
 Wright, Mr. John, (55, GG, 70, 122, 
 
 134 
 
 Yates, Mr., 73 
 
 Young, Janet, grandmother of Sir 
 
 G. Burns, IG 
 Young Men's Christian Association, 
 
 393 
 Young, Mr., 281 
 
 > 
 
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