genius of Coila finding her favourite son at the plough, and throwing her inspiring mantle over him. The figures were critically inspected by a committee of gentlemen, including the poet's brother, Gilbert, who signified his high satisfaction with the graceful appearance of Coila, and the etherial lightness of her mantle; and under the guidance of his correct eye and tenacious memory, the sculptor was enabled to render more faithful the likeness of the principal figure. As a whole, however, the statuary is not of the highest class, though it has sometimes been greatly underrated. This much may be said in its favour, that its meaning is intelligible; and that if it does not satisfy fastidious art-critics, it appeals successfully to the popular eye and heart.

There being no room at the north corner of the churchyard where Burns was at first buried for the erection of a bulky structure, the mausoleum was built on a site in the south-east, so that the body had to be transported thither-a delicate duty, which was performed with as much privacy as possible. On the 19th of September, Mr. William Grierson of Boatford, the zealous secretary to the committee, Mr. James Thomson, superintendent of the monument, Mr. Milligan, builder, and Mr. James Bogie, gardener, Terraughty, "proceeded to the spot before the sun had risen, and made so good use of their time that the imposing ceremony was well-nigh completed before the public had time to assemble, or in fact were aware of the important duty in which the others had been engaged. Two sons of the poet had been laid beside him-Maxwell Burns, the posthumous child who died in 1799, and Francis Wallace Burns, who died in 1803, aged fourteen. "On opening the grave the coffins of the boys were found in a tolerably entire state, placed in shells, and conveyed to the vault with the greatest care. As a report had been spread that the principal coffin was made of oak, a hope was entertained that it would be possible to transport it from the north to the east corner of St. Michael's without opening it, or disturbing the sacred deposit it contained. But this hope proved fallacious. On testing the coffin, it was found to be composed of the ordinary materials, and ready to yield to the slightest pressure; and the lid removed, a spectacle was

* Picture of Dumfries, p. 85.

unfolded which, considering the fame of the mighty dead, has rarely been witnessed by a single human being. There were the remains of the great poet, to all appearance nearly entire, and retaining various traces of vitality, or rather exhibiting the features of one who had newly sunk into the sleep of death the lordly forehead, arched and high, the scalp still covered with hair, and the teeth perfectly firm and white. The scene was so imposing that most of the workmen stood bare and uncovered-as the late Dr. Gregory did at the exhumation of the remains of the illustrious hero of Bannockburn-and at the same time felt their frames thrilling with some undefinable emotion, as they gazed on the ashes of him whose fame is as wide as the world itself. But the effect was momentary; for when they proceeded to insert a shell or case below the coffin, the head separated from the trunk, and the whole body, with the exception of the bones, crumbled into dust." When the remains had been religiously gathered up, they were placed in a new coffin, and interred beside the dust of the two boys. The vault was then closed; and the party, solemnized by their close communion with "the buried majesty" of this Coila-crowned king of song, left the place.

Nineteen years passed by, and the vault of the mausoleum was opened to receive a new inmate the poet's widow, who died after surviving him the long period of thirty-eight years. How, on the night preceding the interment (30th March, 1834), a number of gentlemen, after receiving due authority, descended into the vault, and obtained a cast of the poet's skull for a phrenological purpose, is well known.† Dr. Blacklock of

* Picture of Dumfries, p. 86.

+ It was Mr. James Fraser (now Bailie) who took the cast, and he still retains the original matrix. A cast of the skull having been transmitted to the Phrenological Society of Edinburgh, Mr. George Combe drew up from it an elaborate paper on the cerebral development of the poet. He laid great stress upon its size, 22 inches in circumference, and upon the extreme activity of brain, indicated by other data. Commenting upon the whole, Mr. Combe said: "No phrenologist can look upon this head, and consider the circumstances in which Burns was placed, without vivid feelings of regret. Burns must have walked the earth with a consciousness of great superiority over his associates, in the station in which he was placed-of powers calculated for a far higher sphere than that which he was able to reach—and of passions which he could with difficulty restrain, and which it was fatal to indulge. If he had been placed

Dumfries, one of the party, drew up a report of the appearance of the cranium, from which it appears that it was found to be in a high state of preservation. "The bones of the face and palate," he says, "were also sound; and some small portions of black hair, with a very few grey hairs, while detaching some extraneous matter from the occiput." When the vault was once more opened, for the interment of Burns's eldest son, in May, 1857, the skull of the bard was found to have altered very little since the cast had been taken from it. To secure its better preservation, the vacant space of the enclosing casket was filled with pitch, after which the precious "dome of thought" was restored to its position, to be no more disturbed, we trust, till the day of doom.

from infancy in the higher ranks of life, liberally educated, and employed in pursuits corresponding to his powers, the inferior portion of his nature would have lost its energy, while his better qualities would have assumed a decided and permanent superiority."

CHAPTER LI.

EDUCATION IN THE BURGH-ERECTION OF AN ACADEMY-SALARIES OF THE TEACHERS-THE ARMSTRONG BURSARIES-NOTICES OF THE SEVEN TRADES -THE CONTESTS FOR THE SILVER GUN-A NEW TRADES' HALL BUILTPRESENTATION OF A PUNCH-BOWL TO THE CRAFTSMEN, AND OF A GOLD CHAIN FOR THE CONVENER-INSECURITY OF THE PRISON-A NEW JAIL BUILT IN BUCCLEUCH STREET-THE TURNKEY MURDERED BY A PRISONER -GASTOWN FOUNDED A NEW NAVIGATION ACT OBTAINED THE NITH DEEPENED AND EMBANKED ERECTION OF BRIDGEND INTO A BURGH OF BARONY, UNDER THE DESIGNATION OF MAXWELLTOWN.

THE poet's sojourn at Dumfries constitutes a marked era in its history; and to speak of an event occurring in or about "Burns's time" is still customary in the Burgh. Adopting that familiar phraseology, let us briefly notice how educational matters stood with the Dumfriesians in Burns's time. Of established schools for teaching English there were three, the masters of which had amongst them a salary of £20 per annum, and 2s. 6d. per quarter from each pupil. There was one established grammar school (Latin) the teacher of which had a salary of £20, he receiving no wages from the children of burgesses, but 5s. per quarter from others, and Candlemas offerings from all-the scholars numbering about a hundred. Other two schools were endowed by the town: namely, one for arithmetic, book-keeping, and mathematics; salary, £28; wages, 5s. per annum from children of burgesses; 7s. 6d. from other children, with no offering at Candlemas; number of pupils about 60: and one for writing; salary, £22; wages the same as the preceding; scholars, 70. The grammar school teacher, in addition to his higher salary, had a dwelling-house assigned to him; an advantage possessed by none of the other masters. By this time the Town Council had cancelled their illiberal edict against adventure schools: so that several of these existed in

the Burgh, at some of which French, drawing, and dancing were taught; and there were, besides, two or three boarding schools for girls.

The endowed schools had no local connection till 1802, when, by means of a general subscription, they were all embraced under one roof, in a neat, substantial structure erected near Townhead. At first the new Academy was managed by a committee of the subscribers; but in 1814 it was handed over to the paymasters of the teachers, the Town Council, who continue to act as its directors. The education taught in the Academy at present consists of four departments. Over one of these, including Latin, Greek, French, and German, Mr. W. H. Cairns, an accomplished scholar, presides, with the title of rector; though, strictly speaking, there are few, if any, rectorial duties attached to his office. The salary is £37 11s. 10d.; interest of mortified money, £26 8s. 2d.: in all, £64. Another, the English department, with numerous collateral branches, is under the able management of Mr. Duncan Forbes: salary, £20 8s.; interest, £9 12s.: in all, £30. A third department, mathematics and arithmetic, was taught, up till the present summer, by Mr. David Munn, distinguished for his mathematical attainments; but he having been appointed to a mastership in the High School of Edinburgh, Mr. Neilson, from the same city, was elected as his successor, on the 16th of August last. The salary is £16 16s. 6d.; interest, £8 3s. 6d.: in all, £25. Lastly, penmanship and drawing are efficiently taught by Mr. David Dunbar, whose salary is the same as that of the mathematical master. Mr. Dunbar is the author of a meritorious volume of poems, published in 1859. The salaries of the masters are supplemented by the interest of £3,000, bequeathed for this purpose by Mr. Crichton of Friars' Carse, and which became payable on the death of Mrs. Crichton, in 1863. At present the interest amounts to £120, of which the English, writing, and mathematical teachers receive £15 each, the remainder going to the rector; but on condition that he shall keep a well-qualified assistant, and educate ten poor boys gratuitously. The pupils at the Academy have, during the last thirty-four years, been all on the same footing as respects fees; the exemption in favour of burgesses' children having been withdrawn soon after