The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-02-01 00:00:00

THE BURNS COMMEMORATION AT
THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

This lung-expected event ClllllO off on Tuesday
last in due course, mid was attended by one of those
ellorlllolol crowds only to lie met with at the Crystal
becsiti•e no other building is large enough tu hold
them. In what way the centeuary anuiveraary of the
Scutti.h poet's birth could possibly conceni the Cryst.ii
Palace, and why Englishmen, who had never thought
of celebriting Sliakspeare or II:1ton with similar pomp,
.1 Id aulilenly get up an extraonlinary display in
honour of Berns, might iniasibly have been thought
questions worth considering, were it not a well-known
fact that such exhihitions (which have been growing
into fashion of Lite) are neither better nor worse than
vehicles for bringing in money. The directors of the
Crystal Palace want 11111 l ey. They made money by
celebrating the 1110111 anniversary of the death of a
Saxon musichin two years in advance of the date ; they
intend to make more money by re-celebrating the atone
event at the proper time ; and there was 110 just cause
or reason why they aliould not in the interim make
re by flattering the nat at prejudices id her
Majesty a Scottish sultjecta arougli the medium of •
sort of apotheosis of Scotland's most favoured poet.
the Bunis Festival was projected ; and the Borne
Festival has passed off triumphantly, in spite of a degree
of Ahab' as which made the whole business, viewed in
comparison with the recent tribute hi a mightier, if nut
a noire genial, 111101 than Burns, look aomewhat con-
temptible, and reduced it almost to the proportions of a
fancy fair, with music on a very economical scale.
Regarded philueophically, these p,i•ohat«at commemora-
tions are, for the greater part, mere hypocrisy and
humbug. 0111C101 ill tile bACkgrllllllll we esn perceive the
benignant face of charity, smiling approval. As many
Ilandel Festivals 141 you please, provided that some sub-
stantial act of benevolence is amociated with the name
of the grand composer, whose chief masterpiece, the
.1/easiali, has been a fountain of charity for it than •
century past. " {limiter to Itunis"—or to any other
great poet, °tithe same principle - - would be equally grace-
ful and acceptable. But to further the ends of specula-
tion under the pretext id rendering homage to illustrious
men who have ceased to speculate thesenielven, del only
live in their undying works, appears, with deference, at
the very lead, an error in taste. The IIAIIIIOI Festival
of 1t457 resulted in a certain profit, which was unequally
shared between the Crystal Palace Company and the
Sacred Harmonic Society. Magnificient a desnunstrio
tion as this 11/141, no charity, no institution connected
with the art mit mimic (as when a aimnitar celebration was
held in Westminster Abbey) gained anything by it.
And now with much leaa magnificence, though pro-
ceeded by announcements just as significant and big, the
memory of Robert Bunn has been turned into • mar-
ketable counnielity, and an entertaininent of • hybrid
character got up in his name, fur the simple benefit of
the Crystal Palace Company.
The important event of the day was the opening of
the sealed envelope containing the name of the author of
the Prize POI:Ill—the rifty•guinea Ode to Burns "not
led than lOU nor more than 200 linos in lengih," the
copyright of which becomes the property of the Sydeu-
ham donor. Breathless wax the attention with which
the short preliminary whirl:dot Mr. Phelps wee listened
to. The popular tragedian, will. lungs of Stentor, said
—" I aui requeshal to break Baia seal, and to annouuoe
the name of the author of the poem I am about to read
to you" Everybody understood what was to follow;
and, in order to elicit the desired attention, there was
no necessity whatever fur hanging out that large red
cloth over the balustrade of the orchestra, with the
word "Silence" inscribed upon it in daring white
capitals. Mr. Phelps deliberately broke the sealant' as
deliberately pronounced the favoured name. The prise
poem was the work oh • lady—" lea Craig—a cottoned-
cation bailed with reiterated plaudit.. Mr. Phelps than
declaimed, in that grave and weighty style for which he
is notorious, the following

ODE ON nig CENTENARY or BURNS.
We hail, this morn,
A century's noblest birth ;
A Poet pessant-born,
Why noire of lame's immortal dower
Into his country brings
Than all her kings !
As lamps high set
Upon some earthly eminence,—
And to the gazer brighter thence
Than the sphere-lights they dont,—
Dwindle ill distance and die out,
While no star waned' yet ;
So through the I.eate far-reaching night,
Only the star-souhi keep their bight.
A gentle boy,—
Wit moods of sadness and of mirth,
Quick tears and sudden joy,—
Grew up beside the peasant's hearth.
His father's toil he slimes ;
But half his mother's cam
Fr his dark searching eyes,
Too swift to sympathize,
llid in her heart she bears.

At eat ly morn,
His father calls him to the field ;
Through the stilt' soil that clogs his feet,
Chill rain, and harvest heat, '
He plods all day; returns at eve outworn.
To the rude fare a peasant's lot duth yield ;
To what else Miti he burn?
The I ludquade King
4)1 every living thing ;
(For his great heart in love could hold them all ;)
The dumb eyes ineetin4 Ids by earth and stall,—
Gifted to understand !
Knew it and sought his hand ;
And the t timoroui creature had not fled,
4ould she lais heart have read,