The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-14 00:00:00

THE BURNS' CENTENARY- THE
GLASGOW FESTIVAL.

(Front the North British Daily Mail.)
The tickets for the centenary birthday of Robert
Burns, to be held in the City-hall on the 25th of
next month, have just been lithographed by Messrs.
Maclure and Macdonald. The tickets, which are
about six inches long, by some three or four broad,
bear a well-engraved likeness of the poet in one
corner, and towards the other is a landscape show-
ing the old bridge of Doom in the foreground, while
in the distance Burns's Monument and Alloway
Church are represented—the whole scene being
extremely picturesque. One of the accessories to
the picture is the introduction of the " Twa Dogs,"
Luath and Caesar, who are graphically represented
in earnest conversation beneath the branches of
some spreading trees discussing the affairs of dogs
and men. The arms of the poet are also introduced.
As an artistic production the tickets are highly
creditable to the engravers, and will, as the guests
will be permitted to retain them, form a handsome
and appropriate souvenir of the centenary festival.
As regards the probability of the sons of Burns
being present at the Glasgow festival some doubts
were entertained, as it appeared that, before their
invitation by the committee, they had promised to
attend the annual dinner of the Dumfries Burns'
Club, which would prevent their being in the city
on the 25th !of January; and the club, when ap-
plied to on the subject by the committee, would not
consent to break off the arrangement We are
happy to find, however, that Mr. Mills has received
from one of the poet's sons the following letter,
which he has placed in the hands of the secretary :
"4, Berkeley-street, Cheltenham, Dec. 6.
" My dear Mills,—Since I received your letter of
Ist inst., my brother and I have discussed the pro-
position therein made, and have come to the con-
clusion that it is the bounden duty of one of us to
be in Glasgow on the 25th January, as one will
suffice for Dumfries ; so, if nothing occurs to pre-
vent me, I purpose being there, and my brother at
Dumfries. He joins in kind regards to yours and
you, with, yours sincerely,

" J. G. BURNS."
Amongst others, the following letters have been
received by the secretary :
(From Mr. R. Burns Begg, nephew of the poet,
and son of the late Mrs. Begg.)
" Kinross, 3d December, 1858.
" Dear Sir,—The bustle of the term prevented
my attention to your kind card. I will be highly
honoured by being the guest of the committee of
the Burns' Centenary on the 25th January. I did
not expect this attention, and therefore I feel the
more nateful for their kindness.
" R. B. BEGG."
(From the Earl Stanhope.)
" Chbvening, Dec. 3, 1858.
Sir,—l feel honoured at the invitation which
you have been pleased to address to me to attend
the centenary of the birth of Burns. My plans as
to the latter part of January are not at present
decided, and will depend on the time that may be
fixed for the meeting of Parliament, and on other
circumstances ; but if I should find myself at all
within reach of Glasgow, I shall certainly look
forward to the privilege of attending that interest-
ing celebration, and of becoming personally
acquainted with the gentlemen concerned.—l have
the honour to be, sir, your very obedient servant,
" STANHOPE."
(From William Jerdan, late editor of the Literary
azette.)
" Bushey Heath, Herts, Dec. 6, 1858.
" Dear Sir,—Owing to some roundabout posting
to me at the Garrick Club, I did not receive your
complimentary invitation to become one of the
guests at the approaching centenary celebration of
the birthday of Burns till the other day. I thank
the committee and yourself for the flattering re-
membrance of an expatriated countryman, known,
perhaps, as an enthusiastic worshipper of the
genius of the minstrel. When I say that I have
seen him it will be to confess to a time of life
when long journeys are not readily undertaken,
and what is worse, when useful co-operation on
any great public occasion is all but hopeless.
Yet should I rejoice to be able to show that
my admiration of the bard has not cooled with
my advance in years, and to recall to my memory
my single personal effort to pay a tribute to his
immortal name in the same spirit as that which is
now stirring to embody a universal acknowledg-
ment. Never was one so emphatically called for,
and especially from his native land. It is a long
while since I got up a meeting in Loudon, with
Lord Aberdeen presiding. I realised between
£3OO and £4OO for a monument in Dumfries. I had
the happiness, on that day, to introduce the son of
the poet to Mr. Charles Grant (Lord Glenclg),
which led to his presenting him with a cadetship
for india. I trust that you will have a ' meeting
worthy of the event—a fitting national commemo-
ration
of Scotland's most illustrious son ! The Earl
of Eglinton is a tower of strength, and the most
pathetic lyric ever penned cannot be forgotten while
a noble Montgomery lives to remind you of High-
land Mary.' I may indulge in the faintest hope,
counter-checked by the blankest fear, that I might
be able to avail myself of your invitation. If my
friend Lover attends the meeting, pray make a good
use of him, as the first, or at any rate in the first
rank, of our living lyrists, and a popular speaker
upon occasion. Of the younger men on your list
I know little ; but if they emulate their fathers,
Blanchard will be sweet and amiable—Jerrold acute
and witty. But here am I scribbling, suggesting,
&c., knowing nothing of what has been done or is
doing. 1 beg you not to impute it to impertinence,
but to a very strong desire that the festival should
be worthy of the poet, Scotland, and Glasgow, with
Its Tree that never grew,
And its Bird that never flew,
And its Bell that never rang,
And its Fish that never swam;
Or, other reading,

And its drunken Salmon ;

alluding, no doubt, to its matchless punch. But on
the present occasion I hope its tree will flourish,
laden with Scottish hospitality ; its bird fly
with wings of the Muses, rivalling Parnassus and
Helicon by Benlomond and Clyde ; its bell ring
with genuine enthusiastic pmons to the memory
of Burns ; and its fish swim gloriously in the
liquid aforesaid. Babbage asserts that a word
once uttered, impresses the atoms of air to the
utmost extremity of the universe, and never
ceases to all eternity. Do not wonder, there-
fore, that I hear you cry ' Bosh hasten to sub-
scribe myself, my dear sir, yours very truly,
" W. JERDAN."
It is gratifying to learn that considerable in-
terest is already manifested in the forthcoming
festival; the tickets are being rapidly sold. We
are glad also to observe that in various parts of the
country measures are being taken to commemorate
the poet's birthday in a fitting manner. Nor is the
demonstration in the City Hall to be the only fes-
tival in Glasgow, for several smaller, though not
less enthusiastic, fetes are in preparation for the
occasion. Under these circumstances there is little
doubt that the memory of Burns will be honoured
by a truly "national festival."

A RAPHAEL SOLD FOR FORTY-FIVE'
FRANCS.

In 1837 the Duke de Maine died, leaving to his
heirs one of those magnificent galleries whose trea-
sures the amateurs dispute when they are dis-
persed. The sale of this collection was made in
the splendid apartments of the hotel of the de-
funct duke. All the grand amateurs were pre-
sent. A few dealers had contrived to intro-
duce themselves. A picture, furnished with a
frame, and bearing the words " Presented by
the ing," was placed upon the table by the
expert valuer. Good. The picture rested ex-
posed to the regards of this chosen public for ten
minutes without a single bid. Cambriel was there.
His practised eye recognised a chef d'oeuvre, and his
heart leapt within him. " I bid ten francs," he
said, containing his emotion. Not far from him
stood another dealer, named Cousin. Knowing that
Cambriel was a good connoisseur, he carried. the
offer to 15 francs-20 francs-40 francs-45 francs !
Cambriel was about to cap this insignificant offer
when one of his friends, who was standing behind
him, comprehending nothing of what was passing,
and thinking to prevent hiin making a foolish bar-
gain, clapped his two hands upon his mouth and
stopped the offer on his lips. During this short
silence the picture was knocked down to Cousin
for 45 francs. " -Wretched man," cried Cambriel,
after he had released himself from the fatal restraint,
lo you have made me lose a Raphael !" In fact, it
was a Raphael—a St. John, long admired in the
gallery of the Louvre, from which it had been for
many years absent. The Duke de Maille had ob-
tained the sanction of Louis XVIII. to deposit it
temporarily as an ornament for the church of Long
Pont. Some time afterwards the cure of this com-
mune sent it back to its protector, for some re-
pair judged necessary, and it had remained in the
gallery, wl2ieh explains the sale, which was made
by mistake and unknown to his family. The
latter commenced an action against the purchaser.
The administrator of the museum interposed. Cousin
resisted. The affair .went through all the degrees
of a lawsuit. After the judgment, which ,ordered
restitution to the museum, a confirmative decree
was necessary in the Court of Appeal, and even a
decree of the Court of Cassation to cause the resto-
ration of the picture to the Louvre. The picture to
this day is in the magasins. When the poor expert
appraiser learned that he had placed on the table a
St. John for five francs, he experienced from his
error such keen humiliation, that Jie lost his reason
and died of grief.—The Critic.