The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-26 00:00:00

THE PISTOLS OF ROBERT BURNS.

The Daily Scotsman of yesterday says :—Mr.
Stuart, secretary to the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland, yesterday received the following letter,
and the accompanying very interesting relics it
refers to, from Bishop Gillis :
" Edinburgh, Greenhill, Eve of Burns'
"Dear Sir,—Will"Centenary,Jan. 24, 1859.
Lo
ho e.
mdoer
re po
ws you allow me so far to mark
t
snse I entertain of the great propriety of
eelebiation, by presenting, through
you, to the Edinburgh Museum of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland, the accompanying box,
with its much-valued and long-cherished contents
—the pistols of Robert Burns ? The inner case,
containing the pistols themselves, together with im-
plements for cleaning them, andfor casting bullets,
his powder-flask, three-and-twenty bullets, and as
many flints, is, with the exception of the inscrip-
tion plate, exactly in the same state in which it
was, when given three-and-sixty years ago by
the poet to the late Dr. Maxwell, of Dumfries,
as the last and only token of friendship
his poverty then allowed him to bestow. Dr.
Maxwell brought the pistols with him to Edin-
burgh in the year 1834, since which time I can
vouch for their never having been interfered with,
having from the period of his death been ever care-
fully kept under lock and key beneath what is now
my pwn 'roof.. Much, as. I prize_ 'these strangely,
instructive evidences of a nation's ingratitude to
one of the brightest sons of genius that ever tilled

f.,-.,1 ~,. .. ,
~.. ~, .
soil, or graced its litera\ urti-:-:(sinlaT4lio Ackert'.
'e weapons of a gauger were ,as thOnSigiia of
highest office Burns was ever•horforttredNvith)
—now that Scotland has awakened to a due con-
sciousness of what she owes to the memory of her
bard, I feel that no private individual is any longer
the fit keeper of such a treasure. Burns' pistols
ought to belong to his country. Looking, there-
fore, as I do, upon your museum as a national insti-
tution, I beg of you to believe that I have very
great pleasure in being able to present them to
your society on this truly memorable and auspici-
ous occasion.--I am, dear sir, yours very truly,

"t JAMES GILiTS,
" Catholic Bishop, Edinburgh.
" John Stuart, Esq., Secretary to the Society
of Antiquaries of Scotland."
There will be but one feeling of hearty thanks to
Bishop Gillis for so handsomely making over to the
society, as public property, these valuable memorials
of our national poet. The kind and skilful physician
to whom this token of a.poet's gratitude was given,
referred
re
u t
mo
s b
under such affecting circumstances, is frequently
tya
nthesbiaotgternapdhinegm
tohfeßluarsnt s.dalynsreolf ating
the circumstances
ce
the
Dr.—" Curriei,h e
sense has
ot
fh the followingis p e rty,and allusion
of
P°toeMt'saxlwifeel :
Maxwell
the approaching distress of his infant family,
pressed heavily on Burns as he lay on the bed of
death; yet he alluded to his indigence, at times,
with something approaching- to his wonted.
gaiety. ' What business,' said he to Dr. Max-
well, who attended him with the utmost zeal,
has a physician to waste his time on me ? lam a
poor pigeon not worth plucking. Alas ! I have
not feathers enough upon me to carry me to my
grave." Mr. Robert Chambers, in his "Life and
Works of Burns," has the following reference to
Dr. Maxwell's efforts on behalf of the poet's widow
and children :—" Immediately after the death of
Burns, his friend Syme began to exert himself with
the greatest zeal and assiduity in rousing public
feeling in behalf of the widow and children. With
him was associated in his task Dr. William Max-
well, the medical attendant of the poet, a man of
somewhat singular character and attainments. The
popular report regarding him was, that, having
been at the medical schools of Paris in the heat of
the Revolution, he had contracted democratic sen-
timents; had ac ft.of tho Nation Guards
round the sca ouis XVI., and dipped his
handkerchief in the royal blood. Recently returned
to his own country, he had commenced practice in
Dumfries, but was as yet only laying the founda-
tions of that high professional character which he
subsequently perfected. He had attended Burns
in his last illness, and participated strongly in the
interest occasioned by his premature death. He
accordingly entered at once, and with the greatest
cordiality, into the project for the benefit of the
poet's family."

A CLERGYMAN'S OPINION OF BURNS.—The Daily
Scotsman, of Monday, says :--" The following re-
marks, which are sent us as those with which the
Rev. Dr. W. L. Alexander closed his lecture yes-
terday, will be everywhere read with disgust at
their spirit and contempt of their shallowness :
Is there not an idolatry of genius among you ?
What is the homage which thousands in this city
and throughout the country are going to pay to the
memory of a man this week but something of this
kind ? I am- not about to detract from the genius of
this man in what lam going to say. If he had
been a mighty prince who had delivered a nation
from a cruel bondage, and raised it to a high con-
dition of liberty and civilisation—if he had been
a discoverer in science and philosophy who had
conferred the benefits of wealth and social im-
provement upon the world—l should consider
the homage about to be paid to him as both foolish
and wrong ; but when he was a person who never
loved a woman but to betray her, and who never
made an acquaintance among either young men or
women but he injured and corrupted, I am at a loss
to explain the infatuation that has fallen upon my
country. England would not do so for her Milton
—Germany would not do so for her Goethe—ltaly
would not do so for Tasso or Dante ; but Scotch-
men are about to do this for a man who was far
beneath either of these great sons of genius. I
cannot but regard this conduct, in every view of it,
as both foolish and wicked.' "

BURNS' PUNCHBOWL.—A London correspondent
of the Scotsman calls attention to this interesting
relic of Hobert Burns—his punchbowl of Inverary
marble—bequeated to the British Museum by the
late Mr. Archibald Hastie, M.P. for Paisley. He
expresses regret that the relic has not been placed
in a more congenial spot than where it now is ; for
the bowl, in its present position, seems condemned
to comparative obscurity.

HEALTH OF LONDON DURING TILE
WEEK.

/From the Registrar-Genei al' s Report.)
The deaths in the metropolitan districts were in
the week ending last Saturday again numerous,
though they were not equal to the number pro-
duced by the high rate of mortality of the previous
week. The present return contains 1,380 deaths.
In the 10 years 1849-58 the average numbers in the
weeks corresponding with last week. was 1,202 ; but
as the deaths returned for last week occurred in a
population which has increased they can only be
compared with the average raised in proportion to
the increase, namely, 1,322. The comparison shows
that the actual number of last week exceeds the
estimated number by 58.

The rate of mortality for the first quarter of the
year in certain districts of England., selected as
healthy, has been ascertained ; and it can be shown
that if the mortality in London last week had been
according to the same rate, the deaths would have
been 874. The excess which the true number exhi-
bits is equal to 506, and must be referred chiefly to
the still defective arrangements of all our populous
cities.

The deaths from scarlatina and diphtheria are
111, and exhibit a slight increase on those of the
previous- week, when they were 102. Six of the 111
occurred in the sub-district of Regent's-park, 5 in
Bow, and 5 in St. Paul, Deptford. Diphtheria is
returned as the cause of death in 22 cases, and 13 of
these occurred on the south side of the river. Four
deaths from scarlatina occurred within 18 days in a
family in Round-tree Cottage, Bow. The registrar
states that " the disease is attributed by the father
to a black ditch flowing at the back of the house.
He called the attention of the Poplar District Board
of Works to the nuisance last summer, but the only
answer that he received was, that probably the
Metropolitan Board of orks would at some future
period bring a sewer near the premises." It may
well he doubted whether this intimation of good
intentions and of their probable fulfilment will
supply balm to the wounds of the afflicted family.
The number of deaths placed to the order of pul-
monary diseases is 302, the corrected average of
corresponding weeks being 290. Of those, bronchitis
was fatal in 190 cases, the average being 151 while
pneumonia ,w e
pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs) was fatal in
only 76, the average being 94. Besides these,
phthisis, which stands in the tubercular order, car-
ried off 176 persons,the average being 150. Fifteen
women died from diseases incidental to childbear-
ing. Three persons died of intemperance as the
direct cause of illness ; one of delirium tremens.
Smallpox is manifestly increasing, and it was fatal
in 20 cases, half of which occurred in the east dis-
tricts. Of five persons who had attained the age of
90 years and upwards, the respective ages were 90,
91, 93, 96, and 100 years.
Last week the births of 928 boys and 923 girls,
in all 1,851 children, were registered in London. In
the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1849-58
the average number was 1.613.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.882 in.
The instrument fell from 30.14 in. to 29.62 in. The
mean temperature of the week was 43.3 deg., which
is 6.8 deg. above the average of the same week in
43 years (as determined by Mr. Glaisher). On
Tuesday the mean temperature was 50.5 deg., which
was 14.2 deg. above the average of the same d_e
. a,yi
The range of that day was only 5.3 deg.
on the
li
highest temperature in the week occurred
same day, and was 53 deg. ; the lowest was 29.5
range
deg. on the Sunday preceding.
The entire
efore 23.5 deg.
d
of temperature in the week wastl therefore
The mean daily range was 12.2 cg. The difference
between the mean clew-point temperature and the
air temperature was 3 deg. The mean temperature
of the water of the Thames Was 41.6 deg. The mean
degree of humidity of the air was 87. The wind
blew constantly. from the S.W. Rain fell to the
ount of 0.13 in.

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•
On February 1 will be published,
..A_ )A M BED E.
Ty GEORGE ELIOT,
B
Author of " Scenes of Clerical Life."
'I three V 0 ls., post Svo. Price .£1 11s. (Id., cloth.
r. Black wood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.

RO YAI r. ENGLISH OPERA, COVENT
G PLR DEN, under the sole Management of Miss Louisa
Tyne a 'id 1 vlr. W. Harrison
THU ; ES ENING will be presented an entirely new and
romantic 0 pera, by Mr. W. Balfe, entitled SATANELLA ;
or, Ti LE POWER OF LOVE.
Conductor-31r. Alfred Mellon.
To cc .ncluete with the new Pantomime of LITTLE REDs
RIDP 4 G lIOOD ; or, Harlequin and the Wolf in Granny'
Clothllig