ح

HE subject of the following sketch is a genuine specimen of the Scottish Borderer. He was born in Galashiels on the 26th May, 1838, being the second son of George Dun, and his wife, Euphemia Moffat. His ancestors had been Border farmers from time immemorial, as the old tombstones in Yarrow Kirkyard remain to testify. in the family traditions is preserved the memory of an ancestor, who in the dark and cloudy days in Scottish history, was amongst those that suffered imprisonment because he dared to worship God according to his conscience. George Dun was born at Hollybush, on the estate of Gala, in the year 1800. On attaining manhood he came to Galashiels and was associated with his brother, John, in conducting an ironmongery and seed warehouse. This relation was maintained till 1841, when he left the district and became tenant of the farm of Blairmore, in Argyllshire. In that remote district the embryo Provost spent the earlier years of his boyhood. He received the rudiments of education at Ardentinny School, to and from which, "through summer's sun and winter's storm," he had to travel six miles daily. His father removed from Blairmore in 1853, to enter on the tenancy of the farm of Laidlawstiel, which is still occupied by still occupied by third son, Mr Andrew Dun. Prev

his

ious to the removal of his father from Blairmore, Mr Dun had been sent to Galashiels for the purpose of attending the Parish School, which was then conducted by Mr J. M. Pollock. When his education was completed he went to Laidlawstiel with the view of qualifying himself for carrying on the hereditary occupation. In this case, however, the truth of the old adage was verified, viz., "Man proposes, but God disposes."

Previous to this time, his elder brother, George, had been assumed as a partner by his uncle, Mr John Dun, who now carried on business in Galashiels as a wool, seed, and manure merchant. George died in 1869, and Mr Dun was requested to fill his place in the old-established firm, in which he is now the senior partner.

In 1877 Mr Dun entered the bonds of matrimony, his partner in life being Miss Agnes Flora Hall, second daughter of the late Mr Robert Hall, founder of the well-known firm of Robert Hall & Co., builders, by whom he has a family of four sons and one daughter. In 1884 he acquired the villa and grounds of Craigpark, a portion of which formed part of the glebe pertaining to the Parish Church. The name perpetuates the memory of Mr George Craig, the famous baron bailie, under whose despotic but kindly regime, the humble vil

lage developed into a busy manufacturing town. The original name of the site affords matter for dispute among the older inhabitants, but according to some authorities it was originally known as the Witchie Knowe, where tradition affirms the last penalty of the law was in flicted upon several females who were charged with the crime of witchcraft.

In 1876 Mr Dun was elected to the newlyconstituted Town Council and after serving the usual term he retired. In 1891 he was again returned to the Council, and was appointed fourth, and in the following year, third, Bailie, in which position he tempered justice with

Highland Society for the past twenty-nine years. When Mr William Haldane resigned the agency of the local branch of the National Bank of Scotland in 1880, Mr Dun was appointed his successor, and continues to fill that position in conjunction with Mr William Little, who was assistant to Mr Haldane previous to his retiral.

Notwithstanding the demands of a widelyramified business, Mr Dun has for years taken a fair share of public business in various capacities. He was for a lengthened period a member of the Parochial Board. When that body was superseded by the Parish Council, he

mercy, till Provost Dickson retired in 1897. when he was elevated to the civic chair.

Не

As might have been expected from his surroundings, Provost Dun has always taken a hearty interest in agricultural matters. has filled the position of Hon. Secretary to the Galashiels Farmers' Club for over a quarter of a century. In this relation his services have been highly appreciated by the members, who, in 1898, presented him with a massive silver cup, bearing a suitable inscription. He is also a director of the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture, and was one of the witnesses examined by the Royal Commission on Agriculture in 1896, and has been a member of the

A. M'Lagan.

still continued to occupy a seat, until his election to the Provostship, when, from the want of time, he was reluctantly compelled to resign. While acting in that capacity he always displayed a strong sympathy with the deserving poor, aud strenuously advocated the giving of outdoor relief, rather than immuring such, whose necessities had compelled them to apply for relief, within the walls of a poorhouse. Mr Dun is also a manager of the Cottage Hospital, Chairman of the Public Library Committee, a Trustee for the Savings Bank, a member of the Lunacy Board, and a J.P. for the County of Selkirk. In politics he was a supporter of Mr Gladstone till he introduced the Irish

Home Rule Bill, when he became a Liberal Unionist. While giving no uncertain sound on this, as well as on all other public questions, he is always ready to give a reason for the faith that is in him. Gifted with a genial and kindly nature, coupled with a shrewd, practical common-sense, he succeeds in doing so without raising those feelings of rancour and bitterness which are too often permitted to mar and destroy the kindly relations which should exist between friends, neighbours, and fellowtownsmen. Mr Dun is a member of the East United Presbyterian Church, and for a lengthened period acted as one of the managers, latterly filling the position of chairman of that body, but his sympathies are by no means confined to that denomination.

Notwithstanding the multiplicity of his public duties, Mr Dun devotes some little attention to antiquarian pursuits, and in his frequent peregrinations throughout the Border counties he is always on the alert to secure additions to his collection of bronze weapons, querns, stone hammers and other relics which speak of a byegone age and a vanished race. His love of the animal creation is particularly strong, and the genial Provost finds one of his chief pleasures in visiting the various animals which are to be found within the spacious grounds surrounding the pleasant mansion. house of Craigpark.

R. H., G.

The Scott Memorials in Westminster and Boston, U.S.A.

PART II.

BY RICHARD LEES.

N the 21st May, 1897, the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey-that stately Chamber in which, in times when England and Scotland were distinct and often hos. tile, the Commons House, destined to become the Mother of Parliaments, was accustomed to meet for three centuries-presented a gay and animated appearance. It was filled to overflowing with a brilliant company assembled to witness the unveiling of the Bust of Sir Walter Scott in the Poets' Corner, after listening to Mr Arthur J. Balfour and Mr Hay, the American Minister, who had been invited to speak upon the event of the day. be menIt may tioned in passing, that amongst those present in addition to Lord Lothian, Sir Theodore Mar

tin, and other movers in the matter, were Mr and Mrs Maxwell-Scott of Abbotsford, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, The Earl and Countess of Dalkeith, Mrs and Miss Hay, and Mr Henry White, from the American Embassy, Lord Tennyson, Lady Burdett Coutts, Mr Gully, Speaker of the House of Commons, Lady Henry Somerset, Mr J. M. Barrie, Canon Wilberforce, Mr John M'Whirter, R.A., Mr J. L. Toole, also Mr Thorburn, Mr Thomas Shaw, and many other Scotch and English Members of Parliament, and a large gathering of interested Scotsmen and Scotswomen from London and the North. The Dean of Westminster, who presided, spoke of the occasion about 125 years before, when Sir Walter, as a child, first trod the famous floors of the Abbey and of the impression then made upon him and recalled twenty-five years later, of the fretted aisles, and soaring roof and the worn gravestones which were later still to form the subject of the introduction to the first Canto of 'Marmion.' "Sir Walter," the Dean said, "needs no memorial, but one is at last being raised in the place whence, as Washington Irving said eighty years ago, Sir Walter drew so much inspiration for the creation of his romance. Who could look at the monument of Caroline, wife of George II., and fail to remember Jeanie Deans, or that of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, without recalling The Fortunes of Nigel?' Sir Walter's bust has been placed in a spot destined for it by Arthur Stanley, by the side of the Duke of Argyll, whose memory would always be associated with that of the great Poet and Novelist."

It seems scarcely permissible to condense a speech by Mr Balfour, and (but for want of space to report his utterances on this occasion at length) it would almost be discourteous to do so. But the columns of this Magazine are limited, and we are forced to reduce to smail compass what fell from Mr Balfour. It may be summarised as follows:-The Chairman has called upon me to speak as a Scotchman, and as one who was born and has lived in those regions from which Scott drew his inspiration, and gave the earliest bent to his genius, and provided so much literature which that genius worked up into memorable story. Yet, though Scott was essentially a Scotchman-by which I mean his inspiration was drawn from the place of his birth and the surroundings of his childhood-we are not here simply, or principally, to celebrate the memory of a Scotchman, but to celebrate the memory of a man of letters whom the whole of the English-speaking races of the world admire, and who holds

I

an almost unique position upon the Continent of Europe among men of letters speaking another tongue than his own. In truth, in this respect, I know of no Englishman or man of letters using the English language, except Lord Byron and Richardson, the novelist, who in their lifetime or immediately after their death: produced so great and direct an effect on literature. It would be an interesting speculation, if there were time to indulge in it, to analyse the causes by which these rare and peculiar results arose. I do not put it before you as an especial mark of literary distinction. I only say that Scott possessed it as a great merit and did not rely on style. His merits depended upon broader effects and greater issues. must not be supposed by those words to imply that I join myself with those mistaken critics, as I believe them to be, who tell us that Scott's style ought not to be the subject of literary admiration. I take a very different view. It is true Scott is always hasty and sometimes careless, but, for the purpose he had in view and the end he desired to serve, the style is admirable and admirably allied to the matter which he had to put into literary shape and give a literary aspect to. The merits of Scott then were not the merits of style; but the admiration of late posterity well depends on other causes. In what, then, did Scott's ability consist? It is due to the same general cause to which all success is due-namely, to a happy coincidence of special gifts and special opportunities, which had the fullest scope. Scott reached his literary maturity when the reaction against the eighteenth century was at its height. That reaction had already cleared the domain of poetry; it had made large advances in the domain of politics. The historical movements which distinguished the nineteenth century had already shown their first fruits, and in the beginning of those historic movements Scott was an artistic representative. It is not for me to say that Scott's history was accurate. He took many liberties, and he took history in various pericds and Idealt with it with artistic effect. Scott, as no man ever had, and no man is likely to have, had the power of pleasing and making living characters in history. The eighteenth century delighted in abstract men and abstract institutions. Scott gave expression to the nore modern and concrete view, which showed al! the institutions as historic parts in the age in which they were treated, and he alone had power to make characters not only the vehicle for antiquarian learning, but representations of a long ago past, in which his genius woke into

life what has delighted our own race, and our forefathers, and will long delight the generation to come after. Nobody pretends that Scott had broken loose from that law to which every literary author is subjected; nobody pretends that his works are tree from elements of passion. As far as I can judge, the perusal of his pages fill us with pleasure—not only as men of letters by profession, not only as stud ents of literary history, but as a generally cultivated public. Their interest is still undiminished up to the present time. It may, perhaps, be that the ceremony celebrated here today has been one too long deferred. Two generations have passed since Scott sank to his rest, and it might well seem that there ought to have been some memorial raised to his memory, and that he would have found his place with the great men of letters here in this Abbey. The Dean has stated how it had come about, and I add to what he has said that, speaking for myself, I hardly regret it. Memorials are of two kinds. The most common kind is one, with which we have all sympathy, to assist in the effort to preserve the recollections of a man who has done good work in his generation, and to preserve something of his memory in an age when that work will be probably forgotten. But there is another kind of memorial in which we do not pretend to preserve the memory, where the fame has reached its maturity. We are here to-day not to add to Scott's fame; not to do that which he has done for himself. We are here to satisfy curselves by placing a bust of one of the greatest men amongst the men of genius and talent who are enshrined within the walls of this historic building. Among all those who are commemorated here, there are none more loved or whose character was more loveable. Now, more than sixty years after his death, his character stands out in its broad outlines of humanity, and so I think we may claim for him that none of those recorded within these walls exceeded him in genius, none were more richly endowed with imagination, and none made better use of the unique inspiration with which he was endowed for his own and succeeding generations.

Colonel Hay, the American Ambassador, had most courteously agreed to follow Mr Balfour. A special interest attached to his doing so, as it was his first public appearance after his appointment to the Court of St James's. He said just as it surprised one to find that neither Molière nor Balzac had been members of the French Academy, so it surprised the visitor to the Abbey to find that he had to ask in vain for a memorial of the author of "Waverley"

in the building. It was not that he had been neglected or forgotten-"his lines had gone out through all the earth and his words to the end of the world," but that, as was well known, attention was devoted to the securing of Abbotsford. It was, perhaps, the world-wide extent of Scott's name which made it unnecessary that his image should be enshrined there among the English worthies: but the greatness of his name was no reason why he should not have a local habitation, and it was altogether fit and proper that his bust should be placed there among those of his mighty peers in the great Pantheon of immortal Englishmen. Were that all, he (the speaker) would have no reason for appearing there, but he felt that he was the temporary representative of a large section of Sir Walter Scott's readers. America reverenced Scott when the country was young. He had heard from his father, a pioneer of Kentucky, that the meu would saddle their horses and ride miles to all the post towns when a new novel by the author of "Waverley" was expected. All through the new States and territories, and in the West, the books most read were those romances of chivalry which Scott was turning out with a sort of joyous fecundity like that of Nature in its most fertile moods. In the important formative time of the Republic Scott was the favourite author, and, though he might not be said to have affected in a material way the political development of the country, still he must have had strong influence upon a people who were by their very environment peculiarly susceptible to his influences. They had seen many fashions in literature come and go, but in spite of all the vicissitudes of time and taste, the author of "Waverley" had maintained his position in two hemispheres as the master of romantic narration. Both mentally and morally Scott was one of the greatest writers who ever 'lived. His mere memory and his power of retaining facts was marvellous and inconceivable to ordinary men, and his imagination was nothing short of capacious. The historical personages of the past were jostled in their re collection by their memories of the creations of Scott's imagination. It was nerhaps the morality of Scott which appealed to the many more than anything else. His aims were true. his heroes brave and strong. his heroireswhom he frankly asked should be admiredwere womanly and true, were pure in heart and delicate in speech. These were the essential and undying elements of the charm with which the great magician had soothed and lulled the unrest of two peoples through more

than two generations, and his imagination had stili power to charm all loyal and candid souls. His voice was a high, clear echo for a better age than ours.

The Duke of Buccleuch, who, as the recognised head of the Scotts, and who was the first to sign the Memorial to the Dean of Westmin ster, had been chosen by the Committee to unveil the bust, said he felt it a very great honour and pleasure to have been asked to unveil the statue on that occasion. He thought they would agree with him that no panegyrics could have been more true than those they had just heard. It showed that the genius of Sir Walter Scott was still a great power in the world. He was, perhaps, one of the few left who had shaken hands with Sir Walter. He was a mere baby at the time, and had no recollection of it, but he cherished the knowledge that he had done so. Sir Walter was, as they knew, an intimate friend of his family. It was through his (the Duke's) grandmother that he wrote the "Lay of the Last Minstrel," and he need not tell them the affection all the Scott Clan had to his memory was great and undying. They had on that occasion the pleasure of having among them the poet's great granddaughter, Mrs Maxwell-Scott. He concluded by thanking the Dean of Westminster for the facilities he had given for that ceremony.

The company then proceeded to the Poets' Corner, where the bust was unveiled by the Duke. It stands upon a bracket of Verde antico marble between Roubiliac's magnificent monument to John Campbell, Duke of Argyll and Greenwich, and the doorway of the Lady Chapel. The bracket bears the simple inscription, "1771. Walter Scott. 1832." Dean Stanley, in his "Memorials," speaking of the site of the Argyll monument, refers to it as "a situation which may well be accorded by our generation to one with whose charming character and address our age has become familiar chiefly through the greatest of novelists."

Concluded in our Next.

BROAD SCOTCH IN GALT.-When Ian Maclaren visited Canada and the United States, wherever he went he told his audience every person. almost appeared to be Scottish. He had not yet arrived at Galt in Ontario, where broader Scotch is spoken than in Galashiels, yet only five per cent. of the inhabitants are native born Scots.