that
are given above. But we should not be justified--and no man who was
there that day would forgive us--if we passed over in silence the manly
and distinguished manner in which Lord Eglinton discharged the duties of
the chair. Scotland, as we have already had occasion to say, is proud,
and justly so, of her aristocracy; but there is not one of them all,
through the whole length and breadth of the land, to whom she can point
more exultingly than to this young nobleman. His opening address would
have done honour to one long trained in the schools of oratory, and that
was its smallest merit. The emphatic and earnest tone of admiration in
which he spoke of the peasantry of his country--his generous and
touching allusions to Burns in his earlier years, to what he had done
and suffered, and to the honours so long withheld, and now so
brilliantly conferred--and the patriotic fervour which pervaded his
whole address--carried along with him not only the applauses, but the
hearts of the whole assemblage. Lord Eglinton may well look back with
pride and satisfaction to the proceedings of that day; for he has
secured the affections of thousands who already respected his name.

Of the other speeches, eloquent and impressive as they were, we
shall--with only one exception--speak collectively; and the highest
praise we can give is to say, that they were every way worthy of the
occasion, of the subjects which they celebrated, and of the men by whom
they were uttered. There was a delicate propriety in the feeling which
excluded from the list of toasts the names of the living poets, with the
great and glorious exceptions of Wordsworth and Moore, now beyond all
cavil at the head of the literature of their respective countries. Their
presence, though ardently hoped for, was hardly to be expected on this
occasion; for their advanced years, and the distant journey they must
have undertaken, were serious obstacles; but their apologetic letters,
full of deep feeling and sympathy, were received, and the reception
which greeted their names, showed the respect and love which the
Scottish people entertain for the greatness and universality of their
fame. Deep also and thrilling was the emotion evinced at the mention of
the illustrious dead, who have passed away into their graves in the
fulness and maturity of their fame. Strange and powerful is the spell
which lies in the mere plain utterance of their names! Scott, and Byron,
and Campbell, (just