the after-piece. A ludicrous mistake has occurred, however, in the classification of the Dramatis Persona. The sapient playwright, it would appear, in reading the lines "Tam had got planted unco richt, Fast by an ingle bleezin' finely, Wi' reaman' swats that drank divinely," very naturally conceiving ream an' swats, from the delectable style of their carousing, to be a brace of Tam's pot companions, actually introduced them as such, and we find in the bill that the characters of "Ream" and "Swats" are to be personated by two of the performers! This reminds us of an anecdote, connected with the same subject, which had its origin nearer home. Some time ago, we chanced to be in the shop of an elderly bookseller, when the conversation turned upon the identity of the characters introduced by BURNS in his Tam O'Shanter. The bibliopole who had spent the early part of his life in this neighbourhood, assured us that, "exceptin' KERR, he kent every body to leuk at that was mentioned, frae Tam himsel' doun to his mare Maggie." This heing the first time we had ever heard Mr. KERR'S cognomen alluded to, in connexion with Tam O'Shanter we expressed considerable surprise, and stated that he undoubtedly must have made a mistake in the name. "It may be sae, but its a point easily sattled," said he, raxing down a copy of BURNS from the shelf. With "spectacles on nose," he turned up the poem in question. Ay, ay," said he, in an exulting tone, "I thocht I was na that far wrang 66 "Care mad to see a man sae happy, E'en drowned himsel' amang the happy." Now, I kent twa or three o'the KERR'S that leev't in the town-head, but I never could fin' out whilk o' them BURNS had in his eye when he wrote the poem." END OF VOL. IV. |