Page:Merry Muses of Caledonia.djvu/25

(　xix　) No. V. appears to be a reprint of No. IV., and bears, "Dublin—Printed for the Booksellers—Price four shillings." There is no date. It measures 5¾ inches by 3½.

No. VI. is identical with II., IV., and V. It bears, "London—Printed for the Booksellers—1843." It measures 6½ inches by 4.

No. VII. is a reproduction of No. III., including the date, though it is evidently much more modern. It measures 7 inches by 4½.

No. VIII. is another reproduction of No. III., evidently with the date falsified. On the reverse of the title page, however, is the addendum, "Only 90 copies printed," which is omitted in VII.

The copy of No. II., which fell under our observation, was, unfortunately, incomplete, 42 pp. being awanting out of a total of about 100. The new pieces are mostly of English and Irish origin, but the want of a table of contents rendered a correct list of these an impossibility. On the last page we observed a doggerel fragment on "Barm," which will be found in Herd's Collection. The old version of "Dainty Davie" given, is also printed in the same work in fragmentary form. An old Scots piece entitled "The Lang Dow," and a version of "For a' that and a' that," complete the list of interpolations in this edition, so far as we had opportunity of noting them. Burns's name does not appear on any part of the fragment.

No. III. is the most noteworthy edition after the Dumfries, because of its title page, on which Burns's name appears for the first time. In a somewhat lengthy