Whether the Scottish dinner was as aforesaid, we know not.  Call the evidence.

Court Journal.—­A public dinner at a public-house (this is a court sneer)—­provided by Scotch booksellers, presided at by a Scotch baronet, accompanied by Scotch bagpipes, and prepared for two hundred Scotch appetites, there being four hundred of the said appetites admitted to partake of it.

Athenaeum.—­Nearly five hundred persons were present at a dinner ordered for two hundred and fifty.

Literary Gazette.—­The stewards provided for 300 guests:  another hundred coming without notice of their intention, were speedily accommodated; and surely the exertion to accomplish this is more to be praised, than any little partial failure or inconvenience (such as attends all large public dinners) is to be cavilled at and blamed.  The dinner and wines were of the first order, and at least nine-tenths of those present were highly gratified by their entertainment.

But we will first quote the Athenaeum account, from its being the most brief as well as more circumstantial, and then add the variorum opinions.

“Little else has been talked of these ten days, in the literary world of London, but the Festival in memory of the birthday of Burns and the visit of the Ettrick Shepherd.  The names of stewards, noble and learned, were announced in the newspapers:  hopes were held out that verses in honour of the occasion, written by Campbell, would be recited by Reding:  and it was moreover added, that Captain Burns was to be present, and that the punch-bowl of Murray marble, filled with the liquor which his great father loved, would be smoking on the table.  The Festival took place in Freemasons’ Hall on Wednesday last, and though arrangements were made for two hundred and fifty guests, such was the curiosity, and such the crush, that by six o’ clock, four hundred and fifty tickets were disposed of, and the like number of gentlemen sat down, amid no little confusion, about seven o’ clock, to dinner.  Sir John Malcolm, well known for his ’History of Central India,’ was in the chair; on his left hand sat the eldest and youngest sons of Burns; the former like his father, the latter more resembling his mother; and on the other hand sat James Hogg, accompanied by many gentlemen distinguished in science and literature.  The punch-bowl of Burns, now the property of Mr. Hastie, stood before the chair, and beside it, a drinking quaigh, formed from the Wallace Oak of the Torwood, brimmed with silver, and bearing on the bottom the grim visage of the northern hero.”

“Sir John Malcolm having consumed some time in introductory toasts, which the company received with impatience, proceeded to propose ’the Memory of ROBERT BURNS:’  he dwelt less on his history than on the wide influence of his works, and recited many verses with taste and feeling.  He related how deeply his fame had taken root in the East, and instanced the admiration of Byron in proof