Grampian Club > Leaves from my autography

150 LEAVES FROM iMY ALTTOBIOGRAPIIY.
artist had, some months before, inthnated that he
was preparing a design to be sul)niitted in compe-
tition, and had lately reported that it would not be
completed for several weeks. Of the character of
that design I was not miinformed, and it seemed
sufficiently ingenious to claim consideration. It was
understood to represent a Runic cross one hundred
feet in height, having at the base a figure of King
Robert the Bruce seated in kingly dignity, with other
Scottish heroes on his right and left. Contrary to
my expectation, this design was reserved for the
Royal Scottish Academy, and in its place was sent
to Stirling the model of a lion treading upon a ty^^hon.
On the 1st of February the committee again met.
Two gentlemen, who usually attended to prevent
mischief, missed the train at Edinburgh, but seven
members were present, and I was so entirely satisfied
that the " Lion and Typhon " model would not l)e
chosen, that I opposed a motion for delay. Mr Burns
triumphed for a time ; the model intended to repre-
sent Scotland as a lion throttling "the English
monster " was adopted by a majority of one.
Dissatisfaction was universal* The inhabitants of
* I am profoundly vexed to revive tliis episode, but <as it is the key to my life-
history, for nearly twenty years, I may not ignore it. Of the numerous letters
of remonstrance — addressed to myself personally, and published in the newspapers
— the most exhaustive in argument, and tlie most amusing in detail, was one from
Mr William Stirling of Keir, M.P., now Sir William Stirling Maxwell, Bart.
From that letter I append a few extracts :
" The committee being entrusted with the building of a house, present their con-
stituents with a chimney-piece ornament or a paper weight. . . . The chosen
design, being utterly inappropriate to the site, is happily so small, that it will be