Clark McGinn

any modern Burns Supper, the proposer of the toast will conclude her or his speech with the call to the audience ‘to rise and toast the “Immortal Memory of Robert Burns”’. This is a definitive form of words, redolent of tradition. Looking at contemporary sources, however, show that there has been some development over time to reach the current form of words.

the organisers of the 1869 dinner in New York encapsulated this desire when enjoining the nominated speakers: ‘a dull short speech will give greater satisfaction than the most eloquent effort can give if it is over ten minutes long’.