“Johnnie,” in the Weekly News for Dundee, observes:–
There are two proud men in Dundee this day. I proud at the speedy fulfilment of my predictions regarding McGonagall, and if he is not proud to have such a prophet then he ought to be. I have been declaring to unbelieving generation of Dundonians that the star of their poet was in the ascendant, and that he was rising on the waves of popularity; and every week produces some evidence of my remarkable powers of penetration.
Have not local societies delighted to do our poet honour? Have not the malignant, hat-destroying Brechiners, in an agony of remorse, vainly appealed to him to once again to shed the lustre of his poetic presence upon their city? And now, last triumph of all, have not the very essence of Perth talent, the concentrated intellectualities of the renowned Fair City, paid tribute to his commanding abilities, and given him not only patient hearing but shekels besides?
Addresses are pouring in upon him on every hand — what he is going to do with them it beats me to imagine — and he is being created a member of so many learned societies that the letters which he will have to append his name promise by-and-by to become an encumbrance. He is already entitled to lay nearly one half of the alphabet under contribution. I have no doubt that one of the most pleasing incidents connected with McGonagall’s visit to Perth was the announcement of the eagerness to hear him which exists among the dwellers on Moncrieffe Island.
Brechin Herald, 29th March 1892
