UBPARy
UNIVERSITY OF CAL'TORNIA
ROBERT BGRNS IJ^ STIRLW&SJIIRB.
Bust ok Robert Burns, kv D. W. Stevenson, R.S.A., i.\
Nationai, Wallace Monument. From photograph by
Valentine ^ Sons, Limited, Dundee.
Robert Burns
IN
Stirlingshire.
)iY
WILLIAM HARVEY,
Author of " Kcunethcrook : Some Sketches of Village I-ife ;" " Scotti.sh Life anJ
Character in Anecdote and Story;" etc., pnd ICdilor of "The Harji of Stirlingshire."
STIRLING :
ENEAS MACKAY, 43 Murray Place.
MDCCCXCIX.
M57-
PRINTED AT THE STIRLING JOURNAL PRESS.
C O N r E NTS.
Pack
ROBF.KT HURNS'S FlRST VlSlT TO STIRLINGSHIRE :
Auc.usT, 1787, .-...- 1-2S
Rop.RRT BuRNs's Second Visit m STiRi.iNcsinuF, :
Octoher, 1787, ..... 29-35
RoKERT Burns and Dr. John Moore, - - - 3^1-76
"Scots Wha IIae": The Song and its IIistokv, - 77-96
" By Ai.i-an Stream I Chanced to Rove,' - - 97-99
" HuGHiE Graham," ..... 100-102
Songs and Poems with Local References, - - 103-106
Some County "Intimates" of Robert Burns, - - 107-113
Notable County Contributors to Burns Literature
and Art, ...... 114-117
The Bust of Robert Burns : National Wallace
Monument, ...... 11S-120
The Centenary Celebrations :
January 25, 1859, .... 121-130
July 21, 1896, . - . . . 130-133
Notes, ..-.-•-- 135-146
Index, ........ 147-150
List of Suhscribers, ..... 151-156
PREFACE.
Stirlingshire has many connections with Hterature, but few-
are of greater interest than that which exists between it and
the National Bard. " Robert Burns in Stirhngshire " is an
attempt to gather together the various associations of the
county with the poet.
In his tours to the north, Robert Burns inckided Stirhng-
shire, and left behind him some memorials of his visit-
notably his " Lines Written on the Window of the Inn at
Carron," and his famous " Stirling Lines." The places he
visited, and the persons he associated with, come in for
treatment in the present volume, and it is believed that the
facts set forth will be read with interest by every admirer of
the National Poet.
In connection with the county, Burns's muse was called
into service, and one has but to name his immortal " Scots
Wha Hae " in this connection. A history of the song,
gathered from many sources, and undoubtedly the most com-
plete that has yet been published, is presented in the following
pages. There are also notices of other effusions of county
interest.
One of the chief of his correspondents was Dr. John
Moore, a "Son of the Rock," and father of the hero of
Corunna. To that gentleman the poet penned his famous
viii. Preface.
autobiographical letter, and from the important place which
Moore occupies in the Burns world it has been deemed fit to
present the correspondence between the bard and him in
extenso.
Stirlingshire has ever been among the foremost admirers of
Burns, and in veiw of that fact, and also to give a certain
completeness to the work, chapters have been added containing
notices of county " intimates " of the poet, county contributors
to Burns literature and art, the county's celebrations of the
centenaries of the poet's birth and death, and the placing of
his bust in the Hall of Heroes in the National Wallace Monu-
ment near Stirling.
While these sheets were in the press, an interesting county
landmark connected with Burns was swept away. The change-
house at Alva, kept by Betty Black (see page 34), and locally
known as "No. 5," suffered demolition, and as another structure
was proposed to be erected in its stead, the Alva Burns Club
arranged to place a memorial tablet, commemorating the
tradition of the poet's visit, in the wall of the new building.
The ceremony of handing over the tablet took place on Friday,
September 29, 1899, in presence of a large gathering of
members of the Alva Burns Club and others interested.
Throughout the book the author notes his obligations to
various sources of information. Here he would thankfully
acknowledge the assistance generously given him on local
points connected with Burns by Messrs. David B. Morris and
W. B. Cook, Stirling ; Wallace Maxwell, Carron ; and John T.
Yule, Alva.
5 Bruce Street,
Stirling, October i, 1S99.
ROBERT BURNS
m
STIRLINGSHIRE.
ROBERT BURNS'S FIRST VISIT TO STIRLING-
SHIRE : August, 1787.
|T was in the early autumn of the year 1787
that Burns passed through Stirlingshire in
the course of his Highland tour. Some
short time before — in the month of May
in the same year — he had left Edinburgh to journey
in the south. Beyond its scenic beauty and historic
associations, however, the Borderland did not present
then (although that is little more than a century ago)
the attractions it does to-day. Scott and Hogg were
youths of seventeen summers at the time, and had
given no indication of the work they were to accom-
plish. If the national bard had been a later-day
traveller, how full his diary might have been of this,
that, and the other place and scene connected with
the Wizard of the North and the Ettrick Shepherd !
But these men were to achieve distinction in what
B
2 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
was to Burns the future : if they had lived before him
he or they would have been to some extent im-
possible.
In his tour to the West Highlands, undertaken
apparently in the end of June, 1787, and regarding
which we have so very scanty information, the poet
doubtless touched the western fringe of Stirlingshire.
He tells us he saw "the glorious lamp of day peering
o'er the towering top of Ben Lomond," and spent a
day on Loch Lomond, but beyond the mere statement
of this latter fact we have no record of his doings, and
it is with the journey in August, 1787, that we are at
present concerned. During his Border tour the poet
provided himself with a diary, and so preserved his
observations by the way, and this he repeated on the
occasion of his journey in the north.
On August 25, 1787, Burns, in company with his
friend William Nicol,^ left " Auld Reekie" bound for
the Highlands. They set out from Edinburgh in a
chaise ; Nicol — to quote from the poet's letter to
Robert A^inslie two days before their departure —
thought it more comfortable than horseback, to which
the bard said " Amen," so that Jenny Geddes went
home to Ayrshire " wi' her finger in her mouth."
Following the poet's Journal, we find that the route
was by Kirkliston, and Winchburgh, and Linlithgow.
The first entry akin to our subject is —
"Come through the rich Carse of Falkirk to Falkirk to pass the
night."
Beyond this meagre announcement the bard has
given us no account of his doings, and any informa-
tion on the subject must come from other sources.
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 3
Mr. J. Gibson Lockhart, in his biography of Burns
relates an incident which Dr. Robert Chambers sup-
poses may refer to this, the evening of the first day of
their northern tour. " I have heard," says Lockhart,
"that riding one dark night near Carron, his (the
poet's) companion teased him with noisy exclamations
of delight and wonder, whenever an opening in the
wood permitted them to see the magnificent glare of
the furnaces: 'Look! Burns. Good Heaven! Look!
Look! What a glorious sight!' 'Sir,' said Burns,
■clapping spurs to his horse, ' I would not look look at
your bidding if it were the mouth of hell!'"- This
outburst is attributed by Lockhart to impatience on
the part of the poet at being interrupted while viewing
some other scene of beauty.
Halting at Falkirk, Burns and his companion
resolved, as the Diary bears, to pass the night in the
town. They seem to have found accommodation in
the Cross Keys Inn, which was at that time the
hostelry of chief importance and the calling-place
of stage-coaches. The apartment which tradition
associates with the poet is still pointed out : it is the
centre room on the second floor of the building.
Here, it is believed, Burns penned the first of the
stanzas which bear witness to his journey at various
stages.
Some time prior to his leaving Edinburgh, the
poet had procured a diamond pen, and the following
lines and date are said to have been found scratched
on one of the panes of the window in the apartment
occupied by him : —
Sound be his sleep and blythe his morn
That never did a lassie wrang ;
4 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Who poverty ne'er held in scorn —
For misery ever tholed a pang.
25th Aug.,
1787.
The date appended to the lines agrees with the
date of the poet's visit to Falkirk, and the writing is
not unlike that of the bard, but there is no actual
proof that the verse was written by Burns. The lines-
were never acknowledged by Burns, and are not
included in any of the earlier editions of his works.
Indeed, if they are genuine, they seem to have been-
overlooked entirely for over half-a-century, as the first
publication of them which we have been able to trace
was in an article — along " with some other circum-
stances regarding Burns's visit to Falkirk " which
Robert Chambers looked upon "as doubtful" — con-
tributed by Mr. George Boyack, St. Andrews, to the
Fifeshire Journal for November 4, 1847.^ Boyack,,
who was a native of Falkirk, and was born on 19th
March, 1792* — less than five years after the poet's
visit — would probably be in possession of any facts —
traditional or other — which might go to prove the
authenticity of the lines, but it would seem that
our acceptance of them must rest entirely on his-
authority. Admitted by Chambers on this authority,.
they have been accepted by certain later editors —
including Scott Douglas and Hately Waddell — and
they are retained by William Wallace in his revised
edition of Chambers's " Burns." Scott Douglas, who
prefaces them as " generous sentiments," prints them
as " said to have been " written by the poet, and from
a small correction in the text, would appear to have
compared Chambers's version with the original. The
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 5
lines are not printed in " The Centenary Burns," which
would seem to point to a dubiety existing in the
minds of Messrs. Henley and Henderson as to their
authenticity.
In addition to these lines, the Inn preserved until
(recently what was said to be another relic of the bard.
At the time of his visit the ground floor of the
.hostelry consisted of two apartments, separated by a
wooden partition. One of the rooms was the public
drinking-place, and for the convenience of the host
and his servants, there were windows in the partition
which afforded communication with the adjoining
room. At some period — seemingly subsequent to the
poet's visit — these windows were covered over, and
remained so obscured until a few years ago, when,
owing to certain alterations which were being effected,
Ihe wooden partition was removed. On the windows
being uncovered, there was revealed on one of them
a. signature which purported to be the autograph of
the poet scratched, like the lines in the room above,
on the window pane with a diamond pen. The pro-
prietor of the Inn — Mr. William Gow — doubtful of its
authenticity, paid little attention to it, but, according
to the local press, a curio-hunter being in Falkirk and
hearing of the signature, visited the Inn, and, after
■examination, declared the autograph to be genuine.
He purchased it, the local scribe tells us, " at a high
price," and we are informed by Mr. Gow that it is
included in the collection of a well-known Burns
enthusiast.
The Cross Keys Inn is proud of its connection
with the bard. In one of the rooms the Falkirk
6 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Burns Club met for many years twice in twelvemonths
— 25th January, the date of his birth, and 25th August,
the date of his visit to the town — to celebrate the
poet, and in 1889 steps were taken to erect some
permanent memorial of his visit. This took the form
of a metal medallion of the bard. It was gifted by
the late William Thomson Mitchell, and was cast in.
Grahamston Foundry. It was erected on the front
wall of the Inn, and was unveiled on 25th January^
18S9, by the late Sir (then Mr.) Thomas D. Brodie.
The medallion tablet is three feet wide by four feet
high. The portrait is a three-quarter length casting
after Skirving, the bust being in bold relief with floral
bordering of daisies on the one side, and poppies on
the other, these flowers being considered emblematic
of the poet's career. Over the bust on a ribbon scroll
are the words — " Wood-notes wild," and underneath
is the inscription : —
ROBERT burns,
Poet,
Slept here.
August 25TH, 1787,
On the wall of the Inn the following tribute to his
genius is also inscribed : —
What heart hath ever matched his flame
What spirit matched his fire !
Peace to the Prince of Scottish Song,
Lord of the Bosom's Lyre.
Returning to Burns and his companion, we find
that on the following day — Sunday — they directed
their attention to the places of interest in and around
Falkirk, and the following is the poet's resume : —
" Falkirk nothing remarkable, except the tomb of Sir John the
Graham, over which, in the succession of time, four [three] stones have
been laid. ^
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 7
*' Caniclon the ancient metropolis of the Picts, now n. small village,
in the neighbourhood of Falkirk.* Cross the grand canal to Carron^ —
Breakfast — come past Larbert, and admire a fine monument of cast-iron
erected by Mr. Bruce, the African traveller, to his [second] wife.
N^.B. — He used her very ill, and I suppose he meant it as much out of
gratitude to Heaven as anything; else."'
In supplement to the poet's notes it is unnecessary
that much should be written. One thing that calls
for notice is the fact that he dismisses the visit to
Carron with mere mention, leaving" us to "glean ''our
information from other sources. In visiting thejplaces
of interest on their way, Burns and Nicol proceeded
to Carron, in the hope of seeing the ironworks there.^
On their reaching the gate of the Foundry, however,
the porter refused them admittance, and once more
the diamond pen was called into use. The poet and
his companion adjourned to Carron Inn, and the
following epigram, chronicling their disappointment,.
was inscribed on one of the windows : —
We cam na here to view your warks
In hopes to be mair wise.
But only, lest we gang to Hell,
It may be nae surprise ;
But when we tirl'd at your door,
Your porter dought na bear us : ^ *
Sae may, should we to Hell's yetts come,
Your billie Satan sair us.
This epigram, dated "August 26th, 1787," and
signed " R. B. Ayrshire," was published in the
Edinbiirgh Evening Courant for 5 th October, 1789,,
under title, " Written on the Window of the Inn at
Carron." It was republished in 1799 in No. i of a
series of chap-books issued by George Gray, Book-
J? Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
seller, North Bridge Street, Edinburgh, and Stewart
included it in his " Poems ascribed to Robert Burns "
published at Glasgow in 1801.
The lines attracted attention and even inspired a
reply. A traveller, or riding clerk as he was called
in those days, in the employment of the Carron
Company — Alexander (?) Benson^^ by name — is said
to have been the first to notice the lines. He copied
them into his " Order Book," and afterwards retorted
in the following terms : —
If you cam here to see our works
You should have been more civil
Than give us a fictitious name
In hopes to cheat the devil.
Six days a week to you and all
We think it very well,
The other, if you go to church.
May keep you out of Hell.
This moralising rejoinder, the work of an obscure
individual who probably never attempted higher
flights of poesy, nor wrote another line even of
kindred doggerel, has, by connection, gained the im-
mortality awarded the epigram of the national bard !
There is another reply to the poet which is quoted
from the Toast List of one of the anniversary gather-
ings of the Larbert Burns Club. It differs con-
siderably from that by Benson, but at the same time
seems to have been suggested by his. It runs thus —
When ye cam here to view oor warks,
Had ye but been mair civil,
We'd ta'en ye in, and taught ye tricks,
We'd garr'd ye cheat the Devil.
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 9
But when ye tirled at oor door,
Ye made sac niuckle din ;
Oor porter thocht 'twas Nick himsel,
And widna' let ye in.
The Inn at which Burns halted and on the window
of which he penned his lines still stands, but it has
long since given up its business of catering for the
refreshment of the public. It was originally built by
the Carron Company as a Bank, when that Company
contemplated adding banking to their other enter-
prises, but subsequently it was let as an Inn, and was
kept by one of the name of Stewart in the year 1787,
when Burns visited the district. The poet's verse
remained for some time, but one stormy night — the
Deil may have had some work on hand — the pane on
which it was inscribed was blown into the room, and
the original " manuscript " irreparably smashed. The
building is now occupied as workmen's houses.
The reason assigned, says Cunningham, for refusing
to show the Carron Foundries to Burns was that he
called on a Sunday. This could hardly be, continues
his biographer: he knew that the labour which rendered
the place interesting had ceased ; that the furnaces
were mostly extinguished, and the " warks " not to be
seen. The more probable reason is that he sought
admittance without an introduction. In a note the
same Editor says, the poet sought permission under
*' an assumed name," and this of course is borne out
by Benson's reply.
So much for Carron.
After noticing the monument to Bruce's wife, and
giving vent to his sarcasm at the pile, he continues
his observations : —
" Pass Dunipace, a place laid out with fine taste— a charming
amphitheatre bounded by Denny village, and pleasant seats of Herbert-
lo Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
shire, ^ ^ Denovan, ^ ' and down to Dunipace. The Carron running down,
the bosom of the whole makes it one of the most charming little
prospects I have seen."
From the notes which the poet gives it would
seem that he took an active interest in every place
he saw. His local knovvledsre could not be so ex-
tensive as to enable him to recognise such places as
Denovan and Herbertshire. Nor can we suppose
that his companion would give him much assistance.
The inference is, rather, that he enquired as to the
respective places as he passed, or that, recapitulating'
his journey at the intermediate resting-places to his
various hosts, he received from them information for
the completion of his Diary.
Resuming our perusal of the poet's Journal, we
find that the next paragraph or entry embraces the
visitors' doings on the Sabbath afternoon.
"Dine at Auchenbowie^* — Mr. Monro an excellent, worthy old
man — Miss Monro an amiable, sensible, sweet young woman much
resembling Mrs. Grierscm [wife of Dr. George Grierson of Glasgow,
the friend and brother-mason of the poet]. Come to Bannockburn —
shewn the old house where James III was murdered. The field of
Bannockburn — the hole where glorious Bruce set his standard. Here no
Scot can pass uninterested. I fancy to myself that I see my gallant,
heroic countrymen coming o'er the hill, and down upon the plunderers
of their country, the murderers of their fathers ; noble revenge and just
hate glowing in every vein, striding more and more eagerly as they
approach the oppressive, insulting, blood-thirsty foe. I see them meet
in gloriously triumphant congratulation on the victorious field, exulting
in their heroic royal leader, and rescued liberty and independence. —
Come to Stirling "
In the course of a century the shrines of a nation
do not alter much, and the places visited by the poet
are the spots to which the pilgrim turns to-day. The
First Visit to Stirlingshire. ir
white-washed cottage with its thatched roof is still
visited by many, and still tells its stoiy of the murder
of a king. The field of Bannockburn likewise draws
pilgrims from near and far, but the centre of
attraction on the field is somewhat altered since
Burns's time. "The hole where glorious Bruce set
his standard " was in a boulder which lay on that part
of the field known as Brock's Brae. This Bored-
Stone, or King's Stane, to quote the words of an old
inhabitant lately deceased (and the words may be
taken as illustrating the appearance of the stone when
Burns saw it), was a field boulder about 2 ft. 4 or 5
inches diameter, of rather a coarse and porous nature,
not so close in the grain as common whin stone. In
the centre was a hole three inches in diameter, and
about six inches deep, which must have been made
previous to the day of battle, as it would take some
time to make it. Visitors were in the habit of
chipping off portions of the stone, especially round
the hole, and taking it away. To prevent the stone
disappearing altogether before this vandalism, the
interesting relic was enclosed in the iron grating
which visitors to the field must be familiar with.
Whether or not the poet was vandal enough to take
with him a fragment of the stone, history telleth not,
but there he said a fervent prayer for old Caledonia,
and there, time and again, multitudes of "brither Scots"
from "here aboot and far awa," have shewn their
gratitude to the heroes of their country by blending
their voices in the poet's battle-ode — " Scots wha hae."
Reaching the City of the Rock on the Sabbath
afternoon, Burns and his companion turned their
12 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
steps towards Wingate's Inn.^^ This Inn, which had
lately been erected by James Wingate, a well-known
Stirling innkeeper of that period, was situated in what
was then known as Quality Street. To-day the Inn
is the Golden Lion Hotel, and the street is King
Street. The Inn has changed somewhat since Burns's
visit, but the room in which the poet is said to have
slept is still pointed out. It is located in the oldest
part of the hotel, on the third floor and at the north-
east corner. The room is a spacious apartment, and
the window faces the Ochils. Having found ac-
commodation here, the visitors betook themselves to
see their surroundings, but local history is mute and
the writings of the poet are almost silent on the subject.
The central object of attraction was the Castle, the
view from which received a commendatory notice in
"his correspondence, and the neglected condition of
which drew forth the significant " Stirling Lines."
On returning to the Inn the poet proceeded to
write to his friend, Mr. Robert Muir of Kilmarnock.
The epistle contains an account of the earlier part of
the northern tour, and as such amplifies, to some
extent, the poet's Diary. This letter was first printed
in No. lo of The Bi-oughani (a Glasgow weekly) for
May 5, 1832. It is in the following terms : —
My Dear Sir, — I intended to have written you from Edinburgh,
and now write you from Stirling to make an excuse. Here am I on my
way to Inverness, with a truly original, but very worthy, man, a Mr.
Nicol, one of the Masters of the High-school in Edinburgh. I left
Auld Reekie yesterday morning, and have passed, besides bye-excursions,
Linlithgow, Borrowstounness, Falkirk, and here am I undoubtedly.
This morning I kneeled at the tomb of Sir John the Graham, the
gallant friend of the immortal Wallace ; and two hours ago I said
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 13
a fervent prayer for Old Caledonia over the hole of a blue whin-stone,
where Robert de Bruce fixed his royal standard on the banks of
Bannockburn ; and just now, from Stirling Castle, I have seen by the
setting sun the glorious prospect of the windings of the Forth through
the rich carse of Stirling, and skirting the equally rich carse of Falkirk.
The crops are very strong, but so very late, that there is no harvest,
except a ridge or two perhaps in ten miles, all the way I have
travelled from Edinburgh.
I left Andrew Bruce and family all well. I will be at least three
weeks in making my tour, as I shall return by the coast, and have
many people to call for.
My best compliments to Charles [Samson], our dear kinsman and
fellow-saint ; and Messrs. W. and H. Parkers. I hope Hughoc
[Parker] is going on and prospering with God and Miss M'Causlin.
If I could think on anything sprightly, I should let you hear every
other post ; but a dull, matter-of-fact business like this scrawl, the less
and seldomer one writes, the better.
Among other matters-of-fact, I shall add this, that I am and ever
shall be, My dear Sir, your obliged,
Robert Burns. ^^
Stirling, 26th Aug., 1787.
The best of biographers are apt to err in matters
of minutest detail, and Mr. William Wallace in
company with Dr. Robert Chambers makes a little
slip in his reference to the poet's visit to Stirling.
As matter of fact, Burns, as we have already said, did
not reach Stirling till Sabbath afternoon, and the
following paragraph contains the error in question : —
" At Stirling, on the Saturday night, the travellers
had not been more charmed with the magnificent
panorama of the Grampians, viewed from the battle-
ments of the castle, than their patriotic and quasi-
Jacobitical feelings had been outraged by the ruinous
state of the ancient hall in which parliaments had
occasionally been held under the Scottish kings."
The outraged feelings found expression in the
** Stirling Lines."
14 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Mr. W. B. Cook, in his introduction to his
*' History of Stirling Castle," says—" When Robert
Burns first visited Stirling, the desecration of the
Parliament House made him so angry that, on re-
turning to his inn, he scratched on one of the window-
panes a few severe lines, reflecting on the successors
of the Stewart race."
The lines are said (by Cunningham) to have been
composed early on the morning of Monday, the 27th
August, before Nicol was awake, and are as follows: —
Here Stewarts once in glory reign'd,
And laws for Scotland's weal ordain'd ;
But now unroof'd their palace stands,
Their sceptre fallen to other hands ;
[Fallen indeed, and to the earth,
Whence grovelling reptiles take their birth ;y
The injured Stewart line is gone,
A race outlandish fills their throne ;
An idiot race, to honour lost —
Who know them best despise them most.
The Editors of T/te Centenary Burns fall foul of
Cunningham for stating, without quoting his authority,
that the lines were written on the Monday morning,
and allege that "not improbably these lines were
written after the jolly supper mentioned in his (the
poet's) Journal^ The statement of Cunningham,
without giving his authority, is doubtless of as much
value as the "probability" of The Centenary Bttrns
Editors ; and is not the consideration of these lines as
an after-jolly-supper-production an adherence to that
doctrine of atonement for the poet's failings which
The Centenary Burns declaims so much against?
Leaving the lines and his friend Nicol in Stirling,
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 15
Burns proceeded on Monday to visit some friends at
Harvieston, near Dollar, and the following is the
entry in his Journal : —
" Go to Harvieston — Mrs. Hamilton and family — Mrs Chalmers —
Mrs. Shields — Go to see Cauldron linn, and Rumbling brig, and the
Deil's mill. Return in the evening to Stirling."
During the poet's absence, Nicol had observed the
lines inscribed on the window. On Burns's return
(following Scott Douglas's version of the story), his
companion took him to task for having penned so
bold a libel on the reigning family. " Well," replied
Burns, " I shall try to qualify it somewhat, by writing
a reproof to the author." Taking out his diamond
pen, he added the lines : —
Rash mortal, and slanderous poet, thy name
Shall no longer appear in the records of Fame !
Dost not know that old Mansfield, who writes like the Bible,
Says, the more 'tis a truth. Sir, the more 'tis a libel?
The " Stirling Lines " soon became notorious.
They were written on a window of one of the
public rooms of the Inn, and there they remained
to be seen and read by every visitor who cared ;
and copied into many travellers' note-books, they
soon got into circulation. Whether Burns adhibited
his name to the stanzas is not clear, but in subse-
quent correspondence he gave unmistakable evidence
■of the authorship.
An eccentric character in Paisley, says Mr. Scott
Douglas, styling himself "John Maxwell, Poet" pub-
lished in 1788, the Stirling Lines in a tract, entitled,
^' Animadversions on some Poets and Poetasters of
the present age," in which he aims at being very
severe on Burns and Lapraik.
i6 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Notwithstanding evidence in existence, it was
believed by some that the lines were not written by
Burns. The Paisley Magazine, edited by William
Motherwell, contained in the number for December,
1828, a statement throwing doubt on the authorship.
It asserted that the lines were really the production of
Nicol, and that it was only because Burns found that
the public laid them to his charge that he took the
blame of having written them in order that his friend
might be saved the consequences.
The article was introduced by Allan Cunningham
in his edition of the poet's works, with the words —
"this more satisfactory account of these celebrated lines
involves circumstances which reflect the brightest lustre
on the character of the Ayrshire Poet." The writer
says : —
" They were not the composition of Burns, but of
his friend Nicol. This we state from the testimony
of those who themselves knew the fact as it truly
stood, and who were well acquainted with the high-
wrought feelings of honour and friendship which
induced Burns to remain silent under the obloquy
which their affiliation entailed upon him. The in-
dividual whose attention the lines first attracted was
a clerk in the employment of the Carron Iron Com-
pany, then travelling through the country collecting
accounts, or receiving orders, who happened to arrive
immediately after the departure of the poet and his
friend. On enquiry, he learned that the last occupant
of the apartment was the far-famed Burns, and on
this discovery, he immediately transferred a copy of
the lines to his memorandum-book of orders, made
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 17
every person as wise as himself on the subject, and
penned an answer to them, which, with the lines-
themselves, soon spread over the country, and found
a place in every periodical of the day. To this poetic
critic of the Carron Works do we owe the first hint of
Burns being the author of this tavern effusion. Those
who saw the writing on the glass know that it was
not the hand-writing of the poet ; but this critic, who<
knew neither his autograph nor his person, chose to
consider it as such, and so announced it to the workL
On his return to Stirling, Burns was both irritated
and grieved to find that this idle and mischievous-
tale had been so widely spread, and so generally
believed. The reason of the cold and constrained
reception he met with from some distinguished friends^
which at the time he could not account for, was now
explained, and he felt in all its bitterness the misery
of being innocently blamed for a thing which he
despised as unworthy of his head and heart. To
disavow the authorship was to draw down popular
indignation on the head of Nicol — a storm which
would have annihilated him. Rather than ruin the
interests of that friend, he generously and magnani-
mously, or, as some less fervent mind may think,,
foolishly, devoted himself to unmerited obloquy by
remaining silent, and suffering the story to circulate
uncontradicted. The friend who was with Burns-
when he indignantly smashed the obnoxious pane
v^ith the butt end of his whip, and who was perfectly
aware of the whole circumstances as they really stood^
long and earnestly pleaded with him to contradict the
story that had got wind, and injured him so much irt
C
1 8 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
public estimation. It was with a smile of peculiar
melancholy that Burns made this noble and charac-
teristic reply : ' I know I am not the author ; but I'll
be damned ere I betray him. It would ruin him — he
is my friend.' It is unnecessary to add that to this
resolution he ever after remained firm."
This statement \s, prima facice, so absurd, that it
is matter for wonder that Allan Cunningham, even
with his notorious credulity, should have been charmed
by the " lustre " it shed " on the character of the poet."
The story is such a mixture of verbosity and imagina-
tion, and so manifestly conflicts the Carron Lines
with the Lines at Stirling as to suggest that its author,
while able to make much ado about nothing, did not
know what he was speaking about. The stanza was
inscribed in one of the public rooms of the Inn — not
in an apartment of which Burns was the " last
occupant." No reply was penned by a Carron clerk,
and this part of the story certainly refers to the lines
written by the poet on his being refused admittance
to the Ironworks. The friend who pled with Burns
when he smashed the pane to contradict the story
was probably Dr. Adair, and if so, it is surprising that
Dr. Adair makes no mention of this in his account of
the destruction of the glass. Above all, the reference
to the stanza as a " thing which he despised as
unworthy of his head and heart " is beside the mark.
The " Stirling Lines " is not the only instance on record
■of the poet's impulsive disaffection towards the
reigning dynasty. His troubles with the Excise are
against the view that " he despised as unworthy of
his head and heart " the sentiment of the offensive
verses.^**
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 19
Written at a time wlien a very little might be
■interpreted as treason, there was doubtless much in
the stanza that might threaten untoward results, but
as we have shewn, the article in the Paisley MagarAne
is nothing more than an absurd fiction. Burns was
unquestionably the author. The epigram is included
in a MS. collection of verses in his own handwriting
and is introduced with the significant head-line
" Wrote by Somebody in an Inn at Stirling." He also
put a confession on record in his correspondence with
Clarinda, and this may be accepted as final. Writing
to his correspondent on Sunday, 27th January, 1788,
some months after its production, he said —
" I have almost given up the Excise idea. . . . Why will great
people not only deafen us with the din of their equipage, and dazzle us
with their fastidious pomp, but they must also be so very dictatorially
wise ? I have been questioned like a child about my matters, and
blamed and schooled for my inscription on Stirling window. Come
Clarinda ! — ' Come, curse me, Jacob ; come, defy me, Israel !'"
Clarinda, replying on the following day, and
writing with an unquestionable previous knowledge
of the authorship of the lines, retorted —
** I'm half-glad you were school'd about the Inscription ; 'twill be a
lesson, I hope, in future. Clarinda would have lectured you on it
before, 'if she durst.'"
The "Stirling Lines" caused many to turn un-
favourable eyes on the poet. They were remembered
years afterwards, says Lockhart, to his disadvantage,
and even danger. The last couplet, continues this
biographer, alluding, in the coarsest style, to the
melancholy state of the King's health at the time,
•was indeed an outrage of which no political prejudice
20 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
could have made a gentleman approve ; but he in all
probability composed his verses after dinner ; and
surely what Burns would fain have undone, others
should not have been unwilling to forget. Although^
as Mr. Scott Douglas subsequently pointed out, " the
melancholy state of the King's health" did not
become publicly known till some time after the
stanza was written, the strictures of Lockhart are
not unjust.* °
To combat the disloyal verses of Burns, a reverend
rhymer in the person of George Hamilton, minister of
Gladsmuir, in East Lothian, and a notable divine of
his day, came forward. On reading the " Stirling
Lines" he added these by way of commentary —
Thus wretches rail whom sordid gain
Drags in Faction's gilded chain ;
But can a mind which P'amc inspires,
Where genius lights her brightest fires —
Can Burns, disdaining truth and law,
Faction's venomed dagger draw ;
And, skulking with a villain's aim,
Basely stab his monarch's fame ?
Yes, Burns, 'tis o'er, thy race is run,
And shades receive thy setting sun :
With pain thy wayward fate I see,
And mourn the lot that's doomed for thee :
These few rash lines will damn thy name.
And blast thy hopes of future fame.
Alas for the gift of prophecy ! The Rev. George
Hamilton, and one might even say the monarch
himself, are numbered with the almost forgotten
dead ; Burns knows no obscurity.
When the commentary came under the notice of
the bard, it moved him to a retort. Under the title.
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 21
" The Poet's Reply to the Threat of a Censorious
Critic," he refers to the matter in the Glenriddel MSS.
in these words —
"My imprudent lines"" were answered, very petu-
lantly, by somebody, I believe a Rev. Mr. Hamilton.
In a MS., where I met the answer, I wrote below : —
With yEsop's lion, Burns says : — ' Sore I feel
Each other blow ; but damn that ass's heel !''''i
On his return from Harvieston, the poet and his
companion spent the evening in the company of some
Stirling folks, regarding whom he has left us scanty
information. His entry is as follows : —
" Supper — IMessrs. Doig (the Schoolmaster) and Bell ; Captain
Forrester of the Castle — Doig a quecrish figure, and something of a
pedant — Bell a joyous, vacant fellow who sings a good song — Forrester
a merry, swearing kind of man, with a dash of the Sodger."
Of Burns's friends who sat rcmd the table, the
most important was " the School ./laster," and if the
bard found congenial company \v\i\\ Bell who sang
a good song, and Forrester who was a merry man,
he would also find an intelligent conversationalist in
Doig. Dr. David Doig, Rector of Stirling Grammar
School, was born at Aberlemno, in 17 19, and was
consequently advanced in life when he met Burns.
He was educated for the ministry, but turned to
teaching, and for many years filled this important
scholastic appointment in Stirling. He had an ex-
tensive knowledge of classical and oriental literature.
On these subjects he contributed to the Encyclopaidia
Britannica, and in recognition of his knowledge, the
Glasgow University conferred on him the honorary
22 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
degree of LL.D. He died at Stirling in 1800. One
of his biographers says he was a man of eminence in
his times, and this is probably the reason for his
acquaintance with the bard. The genius who had
attracted the literati of the Capital was not likely to
be unknown to such a man as Doig. The " Captain
Forrester" to whom the poet refers was Gabriel
Forrester of Craigannet and Braes, but it would
appear that he had only the rank of lieutenant at the
date of Burns's visit. He was lineally descended on
the maternal side from the family of Napier of Mer-
chiston, the inventor of logarithms. He married Jean,
daughter of Robert Hamilton of Hamilton Hill, by
whom he had a family of two sons and three
daughters. He died in 1813, predeceased by his
wife. Regarding " Bell " of the company, there is
some doubt. Beyond his name Burns gives no infor-
mation, but it is likely that he was Christopher Bell,
who was a schoolmaster in Stirling at the time.
Under his Trust Disposition and Settlement, Captain
Forrester appoints " Christopher Bell, teacher in
Stirling," one of his Trustees, and in some correspond-
ence with his law-agent refers to " our friend Bell."
It is likely, therefore, that it was he who met Burns
when the latter was the guest of Captain Forrester.
How the evening was spent is not on record, but we
can read into the lines of the Diary chronicling this,
the first " Burns Supper" in Stirling, that the conversa-
tion would now turn on some abstract subject, in the
discussion on which the Schoolmaster was pedantic,
and then that the company would listen to some re-
miniscence of military life from the Captain, and again
that they would enjoy a song from their friend Bell.
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 23
In addition to the trio who have gained immor-
tality through the Diary of the poet, many of the
citizens of Stirling would doubtless see Burns on the
occasion of his visit. Among those who claimed this
distinction was Mr. John Dick, some time Provost of
Stirling, and in after years he used to relate the story
with pleasure. From his nephew — John Dick, Esq.
of Craigengelt, who is a well-known Burns student,
and who possesses the MS. " Does Haughty Gaul
Invasion Threat?" — we have received the following
account of the incident : —
"The occasion on which the late Provost Dick
saw Burns was on his (the poet's) first visit to Stirling.
At that time he was a very young boy ; and he was
attending, with a younger sister, the school then kept
by ' Sandy M'Laurin ' in the neighbourhood of Broad
Street. On the day in question, ' the maister,' as my
uncle called him, gave his pupils ' the play ' in the
shape of a holiday on account of the news of some
victory. At all events, when my uncle came out of
the school (with his little sister in his hand), the bells
of the town were ringing a merry peal ; and, running
down towards the middle of Broad Street, he saw a
considerable crowd of people, who were shouting to
each other — ' Burns ! — Burns !'
" On looking closer, my uncle saw a group of gentle-
men, which included Dr. Doig, Captain Forrester, of
Stirling Castle, Mr. Ramsay of Ochtertyre (who was
then universally known as 'the learned Mr. Ramsay'),
and Hector Macneill, the poet, who was then living
near Stirling. The man — Burns — who was with these
gentlemen, my uncle described as a tall man, who
24 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
* looted ' (that is stooped) somewhat in his gait. He
was remarkably swarthy or ' black-avic'd ' in com-
plexion, and seemed engaged in earnest conversation.
His dress, my uncle distinctly remembered, viz.: —
buck-skin breeches and top-boots, a deep yellow or
buff vest, and a blue coat with yellow buttons —
the Fox political livery. The whole party, named
above, had evidently come direct from Stirling Castle ;
and the people on the street looked on the gentle-
men — Burns particularly, with friendly and interested
•eyes. Just a little below the Broad Street Steeple, the
party made a short halt ; and Mr. M'Laurin (the teacher
before referred to) came forward, and was evidently
introduced to Burns, as my uncle saw 'the maister'
take out his snuff-box and present it to Burns in a
friendly way. Meantime, the crowd of people had
increased, and the cry ran from one to another of
'Burns! Burns!' louder than before. But the halt
was brief. The party proceeded down Broad Street
at a quick pace, and my uncle soon saw it no more.
" My uncle told me that it was a warm summer
•day ; so, from what is known of Burns's movements,
it must have been sometime in June or August, 1787."
In the above narrative there are at least two dis-
crepancies. One of these is the alleged meeting of
Burns and Hector Macneill. Although it is the fact
that Macneill, at different times and for considerable
periods, resided in or near Stirling, he was not
resident in this district on the occasions of the poet's
visits, but was the guest of Mr, Graham of Gartmore.
The other, and more important discrepancy, is in
connection with the age of Mr. Dick. He was.
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 25
according to his own story, attending school " with
a younger sister," but as he died on 22nd April, 1865,
aged 79 years, he could not have been nnuch more
than one year old in 1787 — the date of Burns's visits
to Stirling. On referring these discrepancies to our
-correspondent, he supplied the following explanation,
which may, or may not, be satisfactory to our
readers : —
" With reference to my late uncle. Provost John
Dick's age, I have for long thought that he was older
than 79 ; because he used to tell me various things
that necessarily proved he was older than that.
Taking everything into consideration, I think he
must have been born in 1780 or 1781 ; in fact he
seems to have been 5 or 6 years older than 79, at the
date of his death in 1865. This is the only reason-
able way I can account for the discrepancy as to his
age. Mr. Dick's memory was, up to the end, very
clear ; and, in the case of the Burns story, he always
repeated the same statement ; and, from what I knew
-of him, you may trust me that my uncle spoke
according to knowledge and eyesight. What the
Stirling town bells rang for on the day of Burns's
visit, he could not say, but he remembered of them
ringing, and of 'the maister' (Mr. INI'Laurin) giving
his pupils the play.
" As for Hector Macneill being the guest of Mr.
■Graham of Gartmore at the date of R. B.'s visit
to Stirling, that fact does not prevent Llacneill
from being in Stirling on the day in question.
JBesides, Macneill was just the kind of man to go
26 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
much further than from Gartmore to Stirling to see
such a man as Burns. Macneill was often in Stirh'ng,
and he was the intimate friend of Dr. David Doicr."
On the morning following the first " Burns
Supper" in Stirling, the poet continued his tour
northwards. He must have been early astir as we
find he indited a long epistle to his friend Gavin
Hamilton before he left the City of the Rock. The
letter is descriptive of his previous day's visit to
Harvieston. It does not deal directly with our
subject, but it was written in Stirling, and so may
fittingly find a place in these pages.
Stirling, 28th Aug., 17S7.
My Dear Sir, — Here am I on my way to Inverness. I have
rambled over the rich, fertile carses of Falkirk and Stirling, and am
delighted with their appearance ; richly waving crops of wheat, barley,
&c., but no harvest at .all yet, except, in one or two places, an old
wife's ridge. Yesterday morning I rode from this town up the
meandring Devon's banks to pay my respects to some Ayrshire folks
at Harvieston. After breakfast, we made a party to go and see the
famous Caudron-linn, a remarkable cascade in the Devon, about five
miles above Harvieston ; and after spending one of the most pleasant
days I ever had in my life, I returned to Stirling in the evening. They
are a family, Sir, though I had not had any prior tie ; though they had
not been the brother and sisters of a certain generous friend of mine,
I would never forget them. I am told you have not seen them these
several years, so you can have very little idea of what such young folks-
as they, are now. Your brother [step-brother] is as tall as you are, but
slender rather than otherwise ; and I have the satisfaction to inform you
that he is getting the better of those consumptive symptoms which I
suppose you know were threatening him. His make and particularly
his manner resemble you, but he will still have a finer face. (I put in
the word still to please Mrs. Hamilton). Good-sense, modesty, and at
the same time a just idea of that respect that man owes to man and
has a right in his turn to exact, are striking features in his character ;
and, wliat with me is the Alpha and the Omega, he has a heart might
First Visit to Stirlingshire. 27
adorn the breast of a Poet ! Grace has a good figure and the look of
heahh and cheerfuhiess, but nothing else remarkable in her person.
I scarcely ever saw so striking a likeness as is between her and your
little Beenie ; the mouth and chin particularly. She is reserved at first ;
but as we grew better acquainted, I was delighted with the native
frankness of her manner and the sterling sense of her observation.
Of Charlotte, I cannot speak in common terms of admiration : she is
not only beautiful, but lovely. Her form is elegant ; her features not
regular, but they have the smile of sweetness and the settled com-
placency of good nature in the highest degree ; and her complexion,
now that she has happily recovered her wonted health, is equal tcv
Miss Burnet's. After the exercise of our ride to the falls, Charlotte
was exactly Dr. Donne's mistress :
— Her pure and elegant blood
Flow'd in her cheeks, and so distinctly wrought
That one would almost say her body thought. "-
Her eyes are fascinating ; at once expressive of good-sense, tenderness,
and a noble mind.
I do not give you all this account, my good Sir, to flatter you.
I mean it to reproach you. Such relations, the first Peer in the realm
might own with pride ; then why but you keep up more correspondence
with these so amiable young folks? I had a thousand questions to
answer about you all : I had to describe the little ones with the minute-
ness of anatomy. They were highly delighted when I told them that
John [Gavin's eldest son] was so good a boy and so fine a scholar, and
that Willie was going on still very pretty ; but I have it in commission
to tell her from them, that beauty is a poor, silly bauble, without she
be good. Miss Chalmers I had left in Edinburgh, but I had the
pleasure of meeting with Mrs. Chalmers, only, Lady M'Kenzie being.
rather a little alarmingly ill of a sore throat, somewhat marr'd our
enjoyment. I shall not be in Ayrshire for four weeks. My most
respectful compliments to Mrs. Hamilton, Miss Kennedy, and Doctor
M'Kenzie. I shall probably write him from some stage or other.
I am ever. Sir, yours most gratefully,
RoBT. Burns.
Having finished the writing of his letter, and
breakfasted with Captain Forrester, the poet and his-
friend continued on their way. The closing note in
the Journal having reference to Stirlingshire, is —
" Tuesday fiwriiing — Breakfast with Captain Fnrrester^leave
Stirling— Ochil Hills— Devon River— Forth and Teith-
28 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
The country he was passing through was celebrated
at a later date in his Song. The Ochils and the Allan,
the Devon and the Forth received verses in their
honour. In connection with this last entry there is
one point in which the poet seems to have been in
error ; it is his reference to the Devon river. It is
difficult to understand how the poet could have seen
the Devon from Stirling, and the explanation may be
that he mistook one or other of the marvellous links of
the Forth for the "crystal Devon, winding Devon."-"
Before closing our notes on Burns's stay in the
town of Stirling, we may say that his visit supplies
another legendary link in the chain which connects
him with Freemasonry. There is a tradition that on
the occasion of his stay in the City of the Rock, he
visited his brethren of Stirling Ancient, 30, in lodge
assembled, and according to custom, inscribed his
name in the Attendance Register. As we were anxious
to authenticate the incident if possible, or to refute it
authoritatively, a communication was addressed to the
secretary, inquiring whether any information could be
obtained from the Attendance Register or other Books
of the Lodge, which would settle the matter, and the
reply, received verbally, was to the effect that no
information could be given. That being so, we simply
record the tradition, which is well-known in local
Freemason circles, and which was communicated to
us by several Freemasons. In addition to what has
been stated regarding the poet's visit, the tradition
also records that the page on which his autograph
appeared was subsequently abstracted from the
Register, and that at a later period the Register
itself disappeared.
ROBERT BURNS'S SECOND VISIT TO
STIRLINGSHIRE: October, 1787.
N Sunday, i6th September, 1787, after an
absence of some three weeks, the poet
reached Edinburgh. There he remained
for a short time, after which he set out
again for the north. On this occasion, however, the
extent of his journey was small, and he preserved no
diary of his doings. There were three things that
tempted him north : to revisit his friends at Harvie-
ston, to visit Sir William Murray of Ochtertyre, in
Strathearn, and to make the acquaintance of Mr. John
Ramsay, who resided a few miles north of Stirling,
and whose residence was also called " Ochtertyre."
In addition to the making of these visits, there are
several other things which mark his second journey.
Of these may be mentioned — his visit to Carron
Ironworks, and his smashing the glass containing the
" Stirling Lines " on the window of Wingate's Inn
at Stirling.
On his second visit Burns was accompanied by
Dr. James M'Kittrick Adair,"* whose acquaintance
he had made a short time before. It is to this
companion that we owe any information we have
29
30 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
regarding the tour. When Dr. Currie was engaged on
his Work, he applied to Dr. Adair, who gave him the
following account of their journeyings. He says —
" Burns and I left Edinburgh in August, 1787. We rode by
Linlithgow and Carron, to StirUng. We visited the Ironworlcs at
•Carron, with which the poet was forcibly struck. The resemblance
between that place and its inhabitants to the cave of the Cyclops, which
must have occurred to every classical reader, presented itself to Burns.
At Stirling, the prospects from the Castle strongly interested him ; in a
former visit to which, his national feelings had been powerfully excited
by the ruinous and roofless state of the hall in which the Scottish
parliaments had frequently been held. His indignation had vented
itself in some imprudent, but not unpoetical lines, which had given
much offence, and which he took this opportunity of erasing, by breaking
the pane of the window at the inn on which they were written. At
Stirling we met with a company of travellers from Edinburgh, among
whom was a character in many respects congenial with that of Burns.
This was Nicol, one of the teachers of the High-Grammar-School at
Edinburgh— the same wit and power of conversation ; the same fondness
for convivial society, and thoughtlessness of to-morrow, characterized
both. Jacobitical principles in politics were common to both of them ;
and these have been suspected, since the revolution of France, to have
given place in each, to opinions apparently opposite. I regret that I
have preserved no niemorabiiia of their conversation, either on this or
on other occasions, when I happened to meet them together. Many
songs were sung ; which I mention for the sake of observing, that when
Burns was called on in his turn, he was accustomed, instead of singing,
to recite one or other of his own shorter poems, with a tone and
emphasis which, though not correct or harmonious, were impressive
.and pathetic. This he did on the present occasion."
The date given by Dr. Adair, in his account of
the second journey, appears to be incorrect. He wrote
after a lapse of twelve years, and, as Chambers says,
his memory must have played him false. The tour
seems to belong to the month of October. The
.earlier journey was undertaken in August ; the poet
Second Visit to Stirlingshire. 31
and Nicol did not return from it till i6th September,
so that the second journey could not possibly have
been made at the time Dr. Adair gives.
As mentioned by his fellow-traveller, the poet was
admitted to Carron Works. " The gates were opened
with an apology for former rudeness, which mollified
the bard." This detail is given by Allan Cunningham,
and may be taken for what it is worth. In ignorance
of the real cause of his former refusal, one cannot say
that an apology for " rudeness " was either necessary
or given, and there is no call for exalting the poet at
the expense of the porter. Burns, his friend tells us,
was forcibly struck with his inspection of the Works,
and one remark of the poet has been preserved. He
said — "The blazing furnaces and melting iron realized
the description of the giants forging thunderbolts."
It is to be regretted that Burns did not preserve
any record of this later tour. Whether or not, as on
the former occasion, they halted at Falkirk, does not
appear; neither is it stated in which Inn in Stirling
they found accommodation. It is not improbable that
it was Wingate's, and that for one of two reasons —
either, that he proceeded there for the purpose of
smashing the pane of glass containing the offensive
Lines, or, that, finding himself in the Inn, and with the
Lines confronting him, he deliberately did what he
could to prevent their circulation. As to the actual
destruction of the glass various stories are in existence.
The Stirling Sentinel o{ March 15, 1898, noticing
a sale of Burns's MSS., including a copy of the
" Stirling Lines," put the question — " We wonder
what became of the pane of glass," and the following
32 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
week it contained this note : — " In commenting last
week upon the sale of Burns' MS. containing the lines
which were first written on a window in the inn which
is now the Golden Lion Hotel, we remarked that it
would be interesting to know what became of the pane
of glass. Our curiosity has since been satisfied by
Mr. Adam Aikman, Cowane Street [Stirling], whose
memory takes him back to the time when the facts
were pretty generally known in the town. Burns, it
seems, was challenged in the hotel by an officer from
the Castle as to the authorship of the lines, and not
wishing probably to get into an argument with a
gallant soldier, he summarily closed the interview by
putting his fist through the window." The note merely
chronicles local tradition, but is worth preserving.
Dr. Chambers, in his " Life and Works of Burns,'*
writes with regard to the smashing of the pane : —
" Burns, it is said, finding the minister of Gladsmuir's
reproof below his Lines, dashed out the pane with the
butt-end of his whip." This note is what Henley and
Henderson would call one of Chambers's " slices of
gossip." It is not repeated in William Wallace's
edition.
It is worthy of note that less than two months had
elapsed since they were inscribed on the window, and
yet Dr. Adair writes that they had given much offence.
Of course the times were unsettled, and the verses
would appeal strongly to the adherents of Jacobitism,
by whom they would be circulated as widely as
possible. The poet did all he could to correct the
mistake, but it was too late. What a broken pane
failed to do was accomplished by travellers' note-
Second Visit to Stirlingshire. 33
books, and the "Stirling Lines" remained to witness
to his anger at the neglected state of the Parliament
Hall. By one party alone were they forgotten — the
"War Department. And so they may be said to have
failed in their mission."^
" From Stirling," writes Dr. Adair, " we went next
morning through the romantic and fertile vale of
Devon, to Harvieston, in Clackmannanshire." Here
•the poet was detained longer than he intended on
account of a violent storm. Dr. Adair, in his narra-
tive, gives the length of their stay as "about ten
days," but Burns, in a letter written from Auchtertyre,
-and from internal evidence, apparently addressed to
Mr. William Cruickshank, says — " I was storm-steaded
two days at the foot of the Ochel (sic) Hills, with Mr.
Tait of Harvieston and Mr. Johnson (sk) of Alva."
Beyond this meagre reference, the bard gives us no
information concerning his visit to Alva, and we are
forced back upon local tradition for details.""
The story of the poet's visit to Alva, as it has been
preserved in oral tradition, is not without interest. It
appears that during the time he was in the Hillfoots
district he journeyed to Alva and remained over night.
He visited Mr. Johnston, the first laird of Alva of
•that name, who was then the inhabitant of Alva
House, and who, in earlier years, had fought at
Plassey. It might be inferred from Burns's letter
already quoted, that he was the guest of Mr. Johnston
during his stay in Alva, but, locally, it is believed that
this is not the case. The tradition is that he passed
the night in Courthill House, which was at that time
•occupied as an inn by a person of the name of Hume.
D
34 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
The building, which is situated in Ochil Street, is now
used as a dwelHng-house, and on the occasion of our
visit we found that the inhabitants were quite famiHar
with the story of the poet's stay, although they made
no endeavour to impose upon credulity by pointing
out the room or shewing the bed in which he had slept.
It would seem that Burns renewed the acquaint-
ance of a Mauchline friend who was then resident in
Alva. This was Betty Black. The information con-
cerning her is somewhat scanty. Among the song-
heroines of Burns there are two named "Betty"-' —
Elizabeth Black and Elizabeth Miller — and for want
of accurate information confusion of these persons has
been the result."'^ Elizabeth Black, otherwise Mrs.
Stewart, kept a public-house in the village. The
building is situated in what is known as " The Middle
Bridge," and is still occupied as a public-house.
Burns visited the place, and the room in which he sat
— the apartment at the west end of the building — is
still pointed out. Our informant stated that among
those who met Burns on this occasion was his wife's
grand-uncle, James Dawson. Dawson, who was pre-
centor in the Parish Church was, of course, well-known
in the village, and it is understood that "Lucky"
(as Betty was familiarly called), thinking him a
likely person to converse with the bard, sent for
him. He, in company with another villager, named
John Morrison, sat down at Lucky's table with
the poet, and they had two gills — rather a moderate
quantity — among them. Dawson in after years used
to tell that Burns was very silent on the occasion, and
did not seem to care whether he joined in the conver-
Second Visit to Stirlingshire. 35
sation or not."'-' Our informant's father also recollected
having seen the poet. He was a mere boy at the
time and was playing with some companions in the
Square when a man clad in grey clothes went past,
and somebody remarked — " That's Robert Burns."
After their stay at Harvieston, the poet and Dr.
Adair returned to Edinburgh by Kinross and Queens-
ferry. A native of Stirling district — Thomas Morrison
by name — claimed to have met Burns on the occasion
of his crossing from Kinross to Oueensferry. Morrison
was employed in his early days at Kinross, and
stated that he was in charge of the ferry-boat in
which the poet crossed the Firth of Forth. This, of
course, is mere tradition. So far as record goes,
Stirlingshire saw the poet no more.
ROBERT BURNS AND DR. JOHN MOORE.
MONG the many correspondents of Burns
— some of them great men in their day,
but nearly all of them living now in the
shadow of his fame — was Dr. John Moore,
a " Son of the Rock," a literatteur of eminence, and
father of the hero of Corunna. Dr. Moore was en-
gaged in medical practice in London during his
■correspondence with Burns, and his interest in the
bard was elicited through the kind offices of another
of the poet's admirers — Mrs. Dunlop.^" It was in the
end of 1786, when the bard was participating in the
glories of the " Edinburgh period " of his life, that
Mrs. Dunlop, in a letter to Dr. Moore, referred to
the recently discovered Scottish poet, " and that cul-
tured and kind-hearted man took an opportunity of
pointing out to the Earl of Eglinton what a genius
was now claiming the friendly patronage of all good
.Scotsmen." Writing to Burns,under date December 30,
1786, Mrs. Dunlop, referring to her having mentioned
his name to Moore, says — " I sent him a copy of your
Poems as the most acceptable present I could make
to that person whose taste I valued most and from
whose friendship I have reaped most instruction as
■well as infinite pleasure. His literary knowledge, his
36
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore, ij
fame as an author, his activity in befriending that
merit of which his own mind is formed to feel the full
force — all led me to believe I could not do so kind a
thing to Mr. Burns as by introducing him to Mr,
Moore, whose keen passions must at once admire the
poet, esteem the moralist, and wish to be useful to the
author."
Dr. Moore was the son of a Presbyterian minister.
In many volumes relating to Burns (from Chambers's
" Life and Works " to Findlay's " Robert Burns and
the Medical Profession") he is referred to as "the son
of an Episcopalian minister," but this is a mistake.
His father, the Reverend Charles Moore, was minister
of the second charge in Stirling, and filled the pulpit
which was occupied at a later date by Burns's " Black
Russell." He was inducted in 171 8, and continued
to labour in Stirling till 1736. At Kilsyth, on 27th
October, 1727, he was married to Marion Hay,,
daughter of John Anderson of Dowhill, Lord Provost
of Glasgow.
John Moore, who was born at Stirling in 1729,,
was the eldest son of this union, and he was nearly
sixty years of age at the time when Burns made his
acquaintance. He received his early education at
the High School of Glasgow, from which he passed
to the University to study medicine. Brought under
the notice of Colonel Campbell of the 54th Regiment,,
who subsequently became fifth Duke of Argyll, Moore
was, while yet in his seventeenth year, introduced tO'
the Hospitals in connection with the British Army in.
Flanders. Here he seems to have equipped himself
with satisfaction to his superiors, as, one of his.
38 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
biographers tells us, he was soon afterwards, on the
recommendation of Dr. Middleton, Director-General
•of Military Hospitals, appointed by the Earl of
Albemarle, Colonel of the Coldstream Guards, to the
office of Assistant-Surgeon to that regiment, then
■quartered in Flushing. He remained abroad till 1748.
In that year, on the conclusion of peace, he returned
to London, where for some time he was engaged in
the further study of medicine. From London he
proceeded to Paris, and while attending the Hospitals
there, received an appointment as surgeon in the house
■of Lord Albemarle, who was at this time Ambassador
.at the French Court. At the end of two years Moore
returned to Glasgow, where he entered into partnership
with Dr. Gordon, a friend of earlier days. In 1772 he
received his diploma as M.D. from Glasgow Univer-
sity, and six years later he removed to London. Here
he devoted himself almost entirely to literary work.
In 1779, a year after his removal to the metropolis,
he published " A View of Society and Manners in
France ;" and two years later he produced a similar
work on Italy. In 1786 he issued a volume
entitled " Medical Sketches." This work deals with
some important topics relative to health and disease,
and is written in a popular rather than a scientific
style. In 1789, when he was nearl}' sixty years of
age, Moore made his first appearance as a novelist
with " Zeluco." This was followed in 1796 by
"Edward," and in 1800 by " Mordaunt." He also
issued in 1792 his "Journal during a Residence in
France," and he edited an edition of Smollett's
Works.
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 39
He had been in London for some years, and had
made a considerable name for himself as a litterateur,
before Burns was brought under his notice, and that
the poet recognised him as a person of some eminence
is apparent from his letter to Mrs. Dunlop, dated 15th
January, 1787, In that letter he writes thus : —
" I wished to have written to Dr. Moore before I wrote to you ; but
though every day since I received yours of Dec. 30th, the idea, the wish
to write to him, has constantly pressed on my thoughts, yet I could not
for my soul set about it. I know his fame and character, and I am one
of 'the sons of little men.' To write him a mere matter-of-fact affair,
like a merchant's order, would be disgracing the little character I have ;
and to write the author of ' The View of Society and Manners ' a letter
of sentiment — I declare every artery runs cold at the thought. I shall
try, however, to write to him to-morrow or next day. His kind inter-
position in my behalf I have already experienced, as a gentleman waited
on me the other day, on the part of Lord Eglinton, with ten guineas by
way of subscription for two copies of my next edition."
Two days after writing to Mrs. Dunlop, the Bard
addressed himself to Dr. Moore. His letter was in
the following terms : —
Edinburgh, 17th January, 1787.
Sir, — Mrs. Dunlop has been so kind as to send me extracts of
letters she has had from you, where you do the rustic bard the honor of
noticing him and his works. Those who have felt the anxieties and
solicitudes of authorship can only know what pleasure it gives to be
noticed in such a manner by judges of the first character. Your
criticisms, sir, I receive with reverence; only I am sorry they mo:-lly
came too late : a peccant passage or two that I would certainly have
altered were gone to the press.
The hope to be admired for ages is, in by far the greatest part of those
<ven who are authors of repute, an unsubstantial dream. For my p:irt,
my first ambition was, and still my strongest wish is, to please my
■compeers, the rustic inmates of the hamlet, while ever-changing
language and manners shall allow me to be relished and understood.
I am very willing to admit that I have some poetical abilities ; and as
few, if any, writers, either moral or poetical, arc intimately acquainted
40 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
with the classes of mankind among whom I have chiefly mingled, I may
have seen men and manners in a different phasis from what is common,
which may assist originality of thought. Still I know very well the
novelty of my character has by far the greatest share in the learned and
polite notice I have lately had : and in a language where Pope and'
Churchill have raised the laugh, and Shenstone and Gray drawn the
tear ; where Thomson and Beattie have painted the landscape, and
Lyttleton and Collins described the heart, I am not vain enough to
hope for distinguished poetic fame.
R. B.
This frank letter must have been received with
satisfaction by Moore. Burns is " very willing to
admit that he has some poetical abilities " ; his highest
ambition is to please his compeers — a peasant poet
among a peasant people ; he has seen life as others
have not, and he rhymes of it in the Vernacular ; he
does not hope for fame as an English bard. If one
reads this letter alongside a certain recent and some-
what famous essay, one will find that Burns antici-
pated part, at least, of Mr. Henley's criticism by a
hundred and ten years !
To the poet's letter Dr. Moore sent the following
reply : —
Clifford Street, January 23rd, 1787.
Sir,— I have just received your letter, by which I find I have reasom
to complain of my friend Mrs. Dunlop, for transmitting to you extracts
from my letters to her, by much loo freely and too carelessly written
for your perusal. I must forgive her, however, in consideration of her
good intention, as you will forgive me, I hope, for the freedom I use
with certain expressions, in consideration of my admiration of the poems
in general. If I may judge of the author's disposition from his works,
with all the other good qualities of a poet, he has not the irriialle
temper ascribed to that race of men by one of their own number, whom
you have the happiness to resemble in ease and airious felicity of ex-
pression. Indeed the poetical beauties, however original and brilliant,
and lavishly scattered, are not all I admire in your works : the ove of
RoDERT Burns and Dr. John Moore. 41
your native countr}-, that feeling sensibility to all the objects of
humanity, and the independent spirit which breathes through the
whole, give me a most favourable impression of the poet, and have
made me often regret that I did not see the poems, the certain eflfect of
which would have been my seeing the author, last summer, when I was
longer in Scotland than I have been for many years.
I rejoice very sincerely at the encouragement you receive at Edin-
burgh, and I think you peculiarly fortunate in the patronage of Dr.
Blair, who, I am informed, interests himself very much for you. I beg
to be remembered to him ; nobody can have a warmer regard for that
gentleman than I have, which, independent of the worth of his
character, would be kept alive by the memory of our common friend,
the late Mr. George B[annatin]e.''^
Before I received your letter, I sent, enclosed in a letter to Mrs,
Dunlop, a sonnet by Miss Williams, a young poetical lady, which she
wrote on reading your ' Mountain Daisy ;' perhaps it may not displease
you :
While soon ' the garden's flaunting flowers ' decay.
And scatter'd on the earth neglected lie.
Thy ' Mountain Daisy,' cherish'd by the ray
A poet drew from heav'n, shall never die.
Ah, like that lonely flower, the poet rose !
'Mid penury's bare soil and bitter gale ;
He felt each storm that on the mountain blows,
Nor ever knew the shelter of the vale.
By genius in her native vigor nurst,
On nature with impassion'd look he gazed ;
Then through the cloud of adverse fortune burst
Indignant, and in light unboriow'd blazed.
Scotia ! from rude affliction shield thy bard,
His heav'n-taught numbers fame herself will guard.
I have been trying to add to the number of your subscribers, but
find many of my acquaintance are already among them. I have only
to add, that, with every sentiment of esteem, and the most cordial good
wishes, I am, your obedient humble servant,
J. MoORE.
Thus began a correspondence which extended over
years. Moore's appreciation of the bard was returned
42 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
in the poet's admiration of Moore, and time only
intensified the interest each felt in the other. The
lines by Miss Williams — " that crazy creature, Helen
Maria Williams," if Mr. Henley's judgment is of any
avail — show that the poet had at this early period
(before the publication of the Edinburgh volume)
admirers beyond the land of his birth, and that the
Vernacular had even then its charm for the Southern
-ear. What strikes one in Miss Williams's sonnet —
perhaps even more than its merit as poetry — are its
truthfulness to actual facts regarding the bard, and its
prophetic utterance as to his destiny.''' That Burns
was pleased with the compliment conveyed in the
lines is evidenced by his acknowledgement of it to
Dr. Moore : —
Edinburgh, 15th February, 1787.
Revered Sir, — Pardon my seeming neglect in delaying so long to
acknowledge the honour you have done me in your kind notice of me,
January 23d. Not many months ago I knew no other employment
than following the plough, nor could boast any thing higher than a
distant acquaintance with a country clergyman. Mere greatness never
embarrasses me ; I have nothing to ask from the great, and I do not
fear their judgment : but genius, polished by learning, and at its proper
point of elevation in the eye of the world, this of late I frequently meet
with, and tremble at its approach. I scorn the affectation of seeming
modesty to cover self-conceit. That I have some merit I do not deny ;
but I see with frequent wringings of the heart, that the novelty of my
character, and the honest national prejudice of my countrymen, have
borne me to a height altogether untenable to my abilities.
For the honor Miss Williams has done me, please. Sir, return her
in my name my most grateful thanks. I have more than once thought
of paying her in kind, but have hitherto quitted the idea in hopeless
despondency. I had never before heard of her ; but the other day I
got her poems, which for several reasons, some belonging to the head,
^nd others the offspring of the heart, give me a great deal of pleasure.
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 43
I have little pretentions to critic lore ; there are, I think, two charac-
teristic features in her poetry — the unfettered wild ilif^ht of native
genius, and the querulous sovtbre tenderness of " time settled sorrow."
I only know what pleases me, often without being able to tell why.
R. B.
To this further declaration of the poet's position
with regard to the muses and men, Dr. Moore replied
as follows :
Clifford Street, 28th February, 1787.
Dear Sir, — Your letter of the 15th gave me a great deal of
pleasure. It is not surprising that you improve in correctness and
taste, considering where you have been for some time past. And
I dare swear there is no danger of your admitting any polish which
might weaken the vigour of your native powers.
I am glad to perceive that you disdain the nauseous affectation of
•decrying your own merit as a poet, an affectation which is displayed
with most ostentation by those who have the greatest share of self-
conceit, and which only adds undeceiving falsehood to disgusting vanity.
For you to deny the merit of your poems would be arraigning the fixed
opinion of the public.
As the new edition of my View of Society is not yet ready, I have
sent you the former edition, which I beg you will accept as a small
mark of my esteem. It is sent by sea to the care of Mr. Creech,
and, along with these four volumes for yourself, I have also sent my
Medical Sketches, in one volume, for my friend Mrs. Dunlop of Dunlop:
this you will be so obhging as to transmit, or if you chance to pass soon
by Dunlop, to give to her.
I am happy to hear that your subscription is so ample, and shall
rejoice at every piece of good fortune that befalls you. For you are a
very great favourite in my family ; and this is a higher compliment
than perhaps you are aware of. It includes almost all the professions,
and of course is a proof that your writings arc adapted to various tastes
.and situations. My youngest son, who is at Winchester School, writes
to me that he is translating some stanzas of your "Halloween" into
Latin verse, for the benefit of his comrades. This union of taste partly
proceeds, no dt)ubt, from the cement of Scottish partiality ; with which
they are all somewhat tinctured. Even your translator, who left
Scotland too early in life for recollection, is not without it. I remain,
with great sincerity. Your obedient servant,
J. Moore.
44 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Dr. Moore's appreciation of the poet seems to
have been so pronounced in his correspondence with
Mrs. Dunlop as to give that lady the idea that Burns
would be drawn to join the literary circles of London.
Under date February 26th, 1787, we find Mrs. Dunlop
writing " I am afraid my friend Mr. Moore will rob us
of you altogether by persuading you to go to London."
The poet's Edinburgh volume was published on
the 2 1st April, and two days later, after a lapse of
nearly two months (a much longer time than might
have been expected), he acknowledged receipt of Dr.
Moore's volumes :
Edinburgh, 23d April, 1787.
I received the books, and sent the one you mentioned to Mrs..
Dunlop. I am ill-skilled in beating the coverts of imagination for
metaphors of gratitude. I thank you, sir, for the honor you have done
me ; and to my latest hour will warmly remember it. To be highly
pleased with your book is what I have in common with the world ; but
to regard these volumes as a mark of the author's friendly esteem, is a
still more supreme gratification.
I leave Edinburgh in the course of ten days or a fortnight, and, after
a few pilgrimages over the classic ground of Caledonia, Cowden Kiiowes,
Banks of Yarrow, Tweed, iSrV., I shall return to my rural shades, in all
likehhood never more to quit them. I have formed many intimacies-
and friendships here, but I am afraid they are all ot too tender a con-
struction to bear carriage a hundred and fifty miles. To the rich, the-
great, the fashionable, the polite, I have no equivalent to offer ; and I
am afraid my meteor appearance will by no means entitle me to a
settled correspondence with any of you, who are the permanent lights
of genius and literature.
My most respectful compliments to Miss Williams. If once this
tangent flight of mine were over, and I were returned to my wonted
leisurely motion in my old circle, I may probably endeavour to returiv
her poetic compliment in kind.
RoBT. Burns.
Shortly after receiving this epistle, the Edinburgh
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 45
volume (to which Moore had been a subscriber) came
to hand, and the Doctor's reply to the bard partakes
chiefly of a criticism on the newly-published work.
Clifford-Street, May 23d, 1787.
Dear Sir, — I had the pleasure of your letter by Mr. Creech, and
soon after he sent me the new edition of your Poems. You seem to
think it incumbent on you to send to each subscriber a number of copies
proportionate to his subscription money, but you may depend upon it,
few subscribers expect more than one copy, whatever they subscribed ;
I must inform you, however, that I took twelve copies for those sub-
scribers, for whose money you were so accurate as to send me a receipt,
and Lord Eglintoun told me he had sent for six copies for himself, as
he wished to give five of them in presents.
Some of the poems you have added in this last edition are very beau-
tiful, particularly, the "Winter Night," the "Address to Edinburgh,"
" Green grow the Rashes," and the two songs immediately following ;
Ihe latter of which is exquisite. By the way, I imagine you have a
peculiar talent for such compositions, which you ought to indulge. No
kind of poetry demands more delicacy or higher polishing. Horace is
more admired on account of his Odes than all his other writings. But
nothing now added is equal to your " Vision " and " Cotter's Saturday
Kight." In these are united fine imagery, natural and pathetic descrip-
tion, with sublimity of language and thought. It is evident that you
already possess a great variety of expression and command of the English
language, you ought, therefore, to deal more sparingly, for the luture,
in the provincial dialect — why should you, by using that, limit the
number of your admirers to those who understand the Scottish, when
you can extend it to all persons of taste who understand the English
language ? In my opinion, you should plan some larger work than any
jou have as yet attempted. I mean, reflect upon some proper subject,
-and arrange the plan in your mind, without beginning to execute any
part of it till you have studied most of the best English poets, and read
a little more of history. The Greek and Roman stories you can read in
some abridgement, and soon become master of the most brilliant facts,
which must highly delight a poetical mind. You should aXso, and very
soon tiiay, become master of the heathen mythology, to which there are
■everlasting allusions in all the poets, and which in itself is charmingly
fanciful. What will require to be studied with more attention, is
46 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
modern history : that is, the history of France and Great Britain, from
the beginning of Henry the Seventh's reign. I know very well you
have a mind capable of attaining knowledge by a shorter process than
is commonly used, and I am certain you are capable of making a better
use of it, when attained, than is generally done.
I beg you will not give yourself the trouble of writing to me
when it is inconvenient, and make no apology when you do write
for having postponed it— be assured of this, however, that I shall
always be happy to hear from you. I think my friend, Mr. ,
told me that you had some poems in manuscript by you, of a
satirical and humorous nature (in which, by the way, I think you
very strong) which your prudent friends prevailed on you to omit,
particularly one called "Somebody's Confession ;" ^ ^ if you will
intrust me with a sight of any of these, I will pawn my word to give
no copies, and will be obliged to you for a perusal of them.
I understand you intend to take a farm, and make the useful and
respectable business of husbandry your chief occupation : this, I hope,
will not prevent you making occasional addresses to the nine ladies who
have shewn you such favour, one of whom visited you in the " auld clay
biggin." Virgil, before you, proved to the world that there is nothing
in the business of husbandry inimical to poetry ; and I sincerely hope
that you may afford an example of a good poet being a successful
farmer. I fear it will not be in my power to visit Scotland this season ;
when I do, I shall endeavour to find you out, for I heartily wish to see
and converse with you. If ever your occasions call you to this place,
I make no doubt of your paying me a visit, and you may depend on a
very cordial welcome from this family. I am. Dear Sir, Your friend
and obedient servant,
J. Moore.
This letter with its criticism, and advice, and
manifest interest in the bard's success, alike as a
farmer and a poet, would seem to have strengthened
the regard in which Burns held the friendship of his
correspondent, and when next the poet took up his
pen to write to him, it was to indite that long epistle
which has since been regarded as his autobiography.
It was written in August, 1787, during the poet's
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 47
short stay at Mossgiel, after his Border and first
Highland tour. Writing to Mrs, Dunlop, he says —
•' I have a long letter to Dr. IMoore just ready to put into the Post
Office. It is on a subject you have done me the honour to interest
yourself in, so if you dare face twenty pages of an epistle, a reading of
it is at your service I have no copy of Dr. Moore's letter,
I mean the one I send him, so this you read must go to post. If you
can contrive no better way, I shall call for it myself to-morrow ; as I
am going for Edinburgh by way of Paisley and Glasgow to-morrow
morning."
The letter, which was duly received and perused
by Mrs. Dunlop, is as follows :
Sir, — For some time past I have been rambling over the country,
partly on account of some little business I have to settle in various
places ; but of late I have been confined with some lingering complaints,
originating, as I take it, in the stomach. To divert my spirits a little
in this miserable fog of ennui I have taken a whim to give you a history
of myself.
My name has made a small noise in the country ; you have done me
the honor to interest yourself very warmly in my behalf; and I think a
faithful account of what character of a man I am, and how I came by
that character, may perhaps amuse you in an idle moment. I will
give you an honest narrative, though I know it will be at the expense
of frequently being laugh'd at ; for I assure you, Sir, I have, like
Solomon, whose character, excepting in the trifling affair of WiSDO.M,
I sometimes think I resemble, — I have, I say, like him, "turned my
eyes to behold madness and folly," and like him, too frequently shaken
hands with their intoxicating friendship. In the very polite letter Miss
Williams did me the honor to write me, she tells me you have got a
complaint in your eyes. I pray God it may be removed ; for, con-
sidering that lady and you are my common friends, you will probably
employ her to read this letter ; and then good-night to that esteem with
which she was pleased to honor the Scotch Bard !
After you have perused these pages, should you think them trifling
and impertinent, I only beg leave to tell you, that the poor author
wrote them under some very twitching qualms of conscience, that,
perhaps, he was doing what he ought not to do ; a predicament he has
more than once been in before.
48 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
I have not the most distant pretensions to what the pye-coated
guardians of Escutcheons call, a Gentleman. When at Edinburgh
last winter, I got acquainted at the Herald's Office ; and, looking
thro' the granary of honors, I there found almost every name in the
kingdom ; but for me,
— My ancient but ignoble blood
Has crept thro' scoundrels since the flood.
■Gules, purpure, argent, &c., quite disowned me. My forefathers rented
land of the famous, noble Keiths of Marshal, and had the honor to
share their fate. I do not use the word "honor," with any reference
to political principles ; loyal and disloyal I take to be merely relative
terms in that ancient and formidable court known in this country by the
name of "club-law." Those who dare welcome Ruin, and s.hake
hands with Infamy, for what they believe sincerely to be the cause of
Iheir God or their King are — as Mark Antony in Shakespear says of
Brutus and Cassius, "honorable men." I mention this circumstance
because it threw my Father on the world at large ; where, after many
jrears' wanderings and sojournings, he picked up a pretty large quantity
of observation and experience, to which I am indebted for most of my
pretensions to Wisdom. I have met with few who understood Men,
.their manners and their ways, equal to him ; but stubborn, ungainly
Integrity, and headlong, ungovernable Irascibility, are disqualifying
.circumstances ; consequently, I was born a very poor man's son.
For the first six or seven years of my life, my Father was gardener
to a worthy gentleman of small estate in the neighbourhood of Ayr.
Had my Father continued in that situation, I must have marched off to
•have been one of the little underlings about a farm-house ; but it was
his dearest wish and prayer to have it in his power to keep his children
under his own eye, till they could discern between good and evil ; so,
with the assistance of his generous Master, he ventured on a small
farm in that gentleman's estate. At these years I was by no means a
favourite with anybody. I was a good deal noted for a retentive
memory, a stubborn, sturdy something in my disposition, and an
enthusiastic idiot-piety. I say " r(//^^- piety," because I was then but a
child. Though I cost the schoolmaster some thrashings, I made an
excellent English scholar ; and against the years of ten or eleven,
I was absolutely a critic in substantives, verbs and particles. In my
infant and boyish days, too, I owed much to an old maid of my
mother's, remarkable for her ignorance, credulity and superstition.
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 49
She had, I suppose, the larj^est collection in the country, of tales and
songs concerning devils, ghosts, fairies, brownies, witches, warlocks,
spunkies, kelpies, elf-candles, dead-lights, wraiths, apparitions, cant-
raips, enchanted towers, giants, dragons, and other trumpery. This
cultivated the latent seeds of Poesy ; but had so strong an effect on
my imagination, that to this hour, in my nocturnal rambles, I some-
times keep a sharp look-out in suspicious places ; and though nobody
can be more sceptical in these matters than I, yet it often takes an
effort of philosophy to shake off these idle terrors. The earliest thin<T
of composition that I recollect taking pleasure in, was The Vision of
Jlfirza, and a hymn of Addison's, beginning,— " How are thy servants
blest, O Lord!" I particularly remember one half-stanza which was
music to my boyish ear :
For though in dreadful whirls we hung,
High on the broken wave.
I met with these pieces in Mason's English Collection, one of my school-
books. The first two books I ever read in private, and which gave me
more pleasure than any two books I ever read again, were, The Life of
Hannibal, and The History of Sir IVilliarii IVallace. Hannibal gave
my young ideas such a turn, that I used to strut in raptures up and
down after the recruiting drum and bagpipe, and wish myself tall
enough that I might be a soldier ; while the story of Wallace poured a
Scottish prejudice in my veins, which will boil along there till the
flood-gates of life shut in eternal rest.
Polemical Divinity about this time was putting the country half-mad,
and I, ambitious of shining on Sundays between sermons, in conversa-
tion parties, at funerals, etc., in a few years more, used to puzzle
Calvinism with so much heat and indiscretion, that I raised a hue and-
cry of heresy against me, w hich has not ceased to this hour.
Isly vicinity to Ayr was of great advantage to me. My social
disposition, when not checked by some modification of spited pride,
like our Catechism's definition of Infinitude, was "without bounds or
limits." I formed many connections with other younkers who pos-
sessed superior advantages, — the youngling actors who were busy with
the rehearsal of parts in which they were shortly to appear on that
stage, where, alas ! I was destined to drudge behind the scenes. It is
not commonly at these green years that the young Noblesse and Gentry
have a just sense of the immense distance between them and their
lagged play-fellows. It takes a few dashes into the world, to give the
E
50 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
young Great Man that proper, decent, unnoticing disregard for the poor,
insignificant, stupid devils, the mechanics and peasantry around him,
who perhaps were born in the same Village. My young superiors never
insulted the clouterly appearance of my plough-boy carcase, the two-
extremes of which were often exposed to all the inclemencies of all the
seasons. They would give me stray volumes of books ; among them,
even then, I could pick up some observations ; and one, whose heart I
am sure not even the " Munny Begum's" scenes have tainted, helped
me to a little French. Parting with these my young friends and bene-
factors, as they dropped off for East or West Indies, was often to me a
sore affliction ; but I was soon called to more serious evils. My
Father's generous Master died ; the farm proved a ruinous bargain j
and to clench the curse, we fell into the hands of a Factor, who sat for
the picture I have drawn of one in my tale of " Twa Dogs." My
Father was advanced in life when he married ; I was the eldest of seven
children ; and he, worn out by early hardships, was unfit for labor.
My Father's spirit was soon irritated, but not easily broken. There
was a freedom in his lease in two years more, and to weather these, we
retrenched expenses. We lived very poorly. I was a dexterous
ploughman for my years, and the next eldest to me was a brother,
who could drive the plough very well, and help me to thrash. A novel-
writer might perhaps have viewed these scenes with some satisfaction,
but so did not I ; my indignation yet boils at [the recollection of] the
threatening, insolent epistles from the Scoundrel Tyrant, which used to
set us all in tears.
This kind of life — the cheerless gloom of a hermit, with the un-
ceasing toil of a galley-slave —brought me to my sixteenth year ; a
little before which period I first committed the sin of rhyme. You
know our country custom of coupling a man and woman together as
partners in the labours of harvest. In my fifteenth autumn, my partner
was a bewitching creature, who just counted an autumn less. My
scarcity of English denies me the power of doing her justice in that
language, but you know the Scotch idiom — she was a "bonie, sweet,
sonsie, lass." In short, she, altogether unwittingly to herself, initiated
me into a certain delicious passion, which, in spite of acid disappoint-
ment, gin-horse prudence, and bookworm philosophy, I hold to be the
first of human joys, our chiefest pleasure here below. How she caught
the contagion I can't say ; you medical folks talk much of infection by
breathing the same air, the touch, etc., but I never expressly told her
that I loved her. Indeed, I did not well know myself why I liked so
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 51
much to loiter behind with her, when returning in the evening from our
labours; why the tones of her voice made my heart-strings thrill like an
/Eolian harp ; and particularly why my pulse beat such a furious
rantann, when I looked and fingered over her hand to pick out the
nettle-stings and thistles. Among her other love-inspiring qualifica-
tions, she sung sweetly ; and 'twas her favourite Scotch reel that
I attempted to give an embodied vehicle to in rhyme. I was not so
presumptive as to imagine that I could make verses like printed ones,
composed by men who had Greek and Latin ; but my girl sung a song
which was said to be composed by a small country laird's son, on one
of his father's maids, with whom he was in love ; and I saw no reason
why I might not rhyme as well as he ; for, excepting smearing sheep
and casting peats (his father living in the moors), he had no more
scholar-craft than I had. Thus with me began love and poesy, which
at times have been my only, and, till within this last twelve months,
have been my highest enjoyment.
My Father struggled on till he reached a freedom in his lease, when
he entered on a larger farm, about ten miles farther in the country.
The nature of the bargain was such as to throw a little ready money in
his hand at the commencement, otherwise the affair would have been
impracticable. For four years we lived comfortably here ; but a lawsuit
between him and his landlord commencing, after three years' tossing
and whirling in the vortex of litigation, my Father was just saved from
absorption in a jail, by a phthisical consumption, which, after two years'
promises, kindly stept in, and snatched him away to "where the
wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest."
It is during this climacteric that my little story is most eventful.
I was, at the beginning of this period, perhaps the most ungainly,
awkward being in the parish. No solitaire was less acquainted with
the ways of the world. My knowledge of ancient story was gathered
from Guthrie's and Salmon's Geographical Grammar ; my knowledge
of modern manners, and of literature and criticism, I got from the
Spectator. These, with Pope's Works, some Plays of Shakespear, Tull
and Dickson on Agriculture, Thz Fantheoft, Locke's Essay on the
Human Understanding, Stackhouse's History of the Bible, Justice's
British Gardener, Boyle Lectures, Allan Ramsay's Works, Doctor
Taylor's Scriptttre Doctriiie of Original Sin, a Select Collection of
English Songs, and Hervey's Meditations, had been the extent of my
reading. The Collection of Songs was my vade mecicm. I pored over
them driving my cart, or walking to labor, song by song, verse by
52 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
verse — cnrefully noting the tender or sublime, from affectation and
fustian. I am convinced I owe much to this for my critic-craft, such
as it is.
In my seventeenth year, to give my manners a brush, I went to a
country dancing-school. My Father had an unaccountable antipathy
against these meetings, and my going was, what to this hour I repent,
in absolute defiance of his commands. My Father, as I said before,
was the sport of strong passions ; from that instance of rebellion,
he took a kind of dislike to me, which, I believe, was one cause of that
dissipation which marked my future years. I say dissipation, com-
parative with the strictness and sobriety of Presbyterian country life ; for
though the Will-o'-Wisp meteors of thoughtless whim were almost the
sole lights of my path, yet early ingrained piety and virtue never failed
to point me out the line of innocence. The great misfortune of my life
was never to have an aim. I had felt early some stirrings of ambition,
but they were the blind gropings of Homer's Cyclops round the walls of
his cave. I saw my Father's situation entailed on me perpetual labour.
The only two doors by which I could enter the fields of fortune were —
the most niggardly economy, or the little chicaning art of bargain-making.
The first is so contracted an aperture, I never could squeeze myself into
it ; the last, I always hated the contamination of its threshold ! Thus
abandoned of view or aim in life, with a strong appetite for socia-
bility (as well from native hilarity as from a pride of observation and
remark), and a constitutional hypocondraic taint which made me fly
solitude : add to all these incentives to social life — my reputation for
bookish knowledge, a certain wild logical talent, and a strength of
thought, something like the rudiments of good sense, made me generally
a welcome guest. So 'tis no great wonder that always " where two or
three were met together, there was I in the midst of them." But far
beyond all the other impulses of my heart, was ten peiicha7it h t adorable
vioitie dn genre hnmain. My heart was completely tinder, and was
eternally lighted up by some Goddess or other ; and, like every other
warfare in this world, I was sometimes crowned with success, and some-
times mortified with defeat. At the plough, scythe, or reap-hook, I feared
no competitor, and set want at defiance ; and as I never cared farther
for any labors than while I was in actual exercise, I spent the evening
in the way after my own heart. A country lad seldom cariies on an
amour without an assisting confidant. I possessed ^ curiosity, zeal,
and intrepid dexterity in these matters which recommended me as
a proper second in duels of that kind ; and I dare say I felt as much
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore, 53
pleasure at being in the secret of half the amours in the parish, as ever
did Premier at knowinj; the intrigues of half the Courts of Europe.
The very goose-feather in my hand seems instinctively to know the
well-worn pari of my imagination, the favourite theme of my song, and
is with diniculty restrained from giving you a coui)le of paragraphs on
the amours of my compeers, the humble inmates of the farm-house and
cottage ; but the grave sons of science, ambition, or avarice, baptize these
things by the name of follies. To the sons and daughters of labour and
poverty they are mat ers of the most serious nature : to them the ardent
hope, the stolen interview, the tender farewell, are the greatest and
most delicious part of their enjoyments.
Another circumstance in my life which made very considerable
alterations on my mind and manners was — I spent my seventeenth
summer a good distance from home, at a noted school on a smuggling
coast, to learn mensuration, surveying, dialling, etc., in which I made
a pretty good progress. But I made a greater progress in the know-
ledge of mankind. The contraband trade was at this time very
successful : scenes of swaggering riot and roaring dissipation were as
yet new to me, and I was no enemy to social life. Plere, though
I learnt to look unconcernedly on a large tavern-bill, and mix without
fear in a drunken squabble, yet I went on with a high hand in my
geometry, till the sun entered Virgo, a month which is always a camiv.al
in my bosom : a charming Fillci/e, v.ho lived next door to the school,
overset my trigonometry, and set me off in a tangent from the spheres
of my studies. I struggled on with my sines and co-sines for a few
days more ; but stepping out to the garden one charming noon to take
the sun's altitude, I met with my angel —
Like Proserpine, gathering flowers,
Herself a fairer flower.
It was in vain to think of doing any more good at school. The
remaining week I staid I did nothing but craze the faculties of my soul
about her, or steal out to meet with her ; and the two last nights of my
stay in the country, had sleep been a mortal sin, I was innocent.
I returned home very considerably improved. My reading was en-
larged with the very important addition of Thomson's and Shenstone's
Works. I had seen mankind in a new phasis ; and I engaged several
of my school-fellows to keep up a literary correspondence with me.
I had met with a collection of letters by the wits of Queen Anne's reign,
and I pored over them most devoutly. I kept copies of any of my own
54 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
letters that pleased mc, and a comparison between them and the com-
position of most of my correspondents flattered my vanity. I carried
this whim so far, that though I had not three-farthings' worth of
business in the world, yet every post brought me as many letters as if
I had been a broad plodding son of day-book and ledger.
My life flowed on much in the same tenor till my twenty-third year.
Vive famour, et vivc la bagatelle, were my sole principles of action.
The addition of two more authors to my library gave me great pleasure ;
Sterne and Mackenzie — Tristram Shandy and The Man of Feeling —
were my bosom favourites.
Poesy was still a darling walk of my mind, but 'twas only the humour
of the hour. I had usually half-a-dozen or more pieces on hand ; I
took up one or other as it suited the momentary tone of the mind, and
dismissed it as it bordered on fatigue. My passions, when once they
were lighted up, raged like so many devils till they got vent in rhyme ;■
and then conning over my verses, like a spell, soothed all into quiet !
None of the rhymes of those days are in print, except •' Winter, a
Dirge" (the eldest of my printed pieces), "The Deatlr and Dying
Words of Poor Mailie," "John Barleycorn," and Songs first, and
second, and third. Song second was the ebullition of that passion
which ended the forementioncd school-business.
My twenty-third year was to me an important £era. Partly through
whim, and partly that I wished to set about doing something in life, I
joined with a flax-dresser in a neighbouring country town, to learn his
trade, and carry on the business of manufacturing and retailing
flax. This turned out a sadly unlucky affair. My partner was a
scoundrel of the first water, who made money by the mystery of Thiev-
ing, and to finish the whole, while we were giving a welcome carousal
to the New Year, our shop, by the drunken carelessness of my partner s
wife, took fire, and burned to ashes, and I was left, like a true poet, not
worth sixpence. I was obliged to give up business ; the clouds of mis-
fortune were gathering thick round my Father's head ; the darkest of
which was — he was visibly far gone in a consumption. To crown all,
a belle fille whom I adored, and who had pledged her soul to meet me in
the fields of matrimony, jilted me, with peculiar circumstances of morti-
fication. The finishing evil that brought up the rear of this infernal
file, was my hypochondraic complaint being irritated to such a degree,
that for three months I was in a diseased state of body and mind,
scarcely to be envied by the hopeless wretches who have just got their
sentence, " Depart from me, ye cursed ! <S:c."
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 55
From this adventure I learned something of a Town life ; but the
principal thing which gave my mind a turn was — I formed a bosom
friendship with a young fellow,** the Jirsi created being I had ever
seen, but a hapless son of misfortune. He was the son of a plain
mechanic ; but a great man in the neighbourhood taking him under his
patronage, gave him a genteel education, with a view to bettering his
•situation in life. The patron dying, and leaving my friend unprovided
for, just as he was ready to launch forth into the world, the poor fellow,
in despair, went to sea ; where, after a variety of good and bad fortune,
he was, a little before I was acquainted with him, set a-shore by an
American privateer, on the wild coast of Connaught, stript of everything.
I cannot quit this poor fellow's story without adding, that he is at this
moment Captain of a large West Indiaman belonging to the Thames.
This gentleman's mind was fraught with courage, independence,
and magnanimity, and every noble, manly virtue. I loved him ;
I admired him to a degree of enthusiasm, and I strove to imitate him.
I in some measure succeeded ; I had the pride before, but he taught it
to flow in proper channels. His knowledge of the world was vastly
superior to mine, and I was all attention to learn. He was the only
man I ever saw who was a greater fool than myself when Woman was
the presiding star ; but he spoke of a certain fashionable failing with
levity, which hitherto I had regarded with horror. Here his friendship
did me a mischief, and the consequence was, that soon after I resumed
the plough I wrote the enclosed "Welcome."
My reading was only increased by two stray volumes of Pamela, and
•one of Ferdinand Count Fathom, which gave me some idea of novels.
Rhyme, except some religious pieces which are in print, I had given
up ; but meeting with Fergusson's Scotch Poems, I strung anew my
wildly-sounding, rustic lyre with emulating vigour. When my Father
died, his all went among the rapacious hell-hounds that growl in the
Kennel of Justice ; but we made a shift to scrape a little money in the
family amongst us, with which (to keep us together) my brother and
I took a neighbouring farm. My brother wanted my hair-brained
imagination, as well as my social and amorous madness ; but in good
sense, and every sober qualification, he was far my superior.
I entered on this farm with a full resolution "Come, go to, I will
be wise!" I read farming books, I calculated crops; I attended
markets ; and in short, in spite of the devil, the world, and the flesh,
I believe I should have been a wise man ; but the first year, from un-
fortunately buying in bad seed ; the second, from a late harvest, we lost
56 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
half of both our crops. This overset all my wisdom, and I returned,
"like the dog to his vomit, and the sow that was washed, to her wal-
lowing in the mire." I now Ije^-^an to be known in the neighbourhood
as a maker of rhymes. The first of my poetic offspring that saw the
light was a burlesque lamentation on a quarrel between two Reverend
Calvinists, both of them dramatis per sonce in my "Holy Fair." I had
an idea myself that the piece had some merits ; but, to prevent the
worst, I gave a copy of it to a friend who was very fond of these things,
and told him I could not guess who was the author of it, but that I
thought it pretty clever. With a certain side of both clergy and laity,
it met with a roar of applause. " Holy Willie's Prayer " next made its
appearance, and alarmed the kirk-session so much, that they held three
several meetings to look over their holy artillery, if any of it was
pointed against profane rhymers. Unluckily for me, my idle wander-
ings led me on another side, point-blank, within reach of their heaviest
metal. This is the unfortunate story alluded to in my )3rinted poem,
"The Lament." 'Twas a shocking affair, which I cannot yet bear to
recollect, and it had very nearly given me one or two of the principal
qualifications for a place among those who have lost the chart, and
mistaken the reckoning, of rationality. I gave up my part of the farm
to my brother ; as in truth it was only nominally mine (for stock I had
none to embark in it), and made what little preparation was in my
power for Jamaica. Before leaving my native country, however, I
resolved to publish my poems. I weighed my productions as im-
partially as in my power ; I thought they had merit ; and 'twas a
delicious idea that I should be called a clever fellow, even tho' it should
never reach my ears — a poor negro-driver — or perhaps gone to the
world of spirits, a victim to that inhospitable clime. I can truly say,
that pauvre inconmi as I then was, I had pretty nearly as high an idea.
of myself and my works as I have at this moment. It was ever my
opinion that the great, unhappy mistakes and blunders, both in a
rational and religious point of view, of which we see thousands daily
guilty, are owing to their ignorance or mistaken notions of themselves.
To know myself, had been all along my constant study. I weighed
myself, alone; I balanced myself with others; I watched every means
of information, how much ground I occupied as a man and as a poet f
I studied assiduously Nature's design, where she seemed to have in-
tended the various lights and shades in my character. I v;as pretty sure
my poems would meet with some applause ; but at the worst, the roar
of the .\tlantic would deafen the voice of Censure, and the novelty of
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 57
West Indian scenes would make nic forget Neglect. I threw off six
hundred copies, of wliich I had got subscriptions for about three hundred
and fifty. My vanity was highly gratifled by the reception I met with
from the public; besides pocketing (all expenses deducted) near twenty
pounds. This last came very seasonably, as I was about to indent
myself, for want of money to pay my freight. So soon as I was master
of nine guineas, the price of wafting me to the Torrid Zone, I bespoke
a passage in the very first Ship that was to sail, for
Hungry ruin had me in the wind.
I had for some time been skulking from covert to covert, under all
the terrors of a jail ; as some ill-advised ungrateful peojile had uncoupled
the merciless legal pack at my heels. I had taken the lasf farewell of
my few friends ; ray chest was on the road to Greenock ; I had com-
posed a song, " The gloomy night is gathering fast," which was to be
the last effort of my muse in Caledonia, when a letter from Dr. Black-
lock to a friend of mine overthrew all my schemes, by rousing my poetic
ambition. The Doctor belonged to a class of critics for whose applause
I had not even dared to hope. His idea, that I would meet with every
encouragement for a second edition, fired me so much that away I posted
for Edinburgh, without a single acquaintance in town, or a single letter of
recommendation in my pocket. The baneful star that had so long pre-
sided in my Zenith, for once made a revolution to the Nadir ; and the
providential care of a good God placed me under the patronage of one
of his noblest creatures, the Earl of Glencairn. " Otibliez tiioi, grand
Dieu, St jamais Je Votiblie !"
I need relate no farther. At Edinburgh I was in a new world ;
I mingled among many classes of men, but all of them were new to me,.
and I was all attention to " catch the manners living as they rise."
You can now, Sir, form a pretty near guess of what sort of Wight he
is, whom for some time you have honored with your correspondence.
That Whim and Fancy, keen sensibility and riotous passions, may still
make him zig-zag in his future path of life, is very probable ; but, com.e
what will, I shall answer for him — the most determinate integrity and
honor [shall ever characterise him]; and though his evil star should
again blaze in his meridian witli ten-fold more direful influence, he may
reluctantly tax friendship with pity, but no more.
My most respectful compliments to Miss Williams. The very
elegant and friendly letter she honored me with a few days ago, I can-
not answer at present, as my presence is required at Edinburgh for a
week or so, and I set off to-morrow.
$8 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
I enclose you " Holy Willie " for the sake of giving you a little
further information of the affair than Mr Creech could do. An Elegy
I composed the other day on Sir James H. Blair, if time allow, I will
transcribe. The merit is just mediocre.
If you will oblige me so highly and do me so much honour as now
•and then to drop me a line, please direct to me at Mauchline, Ayrshire.
With the most grateful respect, I have the honour to be, Sir, your very
humble servant,
RoBT. Burns.
Mauchline, 2nd August, 1787.
Dr. Moore did not receive this autobiographical
letter for some considerable time. After the tour in
the north, the poet returned to Edinburgh, and the
following epistle explains the delay :
Edinburgh, 23rd September.
Sir, — The foregoing letter was unluckily forgot among other papers
At Glasgow on my way to Edinburgh. Soon after I came to Edinburgh
I went on a tour through the Highlands, and did not recover the letter
till my return to town, which was the other day. My ideas, picked up
in my pilgrimage, and some rhymes of my earlier years, I shall soon be
at leisure to give you at large — so soon as I hear from you whether you
.are in London. I am, again, Sir, yours most gratefully,
R. Burns.
To the autobiographical letter of the poet Dr.
Moore replied as follows : —
Clifford St., 8th Nov., 1787.
Dear Sir,— At the time your very interesting letter came to my
hands I was involved in a business that gave me a great deal of trouble.
This, with the rumour of war which then prevailed, and the efforts I
was obliged to make to get my son the Lieut.'* in the Navy placed in
a proper situation, prevented my answering you immediately. I now
assure you that the account you give of yourself and the admirable
manner in which
You run it through even from your boyish days
To the very moment that you kindly tell it,
afforded me much pleasure.
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 59
Your moving accident in the harvest field
With her whose voice thrilled like i/i' yKolian Harp,
Your hairbreadth 'scapes in tK imminent deadly breach.
The process raised by holy cannibals
Who such devour as follow Nature's law.
Your wild and headstrong rage for matrimony,
Your redemption thence, whereof by parcels
I had something heard but not distinctively —
;all were highly interesting to me, and augment the advantageous opinion
I had formed of you on seeing your first publication.
In your letter you hint at your scarcity of English. I am far from
•thinking that this is the case. On the contrary I am convinced you
.already possess that language in an uncommon degree, and with a little
attention you will become entirely master of it. In several of your
poems there is a striking richness and variety of expression — for which
(reason I hope you will use it in most of your future productions. If
there actually existed a language called the Scotch language, which had
.a grammar, and which was used by the best writers of Scotland,
I should perhaps prefer it to the English. But unfortunately there is
no such thing. The Scotch is as provincial a dialect of the English as
.the Somersetshire or Yorkshire. And therefore no serious work can be
written in it to advantage, altho' it must be owned in works of humour
and naiveti it sometimes gives additional force and beauty. Some of
your humorous poems have gained by it, and it gives a fresh charm to
the beautiful simplicity of some of your songs.
I hope you will plan out some work of importance and suitable to
3'our genius, which you will polish at your leisure and in the returns of
fancy, and do not waste your fire on incidental subjects or the effusions
•of gratitude on receiving small marks of attention from the great or
:small vulgar.
I heard you was at one great castle in the W. Highlands.^** What-
ever the place might, I can hardly suspect the inhabitants would inspire
■you with much to admire. Their minds are prosaic and giovelling ;
the Muses have no charm in the eyes of either ; tho' one is a person of
much mildness of character and integrity.
I will be much obliged to you when you have leisure to fulfil your
promise of sending me the ideas yon ha7)e picked up in your pilgrimage
.thro' the Highlands and your early rhimes.
I think you should employ your leisure in collecting and polishing a
.sufficient number to form another volume, but the principal part should
6o Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
be new, and for tliis I would have you to reflect very attentively ta
choose right subjects ; for much depends on this. You have greatly
distinguished yourself from common rhymers by drawing your imagery
directly from Nature, and avoiding hackneyed phrases and borrowed
allusions. This you will always have pride and good sense to continue.
With the reputation you have justly acquired I make no douV)t of your
being able to get a considerable sum for a second volume, whether you
publish by subscription, or sell the copy at once to a bookseller. I shall
be most ready to afford you my best assistance and advice on that or any
other occasion in which I may have it in my power to be of use to you.
But you must consider now that you have a reputation to lose, and
therefore you will certainly not be rash in offering any new work to the
public till it has lain a considerable time by you, and been often sub-
jected to consideration. If you think of any particular subject, I wish
you would let me know. I'll freely give you my opinion, which you
will afterwards follow or not as y(ju please ; in neither case will you in
the smallest degree disoblige me.
Perhaps you may come to London v.dth your new work. If you do,
I will be happy to see you, and all my family are in the same way of
thinkinfr. .-\dieu, ray dear Burns,— Believe me, with much regard,
your friend and servt.
J. Moore.
Direct under cover to Major J. Moore, M.P. ,
Ciiftord St., Burlington Gardens, London.
At Miss Williams's desire I send you a copy of some lines I wrote tO'
her lately when she was at Southampton. She said she wished to send
you her picture drawn by me. The truth, however, is they are all
exaggeration, for she is remarkably pretty; but on her being a little
out of humour at my laughing at her nose, and chin, and stooping,
which she expressed in a letter, I wrote in answer, the enclosed.
I confess I have said — but pray do not pout —
That your chin is too fond of yr aquiline snout,
Like the world dispos'd from inferiours to fly.
It always looks up to the features on high.
That I said of your back, and I still must say so.
It resendiles the back of an Indian cant>e :
What was strait as an arrow, you've bent like a bow.
I must own too I hinted your waddling walk
Was much like a parrot's— and sometimes yr talk.
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 6i
Yet these observations as plainly you'll view,
Tho' they glance at your person, don't touch upon yoit ;
Tot joK never can think — you're too much refined —
That your body isfoii — you's entirely your mind.
And when yr sweet genius so gracefully fiows,
In melodious verse or poetical prose,
Who thinks of your chin or the turn of yr toes?
For you, my dear Helen, have proved by your works
That women have souls, in the teeth of the Turks.
Your person and face in the hands of those
Who think upon nought but the care of their bodies
It is true would be ranked for beauty and air
In a pretty high class of the graceful and fair.
And would doubtless attract from the thoughtless and gay
A more pointed regard to yr fabrick of clay,
But all those you will treat with scorn eternal
Who sigh for the shell and taste not the kernel.
If the poet fulfilled his promise and sent his
-correspondent some of the ideas picked up in his
pilgrimage, and some rhymes of his earlier years, the
letter containing or sending these is missing. There
is a lapse of fully fifteen months before we find the
Bard again addressing Dr. Moore, and his epistle
■contains no reference to the promise. In this letter,
written early in January, 1789, he chronicles news as
far back as the previous April, so that in the period
between 8th November, 1787, and April, 1788, there
maybe a link in the chain of correspondence which
up to the present has not been recovered. By the
time Burns wrote this letter the Edinburgh period of
his life was past, and he was settled at Ellisland.
Ellislanu, near Dumfries, 4th Jan., 1789.
Sir, — As often as I think of writing to you, which has been three or
four times every week these six months, it gives me something so like
the idea of an ordinary-sized statue offering at a conversation with the
62 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
^ — _ -
Rhodian Colossus, that my mind misgives me, and the affair always
miscarries somewhere between purpose and resolve. I have at last got
some business with you, and business letters are written by the style-
book. I say my business is with you, Sir, for you never had any with-
me, except the business that benevolence has in the mansion of poverty.
The character and employment of a poet were formerly my pleasure
but are now my pride. I know that a very great deal of my late eclat
was owing to the singularity of my situation and the honest prejudice of
Scotsmen ; but still, as I said in the preface to my first edition, I do
look upon myself as having some pretensions from Nature to the poetic
character. I have not a doubt but the knack, the aptitude, to learn the
muses' trade is a gift bestowed by Him " who forms the secret bias of
the soul ;" — but I as firmly believe that excellence in the profession is the
fruit of industry, labour, attention, and pains. At least, I am resolved
to try my doctrine by the test of experience. Another appearance from
the press I put off to a very distant day, a day that may never arrive —
but poesy I am determined to prosecute with all my vigour. Nature
has given very few, if any, of the profession, the talents of shining in
every species of composition. I shall try (for until trial it is impossible
to know) whether she has qualified me to shine in any one. The worst
of it is, by the time one has finished a piece it has been so often viewed
and reviewed before the mental eye, that one loses, in a good measure,
the powers of critical discrimination. Here the best criterion I know is
a friend — not only of abilities to judge, but with good-nature enough,
like a prudent teacher with a young learner, to praise perhaps a little
more than is exactly just, lest the thin-skinned animal fall into that most
deplorable of all poetic diseases — heart-breaking despondency of himself.
Dare I, Sir, already immensely indebted to your goodness, ask the
additional obligation of your being that friend to me ? I inclose you an
essay of mine in a walk of poesy to me entirely new : I mean the epistle
addressed to R. G., Esq., or Robert Graham, of Fintry, Esq., a gentle-
man of uncommon worth, to whom I lie under very great obligations.
The story of the poem, like most of my poems, is connected with my
own story, and to give you the one, I must give you something of the
other. I cannot boast of Mr. Creech's ingenuous, fair dealing to me.
He kept me hanging about Edinburgh from 7th August, 1787, until the
13th April, 1788, before he would condescend to give me a statement of
affairs ; nor had I got it even then but for an angry letter I wrote him,
which irritated his pride. "I could" not a "tale" but a detail
"unfold," but what am I that I should speak against the Lord's
anointed Bailie of Edinburgh ?
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 65
I believe I shall, in whole, ;^ICX3 copy-right included, clear about
^^400 some little odds ; and even part of this depends upon what the
gentleman has yet to settle with me. I give you this information,
because you did me the honor to interest yourself much in my welfare.
I give you this information, but I give it to yourself only, for I am still
much in the gentleman's mercy. Perhaps I injure the man in the idea
I am sometimes tempted to have of him — God forbid I should ! A little
time will try, for in a month I shall go to town to wind up the business-
if possible.
To give the rest of my story in brief: I have married "my Jean,"
and taken a farm : with the first step I have every day more and more
reason to be satisfied ; with the last, it is rather the reverse. I have a
younger brother, who supports my aged mother, another still younger
brother and three sisters in a farm. On my last return from Edinburgh,
it cost me about ;i{^i8o to save them from ruin. Not that I have lost so
much — I only interposed between my brother and his impending fate
by the loan of so much. I give myself no airs on this, for it was mere
selfishness on my part : I was conscious that the wrong scale of the
balance was pretty heavily charged, and I thought that throwing a little
filial piety and fraternal affection into the scale in my favour might help
to smooth matters at the grand reckoning. There is still one thing
would make my circumstances quite easy : I have an excise ofiicer's
commission, and I live in the midst of a country division. My request to
Mr. Graham, who is one of the commissioners of excise, was, if in his
power, to procure me that division. If I were very sanguine, I might
hope that some of my great patrons might procure me a Treasury
warrant for supervisor, surveyor-general, etc.
Thus, secure of a livelihood, "to thee, sweet poetry, delightful maid,"
I would consecrate my future days.
R. B.
Dr. Moore does not appear to have replied to this
communication by the time a circumstance arose
which led to the poet writinf^j him again. The cir-
cumstance came about in this way. The Rev. Edward
Neilson had been presented by the Duke of Queens-
berry to the Parish of Kirkbean in the Stewartry of
Kirkcudbright, but the Duke left Scotland without
sending " the presentation " — the legal document em-
€4 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
powering a Presbytery to ordain a minister — to the
presentee. Mr. Neilson went to Paris in search of the
Duke but f^iiled to find him, and ultimately the matter
was arranged by the Presbytery of Dumfries accepting
as sufficient a document signed by the factor on the
Oueensberry estate. By the hands of Mr. Neilson
•the bard sent the following communication to Dr
Moore :
Ellisland, 23CI March, 17S9.
Sir, — The gentleman who will deliver this is a Mr. Neilson, a worthy
-clergyman in my neighbourhood and a very particular acquaintance
of mine. As I have troubled him with this packet, I must turn him
over to your goodness, to recompense him for it in a way in which
he much needs your assistance, and where you can effectually serve
him: — Mr. Neilson is on his way to France, to wait on his Grace
of Queensberry, on some little business of a good deal of import-
■,ance to him, and he wishes for your instructions respecting the
most eligible mode of travelling, etc., for him, when he has crossed the
Channel. I should not have dared to take this liberty with you, but
that I am told, by those who have the honor of your personal acquaint-
ance, that to be a poor honest Scotchman is a letter of recommendation
to you, and that to have it in your power to serve such a character gives
you much pleasure, that I am persuaded in soliciting your goodness
in this business I am gratifying your feelings with a degree of
enjoyment.
The enclosed ode is a compliment to the memory of the late Mrs.
Oswald of Auchencruive. You probably knew her personally, an
honor of which I cannot boast ; but I spent my early years in her neigh-
bourhood, and among her servants and tenants I know that she was
detested with the most heartfelt cordiality. However, in the particular
part of her conduct which roused my poetic wrath she was much less
blameable. In January last, on my road to Ayrshire, I had put up at
Bailie Whigham's, in Sanquhar, the only tolerable inn in the place.
The frost was keen, and the grim evening and howling wind were
ushering in a night of snow and drift. My horse and I were both much
fatigued with the labors of the day, and just as my friend the Bailie and
I were bidding defiance to the storm, over a smoking bowl, in wheels
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 65
the funeral pageantry of the late great Mrs. Oswald, and poor I am
forced to brave all the horrors of the tempestuous night, and jade my
horse, my young favourite horse, whom I had just christened Pegasus,
twelve miles farther on, through the wildest moors and hills of Ayrshire,
to New Cumnock, the next inn. The powers of poesy and prose sink
under me when I would describe what I felt. Suffice it to say that
when a good fire at New Cumnock had so far recovered my frozen
sinews, I sat down and wrote the inclosed ode.
I was at Edinburgh lately and settled finally with Mr. Creech ; and
I must own that, at last, he has been amicable and fair with me.
R. B.
From the recently published Robert Burns and
Mrs. Dunlop by Mr. William Wallace, much that is
interesting^ is gathered concerning the proposal that
Burns should endeavour to procure a professorship in
Edinburgh. Through the munificence of Mr. William
Johnstone Pulleney, a sum of ^1250 was presented
to Edinburgh University for the endowment of a
Chair of Agriculture. Mrs. Dunlop and Dr. Moore
entered into hearty co-operation on behalf of the
bard, and were the means of having his name brought
under the notice of the patron. Moore's action in the
matter, however, appears to have been entirely out-
with the poet's knowledge so far as Moore knew as
there is no reference to the Chair in any of his letters
to the bard. It is in the correspondence of Burns
and Mrs. Dunlop that the story is told, and it is in
that correspondence that reference is made to the
endeavours of Dr. Moore. Notwithstandin<j the action
of his friends, Burns seems to have entertained little
or no idea of ever becoming a Professor of Agriculture,
and in his letterto Mrs.Dunlop,dated July 8, 1789, which
closes the correspondence on the subject, he writes : —
"As I have no romantic notions of independency of spirit, I am
66 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
truly obliged to you and Dr. Moore for mentioning me to Mr. Pulteney
. . . The Professorship is, I know, to me an unattainable object,
but Mr. Pulteney's character stands high as a Patron of merit, and of
this, had I no other proof, you have made me believe that I have some
share. "
To the poet's epistle of 23rd March, and earh'er
letters, Moore replied as follows : —
Clifford Street, loth June, 1789.
Dear Sir, — I thank you for the different communications you have
made rne of your occasional productions in manuscript, all of which
have merit, and some of them merit of a different kind from what
appears in the poems you have published. You ought carefully to pre-
serve all your occasional productions, to correct and improve them at
your leisure ; and when you can select as many of these as will make a
volume, publish it either at Edinburgh or London, by subscription : on
such an occasion it may be in my power, as it is very much in my inclin-
ation, to be of service to you.
If I were to offer an opinion, it would be that in your future produc-
tions you should abandon the Scottish stanza and dialect and adopt the
measure and language of modern English poetry.
The stanza wliich you use in imitation of " Christ's Kirk on the
Green," with the tiresome repetition of "that day," is fatiguing to-
English ears, and, I should think, not very agreeable to Scottish.
All the fine satire and humour of your " Holy Fair" is lost on the
English ; yet, without more trouble to yourself, you could have con-
veyed the whole to them. The same is true of some of your other
poems. In your " Epistle to J. Smith," the stanzas from that beginning
with this line, "This life, sae far's I understand," to that which ends^
with "Short while it grieves," are easy, flowing, gaily philosophical,
and of Horatian elegance — the language is English, with ^ few Scottish
words, and some of those so harmonious as to add to the beauty ; for
what poet would not ^xti&x gleaming X.o twilight?
I imagine that, by carefully keej^ing and occasionally polishing and
correcting those verses which the Muse dictates, you will, within a year
or two, have another volume as large as the first ready for the press ;.
and this without diverting you from every proper attention to the study
and practice of husbandry, in which, I understand, you are very learned,
and which, I fancy, you will chuse to adhere to as a wife, while poetry
amuses you from time to time as a mistress. The former, like a prudent
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore, ^j
wife, must not show ill-humour, although you retain a sneaking kind-
ness to this agreeable gipsy and pay her occasional visits, which in na
manner alienates your heart from your lawful spouse, but tends, on the
contrary, to promote her interest.
I desired Mr. Caddell to write to Mr, Creech to send you a copy of
Zeltico. This performance has had great success here ; but I shall be
glad to have your opinion of it, because I value your opinion and
because I know you are above saying what you do not think.
I beg you will offer my best wishes to my very good friend, Mrs.
Hamilton, who, I understand, is your neighbour. If she is as happy as
I wish her, she is happy enough. Make my compliments also to Mrs.
Burns, and believe me to be, with sincere esteem, Dear Sir, Yours,
J. Moore.
Burns duly received Zeluco, and subsequent cor-
respondence shews that he intended to give the author
his opinion, but so far as his published letters go, his
opinion was never given. Writing to Mrs. Dunlop
under date 6th September, 1789, he says :
" I have been ver}- busy with Zeluco. The doctor is so obliging as
to request my opinion of it ; and I have been revolving in my mind
some kind of criticism on novel-writing, but it is a depth beyond my
research. I shall, however, digest my thoughts on the subject as well
as I can. Zeluco is a most sterling performance."
Mrs. Dunlop, writing to the poet on 7th January,.
1790, says —
"I have just got a letter from Mr. Moore. . . . He begs I
would write, and wishes much to hear from you, and to have your
particular sentiments ol Zeluco.''''
Nearly a year elapsed ere the bard wrote Moore
acknowledging receipt of the book, and then he refers
to an opinion which is to be forthcoming on some
future occasion. He writes thus :
Dumfries, Excise Office, 14th July, 1790.
Sir, — Coming into town this morning to attend my duty in this
office, it being collection-day, I met with a gentleman who tells me he
is on his way to London ; so I take the opportunity of writing to you.
68 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
as franking is at present under a temporary death. I shall have some
snatches of leisure through the day, amid our horrid business and bustle,
and I shall improve them as well as I can, but let my letter be as stupid
as , as miscellaneous as a news-paper, as
short as a hungry grace-before-meat or as long as a law-paper in the
Douglas cause ; as illspelt as country John's billet-doux or as unsightly
a scrawl as Betty Byre-mucker's answer to it, I hope, considering cir-
cumstances, you will forgive it ; and as il will put you to no expense of
postage, I shall have the less reflection about it.
I am sadly ungrateful in not returning you my thanks for your most
valuable present, Zeluco. In fact, you are in some degree blameable for
my neglect. You were pleased to express a wish for my opinion of the
work, which so flattered me that nothing less would serve my over-
weening fancy than a formal criticism on the book. I fact, I have
gravely planned a comparative view of you, Fielding, Richardson and
Smollett, in your different qualities and merits as novel-writers. This,
I own, betrays my ridiculous vanity, and I may probably never bring the
business to bear ; but I am fond of the spirit young Elihu shews in the
book of Job — "And I said, I will also declare my opinion." I have
quite disfigured my copy of the book with my annotations. I never take
it up without at the same time taking my pencil and marking with
asterims, parentheses, etc., wherever I meet with an original thought,
.a nervous remark on life and manners, a remarkably well-turned period
•or a character sketched with uncommon precision.
Though I shall hardly think of fairly writing out my "Comparative
•view," I shall certainly trouble you with my remarks, such as they are.
I have just received from my gentleman that horrid summons in the
book of Revelation — " that time shall be no more."
The little collection of sonnets have some charming poetry in them.
If indeed I am indebted to the fair author for the book, and not, as I
rather suspect, to a celebrated author of the other sex, I should certainly
have written to the lady, with my grateful acknowledgements and my
own ideas of the comparative excellence of the pieces. I would do
this last, not from any vanity of thinking that my remarks could be of
much consequence to Mrs. Smith, but merely from my own feelings as
an author, doing as I would be done by.
R. B.
Early in the following year Burns again addressed
Moore, sending him sonrie of his most recent poems
for criticism.
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 69
E1.1.ISI.AND, near Dumfries, 28th Feb., 1791.
I do not know, Sir, whether you arc a subscriber to Grose's Anti-
quities of Scotland. If you are, the inclosed poem will not be altogether
new to you. Captain Grose did me the favour to send me a dozen
copies of the proof-sheet, of which this is one. Should you have read
the piece before, still this will answer the principal end I have in view :
it will give me another opportunity of thanking you for all your good-
ness to the rustic bard ; and also of shewing you that the abilities you
have been pleased to commend and patronize are still employed in the
way you wish.
The " Elegy on Captain Henderson" is a tribute to the memory of
a man I loved much. Poets have in this the same advantage as Roman
Catholics ; they can be of service to their friends after they have passed
that bourne where all other kindness ceases to be of avail. Whether,,
after all, either the one or the other be of any real service to the dead,
is, I fear, very problematical ; but I am sure they are highly gratifying
to the hving : and as a very orthodox text, I forget where, in Scripture,
says "Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin," so say I, whatsoever is not
detrimental to society and is of positive enjoyment, is of God, the giver
of all good things, and ought to be received and enjoyed by his creatures
with thankful delight. As almost all my religious tenets oiiginate from
my heart, I am wonderfully pleased with the idea that I can still keep
up a tender intercourse with the dearly-beloved friend or still more
dearly-beloved mistress who is gone to the land of spirits.
The ballad on Queen Mary was begun while I was busy with Percy's
Reliques of English Poetry. By the way, how much is every honest
heart which has a tincture of Caledonian prejudice obliged to you for
your glorious story of Buchanan and Targe ! 'Twas an unequivocal proof
of your loyal gallantry of soul, giving "Targe" the victory. I should
have been mortified to the ground if you had not. What a rocky-
hearted perfidious succubus was that Queen Elizabeth ! Judas Iscariot
was a sad dog to be sure, but still his demerits sink to insignificance
compared with the doings of the infernal Bess Tudor. Judas did not
know, at least was by no means sure, what and who that Master was :
his turpitude was simply betraying a worthy man who had ever been a
good Master to him, a degree of turpitude which has ever been undone
by many of his kind since. Iscariot, poor wretch, was a man of nothing
at all per annum, and by consequence, thirty pieces of silver was a very
serious temptation to him. But, to give but one instance, the Duke of
70 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
■Queensberry, the other day, just played the same trick to Ins kind
master, the' his Grace is a man of thirty thousand a-year and come to
■that imbecile period of life when no temptation but avarice can be sup-
posed to affect him.
I have just read over, once more of many times, your Zelnco. I
marked with my pencil, as I went along, every passage that pleased me
particularly above the rest ; and one, or two I think, which, with
humble deference, I am disposed to think unequal to the merits of the
book. I have sometimes thought to transcribe those marked passages,
or at least so much of them as to point where they are, and send them
to you. Original strokes that strongly depict the human heart is your
and f'ielding's province, beyond any other novelist I have ever perused.
Richardson, indeed, might perhaps be excepted ; but, unhappily, his
■dramatis persona: are beings of some other world ; and, however they
may captivate the inexperienced, romantic fancy of a boy or girl, they
will ever, in proportion as we have made human nature our study, dis-
satisfy our riper years.
As to my private concerns, I am going on, a mighty tax-gatherer
before the Lord and have lately had the interest to get myself ranked on
the list of excise as a supervisor. I am not yet employed as such, but
in a few years I shall fall into the file of supervisorship by seniority.
I have had an immense loss in the death of the Earl of Glencairn, the
patron from whom all my fame and good fortune took its rise. Inde-
pendent of my grateful attachment to him, which was indeed so strong
that it pervaded my very soul and was entwined with the thread of my
-existence, so soon as the prince's friends had got in (and every dog,
you know, has his day) my getting forward in the Excise would have
been an easier business than otherwise it will be. Though this was a
consummation devoutly to be wished, yet, thank Heaven, I can live and
rhyme as I am ; and as to my boys, poor little fellows ! if I cannot place
them on as high an elevation in life as I could wish, I shall, if I am
favoured so much by the Disposer of events as to see that period, fix
them on as broad and independent a basis as possible. Among the
many wise adages which have been treasured up by our Scottish ances-
tors this is one of the best — Better to be the head d' the commonalty than
the tail d' the gentry.
But I am got on a subject which, however interesting to me, is of no
manner of consequence to you ; so I shall give you a short poem on the
other page and close this with assuring you how sincerely I have the
ihonor to be, Yours, etc.,
R. B.
R015ERT Burns and Dr. John Moore. 71
The "short poem" inscribed "on the other page"
consisted of the lines to Miss Cruikshank beginning,
•" Beauteous Rose-bud, young and gay."
In his reply Moore entered into criticism on the
poems which had been sent him, and also chided the
poet for his apparent carelessness of his effusions in
scattering copies of them among his friends. He
wrote thus : —
London, 29th March, 1791.
Dear Sir, — Vour letter of the 28th of February I received only two
<3ays ago, and this day I had the pleasure of waiting on the Rev. Mr.
Baird at the Duke of Athole's, who had been so obliging as to transmit
it to me, with the printed verses on Alloway Church, the Elegy on Capt.
Henderson, and the Epitaph. There are many poetical beauties in the
former : what I particularly admire are the three striking similes from
" Or like the snow-falls in the river,"
and the eight lines which begin with
" By this time he was cross the ford,"
so exquisitely expressive of the superstitious impressions of the country.
And the twenty-two lines from
" Coffins stood round like open presses,"
which, in my opinion, are equal to the ingredients of Shakespeare's
cauldron in Macbeth.
As for the Elegy, the chief merit of it consists in the very graphical
description of the objects belonging to the country in which the poet
writes, and which none but a Scottish poet could have described, and
none but a real poet, and a close observer of nature, could have so
described.
There is something original, and to me wonderfully pleasing, in the
Epitaph.
I remember you once hinted before, what you repeat in your last,
ithat you had made some remarks on Zeluco, on the margin. I should
be very glad to see them, and regret you did not send them before the
last edition, which is just published. Pray transcribe them for me; I
sincerely value your opinion very highly, and pray do not suppress one
-of those in which you censjire the sentiment or expression. Trust me,
it will break no squares between us — I am not akin to the Bishop of
Grenada.
72 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
I must now mention what has been on my mind for some time :
I cannot help thinking you imprudent in scattering abroad so many
copies of your verses. It is most natural to give a few to confidential
friends, particularly to those who are connected with the subject, or who
are perhaps themselves the subject ; but this ought to be done under
promise not to give other copies. Of the poem you sent me on Queen
Mary, I refused every solicitation for copies ; but I lately saw it in a
newspaper. My motive for cautioning you on this subject is that I wish
to engage you to collect all your fugitive pieces not already printed, and
after they have been reconsidered and polished to the utmost of your
power, I would have you publish them by another subscription ; in
promoting of which I will exert myself with pleasure.
In your future compositions, I wish you would use the modern Eng-
lish. You have shewn your powers in Scottish sufficiently. Although-
in certain subjects it gives additional zest to the humour, yet it is lost
to the English ; and why should you write only for a part of the island,
when you can command the admiration of the whole ?
If you chance to write to my friend Mrs. Dunlop of Dunlop, I beg to be
affectionately remembered to her. She must not judge of the warmth
of my sentiments respecting her by the number of my letters : I hardly
ever write a line but on business ; and I do not know that I should have
scribbled all this to you, but for the business part, that is, to instigate
you to a new publication ; and to tell you that when you think you have
a sufficient number to make a volume, you should set your friends on
getting subscriptions. I wish I could have a few hours' conversation,
with you — I have many things to say, which I cannot write. If I ever
go to Scotland, I will let you know, that you may meet me at your own.
house, or my friend Mrs. Hamilton's, or both.
Adieu, my dear Sir. J. MooRE.
The correspondence of years here comes to a
somewhat abrupt conclusion and one would like to
think that the later letters had been lost. We mean
by that we would like to think there were later letters
between the friends.
Mrs. Dunlop, in her letter of i6th June, 1792,
says —
" I had last day a long, kind letter from the Dr. He enquires
earnestly after you, and writes so warmly, so like the friend I have ever
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 73
found him, that I like the whole world the better for his sake," and
again on loth September, 1793 — " Mr. Moore writes me thus — 'What
is become of Burns? He is the first poet in our island. There is an
infinity of genius in his "Tarn o' Shanter," but I wish he would write
English, that the whole nation might admire hiin as I do.' "
Some months afterwards in his correspondence
with Mrs. Dunlop, the poet refers to Moore as "our
worthy and ingenious friend," and so perhaps some
future discovery of Burns MSS. may reveal what at
present remains obscure. In that letter to Mrs.
Dunlop, Burns says : —
" I hope he is well, and I beg to be remembered to him. I have
just been reading over again, I daresay for the hundred and fiftieth time,
his View of Society and Manners ; and still I read it with delight. His
humour is perfectly original — it is neither the humour of Addison, nor
Swift, nor Sterne, nor of anybody but Dr. Moore. B3' the bye, you
have deprived me of Zeliico ; remember that when you are disposed to
rake up the sins of my neglect from among the ashes of my laziness.
" He has paid me a pretty compliment, by quoting me in his last
publication."
From the above it is seen that the poet gave his
copy o{ Zeluco to Mrs. Dunlop. He inscribed on the
fly-leaf of the volume : — " To my much esteemed
friend Mrs. Dunlop of Dunlop. — ROBT. BURNS."
Chambers says — " There are a i^w pencilled notes on
the margin. In the twelfth chapter of the novel a
lady's-maid, in supporting the claims of a bashful
suitor to the hand of her mistress, a widow, affirms,
' Rather than open his mouth to you on the subject,
he will certainly die.' ' Die ■ nonsense,' cried the
widow. 'Yes, die!' cried the maid, 'and what is
worse, die in a dark lanthorn ; at least, I am told that
is what he is in danger of.' This passage is annotated
74 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
by Burns : ' Rather a bad joke — an unlucky attempt
at humour.'" Dr. Charles Rogers records in his
■" Book of Robert Burns " that this copy of Zeluco
was at the time of his writing in the possession of
Mrs. Dunlop's grandson. " The second volume," he
says, "was, unhappily, destroyed by ants in India."
Mrs. Dunlop, while on a visit to London, called
on Dr. Moore, and in her letter to the Bard, written
1 2th January, 1795, there is ample evidence that the
break in the correspondence had not diminished the
novelist's interest in the poet : —
" I was with your friend the Doctor about a week. In our country
he would be called a sad democrat, for we are the very pink of loyalty,
and hate every word that fancy can connect with independence, which
I believe will be the inspiring spirit of his intended publication now in
the press, and pushing quickly into being .... We had much
discourse of you, and he bid me tell you he had wrote you a long and
earnest letter on a subject he had much at heart, that he believed it had
not come to hand by his having no return, but he had given it to one
oi the young surgeons you sent him, and wished you attending to the
contents, since he was convinced you would find advantage from doing
so ; that if you would write Seasons, and paint rural scenes and rural
manners, not as Thomson did, but as you would naturally do, he would
undertake to dispose of the manuscript to advantage, as he was certain
you would succeed ; that he would advise your only giving the world
one at once, and beginning with Spring, which he would, however,
have you first revise with that coolness an author gains by laying aside
his work a while before he reads it over again, or, if you pleased,
showing it to some of those friends you trusted most, but who might be
a little less partial than yourself. I told him you were too fickle to be
long partial to the same thing, that you always liked the last best, and
after a while, I dare say, would judge as justly as anybody else. He
asked if this peculiarity in your way of thinking was extended to your
friends as well as your works. I told him I hoped not, and trusted on
my return to Scotland I should be able to assure him as certainly of
your steadiness as of his own."
Robert Burns and Dr. John Moore. 75
It seems to be a moot point whether Burns and
Moore ev^er actually met each other in the flesh. In
*' Robert Burns and The Medical Profession," Dr.
William Findlay maintains that they never did, while
in " The Book of Robert Burns," Dr. Charles Rogers
hints clearly at a meeting of the two correspondents.
He says : — " During the winter of 1794-95 Dr. Moore
paid a long visit to Scotland. Whether at this period
or on the occasion of a former visit Dr. Moore formed
the poet's personal intimacy cannot be ascertained,
but an earlier date is more probable. We are informed
by Dr. Moore's grandson, Mr. John [Carrick] Moore
of Corsewall, that both he and his brother learned
from their father that the kindly physician proposed
to invite the poet to visit him in London, but that the
proposal was stoutly opposed by his wife on account
of remarks which had reached her respecting the
bard's social excesses." Whatever truth may be in
the story of Dr. Charles Rogers there is an apparent
error as to the date of Moore's visit to Scotland.
Mrs. Dunlop, writing to the poet from London under
date I2tk January, lygs, states that she was with the
Doctor about a week, and does not give the least
indication of Moore having recently been or purposing
immediately being in Scotland. Since therefore he
was resident in London in the early part of January,
1795, it is not probable that he paid a " long visit" to
Scotland " during the winter of 1794-95."
Dr. Moore survived his distinguished correspon-
dent for some years. In the London list of subscribers
to the fund for behoof of the poet's family his name
appears opposite a donation of £2 2s., and he would
'je Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
doubtless look back with pleasure on the literary-
friendship he had been a party to. His later years
were spent at Richmond in ease and retirement, but
towards the close of his days he returned to London»
where he died in February, 1802.
"SCOTS WHA HAE:" THE SONG AND
ITS HISTORY.
•V—
|HY should we speak of ' Scots wha hae \vi'
Wallace bled,' since all know of it from
the king to the meanest of his subjects?"
Such are the words with which Carlyle
proceeds to speak of the song, and our answer to it
is — " Because it belongs inseparably to Stirlingshire."
Far from Bannockburn, ay ! far from Scotland, the
immortal ode has roused a response to the prayer of
Burns in many a Scottish heart, but nevertheless it is
in connection with Bannockburn that one thinks of
Bruce' s Address. There too, at the shrine of Scottish
independence, the poet doubtless felt the first breath
of the inspiration that was to find utterance in his
immortal song. Lockhart, quoting the words the
Bard inscribed in his diary with reference to his visit
to Bannockburn, says, " Here we have the germ of
Burns's famous ' Ode on the Battle of Bannockburn.'"
It was years after his visit to the field of battle ere
he composed his song. In the summer of 1793 the
poet, in company with John Syme, the Distributor of
Stamps at Dumfries, made a tour through Galloway.
Writing to Currie regarding this tour, Syme says :
— " We left Kenmure and went to Gatehouse. I took
78 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
him the moor-road, where savage and desolate regions
extended wide around. The sky was sympathetic
with the wretchedness of the soil ; it became lowering
and dark. The hollow winds sighed, the lightnings
gleamed, the thunder rolled. The poet enjoyed the
awful scene — he spoke not a word, but seemed rapt in
meditation." Further on he says, " I told you that in
the midst of the wilds of Kenmure, Burns was rapt in
meditation. What do you thing he was about ? He
was charging the English army, along with Bruce,
at Bannockburn. He was engaged in the same
manner on our ride home from St. Mary's Isle, and
I did not disturb him. Next day he produced me the
address of Bruce to his troops." And so, according
to Syme, the poet, sitting sullenly on his grey High-
land sheltie, while the elements raged around him, was
revolving in his mind the song which was so soon to
earn world-wide fame and immortality.
The version current differs somewhat from the
first draft which was as follows : —
Robert Bruce's Address to his Army.
Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed
Or to Victorie.
Now's the day and now's the hour,
See approach proud Edward's power ;
Sharply maun we bide the stoure —
Either they, or we.
Wha will be a traitor knave ?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave ?
Let him turn and Hie !
"Scots Wha Hae." 79
Wha for Scotland's King and Law,
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Free-man stand, or P"ree-man fa'.
Let him follow me !
Do you hear your children cry —
"Were we born in chains to lie ?"
No ! Come Death, or Liberty !
Yes, they shall be free !
Lay the proud Usurpers low !
Tyrants fall in every foe !
Liberty's in every blow !
Let us Do or Die ! !
"Scots Wha Hae" was first published on May 8,
1794, in the columns of TJie Mor7iing Chronicle. It
had been suggested to the poet by the proprietor
of that newspaper — Captain Patrick Miller — that he
should settle in London and contribute to The
Morning Chronicle, and in replying to Perry, the
Editor, as to the proposed engagement he wrote : —
" In the meantime they are most welcome to my ode ;
only let them insert it as a thing they have met with
by accident and unknown to me." The Morning
Chronicle kept the poet's injunction in view by pub-
lishing the ode with the somewhat absurd note : —
"If the following warm and animating ode was not
written near the times to which it applies, it is one
of the most faithful imitations of the simple and
beautiful style of the Scottish bards we ever read^
and we know but of one living poet to whom to
ascribe it."
At the time " Scots Wha Hae " was written
Burns was in correspondence with Thomson re-
garding his collection of songs, and in September,
So Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
1793, we find him writing to Thomson in the fol-
lowing terms, and sending a copy of the ode amended
and improved considerably on the foregoing draft.
He wrote thus —
"My Dear Sir, — You know that my pretensions to musical taste
are merely a few of Nature's instincts, untaught and untutored by art.
For this reason, many musical compositions, particularly where much
of the merit lies in counterpoint, however they may transport and
ravish the ears of your connoisseurs, affect my simple lug no otherwise
than merely as melodious din. On the other hand, by way of amends,
I am delighted with many little melodies, which the learned musician
despises as silly and insipid. I do not know whether the old air " Hey,
tuttie, taitie," may rank among this number ; but well I know that, with
Eraser's hautboy, it has often filled by eyes with tears. There is a
tradition which I have met with in many places in Scotland, that it was
Robert Bruce's March at the battle of Bannockburn. This thought, in
my yesternight's evening-walk, warmed me to a pitch of enthusiasm on
the theme of liberty and independence, which I threw into a kind of
Scots Ode, fitted to the air, that one might suppose to be the gallant
royal Scot's address to his heroic followers on that eventful morning.
BRUCE TO HIS MEN AT BANNOCKBURN.
Tune — He}' ttittie taitie.
Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed.
Or to victoria !
Now's the day, and now's the hour ;
See the front of battle lour ;
See approach proud Edward's power —
Chains and slaverie !
Wha will be a traitor-knave ?
Wha can fill a coward's grave ?
Wha sae base as be a slave ?
Let him turn, and flee !
Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand, or freeman fa'.
Let him follow me !
Scots Wiia Hae." 8i
By oppression's woes and pains !
By your sons in servile chains !
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free !
Lay the proud usurpers low !
Tyrants fall in ev'ry foe !
Liberty's in ev'ry blow ! —
Let us do or die !
So may God ever defend the cause of Truth and Liberty, as He did
that day ! Amen.
RoBT. Burns.
P.S. — I shewed the air to Urbani, who was highly pleased with it,
and begged me make soft verses for it ; but I had no idea of giving
myself any trouble on the subject till the accidental recollection of that
glorious struggle for Freedom, associated with the glowing ideas of some
other struggles of the same nature, not quite so ancient, roused my
rhyming mania. Clarke's set of the tune, with his bass, you will find
in the Museum, though I am afraid that the air is not what will entitle
it to a place in your elegant selection.
R. B.
" So ' Scots wha hae' was," says William Wallace
in his edition of Chambers's " Burns," " to some extent
inspired by the success of the French in beating back
the enemies of their republic ; although it may be
assumed that Burns in writing it had in his mind the
message sent by the Scottish Parliament to the Pope
after the battle of Bannockburn : ' Not for glory,
riches, or honour did we fight, but for liberty alone,
which no good man abandons but with his life.'
The association of ideas came naturally enough to a
Scottish patriot of Jacobite leanings. The English
Ministers who had declared war on the French Re-
publicans, and so ruined the still struggling Scottish
commerce, became in his imagination the ancient
enemies of the old-time allies, France and Scotland.
G '
82 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Under cover of a fourteenth-century battle-song he
was really liberating his soul against the Tory tyranny
that was opposing liberty at home and abroad, and
moreover, striking at the comfort of his own fireside."
The exact time at which the song was composed
is in dispute. Syme tells us that he received a copy
of it on the morning following the storm on the
Galloway moors, and Burns, writing to Thomson
some weeks later, says : — " I have this moment finished
the song, so you have it glowing from the mint."
After all, the point is not of very great importance,
and there may be truth in both versions of the story.
It seems impossible that Syme would create a legend
such as this when there was really no purpose to be
served. A first draft may have been given to him at
the time he says, and yet the poet may h^\e finished
the song " the moment " before he sat down to write
to Thomson.
Mr. Andrew Lang, in his " Introduction to Selected
Poems of Robert Burns" — published in 1891 — charged
the poet with ignorance regarding the history of his
country. Burns, he says, " was under a delusion
common in Scotland as to the Edward whose forces
were defeated at Bannockburn," and he goes on to
say that the " proud usurper " can only " mean
Edward I.; and it was quite another Edward, one
neither conspicuously cruel nor able, that Burns
mistakenly denounces." It may hardly be worth
while labouring the point, as after all the opinion
may only have been expressed with the fond
desire of saying something new, and yet it would
seem as though Mr. Lang had mistaken Burns, rather
"Scots Wha Hae." 85
than Burns the particular English king. It is not
to be supposed that the poet had even the slightest
doubt regarding the particular Edward who was
overthrown at Bannockburn. To a copy of the
song which he sent to Dr. Hughes of Dumfries, he
appended the following postscript, which is at once
conclusiv^e proof of his knowledge of the history of
the period : —
"This battle was the decisive blow which put Robert I., commonly
called Robert de Bruce, in quiet possession of the Scottish Throne. It
was fought against Edward II., son of that Edward who shed so much
blood in Scotland in consequence of the dispute between Bruce and
Balliol.
"Apropos, when Bruce fled from London to claim the Scottish
crown, he met with the Cummin, another claimant of the crown, at
Dumfries. At the altar in the priory there they met ; and it is said
that Bruce offered to Cummin — ' Give me your land and I'll give you
my interest in the crown, or vice versa.''
" WTiat passed nobody knows ; but Bruce came in a great flurry to
the door and called out to his followers — ' I am afraid that I have slain.
the Cummin !' 'Are you only afraid V replied Sir Roger de Kilpatrick
(ancestor to the present Sir James Kilpatrick of Closeburn), and ran into
the church and stabbed Cummin to the heart ; and coming back said,
shewing a bloody dagger, 'I've sickered him 1' that is, in English,
' I have secured him.'
" Until lately this was the motto of the Closeburn family; but the
late Sir Thomas changed it into ' I make sure.' The crest still is ' The
bloody dagger.'"
The association of the air " Hey, tuttie, taitie "
with the song was signally appropriate. The tradition
prevailed that to this tune Bruce marched to the field
where Scotland's independence was achieved, and the
poet, in his Notes to Johnson's " Musical Museum,"
has put the following on record with reference
84 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
to it — " I have met the tradition universally over
Scotland, and particularly about Stirling, in the
neighbourhood of the scene, that this air was Robert
Eruce's march to the battle of Bannockburn."
Greig, in his Scots Minstrelsie, says, " The air is
also said by some to have been sung by Alexander
Montgomery, a pensioner at the Court of James VI.,
as an improvement on an earlier song of the same
name popular in the times of the poet Dunbar (1500)
and Gavin Douglas (15 12). We are further told
the same air was afterwards set — about 1720 — to
a Jacobite drinking song entitled * Here's to the
King, Sir.' It has moreover been supposed that the
expression ' Hey Tuttie Taitie ' arose from the
mistake of an ignorant copyist in an ignorant age,
who had made a jumble of the title and the Italian
•direction ' tutti, etc.,' written at the top of a page
regarding the performance of the music."
The tradition, which was inserted by the poet in
the second volume of the Museum, was challenged by
Ritson in his " Essay on Scottish Song," published in
1794, who insisted that the only music the Scots had
in those days was supplied by horns, and he cited
Barbour and Froissart in his defence. James Hogg
entered the lists on behalf of the tradition, and replied
to Ritson's argument with the words — ''Hey tuttie
taitie is evidently a bugle tune, which the critic might
have known if he had possessed even the ear of a
bullock!" The late J. Wood Muir of Glasgow,
writing on the subject of " Scotch Music " in Grove's
Dictionary of Music, regards the words " tuti taiti" as
Scots Wha Hae." S5
an attempt to imitate the trumpet-notes ; and in
defence of his opinion cites the following lines from,
a Jacobite song : —
" When you hear the trumpet soun'
Tuti taiti to the drum,
Up sword and doon gun,
And to the loons again."
The tune selected by the poet for his Ode did
not meet with approval from Thomson, and on
5th September, 1793, he replied to the bard in
the following terms : —
"My Dear Sir, — I believe that it is generally allowed that the
greatest modesty is the sure attendant of the greatest merit. While
you are sending me verses that even Shakespeare might be proud to
own, you speak of them as if they were ordinary productions ! Your
Heroic ode is to me the noblest Composition of the kind in the Scottish
language. I happened to dine yesterday with a party of your friends,
to whom I read it. They were all charmed with it ; intreated me to
find out a suitable Air for it ; and reprobated the idea of giving it a
tune so totally devoid of interest or grandeur as 'Hey tuttie taitie.'
Assuredly, your partiality for this tune must arise from the ideas
associated in your mind by the tradition concerning it ; for I never
heard any person, and I have conversed again and again with the
greatest enthusiasts for Scots airs — I say, I never heard any one speak
of it as worthy of notice.
" I have been running over the whole hundred Airs of which I lately
sent you the List ; and I think ' Lewie Gordon ' is most happily adapted
to your ode ; at least, with a very slight variation of the fourth line,
which I shall presently submit to you. There is in ' Lewie Gordon '
more of the grand than the plaintive, particularly when it is sung with
a degree of spirit, which your words would oblige the singer to give it.
I would have no scruple about substituting your ode in the room of [the
song], ' Lewie Gordon,' which has neither the interest, the grandeur,
nor the poetry, that characterise your Verses. Now, the variation I have
to suggest upon the last line of each verse (the only line too short for
the air) is as follows : —
Verse ist, Or to g^oriotes victory.
2d, Chains — chains and slavery.
26 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Verse 3d, Let him, iet him turn and flee.
4th, Let him bravely follow me.
5th, But they shall, they shall be free.
6th, Let us, let us do — or die !
" If you connect each line with it own verse, I do not think you
will find that either the sentiment or the expression loses any of its
energy.
•'The only line which I dislike in the whole of the song is
* Welcome to your gory bed !' Would not another word be preferable
to 'Welcome?' In your next I will expect to be informed whether
you agree to what I have proposed. The little alterations I submit
with the greatest deference."
A week later, Thomson, in writing to Burns re-
garding other songs, returns to the subject of " Scots
wha hae " with still further suggested improvements.
He says : —
One word more with regard to your heroic ode. I think, with great
deference to the poet, that a prudent general would avoid saying any-
thing to his soldiers which might tend to make death more frightful
than it is. * Gory ' presents a disagreeable image to the mind ; and to
tell them, 'Welcome to your gory bed,' seems rather a discouraging
address, notwithstanding the alternative which follows. I have shewn
the song to three friends of excellent taste, and each of them objected
to this line, which emboldens me to use the freedom of bringing it
again under your notice. I would suggest —
Now prepare for honour's bed,
Or for glorious victory.
The idea of altering the song to suit the air
*' Lewie Gordon " seems to have been readily enter-
tained by Burns, and he set himself to reconstruct it
accordingly. This later suggestion by Thomson re-
garding " honour's bed," however, did not find favour
with the poet, who replied as follows : —
I am happy, my dear Sir, that my ode pleases you so much. Your
idea 'honour's bed,' is, though a beautiful, a hackney'd idea ; so, if you
please, we will let the line stand as it is. I have altered the song as
follows : —
"Scots Wha Hae." 87
bannockburn.
Robert Bruce's Address to his Army.
Scots, wha hae \vi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led ;
Welcome to your gory bed !
Or to glorious victorie !
Now's the day, and now's the hour ;
See the front o' battle lour ;
See approach proud Edward's power —
Edward ! Chains and Slavery !
Wha will be a traitor knave ?
Wha can fill a coward's grave ?
Wha sae base as be a slave ?
Traitor ! Coward ! turn and flee !
Wha for Scotland's King and Law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw.
Free-man stand, or Free-man fa' —
Sodger ! Hcio ! on wi' me !
By Oppression's woes and pains !
By your sons in servile chains !
We will drain our dearest veins.
But they shall be — shall be free !
Lay the proud usurpers low !
Tyrants fall in every foe !
Liberty's in every blow !
Forward ! let us Do or Die !
N.B. — I have borrowed the last stanza from the common-stall
edition of Wallace : —
• A false usurper sinks in every foe,
And liberty returns with every blow.' —
A couplet worthy of Homer."
Thus " Scots wha hae," attired in the hideous dress
which Thomson had partly suggested, and partly
caused to be woven, and robbed of much of its
former grandeur, till it was reduced at times to a
88 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
burlesque, was sent back to Edinburgh for approval
by the editor of the forthcoming musical miscellany.
The alterations suggested by Burns did not satisfy
him. In reply he proceeded to still further "improve-
ments," but these were dismissed by the Bard, who
wrote —
"' Who shall decide when Doctors disagree ?' ^ly ode pleases me
so much that I cannot alter it. Your proposed alterations would, in my
opinion, make it tame. I am exceedingly obliged to you for putting me
on reconstructing it, as I think I have much improved it. Instead of
' Soger ! hero ! ' I will have it to be ' Caledonian ! on wi' me ! '
" I have scrutinised it over and over ; and to the world, some way
or other, it shall go as it is. At the same time, it will not in the least
hurt me tho' you leave the song out altogether, and adhere to your first
intention of adopting Logan's verses."
Writing of Thomson's suggested alterations, Currie
says — "Burns adopted the alterations proposed by his
friend and correspondent in former instances, with
great readiness ; perhaps, indeed, on all indifferent
occasions. In the present instance, however, he re-
jected them, though repeatedly urged with determined
resolution. With every respect for the judgment of
Mr. Thomson and his friends, we may be satisfied
that he did so. He who, in preparing for an engage-
ment, attempts to withdraw his imagination from
images of death, will probably have but imperfect
success, and is not fitted to stand in the ranks of
battle, where the liberties of a kingdom are at issue.
Of such men, the conquerors of Bannockburn were
not composed. Bruce's troops were inured to war,
and familiar with all its sufferings and dangers. On
the eve of that memorable day, their spirits were,
without doubt, wound up to a pitch of enthusiasm, at
"Scots Wha Hae." 89-
which danger becomes attractive, and the most terrific
forms of death are no longer terrible. Such a strain
of sentiment this heroic ' welcome ' may be supposed
well calculated to elevate — to raise their heads high
above fear, and to nerve their arms to the utmost
pitch of mortal exertion."
To the world, some way or other, "Scots wha hae"
went as it was.^^ It was six years before it was given
to the public in Thomson's collection — "The Melodies
of Scotland," — and it appeared in the second volume
set to the air "Lewie Gordon." On the publication of
the third volume, however, it was found that the
opinion of Burns had prevailed, for there his Ode
appeared set to the tune of his choice, " Hey tuttie
taitie." In presenting it Thomson makes the follow-
ing remarks : — " The Poet originally intended this
noble strain for the air of Hey tiUtie taitie ; but on a
suggestion from the editor, who then thought Lewie
Gordon a better tune for the words, they were united
together and published in the preceding volume. The
editor, however, having since examined the air Hey
ttittie taitie with more particular attention, frankly
owns that he has changed his opinion ; and that he
thinks it much better adapted for giving energy to
the poetry than the air of Lewie Gordon. He there-
fore sent it to Haydn, who has entered into the spirit
of it with a felicity peculiar to himself; his inimitable
symphonies and accompaniments render it completely
martial and highly characteristic of the heroic verses.
It is worthy of remark that this appears to be the
oldest Scottish air concerning which anything like
evidence is to be found."
90 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
The writer of an article in the fourth volume of
" Burnsiana " edited by Mr. John D. Ross, writes thus
with regard to the air selected by the poet for his ode,
" In the history of a tune we occasionally encounter
some curious and unsuspected transformations. The
air of * Tutti taitie ' shows a curious variety of uses.
From a quaint old pastoral it passes into a boisterous
drinking-song. Then from a fierce defiant battle-cry,
it seeks rest, as if with wearied wing, in the tender
pathos of ' The Land o' the Leal,' Verily on the
world's stage a tune, like a man, in its time plays
many parts." Writing on the same subject in an
earlier volume of "Burnsiana," Mr, J, Cuthbert
Hadden says, "Burns's tune is not the tune which
we now use, our present air being more worthy and
nobler in every respect than the older air. Curiously
the same tune, with a different rhythm, is sung to
* The Land o' the Leal,' where it becomes one of the
gentlest and most pathetic of melodies. The tune as
sung to ' Scots wha hae,' is one of great boldness and
grandeur, and the words and music combined cannot
fail to move the heart of every one who has in his
soul the true spirit of music and of patriotism,"
It is a noticeable feature in the life of Burns that he
lavished copies of his latest effusions upon his friends.
To duplicate his poems seems to have given him
little or no trouble, and his correspondents were con-
sequently favoured with copies whenever a new poem
was completed. Writing to a Captain , (pro-
bably. Captain Robertson of Lude), a few weeks after
finally adjusting the song with Thomson, he says —
"Scots Wiia Hae." 91
" I mentioned to you a Scots ode or song I had
lately composed, and which, I think, has some merit.
Allow me to enclose it. When I fall in with you at
the theatre, I shall be glad to have your opinion of it.
Accept of it, Sir, as a very humble but most sincere
tribute of respect from a man who, dear as he prizes
poetic fame, yet holds dearer an independent mind."
About a week later he sent a copy to the Earl of
Buchan, writing as follows : —
Dumfries, I2thjan., 1794.
" My Lord, — Will your Lordship allow me to present you with
the inclosed little composition of mine, as a small tribute of gratitude
for that acquaintance with which you have been pleased to honor me.
Independent of my enthusiasm as a Scotsman, I have rarely met with
anything in history which interests my feelings as a man, equal with the
story of Bannockburn. On the one hand, a cruel, but able usurper,
leading on the finest army in Europe to extinguish the last spark of
freedom among a greatly-daring and greatly-injured people ; on the
other hand, the desperate relics of a gallant nation, devoting themselves
to rescue their bleeding country, or perish with her.
" Liberty ! thou art a prize truly, and indeed invaluable ! — for never
canst thou be too dearly bought !
" If my little Ode has the honor of your Lordship's approbation, it
will gratify my highest ambition. I have the honor to be, etc.,
As we have said, " Scots wha hae " appeared in
the Morning Chronicle for May 8, 1794, and since then
who shall number its appearances in this, that, and
the other journal, or miscellany, or kindred work ?
To few compositions, if indeed to any, has greater
popularity been accorded. The song has become the
'' Marseillaise " of Scotland, and with " Auld Lang
Syne " the gathering cry of Scotsmen in every clime.
92 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
It has also been frequently called upon to represent
the national bard in foreign tongues. Here we have
it in its French dress, and it will be seen that it is the
version rejected by the Scottish public that has fallen
into the translator's hands : —
bannockeurn.
Ecossais, qui avez saigne sous Wallace,
Ecossais, que Bruce a souvent conduits,
Soyez les bienvenus a votre lit sanglant
Ou a la victoire glorieuse !
Voici le jour et voici I'heure,
Voyez le front de la bataille se rembrunir ;
Voyez approcher les forces de I'orgueilleux Edouard —
Edouard ! les chaines et I'esclavage !
Qui sera un infame traitre !
Qui peut remplir sa tombe d'un lache
Qui assez bas pour etre esclave ?
Traitre ! lache ! tourne et fuis !
Que pour le roi et la loi de I'Ecosse
Vout tirer avec vigueur I'epec de la liberte,
Vivre homnie libre, ou perir homme libre ?
Caledonien, alions avec moi !
Par les niaux et les peines de I'oppression !
Par vos fils aux chaines de I'esclave !
Nous tarirons nos plus precieuses veines,
Mais ils seront— ils seront libres !
Jetons a bas ces fiers usurpateurs !
Un t3'ran tombe dans chaque enneml !
La liberte est dans chaque coup !
En avant ! vaincre ou niourir !
To the general reader translation will doubtless
prove uninteresting, and it is, therefore, needless that
we should present other versions.
" Scots Wha Hae."
93
In addition to the foregoing, "Scots wha hae" is
to be found in " Robert Burns in other Tongues," a
volume edited by Mr. William Jack, in German, Irish
Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Hungarian, Italian, Swedish,
Welsh, and Latin.
" Scots wha hae " is one of the group of songs
which the critics have chosen as a basis on which to
found their appreciation of the poet, and in connection
with our subject it may not be unfitting if we select
a few of the criticisms passed upon it — the thoughts
of great minds, — and with them close our history of
the battle-ode.
Professor Masson, unveiling the Burns statue at
Aberdeen, spoke in glowing language of the Ode.
■" Is not," said he, " the Scottish national lyric for all
time Burns's 'Scots wha hae?' Some critics of late
have been sneering even at that lyric, finding fault
with it on account of some finical objections to the
wording, but in reality disliking the sentiment it
-would immortalise, and voting it obsolete and bar-
baric. One must differ here from the critics whoever
they are. The wording of the lyric accords with the
.sentiment ; and both are grand. For the sentiment
of Scottish nationality is not something barbaric and
obsolete, the poetical expression of which is justifiable
only on historical grounds ; it exists indestructibly
yet among the powers and forces of the present com-
posite and united British body politic, and is capable
of services in the affairs of that body politic that may
be of incalculable utility even yet. Imagine a Scottish
recfiment on a foreiffn battlefield. Imagine it driven
94 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
back for the moment, foiled, fatigued, and dispirited.
' Scots vvha hae ' shouts their commander, or someone
else ; and no more is needed. They recollect, or half-
recollect the rest : —
Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand or freeman fa',
Let him on wi' me.
They thrill with that recollection, or half-recollection ;
they rally as they thrill ; the Scottish soul returns in
them ; they face about again ; they are unconquerable
now ; they fight and die like demigods."
Who shall say that Professor Masson has over-
estimated the effect which " Scots wha hae " would
produce? Who, that has stood at Bannockburn, has
not felt his blood thrill, when " Scots wha hae " rose
into the air, and that from a scene of smiling peace ?
One can hardly over-estimate the influence which the
ode would exercise in the field of action.
Dr. Charles Rogers, the joint-author of " The Book
of Robert Burns," speaking at the unveiling of the bust
of the bard in the Wallace Monument at Stirling, spoke
thus of " Scots wha hae " : — " Vehement, vigorous,
and intense, this ode is an embodiment of patriotic
ardour, thrilling aspirations, and intellectual strength.
Equalled in grace of diction, it has not been reached
in terse delineation, or in moral force. It is a clear,
round pebble in a casket of gems — a diamond in a
cabinet of rubies."
" All Scotsmen at home and abroad," says Professor
Wilson, " swear this is the grandest Ode out of the
Bible. What if it be not an Ode at all ? An Ode,
"Scots Wiia Hae." 95
however, let it be ; then wherein lies the power it
possesses of stirring up into a devouring fire the/^;'-
fervidiini mgeniuvi Scotoruin ? The two armies
suddenly stand before us in order of battle — and in
the grim repose preceding the tempest we hear but
the voice of Bruce. The whole Scottish army hears it
— now standing on their feet — risen from their knees
as the Abbot of Inchaffray had blest them and the
Banner of Scotland with its roots of Stone. At the
first six words a hollow murmur is in that wood of
spears. ' Welcome to your gory bed !' a shout that
shakes the sky. Hush ! hear the king. At Edward's
name what a yell ! ' VVha will be a traitor knave ? '
Muttering thunder growls reply. The inspired Host
in each appeal anticipates the Leader — yet shudders
with fresh wrath, as if each reminded it of some
intolerable wrong. ' Let us do or die ' — the English
are overthrown — and Scotland is free.
"That is a very Scottish critique indeed — but none
the worse for that ; so our English friends must for-
give it, and be consoled by Flodden. The Ode is
sublime. Death and Life at that hour are one and
the same to the heroes. So that Scotland but survive,
what is breath or blood to them ? Their being is in
their country's liberty, and with it secured they will
live for ever.
" Our critique is getting more and more Scottish
still ; so to rid ourselves of nationality, we request
such of you as think we overland the Ode to point out
one word in it that would be better away. You can-
not. Then, pray, have the goodness to point out one
g6 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
word missing that ought to have been there — please
to insert a desiderated stanza. You cannot. Then
let the bands of all the Scottish regiments play ' Hey
tuttie taitie ;' and the two Dun-Edins salute one
another with a salvo that shall startle the echoes from
Berwick-Law to Benmore."
With Carlyle we began, with Carljde we shall close.
•*' So long," wrote the Sage of Chelsea, " as there is
warm blood in the heart of Scotchman or man, it will
move in fierce thrills under this war-ode ; the best, we
believe, that was ever written by any pen."
"BY ALLAN STREAM I CHANCED TO ROVE."
N speaking of ' Allan Water' three songs
will readily recur to the mind. These
are, "On the Banks of Allan Water,"
by Matthew Gregory Lewis, "Jessie, the
Flower of Dunblane," by Robert Tannahill, and " By
Allan Stream I Chanced to Rove," by Robert Burns.
■Curiously enough, the least known of the three is
that by Burns. It never seems to have acquired
popularity, although for merit it will compare favour-
ably with many of his lyrics. Its main attraction for
us at present may be said to lie in the fact that it
belongs to the County. Here, however, we may be
met with opposition, for, in truth, the song may be
also claimed for Perthshire. The Allan rises in Perth-
shire, flows southwards into Stirlingshire, where it
joins the Forth a short distance below the far-famed
Bridge of Allan.
The poet, writing to George Thomson under date
August, 1793, says —
" I walked out yesterday evening with a volume of the Museum in
my hand, when, turning up Allan Water, ' What numbers shall the
muse repeat,' etc., it appeared to me rather unworthy of so fine an air,
and recollecting that it is on your list, I sat and raved under the shade
of an old thorn, till I wrote one to suit the measure. I may be wrong,
but I think it not in my worst style. You must know that in Ramsay's
97 II •
98 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
•Tea-Table, where the modern song first appeared, the ancient name of
the tune, Allan says, is 'Allan Water, or My Love Annie's very Bonie.'
This last has certainly been a line of the original song ; so I took up
the idea, and, as you see, have introduced the line in its place, which
I presume it formerly occupied ; though I likewise give you a choosing
line, if it should not hit the cut of your fancy :
BY ALLAN STREAM I CHANCED TO ROVE.
Tune — Allan Water.
By Allan Stream I chanc'd to rove.
While Phebus sank beyond Benledi ;* * A high moon-
_, . , , . • ^1 ) it, tain to the west of
The winds were whispermg thro the grove, Strathallan.
The yellow corn was waving ready ;
I listen'd to a lover's sang.
An' thought on youlhfu' pleasures monie, ,
And aye the wild-wood echoes rang ; —
O, dearly do I love thee, Annie ! ^*
O, happy be the woodbine bower,
Nae nightly bogle make it eerie !
Nor ever sorrow stain the hour.
The place and time I met tny dearie !
Her head upon my throbbing breast,
She, sinking, said : — " I'm thine for ever !"
While monie a kiss the seal imprest —
The sacred vow we ne'er should sever.
The haunt o' Spring's the primrose-brae,
The Summer joys the flocks to follow.
How cheery thro' her short'ning day
Is Autumn in her weeds o' yellow !
But can they melt the glowing heart,
Or chain the soul in speechless pleasure,
Or thro' each nerve the rapture dart.
Like meeting her, our bosom's treasure ?
" Bravo ! say I ; it is a good song, should you think so too (not else),
you can set the music to it, and let the other follow as English verses."
To this epistle Thomson replied in a most con-
gratulatory manner on the following day : —
•♦ Bravissimo ! I say. It is an excellent song. There is not a single
line that could be altered. Of the two lines—' O my love Annie's very
"By Allan's Stream I Chaxced to Rove." 99
bonie !' and 'O dearly do I love thee, Annie!' I prefer the latter
decidedly. Till I received this song, I had half resolved not to include
' Allan Water ' in the collection, and for this reason, that it bears such
a near resemblance to a much finer air — at least, a greater favourite of
mine — 'Galashiels' or 'Ah, the poor shepherd's mournful fate;' the
beginning is almost quite the same."
Again the public have reversed the judgment of
Thomson. They spurned his version of ' Scots wha
hae,' and notwithstanding his plaudits of ' Allan
Water ' popularity has never been accorded the
effusion. The fame of Burns is secured by a rich
garland of lyrics, but the "excellent song" is not of
the number.
The Editors of The Centenary Burns fall into
error in their treatment of the MSS. of " By Allan
Stream." Their note says "'Benledi' — 'A mountain
to the north of Stirling' (R. B. in Lochryan MS.);
'A mountain in Strathallan, 3009 feet' (R. B. in
Thomson MS.) His geography is faulty : Strath-
allan is to the north of Stirling [the Allan flows by
Dunblane and Bridge of Allan into the Forth], but
Ben Ledi is about 20 miles west-north-west." Burns's
marginal note to the song was, as quoted, "A high
mountain to the west of Strathallan." In Currie's
edition it is rendered as, " A mountain west of Strath-
allan, 3009 feet high— R. B." Either of these notes
indicates that the poet's geographical knowledge on
this point was as accurate as that of Messrs. Henley
and Henderson.
"HUGHIE GRAHAM."
|HE great work engaged in by Sir Walter
Scott, viz., his rescuing from oblivion the
ballad minstrelsy of Scotland was in some
measure anticipated by Burns. The Ayr-
shire bard, it is true, did not set himself methodically
to collect specimens of the earlier muse, but when a
ballad came in his way he did not fail to make a note
of it. Of the compositions rescued by the poet,
" Hughie Graham " is one, and it has a special interest
for us in the fact that, while the version given by
Scott belongs to the Borderland, that noted by Burns
belongs to Stirlingshire. Burns contributed his ver-
sion to Johnson's Musical Museum, accompanied by
the note — " There are several editions of this ballad.
This here inserted is from oral tradition in Ayrshire,
where, when I was a boy, it was a popular song. It,
originally, had a simple old tune, which I have for-
gotten." This is all the history of the ballad so far as
Burns is concerned. The version sent to the Museum
contained two verses — 3 and 8 — which, according to
Cromek, were the work of the poet, while certain other
stanzas — 9 and 10 — were retouched by him. Burns's
version is as follows : —
Our lords are to the mountains gane,
A hunting o' the fallow dear,
And they have gripet Hughie Graham,
For stealing o' the bishop's mare.
" HuGHiE Graham." ioi
And they have tied hhii hand and foot,
And led him up thro' SlirHnj^ town ;
The lads and lasses met him tliere,
Cried, Hiighie Graham thou rt a loon.
O lowse my right liand free, he says,
And put my braid sword in the same ;
He's no in Stirling town this day,
Dare tell the tale to Ilughie Graham.
Up then bespake the brave Whitefoord,
As he sat by the bishop's knee.
Five hundred white stots I'll gie you,
If ye'U let Ilughie Graham free.
O haud your tongue, the bishop says,
And wi' your pleading let me be ;
For tho' ten Grahams were in his coat,
Ilughie Graham this day shall die.
Up then bespake the fair Whitefoord,
As she sat by the bishop's knee ;
Five hundred white pence I'll gie you,
If ye'U gie Hughie Graham to me.
O haud your tongue now lady fair.
And wi' your pleading let me be ;
Altho' ten Grahams were in his coat.
It's for my honor he maun die.
They've ta'en him to the gallows knowe.
He looked to the gallows tree,
Yet never colour left his cheek,
Nor ever did he blink his e'e.
At length he looked round about.
To see whatever he could spy ;
And there he saw his auld father,
And he was weeping bitterly.
O haud your tongue, my father dear.
And wi' your weeping let me be ;
Thy weeping's sairer on my heart,
Than a' that they can do to me.
And ye may gie my brother John,
My sword that's bent in the middle clear.
And let him come at twelve o'clock,
And see me pay the bishop s mare.
I02 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
And ye may gie my brother James,
My sword that's bent in the middle brown,
And bid him come at four o'clock,
And see his brother Hugh cut down.
Remember me to Maggy, my wife.
The neist time ye gang o'er the moor ;
Tell her she staw the bishop's mare,
Tell her she was the bishop's whore.
And ye may tell my kith and kin
I never did disgrace their blood ;
And when they meet the bishop's cloak
To mak' it shorter by the hood.
Cromek in his " Reliques of Robert Burns " has the
following note to the foregoing ballad : —
" Burns did not choose to be quite correct in stating that this copy of
the ballad oi Hughie Graham is printed from oral tradition in Ayrshire.
The fact is, that four of the stanzas are either altered or super-added by
himself.
"Of this number the third and eighth are original, the ninth and
tenth have received his corrections. Perhaps pathos was never more
touching than in the picture of the hero singling out his poor aged
father from the crowd of spectators ; and the simple grandeur of pre-
paration for this afflicting circumstance in the verse that immediately
precedes it is matchless.
"That the reader may properly appreciate the value of Burns's
touches, I here subjoin two verses from the most correct copy of the
Ballad, as it is printed in the Border Minstrelsy, vol. ii., p. 324 : —
" He looked over his left shoulder
And for to see what he might see ;
There was he aware of his auld father.
Came tearing his hair most piteouslie.
" O hald your tongue, my father, he says,
And see that ye dinna weep for me !
For they may ravish me o' my life.
But they canna banish me from heaven hie !''
SONGS AND POEMS WITH LOCAL REFERENCES.
EVERAL of the effusions of Burns touch on
local places, and these productions conse-
quently have an added interest to natives
^^' of the shire. From the prominent part
which the county has played in Scottish history it
may indeed be matter for wonder that the poet's
references are not more numerous than they really
are. And it is curious that (excepting " Scots wha
hae " of course) his verses should refer to incidents so
remote from each other as the early struggles between
the Picts and the Scots, and the battle at Sheriffmuir
in connection with the Rising of 17 15.
In his notes on Stirlingshire contained in the
Diary of his northern tour (see ante page 7) he refers
to Camelon as " the ancient metropolis of the Picts,"
and in his ballad " Caledonia " he invests it with the
same dignity. Reviewing the successive attacks which
were made on Scotland by alien powers, he thus refers
to the " auld enemies " : —
The Camelon savage disturbed her repose
With tumult, disquiet, rebellion and strife ;
Provok'd beyond bearing, at last she arose.
And robb'd him at once of his hopes and his life.
This reference to the Picts is of course somewhat in
error. The poet looked upon the Scots as themselves
103
I04 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
the predecessors of the later nation, and consequently
regarded the Picts as an alien power. Bellenden's
Croniclis, the vernacular version of Boece's History,
says Chambers, repeated in many popular forms,
describes at length the siege, capture, and destruction
of Camelon by Kenneth Macalpin (referred to A.D.
839) as the final subversion and practical extirpation
of the Picts, and their disappearance from history.
This is, of course, wholly unhistorical.
The "Camelon savage" has been rendered variously
by different Editors. Currie and Chambers gave it as
" Cameleon " while Scott Douglas and Wallace print
it " Camelon." This latter seems to be the better
reading, but the Editors of the " Centenary Burns "
retain "Cameleon" and add the note "'Cameleon-
Savage': — The Pict, who dyed and stained and
parti-coloured his person with woad." It is of course
impossible to say whether it was the inhabitant of
" the ancient metropolis of the Picts " or the " dyed
and stained and parti-coloured savage " who was
present to the mind of Burns when he wrote the
poem.
It is a far cry from the battles of the Picts to the
Jacobite risings, but it is in his ballad of " The Battle
of Sherramoor " that Stirlingshire comes in for some
touches of his pen. On the authority of Currie it is
affirmed that the ballad was composed in 1787 about
the time of the poet's tour to the north. Whether
this be true or not, the composition does not seem to
have been suggested by any visit to the field of battle
for, while in his journey he would see, and perhaps
Songs, Poems, Local References. 105'
have pointed out to him, Sheriffmuir where the battle
was fought, he does not seem to have actually visited
the scene.
Burns's effusion is a summary of a somewhat
diffuse ballad written by the Rev. John Barclay, a
Berean minister, which was entitled : — " The Dialogue
Betwixt William Ltickladle and Thomas Clcancogue,
who were Feeding their Sheep upon the Ochil Hills,
13th November, 171 5. Being the day the Battle of
Sheriffmuir was fought. To the tune of The Cameron
Men" As the title bears, the ballad takes the form
of a dialogue, and this Burns maintains in his song.
The difficulty as to which side had taken flight pre-
sented itself to the shepherds, and Thomas Clean-
cogue is interrupted in his description of the battle by
William exclaiming —
" ' O, how Deil ! Tam, can that be true ?
The chase gaed frae the north, man !
I saw mysel, they did pursue
The horseman back to Forth, man ;
And at Dunblane, in my ain sight,
They took the brig wi' a' their might,
And straught to Stirling wing'd their flight ;
But, cursed lot ! the gates were shut,
And mony a huntit poor red-coat
For fear amaist did swarf, man ! ' "
The Forth — the Rubicon of Scottish History —
with its marvellous links and its charms for various
bards, was not forgotten by Burns. In his epistle to
William Simpson, written in 1785, he bewails that
while Forth and Tay have found their poets, the-
rivers of his native district remain unsung : —
Ramsay and famous Fergusson
Gied Forth an' Tay a lilt aboon ;
io6 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Yarrow and Tweed, to monie a tune,
Ower Scotland rings
While Irwin, Lugar, Aire and Doon
Naebody sings.
And in his song "Yon wild, mossy mountains" he
says, referring to the attractions of the place mentioned
in the lyric : —
Not Cowrie's rich valley, nor Forth's sunny shores,
To me hae the charms o' yon wild, mossy moors.
Again, in the fragment " Out over the Forth," which
he has left us, we find this river suggesting itself to
the bard : —
Out over the Forth, I look to the north ;
But what is the north and its Highlands to me ?
The south nor the east gie ease to my breast —
The far foreign land, or the wide rolling sea :
But I look to the west when I gae to rest,
That happy my dreams and my slumbers may be ;
For far in the west lives he I lo'e best.
The man that is dear to my babie and me.
The places of interest — natural and historic — of
the shire have thus had their measure of treatment
from Burns, and possibly some of the productions
may have been written —
" While winds frae off Ben-Lomond blew.
SOME COUNTY "INTIMATES" OF
ROBERT BURNS,
|F the large army of "intimates" and others
connected with Burns a few may be
claimed by residence or otherwise as
having some connection with Stirlingshire,
and short biographical notes concerning these may
not be inappropriate here.
Rev. John Russell.
When Burns directed his satire against that coterie
of Ayrshire ministers who espoused what were known
as the " Auld Licht " doctrines, it fell with stinging
force on the Rev. John Russell, alias " Black Russell,"
alias " Black Jock," alias " Rumble John."
The " Black Russell " was at that time minister of
the High Church in Kilmarnock. A native of Moray-
shire, having been born there in 1740, he studied for
the Church, and after undergoing the necessary curri-
culum, received license from the Presbytery of
Chanonry in June, 1768. He was called to the High
Church, Kilmarnock, in 1774, where he laboured for
fifteen years, defending with all his power the
traditional Calvinism, the darker side of which had
become repugnant to so many of the clergy. In
107
io8 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
the battle between the Auld Licht and the New
Licht, Burns arraigned himself on the side of the
New Licht, and for the abohtion of the old theology
brought his terrible satire into play.
The first of his lampoons against the divines was
composed in 1784, and was entitled "The Twa Herds;
or the Holy Tulzie : An unco mournfu' tale." The
satire refers to a quarrel which took place between
the Rev. John Russell and his co-presbyter and
co-Auld Licht, the Rev. Alexander Moodie, minister
of the adjacent parish of Riccarton.
In the "Epistle to John Goldie" where he refers
to him as " Black Jock, the State Physician," Burns
gives unmistakable evidence that Russell was re-
garded as the leader of the Auld Licht party. His
reference to him as " Black Jock " is explained by the
preacher having been of a very dark complexion. A
contemporary thus describes him: — "He was the most
tremendous man I ever saw : Black Hugh M'Pherson
was a beauty in comparison. His voice was like
thunder, and his sentiments were such as must have
shocked any class of hearers in the least more refined
than those whom he usually addressed." This
description of the preacher is borne out by " The
Holy Fair," In that poem, after enumerating the
earlier proceedings of the sacramental feast, the poet
writes : —
But now the Lord's ain trumpet touts,
Till a' the hills are rairin,
And echoes back return the shouts ;
Black Russell is na spairin :
His piercing words, like Ilighlan' swords,
County "Intimates" of Robert Burns. 109
Divide ihe joints an' marrow ;
His talk 0' Hell, whare devils dwell,
Our verra * souls does harrow '
Wi' fright that day !
In "The Ordination" and "The Kirk's Alarm"
Russell also comes in for a share of the poet's satire.
Indeed, in the composition of these lampoons, it would
seem that "Black Jock" always recurred to the mind
of the Bard as a character who was to be overlooked
at his peril.
Transfixed in satire, Russell became the object of
■derision and sympathy — derided by those who chose
to think according to the new light, and sympathised
with by those who adhered to the older doctrine.
For ten years after the appearance of the latest
lampoon he continued to " herd the brutes " in Kil-
marnock, but on the 22nd October, 1799, he was
elected by the Kirk Session and delegates of the
West Church or second charge in Stirling to be their
minister. Accepting the call to the new sphere he
was admitted to the office on the 30th January of the
following year. It may be fair — alike to Burns and
Russell — to suppose that at that time the " skits " in
which the preacher appeared in so repellent attire
enjoyed only a local circulation, and that when he
came to Stirling he found himself away from the scene
and the influence of the satires. He would, as it
were, begin life anew, and form enemies or friends
.according as his new congregation viewed his preach-
ing. For the long period of seventeen years Russell
-continued one of the ministers of Stirling, enjoying,
Dr. Rogers informs us, the respect and confidence of
no Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
his people. His death took place at Stirling on the
23rd February, 1817, when he was in the 77th year of
his age, and 43rd of his ministry. His widow survived
him for about two years. Hugh Millar says — " He
lived to a great age, and was always a dauntless and
intrepid old man."
He was buried in the old churchyard of Stirling
under the shadow of the church in which he had
preached so long, and a monument was subsequently
erected to the memory of him and his wife.
In the course of nearly a century this memorial
stone had gone considerably to decay, but in 1886
a public movement was set on foot for its restoration.
It was re-erected on a new base, and on the back
of the stone the names of Burns and Russell were
bracketed in a somewhat more friendly fashion than
hitherto. A stanza composed of selections from
"The Twa Herds" and "The Holy Fair" now attests
to the identity of the sleeper with " Black Jock " and
" Rumble John " of the Ayrshire Auld Lichts. Few
who read the stanza and are unacquainted withUhe
poet's works would conjure up the grotesque attire in
which the preacher treads the stage of Burns's verse.
It is as follows : —
What herd like Russell telled his tale,
His voice was heard ower muir and dale,
His piercin' words, like Highlan' swords.
Divide the joints and marrow.
■ — Burns.
Jane Ferrier.
During the Edinburgh period of his life Burns
made a large circle of friends in the Scottish Capital,
County "Intimates" of Robert Burns, hi
and that circle included Mr. James Ferrier, W.S., and
his daughter Jane, who subsequently became the wife
of General Samuel Graham, Deputy Governor of
Stirling Castle. Miss Ferrier was born in 1767, and
was famous for her beauty at the time when the poet
met her. In his lines " To Miss Ferrier, enclosing
the 'Elegy on Sir J. H. Blair,'" he sings of her
charms thus : —
Jove's tunefu' dochters three times three
Made Homer deep their debtor ;
But gien the body half an e'e,
Nine Ferriers wad done better !
In 1804 Miss Ferrier was married to General
Graham, and after his appointment as Deputy
Governor of the Castle was resident in Stirling for
a number of years. Her connection with Stirling is
marked by the publication of" Lacunar Strevilinense."
This work deals with what are known as the " Stirling
Heads" — a series of rich oak carvings that formed the
roof of the Parliament House in Stirling Castle. The
carvings were ruthlessly cast down about the year
1777, and a number of them used as firewood. The
work of despoliation being observed by Mr. Ebenezer
Brown, the keeper of the jail, he succeeded in securing
certain of the carvings, and a number of years after-
wards they were brought under the notice of Mrs.
General Graham. She, together with Edward Blore^
an Edinburgh artist, made drawings of the carvings
which, engraved by Lizars, were published in 18 17
under title Lacunar Strevilinense. The work is now
rare. Mrs. Graham was sister to Miss Susan Edmon-
112 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
stone Ferrier (b. 1782, d. 1854), the authoress of
Marriage and other once popular Scotch novels.
She died at Edinburgh in 1846.
William Corbet.
Concerning William Corbet little seems to be
known. Extensive inquiries in Excise quarters at
various places have failed to produce much concern-
ing him, and his story must therefore be taken, to
a large extent, as it exists in Burns literature. The
name is a common one in the Excise service : there
were two of the same name during the bard's lifetime.
Mrs. Dunlop, writing to the poet under date l6th
February, 1790, put the question " Do you know a
Mr. Corbet in the Excise ? Could he be of any use
to you in getting on ? Pray tell me," and Burns in
reply explained, " If it is a Corbet who is what we
call one of our General Supervisors, of which we have
just two in Scotland, he can do everything for me
. . . He is a Willm Corbet, and has his home,
I believe somewhere about Stirling." Following on
this Mrs. Dunlop wrote to Corbet's wife (with whom
she was intimate) pressing the claims of Burns to
advancement, and the poet addressed Corbet himself
in correspondence. From the tone of the second
letter by the Bard it would appear that Corbet in-
terested himself in his behalf, although nothing
actually resulted in the way of promotion. When
— in 1792 — inquiry was instituted regarding the
poet's alleged disloyalty, Corbet was appointed to
make the examination, and it is generally believed
that he did his best to palliate the supposed offence.
County "Intimates" of Robert Burns. 113
So far as we have been able to Icarn, Corbet, who
in 1790, according to Burns, lived "somewhere near
Stirling," appears to have held the position of Super-
visor of Stirling district somewhere about the year
1786. At that date " William Corbet, Supervisor of
Excise," applied to the Guildry of Stirling " to free
him of his tack of a pew possessed by him in the
Guildry loft in the East Church." Mr. R. W.
Macfadzean, Ayr, to whom we applied regarding
Corbet, sends us two extracts from a volume dealing
with the trial of Deacon Brodie and George Smith
for robbing the Excise Office at Edinburgh. This
volume was published in 1788, and in the declaration
of George Smith it is stated "that Brodie first planned
the Excise Office Robberies . . , under pretence
of calling for Mi-. Corbett from Stirling and other
people, in order to learn the situation of the place,"
and also " that Brodie came to the knowledge of these
circumstances by being present when Mr. Corbett frovi
Stirling, who is a connection of Brodie's, drew money
at the Cashier's Office." As Mr. Macfadzean says,
Corbet's " connection with the worthy deacon was
nothing to his discredit, as Brodie had his friends
among the wealthy and respectable on the one side
of his character." How long Corbet filled the position
of Supervisor of Stirling district we have been unable
to learn, but he seems to have occupied a much more
important position by 1790, when we find the poet
first referring to him as one who could "do every-
thing for" him, and he was stationed at Edinburgh
in 1792 when he was commissioned to investigate the
poet's behaviour.
I
NOTABLE COUNTY CONTRIBUTORS TO BURNS
LITERATURE AND ART.
HEN the desiderated though almost im-
possible complete " Bibliography" of Burns
literature is produced it will be found that
Stirlingshire has a fair representation in
its pages. Many of the sons and daughters of the
shire have contributed to the great mass of literature
which has gathered round the national poet and his
works, and it may not be an exaggeration to say that
even a County Bibliography would make a not un-
worthy volume. That being so it must be understood
that in these pages we pass over the great army of
natives of the shire who have contributed towards the
literature of the poet, and merely mention one or two
of outstanding eminence.
James Gibson.
In many respects the name of James Gibson is
unique in Burns literature. He compiled what is so
far the most complete Bibliography relating to the
poet and his works. He was born at Stirling on
January 2, 1819, and after being educated at Kilmar-
nock Academy, was apprenticed to the drapery trade.
He was for twenty years on the road as a commercial
114
County Contributors to Burns. 115
traveller, but retired in the end of 1866, setting up in
business at Liverpool in the following year. Here he
was engaged for some considerable time. His death
took place at Stratford-on-Avon on loth July, 1886,
and he was at that time librarian to the " Shakespeare
Memorial " there.
His published works chiefly refer to Burns. In
1873 he issued for private circulation "Burns and
Masonry ;" in 1874, " The Burns Calendar : a Manual
of Burnsiana ;" in 1876 he edited the "Manual of
Religious Belief, written by William Burns, the Poet's
father, for the benefit of his children, with Biographical
Preface ;" in 1877, "The Burns Birthday Book ;" and
in 1 88 1, "The Bibliography of Robert Burns, with
Biographical and Bibliographical Notes and Sketches
of Burns Clubs, Monuments and Statues." Gibson
was the possessor of a most valuable Burnsiana
library, consisting of over 600 volumes "gathered
together after many years' patient book-hunting."'
This collection is now in the " Poet's Corner " of the
Mitchell Library, Glasgow.
Rev. Peter Hately Waddell, LL.D.
"The Life and Works of Robert Burns by P.
Hately Waddell, minister of the gospel : Glasgow,
1867," is one of the many collected editions of the
poet's works which have been produced. "It is
modelled," says TJie Centenary Burns, " as to shape,
size, and print, on ' the big Ha' Bible,' and blends the
special idiosyncracies of the sermon and the biblical
commentary ; and notwithstanding that it represents
the result of ' abundant ' labours, is so heavily over-
ii6 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
burdened with irrelevant matter, so badly confused in
arrangement, so loose in its treatment of facts, so
eccentric in its choice of text, that its independent
value is almost in inverse proportion to its bulk."
The criticism is not unjust. The editor of this edition
of the poet's works was born at Balquhatson, Sla-
mannan, Stirlingshire, on May 19, 1816. He was
educated at the Grammar School and College,
Glasgow, and having passed through the necessary
curriculum, was licensed as a minister of the Church
of Scotland in 1841. He "came out" in 1843, joining
the newly-organised Free Church, but subsequently he
seceded from that body and formed an independent
congregation, first at Girvan, and afterwards at
Glasgow, where he died in May, 1891.
He was Chairman at the Centenary Dinner in 1859,
held in the Burns Cottage at Ayr, and was an enthusi-
astic Burnsite. His contributions to literature were
many and varied, including " The Genius and Mor-
ality of Robert Burns," " The Church of Revelation
and Reality," "The Psalms Frae Hebrew intil Scottis,"
" Ossian and the Clyde," and " Isaiah intil Scottis."
He edited an edition of the Waverley Novels, and
was a well-known lecturer on subjects such as
" Luther," " Knox," " Shakespeare," " Scott." He re-
ceived the degree of LL.D., in 1868, from Tusculum
College, America.
Sir George Harvey, P.R.S.A.
The son of a watchmaker, George Harvey was
born in St. Ninians, near Stirling, in 1805. After
having received an ordinary education, he was ap-
County Contributors to Burns. 117
prenticed to a bookseller in Stirling. He early-
evinced a liking for art, and when about eighteen
years of age, he entered the Trustees' Academy at
Edinburgh. He took an active interest in the forma-
tion of the Royal Scottish Academy, and was enrolled
an Associate during its first year. In 1829 he was
admitted an Academician, and on the death of Sir
John Watson Gordon in 1864, he was appointed
President. Three years later he was knighted. His
death took place at Edinburgh on January 22, 1876.
Harvey's brush was frequently called into use to
illustrate the verse of Burns. In 1859, there was
issued " for the members of the Royal Association for
the promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland " a series of
five illustrations by Harvey, delineating " Auld Lang
Syne;" and in 1861, he joined with Horatio Mac-
culloch, Erskine Nicol, and others, in the preparation
of " The Illustrated Songs of Robert Burns." Harvey
was also called to "illustrate" the genius of Burns in
another way. In the " Phrenological Development of
Robert Burns, from a Cast of his Skull moulded at
Dumfries, with Remarks by George Combe," the
drawings of the poet's skull are from his pencil.
THE BUST OF ROBERT BURNS: NATIONAL
WALLACE MONUMENT.
fORD ROSEBERY, speaking in Glasgow at
the centenary celebration of the death of
Robert Burns, enquired — " If a roll-call of
fame were read over at the beginning of
every century, how many men of eminence would
answer a second time to their names?" The men
who are commemorated in the " Hall of Heroes " in
the National Wallace Monument on the Abbey Craig,
near Stirling, may be fairly considered as those who
would answer a second time, although they may not
all be privileged to have centenary celebrations.
Provided the Wallace Monument Custodiers pay due
respect to eminence, the acceptance of a memorial
for the " Hall of Heroes " may be regarded as one of
the highest honours that can be conferred on Scotland's
gifted sons.
The foundation stone of the national memorial to
Wallace on the Abbey Craig was laid on 24th
June, 1861, and the building was formally completed
on nth September, 1869. In 1885, the Custodiers,
finding themselves with funds on hand, resolved to en-
deavour to further embellish the building, and among
the improvements proposed was the setting aside of
1:8
The Bust of Robert Burns. 119
one of the halls, viz., the Champion Room, for the
reception of busts of eminent Scotsmen. Curiously
enough the first memorial offered to be gifted was
that of Burns. The following letter explains itself: —
Crbsson, Pa.,
September 1 8th, 1885.
My Dear Sir, — I shall consider it quite a privilege to be allowed
to add a bust to the noble Wallace Monument. As I am the first I
presume I can make a selection. In which case I prefer the author of
" Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled."
I think it best to leave to the Custodiers the selection of a sculptor.
Your draft on me will be duly honoured.
Yours very truly,
Andrew Carnegie.
Wm. Christie, Esq.
The handsome offer of Mr. Carnegie was accepted
by the Custodiers, who selected as their sculptor Mr.
D. W. Stevenson, R.S.A., Edinburgh. Mr. Stevenson,
working from the Naismyth portrait, produced a fine
likeness of the bard. The ceremony of unveiling
the bust took place on 4th September, 1886, in pre-
sence of a large assemblage, including some notable
Burns enthusiasts. Mr. Robert Yellowlees, Provost of
Stirling, presided, and the bust was unveiled amid
cheers, by Mr. Robert Mercer, Dean of the Guildry of
Stirling. About the first to express an opinion, says
a press reporter, was Mr. James M'Kie, Kilmarnock,
who, in a tone quite audible throughout the room,
repeated " It'll do. It'll do." In reply to a question,
Mr. M'Kie stated that in his opinion the bust was
perfection.
After a service of cake and wine, the gathering
adjourned to the open air, where an oration on " The
120 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Genius of Burns" was pronounced by Dr. Charles
Rogers, subsequenty joint-author of " The Book of
Robert Burns." The usual votes of thanks having
been passed, the proceedings terminated with the
singing of " Scots Wha Hae."
The bust, an illustration of which forms the frontis-
piece to the present volume, rests on a neat bracket,
carved in Scottish Gothic, designed by Mr. Kinross,
architect, Edinburgh, and on a bronze plate under-
neath are the words : —
ROBERT BURNS.
Presented by
Andrew Carnegie, Esqr.
THE CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
January 25, 1859.
IX the national celebration of the centenary
of the poet's birth, on 25th January, 1859,
Stirlingshire took an active interest. The
principal towns observed the occasion as a
holiday. The county press teemed with Burns litera-
ture in its issues immediately before and after the
event, and some of the county pupils — faithful to the
traditions of Daddy Auld and Black Jock — hurled
their wrath against the bard and his works. The
newspapers of the time afford ample proof of the
enthusiasm which permeated all classes, and of the
genius and love which were brought as offerings to
the poet's shrine. The event called forth a number
of poetical effusions, some of them of little merit, but
all testifying to the wide-spread interest that was
evinced in the occasion.
" There has been no event of public interest during
the last week," said the local press, "except the celebra-
tion of the centenary of our national poet. From the
way the centenary has been celebrated, from the en-
thusiasm manifested, we see what a firm hold the works
of Burns have on the public mind of this country.
Never was there a greater tribute paid to the memory
122 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
of any man, and we are glad to think that it will not
be barren of results. Besides the thank-offering that
will be paid to the relatives of Burns who are still
amongst us, and who are living in comparative poverty,
the feeling that has been called forth on this occasion,
will revive the spirit of many a weary 'o'erlaboured
wight,' and nerve him to the discharge of his duty,
manfully and faithfully, in whatever circumstances he
may be placed. The moral effect of the celebra-
tion on Tuesday will thus be great and lasting, and
pointed to with pride by all who love their country
and the men who contributed to raise her to the
position she now occupies among the nations of the
earth."
From the columns of the county newspapers, and
the " Chronicle of the Hundredth Birth-day of Robert
Burns," the following accounts of the various meetings
have been drawn.
The centennial celebration was observed at Airth
by a public dinner in the Crown Inn. The meeting
was most successful, and Mr. Tosh, of Newok, ably
filled the chair. After the usual loyal and patriotic
toasts, the chairman claimed a bumper to the
" Immortal Memory of Scotia's Bard," which svas
responded to with the utmost enthusiasm, honour,
and respect. Many other toasts were proposed and
duly honoured in the course of the evening. Several
other private social parties were held throughout the
district in honour of the interesting event.
The day was observed at Alva as a holiday — all
the places of business being closed, and in the evening
The Centenary Celebrations. 123
a grand soiree and concert took place in the Town
Hall, which was crowded to excess. After the soiree
broke up a large party met for supper in the
Johnstone Arms. The usual toasts were given and
appropriate songs sung.
At Bannockburn the centenary was observed by
a procession which, notwithstanding the inclemency
of the weather, came off in tolerably good order. It
returned to the Town Hall about seven o'clock, after
which the members of the Bruce and Thistle Masonic
Lodge proceeded to enjoy themselves in the host-
elry of Mr. Teasdale. In the Hall, Alex. Wilson,
Esq., younger of Craighead, presided, and gave an
excellent address. Other addresses and recitations
were given by members of the Eclectic Society.
Two gatherings were held at Bonnybridge. These
were supposed to be to some extent in opposition, but
each met with a fair share of patronage. One, which
took the form of a soiree, was held in the New School-
room. The other gathering, which partook of the
nature of a concert, was held in Mr. Gardiner's School,
and both were eminently successful.
The hundredth anniversary of the birth-day of the
national poet was celebrated at Bridge of Allan
by the Curling Club and their friends. Sixty gentle-
men sat down to dinner in the Westerton Arms.
The chair was occupied by Mr. James Hogg of the
Stirling Journal and Advertiser, who proposed "The
Immortal Memory" in an eloquent speech. A song,
composed for the occasion by Mr. John Halliday, and
entitled " The Scottish Folk," was sung by Mr. Dow
of Keirfield.
124 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
The members of the Buchlyvie Mutual Improve-
ment Society met, along with a few friends, in the
Public School, which was most tastefully decorated,
Mr. John Robertson, who occupied the chair, proposed
"The Immortal Memory." Other addresses on Burns
were given, and an ode, composed for the occasion by
Mr. P. Dun, stationmaster, Port of Menteith, was
recited by him.
The people of Campsie demonstrated on the 25th
by various entertainments. The Masonic body had a
supper and ball in the Commercial Inn ; a party of
sixty dined in the Lennox Arms ; and an excellent
entertainment was provided for upwards of 200 in the
New Subscription School-room.
At Carron a few of the admirers of Burns met in
Carron Inn. Mr. John Campbell, accountant, Carron,.
discharged the duties of the chair, and after the usual
loyal and patriotic toasts, gave a very interesting
description of the life and poetry of the immortal
bard.
At Carronshore a number of the admirers of
Scotland's poet met in the house of Alexander Hunter^
publican. The duty of the chair was confided to Mr.
John Lawson. After partaking of a most substantial
supper, the usual loyal toasts were given, after which
the chairman, in a most appropriate speech, proposed
the toast of the evening, "The Immortal Memory of
Robert Burns," which was responded to in a most
enthusiastic manner.
At Denny a tea and fruit soiree was held in the
Oddfellows' Hall. The preparations made were on a
The Centenary Celebrations. 125
scale which had never been equalled in the locality.
Long before the hour announced the company began
to assemble, and the Hall was soon filled. Shortly
before seven o'clock the speakers took their seats on
the platform — the Rev. Mr. Falconer occupying the
chair. Appropriate speeches were delivered, and a
suitable and appropriate selection of songs from the
poet's works was sung during the evening.
In the Red Lion Inn, Falkirk had a public re-
union on the afternoon of the centenary. There was
a large gathering of admirers of the bard, and a poem,
written for the celebration by Mr. John Campbell,
writer, Falkirk, was recited by him amid applause.
In Bank Street Chapel another gathering was held.
W. Hepburn, Esq., occupied the chair, and gave a
graceful outline of the poet's character. Thereafter a
programme of Burns's songs and recitations was gone
through. In connection with the Falkirk Working
Men's Burns Festival a prize com.petition was held.
Provost Keir gave a very handsome edition of Burns's
Works for the best poem by a working man — the
Committee of the Festival giving an edition of the
poet's works for the second best. Both prizes were
won by Mr. James Law, builder, Falkirk. Through-
out the whole of the day the principal offices and
shops were closed. The bells were kept ringing, and
bands of music perambulated the streets, while in the
evening there were several bonfires, and the urchins
amused themselves with "squibs," "crackers," "Roman
candles," and other specimens of pyrotechny.
The centenary was celebrated at Gargunnock
by a supper in Mrs. Hardie's. There was a numerous
126 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
attendance, and the chair was ably filled by the
Provost, who gave the toast of the evening in very
felicitous terms. Several songs were sung, and a
piece of original poetry, composed for the occasion,
was read amid applause.
At Grangemouth the centenary was observed as
a holiday. In the evening a large number of the
merchants, farmers, and other gentlemen of the town
and neighbourhood celebrated the occasion by a grand
dinner in the Zetland Arms Hotel. The musical
association of the town also afforded to a select party
of one hundred a superior treat. Some other attempts
to commemorate the centenary received their merited
encouragement.
At Kilsyth a respectable company met in the
Parish School-room — Rev. William Wallace in the
chair. After doing justice to an abundant supply of
tea and cake, a talented address on the character and
genius of Burns was delivered by the chairman. Other
addresses were given by Mr. John Wallace and Mr.
William Moffat. At the termination of the soiree a
grand ball commenced, and " tripping on the light
fantastic toe " was kept up with great spirit till an
early hour.
A number of the inhabitants of Kippen met to-
gether to unite their sentiments of sympathy and
concord with their fellow countrymen throughout the
land, in doing honour to the memory of Scotland's
immortal bard. The utmost harmony and good
feeling prevailed. A number of speeches were de-
livered on topics connected with the prosperity and
The Centenary Celebrations. 127
welfare of Scotland. Several songs from the works of
Burns were sung, and the whole proceedings were
such as to leave a pleasant impression on the minds
of all who were present.
The good folks of Laurieston manifested their
love towards the national poet by having a bonfire in
the square, around which many of the youngsters of
the town gathered, and behaved in a quiet and orderly
manner ; whilst a few of the older inhabitants enjoyed
themselves by partaking of an excellent supper in
Mr. Pratis's Inn— Mr. Murphy, Falkirk, in the chair.
After the usual toasts came " The Memory of Burns,"
" Bonnie Jean Armour," " Highland Mary," and
" Burns's Sons."
Menstrie, inspired by the prevailing enthusiasm,
and determined not to be found wanting in con-
tributing its mite of honour to the memory of
Scotia's bard, resolved, in fitting style, to celebrate the
centenary of his birth. A torch-light procession,
headed by the band, paraded the village, infinitely to
the delight of " auld wives and weans." The school-
room, festooned with evergreens for the occasion, was
filled by eight o'clock with cheerful faces and merry
hearts. The chair was occupied by Mr. John Tainsh,
and an interesting programme of song and sentiment.
was gone through. This was followed by a dance.
The centenary was observed at Milngavie by a
festival in the Town Hall — Mr. H. Carmichael, East
Chapelton, presiding. After doing justice to a sub-
stantial dinner, the chairman proposed "The Immortal
Memory of Scotland's Peasant Poet." The croupier
128 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
then gave " The Noble and Manly Independence of
Burns." Mr. R. Crawford, being called upon, gave an
original ode on " Burns and his Works," prepared for
the occasion. Other songs and poems were rendered,
and the company separated after singing " Auld
Lang Syne."
A large number of admirers of the poet, in the
village and vicinity of Polmont, celebrated the
occasion by dining together in the Black Bull on the
afternoon of Tuesday. William Thorburn, Esq., ably
filled the chair. Ample justice was done to the object
of the meeting, and appropriate songs and toasts were
spiritedly given and enthusiastically responded to.
Redding held a very enthusiastic celebration of
the centenary in Redding-Muirhead School, there
being nearly 400 present. The toast of the evening
was given from the chair in an able speech, and was
cordially responded to. During the evening poems
and songs of Burns were rendered, and a happy even-
ing terminated with the singing of " Auld Lang
Syne."
A soiree was given in the Parish School-room
at Slamannan. Mr. R. Taylor having been called to
the chair, introduced to the meeting the Rev. Mr
Home, who gave a very interesting and humorous
speech. John Boyd, Esq., M.D., then addressed the
meeting,and veryfullyand ablydiscussed the prominent
features in the character of the poet, as shown by his
craniological development. Mr. Christie drew atten-
tion to the connection between music and poetry, to
the position Burns occupied as a writer of songs, and
The Centenary Celebrations. 129
to the influence his writings have had on the popular
mind of Scotland. Several of the poet's choicest
songs were sung, and after votes of thanks to the
speakers and singers, the meeting terminated.
The Burns Centenary was celebrated in Stirling
with the utmost enthusiasm, and in a manner highly-
creditable to the town. A number of the principal
shops were closed during the day, and in the afternoon
business was generally suspended. The public bells
were rung between the hours of five and six o'clock.
It was intended that a procession should take place^
but owing to the inclemency of the weather — a heavy
gale of wind blowing from the westward with rain —
it would have been a matter of impossibility to have
displayed any banners or insignia, and consequently
that part of the arrangement was not carried out. A
grand musical festival took place in the Corn Exchange
Hall at six o'clock. Bailie Rankin was unanimously
called to the chair. After the chairman's introductory
remarks, " Scots Wha Hae " was sung by the Choral
Society, after which the Milton Instrumental Band
played the same spirited air. A number of other songs
of Burns were rendered and speeches were delivered by
Mr. Theodore Roeding, teacher of French and German
in the High School, and the Rev. William Blair, Dun-
blane. A song, composed for the occasion by Mr.
William Sinclair, was then sung by Mr. Sutherland,
The Stirling Musical Association also celebrated the
event by a gathering in a room of the High School,
j\Ir. William Mackieson, the President of the Associa-
tion, occupied the chair, and gave an address on the
K
130 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
bard and his writings. Other speeches were given
and a number of the poet's songs sung. The local
Freemasons dined in Bro. David Pollock's Corn Ex-
change Inn. The chair was occupied by R, W. M.
Dyson, and Brother Forbes, P.M., gave the toast of
the evening, " The Immortal Memory of Burns." " The
Sons of Burns " was proposed by Mr. Stevenson, and
" Burns as a Mason " by Mr. James Fleming. Several
of the poet's songs were rendered.
At St. Ninians a select party of admirers met in
Mr. Johnstone's Wallace Inn — Mr. George Pitblado in
the chair. A substantial supper crowned the board ;
and when the cloth was removed the chairman, after
giving the usual preliminary toasts, proposed, in a
stirring speech, " The Memory of Robert Burns."
Several other toasts were given, a number of Burns's
songs were sung, and after spending a pleasant even-
ing, the company separated at the " statutory hour."
July 21, 1896.
The celebrations attending the centenary of the
death of Robert Burns were not so wide-spread as
those which marked the hundredth anniversary of his
birth. Every town and village in Scotland did not
on this later, as on the former occasion, display their
interest in the centenary event, by holding individual
gatherings, but it may be safely affirmed that many
joined in spirit in the great demonstration which was
held in Dumfries on the 21st July, 1896. According
to the programme of the day's proceedings, the
Bannockburn, Denny, Dennyloanhead, and Lenzie
Burns Clubs were represented in the procession, while
The Centenary Celebrations, 131
a number of sons of the shire also made private
pilgrimage to the poet's grave ; and there were a few
gatherings throughout the county in honour of the
event Notices of these have been drawn from the
newspaper reports, which will shew that a genuine
enthusiasm prevailed. " The week that is now
ending," said the Falkirk Herald of July 25, 1896,
•*' has borne fitting and impressive testimony to the
love and appreciation with which Burns is regarded,
and we are glad to know that Falkirk has not been
backward in rendering her share of the testimony —
the meeting in the Town Hall having been a decided
success." The other tributes to the poet's memory
were also successful, and Stirlingshire may be con-
sidered as having performed a worthy part, in what is
.perhaps one of the most interesting literary functions
that has taken place.
At Falkirk the celebration meeting was held in
the Town Hall, and there was a large attendance.
Provost Weir presided, and with him on the platform
were Mr. James M'Killop, M.P., SheriffScott Moncrieff,
Mr. Wilson of Bantaskine, Mr. Sutherland of Wallside,
Mr. David Mitchell of Millfield, Rev. James Aitken,
Rev. John Scott, Bailie Flannigan, Ex-Bailie Christie,
and Mr. John Beeby, secretary of the Celebration Com-
mittee. The Wright Memorial Brass Band, Camelon,
having played a selection of melodies from Burns's
songs, the chairman explained that it was thought
right that some celebration of the centenary of the
death of the bard should take place in Falkirk,
and thereafter called upon TJr. James M'Killop,
132 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
M.P., who gave an excellent address on the
life and works of Burns. Ex-Bailie Christie also
addressed the gathering. The chairman then inti-
mated that, as many were aware, the Celebration
Committee offered a prize of a handsomely-bound
copy of the Poet's Works for the best poem on Burns
written for the occasion. Nine poems were submitted
to the judges, and the prize was awarded to Mr.
Alexander Stewart, Polmont, for the poem which was
then read by the Rev. John Scott. Songs and recita-
tions were rendered during the evening, and after the
usual votes of thanks, " Auld Lang Syne" brought
the gathering to a close.
On the Sabbath before the 21st July, the Rev^.
P. Anton, minister of Kilsyth, preached a sermon in
the Parish Church on the centenary of the death of
Burns. He took as his text ii. Kings, 13 and 21.
Burns's life from first to last, he said, had been before
the world. It was clear that Burns made himself
much worse than he was. So also had Bunyan and
many others. The people of Scotland had not been
wrong in their opinions of Bruce, Knox, Watt, Scott
and Calvin, and it is impossible they could have erred
about Burns. Two things strongly and deeply touched
Burns's sympathies — Scotland and Scotland's Church-
He was a citizen of the one and a member of the
other. He thought there was no place like Scotland,,
and he was himself a personified Scotland. His birth.
was in cold winter weather ; his death was amid the
sunshine of summer. And so it was with his memory.
They were learning now more than ever how much-
there was in him " of that Divinity which grows not
old."
The Centenary Celebrations. 133
The members of Stenhousemuir "Thistle" Burns
dub celebrated the centenary b}- a supper in the
Crown Inn. A company of fifty gentlemen were
present, and Mr. James Scott, Parish Councillor,
occupied the chair. After supper, the chairman
delivered an address on " Burns : His Life and
Works," and during the evening songs and recit-
ations were rendered.
There was no celebration in Stirling in connection
with the centenary, but the local Burns Club did not
allow the day to pass altogether without some notice
being taken of the event. A laurel wreath, prepared
by Mr. John Craig, fruiterer, Murray Place, was sent
out to the Wallace Monument and hung round the
brow of the bust of the bard. The wreath bore an
appropriate inscription and the motto " laurels ne'er
were worthier won." Mr. Ferguson, the keeper of the
Wallace Monument, also prepared a wreath from
laurels grown on the Abbey Craig, and hung it over
the shoulders of the bust. This wreath bore the
inscription, "From Freedom's ground to Freedom's
poet."
NOTES
NOTES.
Note i — Page 2.
William Nicol was born at Dumbretton, in the parish of Annan, in
1744. An itinerant teacher gave him the rudiments of education, and
so well did he succeed that he early taught a school in his mother's house.
He subsequently passed to Annan Academy and Edinburgh University.
He vras for some time one of the masters of the High School of Edin-
burgh, but, quarrelling with the Rector, he resigned and set up a
school of his own. He died at Edinburgh in 1797.
Note 2— Page 3.
Chambers is probably in error in assigning this incident to this date.
As has been seen, the journey from Edinburgh was in a chaise, and not
on horseback, and perhaps the anecdote may be more correctly attributed
io the occasion of the poet's second visit to the Carron district.
Note 3— Page 4.
In The Fifeshire Journal the last line of the stanza was printed
" For misery iie'<.>er tholed a pang," which being inconsistent with the
sense evidently intended. Chambers abered to " P'or misery ever tholed
a pang." On collation with the original on the Inn window this is
found to be correct.
Note 4 — Page 4.
Boyack was apprenticed to a shoemaker, but he left this in 1810
to study music, and after filling various situations, was appointed music
master in Madras College, St. Andrews. lie died at St. Andrews on
lOth February, 1854.
Note 5 — Page 6.
The resting-place of this warrior is in the Old Churchyard of
Falkirk, where, as mentioned by the poet, a suitable monument marks
the spot.
137
138 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Note 6 — Page 7.
Camelon's prominence in the Pictish dominion and its metropolitan
character are pretty much matter of legend. It is believed by some
that the place was possessed by the painted Picts down to the ninth
century, when Kenneth, King of Scots, meeting them in battle (A.D. 839),.
put them to the sword, " sparing neither age nor sex."
Note 7 — Page 7.
The Carron Company are among the oldest Glasgow merchants^
and the first furnace was blown on ist January, 1760. The Ironworks^
achieved almost world-wide distinction at the very outset by their
manufacture of cannon, mortar, and chain-shot for the arsenals of
Europe. Russia, Denmark, and Sardinia each drew its war supplies
from this Foundry, and Carron manufactured the whole battering Irairv
of the Duke of Wellington.
Note 8 — Page 7.
James Bruce was born at Kinnaird House in 1730. His first wife-
was Adriana Allan, the daughter of a London wine merchant. His-
second wife (in whose memory he erected the monument referred to by
the poet) was Mary Dundas, daughter of Thomas Dundas of Fingask,
The memorial is adorned with various emblematical figures and Greek
inscriptions, and bears to have been erected by Bruce "to the memory
of Mary Dundas, his wife, who died, Feb. 10, 1785.''
Note 9— Page 7.
The fame of Carron Ironworks has drawn many distinguished visitors
to their gates. In 1821, Prince Nicholas, afterwards Emperor Nicholas,
visited the works, and he was followed by Prince Leopold, and Prince
Maximilian of Austria. In July, 1859, the chief departments were
inspected by the Prince of Wales.
Note 10 — Page 7.
" Line 6. — Your porter dought na hear us. Gray, Stewart, and all
Editors but the Couraiii has 'bear,' which rhymes with 'sair,' and in
the sense of ' suffer,' or ' allow ' is the better reading." — The Centenary
Burns.
Notes. 139
Note n — Page 8.
Benson was also Blast Furnace Manager with, and was a share-
holder in, the Carron Company, He resided at West Carron, which is
close to the Ironworks, and which was at that time a farm. Here he
engaged in farming in addition to his clerical duties. He had a large
family, and one of his daughters was married to .Symington, who built
the first steamboat. One of the sons was a sea-captain in the Carron
Company's service. At a later date the family went to Australia, and
the name is now unknown in the Carron district.
Note 12— Page 10.
Herbertshire Castle on the Carron. This keep was given by one of
the early Jameses to the Earl of Wigton, in recognition of services
rendered in battle. The castle was presented as the Earl's " halbert
share," which time has changed into " Herbertshire."
Note 13 — Page id.
Denovan House lies about a mile and a quarter from the town of
Denny,
Note 14— Page 10.
The Estate of Auchenbowie is situated a few miles south from
Stirling, and is still in the possession of the Monro family. The present
representative is D. B. Monro, Esq., of Oriel College, Oxford. His-
great-grandmother was the Miss Monro of Burns's time.
Note 15 — Page 12,
In local handbooks Burns is said to have stayed in Gibb's Inn — now
the Golden Lion Hotel. The building did not pass to the Gibbs,
however, until some time subsequent to the poet's visit, and it was the
hostelry of James Wingate in 1787, At this date the Gibbs were
proprietors of an Inn situated in St, Mary's Wynd, which was considered
the principal Inn of the town until the erection of the Golden Lion
Hotel. There is a belief entertained by some that it was in this Inn in
St. Mary's Wynd that the poet slept, but local tradition is against it.
Note 16— Page 13.
In 1892 the Edinburgh Evenivg Dispatch made some startling
exposures regarding the manufacture of Bums MSS., and in the cor-
140 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
respondence which took place on the subject the following letter, dated
at Stirling, and purporting to have been written by Burns, was submitted
as having been sent out to Canada to be sold to the highest bidder, by a
Scotch gentleman who had exhausted his fortune in collecting literary
curiosities : —
Stirling, August 26th, 1787.
John Ord, Esq., Lanark.
Dear Sir, — I am forced to be more laconic in my letter, as I have
not had much time on my hands with my present travelling about. I
had some intention of sending you the songs from Edinburgh, but could
not get a chance. However, you will receive a packet of them with
this letter by the hand of the carrier. I have had a favourable settle-
ment. I am, your obliged friend,
Robert Burns.
There seems to be little room for the suspicion that this letter is
other than one of those forgeries which resulted in twelve months'
imprisonment to "Antique" Smith.
Note 17— Page 14.
These lines are not printed in the text by Mr. W. Scott Douglas,
but are given as a footnote, with the explanation that they are to be
found in the Glenriddell MSS. In an edition of Currie's " Life and
Works," published in 1865, the lines are given as follows : —
Here Stuarts once in glory reign'd,
The laws for Scotia's weal ordain'd ;
But now unrooPd their palace stands.
Their sceptre's sway'd by foreign hands.
The Stuarts' native race is gone !
A race outlandish fills the thione.
Note 18— Page 18.
In " Old Faces, Old Places, and Old Stones of Stirling," by William
Drysdale (Stirling : Eneas Mackay, 1898), reference is made to Burns's
visit to Stirling, and the Paisley Magazine article is quoted verbai^m.
It is apparently adopted by Mr. Drysdale, and this is unfortunate, as,
from what we have said, it will be manifest that the story is very far
from being correct.
Note 19— Page 20.
A lady still living in Perthshire, wrote Robert Chambers in his
*' Life and Works of Robert Burns," remembers visiting Drummond
Notes. 141
Castle a very short time after Burns had been at Ochlertyre. Captain
Drumniond, subsequently Lord Perth, had recently obtained possession
of this fine place, along with the estates which had been forfeited by his
collateral relations in 1745-46. He and his lady, the Honourable Mrs.
Drumniond, were full of loyalty to the reigning family, to which they
had been so largely indebted. My informant remembers that someone
asked Mrs. Drummond why Burns, who had been at various places in
the neighbourhood, had not been here ; to which the answer was —
"We could not invite him, unless he had disclaimed writing the
lines on the inn window." This "slice of gossip," as The Centenary
Burns might call it, has not been re-served by Mr. Willam Wallace in
his levised edition of Chambers's " Burns."
Note 20 — Page 21.
Mr William Wallace, quoting from the Glenriddell MSS. gives
"My impriuknt lines," etc. The Editors of The Centenary Burns ,
quoting from the same source, give " These impudent lines, etc."
Note 21 — Page 21.
The lines are sometimes rendered thus : —
With yEsop's Lion, Burns says, " Sore I feel
All others' scorn — but damn that ass's heel."
Note 22— Page 27.
From Of the Progress of the Soul : the Second Anniversarie ( Elegy
sn Mrs. Elizabeth Drury), by John Donne, D.D.
Note 23 — Page 28.
Li an article entitled " Robert Burns in Stirlingshire, ' which
appeared in the People's Journal for January 21, 1899, the topographical
note of Burns is accepted as accurate, and in order to justify it the
writer informs us that "he passed into Perthshire over the Ochil Hills,
and as he went, admired in poetic fashion the beauties of the Forth, the
Teith, and the Devon."
Note 24 — Page 29.
Dr. Adair was the son of a physician in Ayr, and had been introduced
to Burns by the minister of Loudon — Rev. Mr. Lawrie. In 17S9 he
142 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Avas married to Miss Charlotte Hamilton, whose acquaintance he made
on the present occasion. He was for some time engaged in medical
practice in the Pleasance, Edinburgh, but he afterwards removed to
Harrogate, where he died in 1802, aged 37.
Note 25— Page 33.
At a sale of Burns MSS. at Messrs. Sotheby's Auction Rooms in
London on March 11, 1898, four pages of autograph lines from poems
of Burns, comprising the last two verses of " Bruar Water," "Lines
written on a pane of glass at Stirling," "The bonnie lass of Albany,"
.and " Strathallan's Lament" realised the sum of ;,^i6.
Note 26 — Page 33.
Finding that Alva possessed traditional evidence of incidents con-
nected with the poet's visit, we made enquiry, and were referred to
Mr. John Ritchie, Green Square, Alva, whose father had seen Burns,
and who was understood to know the facts. We interviewed Mr.
Ritchie on August 17, 189S, and our story of Burns in Alva is the
result. Mr. Ritchie was in his 84th year at the time we saw him.
Possessed of a very retentive memory, he recounted incidents of long
ago with fluency, and on one or two points which we were able to
check from other sources, we found his statements correct, so that his
recollections may be regarded as accurate. So far as Mr. Ritchie is
concerned, our narrative may be accepted as a "true and particular
account."
Note 27 — Page 34.
Chambers tells us that there was a third " Betty " who inspired the
muse of Burns. It is still believed, he says, in the parish of Stair that
Burns courted and was accepted by Betty Campbell, a servant in Stair
House, that he gave her "lines, ' and that these were destroyed by the
girl after a quarrel with the poet.
Note 28 — Page 34.
In the "Burns Obituary" in the Burns Chronicle for 1S96, there
appears the following— " Black, Elizabeth (reputed 'Eliza') died 1S27,
aged 74." This is manifestly a reference to Betty Black of Alva, and it
raises the question whether, after all, Burns writers have been correct
in their speculations regarding the heroine — Betty — of " Mauchline
Belles," and the heroine of "From thee, Eliza, I must go." It has
been generally agreed that tlic " braw " Miss Betty of the " Mauchline
Notes. 143
:)
Belles," the suliject of " From thee, Eliza, I must go," and the " Bess
of "The Mauchline Wedding" were one and the same person, viz. —
Miss Elizabeth Miller, daughter of John Miller of the Sun Inn, Mauch-
line ; and this agreement has been come to after considering evidence
that is not very conclusive. Elizabeth Miller was resident in Mauchline,
so also was Elizabeth Black, and both appear to have been intimate
with Burns. To begin with, it is stated by Chambers that " Miss
Betty" of the " Mauchline Belles" was Elizabeth Miller. He gives no
: authority for his statement, and it could quite as easily h.ive referred to
Elizabeth Black. Elizabeth Miller was born in 1768, and was thus nine
years younger than Burns, while Elizabeth Black, born in 1754, was
six years older, and if, as Chambers infers, he had composed the lines
by the time he was twenty-six years of age, it is more likely that he
would write of the "braw" woman of twenty-nine than of the girl of
sixteen. Having made his statement regarding the "Betty" of the
"Mauchline Belles," Chambers further records with respect to the
heroine of " Eliza " that, " from a variety of circumstances, he has been
led to conclude that Eliza was identical with the Miss Betty, one of the
Mauchline Belles." What the '^' circumstances" are he does not so
much as indicate, and in support of his case he merely quotes the refer-
ence to his "quondam Eliza," on whom he had called on his return to
Mauchline in June, 1787. But again, his "quondam Eliza" could
easily have been, and probably was, Elizabeth Black. Without, there-
fore, appearing to be too anxious to knock a "pious opinion" on the
head, and with due deference to Robert Chambers and the later writers
who have copied his statements and accepted his conclusions without
. demur, we may be allowed to say that it seems to us at least that the
" braw " Miss Betty and the heroine of " Eliza " were Elizabeth Black,
whose acquaintance the poet renewed at Alva.
In " The Complete Works of Robert Burns," by William Gunnyon,
•"From thee, Eliza, I must go" is introduced with the note— " The
heroine of this song was the ' Miss Betty is braw,' one of the Mauch-
line belles whom the poet has celebrated in epigrammatic verse. She
was born and brought up in Ayrshire, was of an amiable disposition,
and appears to have sympathised with the poet in all his sufferings, and
thus raised, says Chambers, a kind of love chiefly composed of gratitude,
in his bosom. She ultimately married a Mr. James Stewart, and long
survived the poet, having died in Alva in 1827, in the 74th year of her
age." Gunnyon's note is clearly a mixture of Chambers and some one
..else, but it without hesitancy declares Betty Black to be the heroine.
144 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Mr. Ritchie informed us that he had heard her remark that it was.
she who came up "as light as onie lambie " in the " Holy Fair." This-
may mean either that Burns had been at Mauchline " Holy Fair" with
her, and on her invitation — which is not unlikely — and that she had
consequently taken the remark in the poem to apply to herself, or, that,
the bard had indicated to her that she was commemorated in this way.
In any event, if Betty is correct, the statement goes to prove that the
"Fun" of Burns was a real personage, and not after all a mere sug-
gested copy of Fergusson's " Mirth " in " Leith Races."
Lucky had a sister married to a Mr. Rutherford, who resided in
Bridge of Allan. Mr. Ritchie and a son of Rutherford used to meet on
Airthrey Loch at curling, and ]\Ir. Ritchie was informed by him of one
incident in Lucky's Mauchline connection with Burns. It was that her
father was always very angry when he saw Betty coming home from any
of the fairs round Mauchline riding behind Burns.
A well-known Alva worthy, Betty left behind her one memorial in
the form of "Lucky's Linn." This was a pool in which Betty was-
wont to bathe, and so it took her name. The bathing place has passed
from existence, but the term " Lucky's Linn" continues. She died at
Alva in 1827, and was interred in Alva Churchyard.
Note 29— Page 35.
James Dawson died in 1837, aged 77, so that he would be about
twenty -seven years of age when he met Burns.
Note 30— Page 2^.
The daughter of Sir Thomas Wallace of Craigie, Frances Anna.
Wallace was born April 16, 1730. She was married in 1748 to John
Dunlop of Dunlop, who was much her senior. On her father's death,
which occurred in 1760, she succeeded to Craigie Estate, but in 1783 it
had to be sold, it was so heavily encumbered. This loss, followed by the
death of her husband in 17S5, conduced to a depressed state of mind,
and she spent much of her time in semi-retirement. She died May 24,
1815.
Note 31— Page 41.
George Bannatine, minister of Craigie Parish, Ayrshire, 1744-64,
and afterwards of the West Parish (now St. George's), Glasgow, 1764,
till his death in 1769.— Chambers.
Notes. 145
Note 32— Page 42.
Miss Helen Maria Williams was born in London in 1762. Cham-
bers tells us that she was settled in Paris in 1790, was imprisoned as a
partisan of the Gironde, released on the fall of Robespierre, and died at
Paris, December, 1827. She published Jtilia, a novel, in 1790 :
translated Paul and Vtrginia ; wrote several books on France, and for
several years the portion of the Annual Register relating to that coun-
try. Her verse — smooth, flowing, and essentially conventional —
includes Edwin and Elfrida (1782), a legendary tale, and The Slave
Trade (1788).
Note 33— Page 46.
This is probaljly a reference to " Holy Willie's Prayer."
Note 34 — Page 55.
Richard Brown, one of the poet's correspondents.
Note 35— Page 58.
Graham (afterwards Sir Graham, Admiral, who did distinguished
service in the French wars), the younger brother of Sir John Moore. —
William Wallace.
Note 36— Page 59.
This may be an allusion to the poet's mysterious Highland tour of
June, 1787, but more probably the castle referred to is Gordon Castle —
Dr. Moore may not have been strong in Scotch geography^ — and the
" inha])itants " the Duke and Duchess of Gordon. — Robert' Burns and
Mrs. Dunlcp.
Note 37— Page 89.
The songs of Burns were readily picked up and circulated in the
form of chap-books. Sometimes they were transformed. " Scots Wha
Hae " was introduced with the following verses : —
" Near Bannockburn King Edward lay.
The Scots they were not far away ;
Each eye bent on the break of day,
Glimm'ring frae the east.
At last the sun shone o'er the heath,
Which lighted up the field of death,
While Bruce, with soul-inspiring breath,
His heroes thus address'd."
L
146 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Then followed the song, and these stanzas were added to make a
proper finish : —
" Now fury kindled every eye,
' Forward ! forward !' was the cry ;
'Forward, Scotland, do or die I'
And where 's the knave shall turn ?
At last they all run to the fray,
Which'gave to Scotland liberty ;
And long did Edward rue the day
He came to Bannockburn."
Note 38 — Page 98.
Or, " O, my love Annie's very bonie." — (R. B. )
INDEX.
INDEX.
Adair, Dr., iS, 29-32, 141.
Aikman, Adam, 31.
Airth, 122.
Alva, 33, 122, 142-144.
Auchenbowie, 10.
Bannatine, Rev. George, 144.
Bannockburn, 10, 77, 123.
Barclay, Rev. John, 104.
Bell (Cristopher ?), 21, 22
Ben Ledi, 98, 99.
Benson (Alexander?), 8, 139.
Black, Elizabeth, 34, 142-144.
Blair, Sir James H., 58.
Blore, Edward, m.
Bonnybridge, 123.
Boyack, George, 3, 137.
Bridge of Allan, 123.
Brodie, Deacon, 113.
Brodie, Sir Thomas D., 6.
Brougham, The, 12.
Bruce, Mr., 7, 9, 138.
Bruce, Robert de, 13, 7S.
Buchan, Earl of, 91.
Buchlyvie, 124.
Bums Chjoiiicle, 1 43.
Burns, Robert, i, 150.
" By Allan Stream, &c. ," 97, 146.
Camelon, 7, 103, 13S.
Campbell, Betty, 142.
Campsie, 124.
Carlyle, Thomas, 77, 96.
Carnegie, Andrew, 119.
Carron, 3, 7-9, 30, 124, 137, 138.
Carron Lines, 7, 16, 29.
Carronshore, 124.
Centenary Bui'iis, The, 5) H; 99>
104.
Chalmers, Mrs., 15.
Chambers, Dr. Robert, 3, 4, 13,
30, 31, 104, 137.
Clarinda, 19.
Cook, W. B., 14.
Corbet, William, 112.
Creech, William, 43, 58, 67.
Cromek, 100, 102.
Cunningham, Allan, 9, 14, 16, 18,
31-
Currie, Dr., 30, 77, 88, 99, 104.
Dawson, James, 34, 144.
Denovan, 10.
Denny, 9, 124.
Devon, 26.
Dick, John, 23-25.
Doig, Dr. David, 21.
Dollar, 15.
Douglas, William Scott, 4, 15, 20.
Dunipace, 9, 10.
Dunlop, Mrs., 36, 39, 44, 47- 65,
67, 72, 73. "2, 144.
Edinburgh, 2.
Edinburgh Evening Courant, 7.
Edinburgh Evening Dispatch^ 139.
Falkirk, 2, 3-6, 12, 26, 31, 125, 131.
Falkirk Herald, 131.
Ferrier, James, W.S., iii.
Ferrier, Jane, no.
Ferrier, Susan Edmonstonc, 112.
Fifeshire Journal, 4, 137.
Findlay, Dr. W^illiam, 37, 75.
Forrester, Captain, 21, 22, 27.
Freemasons, Stirling Ancient 30, 28.
149
ISO
Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Gargunnoclc, 125.
(jibson, James, 114.
Gow, William, 5.
Graham, General Samuel, III.
Graham, Sir John the, 6, 12.
Grangemouth, 126.
Gray, George, 7-
Gunnyon, William, 143.
Hadden, J. Culhbert, 90.
Hamilton, Gavin, 26.
Hamilton, Mrs., 15.
Hamilton, Rev. George, 20.
Harvey, Sir George, /". R.S.A., 116.
Harvieston, 15, 26, 29.
Henderson, T. F., 5, 99.
Henley, W. E., 5, 40, 42, 49.
Herbertshire, 9, 139.
Hogg, James, i, 84.
" Hughie Graham," 100.
Jack, William, 93.
Johnston, Mr., Alva, ^^.
Kilsyth, 126, 132.
Kippen, 126.
Lacunar Strevilinense, III.
Lang, Andrew, 82.
Lapraik, John, 15.
Larbert, 7.
Lauriston, 127.
Lewis, Matthew Gregory, 97.
Lockhart, J. Gibson, 3, 19.
Masson, Professor, 93.
Maxwell, John, 15.
Menstrie, 127.
Mercer, Robert, 119.
Miller, Elizabeth, 34.
Milngavie, 127.
Mitchell, William Thomson, 6.
Moodie, Rev. Alexander, 108.
Moore, Dr. John, 36-76, 145.
Moore, John Carrick, 75.
Moore, Rev. Charles, 37.
Mornhig Chronicle, The, 79, 91.
Morrison, John, 34.
Morrison, Thomas, 34.
Motherwell, William, 16.
Muir, Robert, 12.
Monro, Miss, Auchenbowie, 10, 139.
Monro, Mr., Auchenbowie, 10.
Murray, Sir William, 29.
Musical Mtisciim, 100.
Macfadzean, R. W., 113.
M'Kie, James, 119.
Macneill, Hector, 23, 24, 25.
National Wallace Monument, 118.
Neilson, Rev. Edward, 63.
Nicol,Wni.,2, 12, 14, 15, 16,30, 137.
Polmont, 128.
Ramsay, John, Ochtertyre, 23, 29.
Redding, 1 28.
Ritchie, John, 142.
Rogers, "Dr. Charles, 74, 75, 94,
109, 120.
Rosebery, Lord, I18.
Ross, John D., 90.
Russell, Rev. John, 37, 107- no.
"Scots Wha Hae," 10, 77-96, 99,
103, 129, 145.
Scott, Sir Walter, i, 100.
Shields, Mrs., 15.
Simpson, William, 105.
Slamannan, 128.
Smith, George, 113.
Stenhousemuir, 133.
Stevenson, D. W., R.S.A., 119.
Stewart, Mrs., 34.
Stewart, James, 143.
Stirling, 10, 13, 14, 15-2S, 29, loi,
129, 133. I39> 140.
Stirling Lines, 10, 140-142.
Slirliug Sentinel, The, 31.
St. Ninians, 130.
Syme, John, 77, 82.
Tannahill, Robert, 97.
Thomson, George, 80, 85-S9, 97, 98.
Waddell, Dr. P. Hately, 4, 115.
Wallace, William, 4, 13, 31, 65,
81, 141.
Williams, Helen Maria, 41, 42,
44, 57, 145-
Wilson, Professor, 94.
Wingate, James, 10.
Yellowlees, Robert, 119.
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.
Angus, W. Craibe, Si Renfield Street, Glasgow.
Asher & Co., Covent Garden, London.
Bain, William, Upper Bridge Street, Stirling.
Bald, William, Blackwood & Son, Edinburgh.
Barnet, George. Advertiser Office, Kinross.
Barrett, F. T., for Mitchell Library, Glasgow.
Beard, Dr., Glebe Crescent, Stirling.
Beeby, John, Booth Place, Falkirk.
Black, J. T., Underscar, Keswick.
Black & Johnston, Brechin.
Bridges, James, 14 Tay Street, Perth.
Brisbane, Thomas, Stirling.
Brown, J., Artist, Stirling.
Burden, John, Locust Avenue, Troy, N.Y.
Cameron, Alexander, Forfarshire Constabulary.
Cameron, R. A., Stirling.
Campbell, D, The Tors, Falkirk.
Campbell, Malcolm Macgregor, Glasgow.
Campbell, W., 32 Monteith Ro\v, Glasgow.
Cherry, Miss, Craigs, Stirling.
Christie, Ex-Provost, Southfield, Stirling.
Clark, John R. W., Solicitor, Arbroath.
Clarke, Alfred J., 41 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh.
Clarke, Frederick Chas., M.R.C.V.S., etc, London.
Cook, W. B., Stirling.
Cooper, Alfred, 10 Featherstone Buildings, London, W.C.
153
154 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
ig-
Cowan, Donald, Sheriff Clerk Depute, Stirling
Crichton, David, R.N., 6 Duncan Street, Edinburgh.
Crichton, William C, 35 Balhousie Street, Perth.
Donovan, R., Town Clerk's Office, Stirling.
Doig, Christine, Miss, Milwaukie, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Drysdale, Ex-Provost, Bridge of Allan.
Drysdale, William, Darnley House, Stirling.
Duff, John, Upper Bridge Street, Stirling.
Dundee Burns Club, Dundee.
Elliot, (t. B., 38 Dumbarton Road, Stirling.
Ferguson, James, 46 Peddie Street, Dundee.
Ferguson, W., Ainsworth Street, Blackburn.
Findlay, James, Journal Office, Stirling.
Findlay, William, M.D., 19 AVestercraigs, Glasgow.
Fisher, J. Steel, 18 Burnbank Terrace, Glasgow.
Forester, Robert, Bookseller, Royal Exchange Square,
Glasgow.
Fox, Charles Henry, M.D., 35 Heriot Row, Edinburgh.
Frater, Robert, Park Terrace, Stirling.
Gibson, Jas. A., Solicitor, Stirling.
Giltillan, D. Menzies, Burghmuir, Stirling.
Gordon, Alex., Stirling.
Gow, William, Cross Keys Inn, Falkirk.
Graham, John, Inverness.
Grant, William, Kinnivie, Dufftown.
Gray, A. U., Melville Terrace, Stirling.
Gray, George, Clerk of the Peace, Glasgow.
Hardie, A. Murray, Newbattle, Dalkeith.
Harvie-Brown, John A., Dunipace House, Larbert.
Holding, J. C, Southsea, Hants.
Holmes, W. & R., Glasgow.
Hynd, Miss, 30 Forth Crescent, Stirling.
List of Subscribers.
03
Jamicson, John, Observer Office, Stirling.
Jenkins, Alex., Solicitor, Stirling,
Jenkins, John, Solicitor, Stirling.
Johnston, Rev. J. J., Port of Menteith.
Johnston, T, W . R., jGurnal Office, Stirling.
Kegan, Paul, ct Co., London.
Kilmarnock Burns Museum Library.
King, Chas. M., Milton of Campsie.
King, Councillor, Snowdon Place, Stirling.
King, James, Bridgend, Dunblane.
Law, Rev. W. G., M.A., St. Ninians.
Macadam, Joseph H., F.S.A. (Scot.), London.
Macfarlane, Bartic, Perth.
Macfarlane, C, East Brackland, Callander.
Macfarlane, P., Queen's Road, Stirling.
Macgillivray, A., London.
Mailer, V.'., Baker Street, Stirling.
Macintosh, C. Fraser, LL.D., iS Pont Street, London.
Mackay, Donald, Inverness.
Mackay, James, Dresden, U.S.A.
Mackay, William, Salisbur}', B.S.A.
Mackay, William, Inverness.
Mackenzie, James, Bookseller, Glasgow.
Mackenzie, M., Supervisor of Inland Revenue, Gareloch.
Mackenzie, Mrs., Dunblane.
Mackie, J. F., Solicitor, Stirling.
IVIacnab, James, Milton of Campsie.
Macpherson, James, People's Journal Office, Stirling.
Maule & Sons, F., London.
Maxwell, Wallace, Mulloch, Carron.
Middleton, Wm., Wallace Monument, Stirling.
Mills, John F., Kirriemuir Observer, Kirriemuir.
156 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Mills, W. B., Bookseller, Kirriemuir.
Minnoch, W. H., Stirling.
Moir, A., Mar's Hill, Alloa.
Molyneaux, J., Edinburgh.
Monro, D. Binning, Oriel College, Oxford.
Morries-Stirling, J. M., Gogar, Stirling.
Morris, David B., 3 Snowdon Place, Stirling.
Morrison, Alexander, jr., Solicitor, Bridge of Allan.
Morrison, J. Holme, M.D., F.R.C.S , Perth.
Munro, John, Observer Ofifice, Stirling.
Murdoch, J. W., Milnthorpe, Westmoreland.
Murphy, A. ?>l'Lean, Stirling.
Murray, Francis A., 3 Park Lane, Stirling.
MacGregor, Ex-Provost, Crieff.
MacLeod, M. C, Inverness.
MacLuckie, R., Writer, Stirling.
MacTavish, Jain C, High School, Falkirk.
M'Call, John W., Thornfield, Bridge of Allan.
M'Cartney, James, 13 Nelson Place, Stirling.
M'Diarmid, H. R., 55 Newhouse, Stirling.
M'Gregor, Rev. A. Oram, Denny.
M'Kay, George, Union Place, Lennoxtown.
M'Kerchar, Daniel, 13 Douglas Street, Stirling.
M'Kinnon, Neil, East Plean, Bannockburn.
Neilson, M., Hon. Secy., Sunderland Burns Club.
Noble, R., Inverness.
Oliver, Dr. Thomas, Ellison Place, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Paterson, Robert, Invergovvrie, Dundee.
Pentland, J. Young, Publisher, London.
Reid, Alan, F.E.I.S., 4 Harrison Road, Edinburgh.
Rennie, John C, Gowan Bank, Falkirk.
List of Subscribers. 157
Reyburn, W. M., Clydesdale Bank, Stirling.
Rodgers, Wm., Victoria Square, Stirling.
Robertson, R., 304 Duke Street, Glasgow.
Ross, David, M.A., B.Sc, LL.D., CS. Training College,
Glasgow.
Sandeman, R., 22 Forth Crescent, Stirling,
Sempill, John D., Newhouse, Stirling.
Simpson, S. E., 38 West Street, Berwick.
Sinclair, William, M.D., Barrow-in-Furness.
Small, J. W., Heathfield, Stirling.
Smith, Dr., Sunderland.
Smith, G., King Street, Stirling.
Smith, John Rae, Aberdeen.
Sneddon, Captain D., Kilmarnock.
Sorley, Robert, i Buchanan Street, Glasgow.
Stark, Robert, 326 Links Street, Kirkcaldy.
Stechart, G. E., for New York Public Library.
Stevens, B. F., 4 Trafalgar Square, London.
Stevenson, A. L L, Golden Lion Hotel, Stirling.
Stevenson, C. P., Arcade, Stirling.
Stirling, Robert, Union Place, Lennoxtown.
Strachan, William B., Bookseller, Arbroath.
Struthers, M. Fleming, Stirling.
Sunderland Burns Club.
Symington, A. J., Langside, Glasgow.
Ure, George, Wheatlands, Bonnybridge.
Walker, Ronald, Stirling.
Wallace, William, Glasgow.
Watson, Adam, Journal Office, Stirling.
Whyte, Robert, Solicitor, Stirling, President Stirling Burns
Club.
158 Robert Burns in Stirlingshire.
Williams, Rev. G., Thornhill.
Wilson, Colonel, Bannockburn.
Wood, Alexander, Saltcoats.
Wright, Peter, Art Master, Falkirk.
Young, George, 13 Nelson Place, Stirling.
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