CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF BURNS.

"The following Memoir of the Life of one who was a GREAT MAN, solely of GOD ALMIGHTY'S making such, has been composed on the principle that IT IS THE PROPER BUSINESS OF THE BIOGRAPHER TO TRACE THE GRADUAL DEVELOPEMENT OF THE CHARACTER AND TALENTS OF HIS HERO, WITH ALL THE CHANGES WHICH THESE UNDERGO FROM THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES, BETWEEN THE CRADLE AND THE GRAVE; AND AT SAME TIME, TO RECORD ALL THE EMINENT EFFECTS WHICH THE DISPLAY OF THAT CHARACTER AND THE EXERCISE OF THOSE TALENTS HAVE PRODUCED ON HUMAN SOCIETY, IN THE SPHERE WITHIN WHICH THEY WERE EXHIBITED AND EMPLOYED."-Robert Heron, 1797.

PATERNAL ANCESTRY OF BURNS.

Ev'n I who sing in rustic lore,

Haply my Sires have left their shed,

And fac'd grim Danger's loudest roar,

Bold-following where your Fathers led!-(P. 182, Vol. I.)

"My father was of the north of Scotland, the son of a farmer [who, like his ancestors, had rented lands of the noble Keiths of Marischal, and had the honor of sharing 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, where right is always with the strongest. But those who dare

welcome ruin, and shake hands with infamy, for what they sincerely believe to be the cause of God, or their King, are-as Mark Anthony says of Brutus and Cassius'honorable men.' I mention this circumstance, because it threw my father on the world at large], where, after many

years' wanderings and sojournings, he picked up a pretty large quantity of observation and experience, to which I am indebted for most of my little pretensions to wisdom." -Autobiography.

[That part of the foregoing passage which we have placed within brackets, was omitted by Dr. Currie at the request of Gilbert Burns, who had the timidity to deny that his ancestors had been Jacobites; and with a view to disprove that fact, referred to the terms of a parish certificate found among his father's papers, testifying that "the bearer had no concern in the late wicked rebellion.” Of course, William Burness had not, for he was not alive in 1715, and although twenty-four years old, and capable of bearing arms in 1745, it is known that when only nineteen years of age, he left his native district, and worked as a gardener, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh.

In language very similar to that quoted in the text, the poet thus wrote to Lady W. M. Constable, in 1789:-Though my fathers had not illustrious honors and vast properties to hazard in that contest where even to be unfortunate was glorious,-though they left their humble cottages only to add so many units more to the unnoted crowd that followed their leaders,-yet what they could they did, and what they had they lost: with unshaken firmness, and unconcealed political attachments, they shook hands with ruin, for what they esteemed the cause of their king and country."

"My fathers that name have rever'd on a throne;
My fathers have fallen to right it:

Those fathers would spurn their degenerate son,

That name should he scoffingly slight it."-(P. 138, Vol. II.)

See also, Strathallan's Lament, page 211, Vol. I.]

THE POET'S PEDIGREE.

"I HAVE not the most distant pretensions to assume that character which the pye-coated guardians of escutcheons call a gentleman. When at Edinburgh, last winter, I got acquainted in the Herald's Office, and looking through that granary of honors, I there found almost every name in the kingdom; but as for me—

My ancient, but ignoble blood

Has crept through scoundrels ever since the flood."-Autob.

[In 1837, however, a search made in the same quarter by Dr. James Burness of Montrose, a grandson of the poet's cousin and correspondent, was more successful. Tradition had assigned as the root of the Burness family-tree planted in Kincardineshire, a certain Walter Campbell, from Argyleshire, who had, in the early part of the seventeenth century, for political or prudential reasons, abandoned his native district, dropping his proper surname, and assuming that of Burnhouse or Burness, and settled in the parish of Glenbervie, in the Mearns. The public registers consulted by Dr. Burness, shewed that this WALTER OF BURNHOUSE had descendents, as follow:

(1.)-WALTER BURNESS, who possessed the farm of Bogjoran, in the same parish he had four sons, one of whom we shall follow.

(2.)-JAMES BURNESS, born in 1656, became tenant of the farm of Brawlinmuir, in Glenbervie. He died in 1743, aged eighty-seven. Of several sons of his, we need follow only one, who ranks as number three.

(3.)-ROBERT BURNESS (grandfather of the poet,) who rented the farm of Clockenhill, on the lands of Dunnotar, the estate of the Earl Marischalattainted in 1716, for his concern in the rebellion. Robert became somehow involved in the ruin which overtook the Keiths: he had three sons and four daughters. The eldest son, JAMES, born in 1717, afterwards settled in Montrose, and attained a position of influence there: he became the head of that branch of the Burness family which produced the late Sir Alex. Burnes, the Eastern traveller, who, along with his brother Charles, was killed at Cabool in November, 1841; and also Dr. James Burnes, physician-general of the Bombay army-likewise distinguished as a diplomatist in connection with the Government in India. The third son of Robert Burness was named Robert: family misfortunes at Clockenhill compelled him, while a mere lad, to leave home along with the poet's father, and seek labouring work in the south country. Poor "Uncle Robert" died in the poet's house at Ellisland, in 1789.

(4.)-WILLIAM BURNESS, second son of Robert Burness, was born in 1721, left the Mearns about the year 1740, and finally settled in Ayrshire, where, on 25th January, 1759, he became the father of

(5.)-ROBERT BURNS, THE POET OF SCOTLAND.]

THE PARENTS OF BURNS: THEIR CHARACTER AND
PHYSICAL CONTOUR.

[A.D. 1757.]

WILLIAM BURNESS, born at Clockenhill, in The Mearns, 11th November, 1721, and AGNES BROWN, born in the Carrick district of Ayrshire, 17th March, 1732, were— according to the record in their Family Bible, now in possession of Gilbert Burns, nephew of the poet, presently resident in Dublin

66 MARRIED TOGETHER, 15TH DECEMBER, 1757."

"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."-Autobiography.

"This worthy woman, Agnes Brown, had the most thorough esteem for her husband of any woman I ever knew. At all times, and in all companies, she listened to him with a more marked attention than to any body else, and I can by no means wonder that she highly esteemed him; for I myself have always considered William Burness as by far the best of the human race that ever I had the pleasure of being acquainted with-and many a worthy character I have known. I can cheerfully join with Robert in the last line of his epitaph -borrowed from Goldsmith-And even his failings leaned to Virtue's side."John Murdoch's Narrative.

"According to Mrs. Begg, her mother was about the ordinary height;-a wellmade, sonsy figure, with a beautiful red and white complexion-a skin the most transparent Mrs. Begg ever saw-red hair, dark eyes and eyebrows, with a fine square forehead. With all her good qualities-and they were many-her temper, at times, was irascible. William Burness, the father of the poet, was a thin, sinewy figure, about five feet eight or nine inches in height, somewhat bent with toil; his haffet-locks thin and bare, with a dark, swarthy complexion. From this it will be seen that Burns inherited his swarthy complexion from his father-not from his mother, as stated by Cunningham: men who rise to celebrity in the world, are generally supposed to inherit their genius from the maternal side. If it shall be said that Burns inherited his love of ballad-lore from his mother, we may presume that he derived his strong manly sense from his father:-as to his genius-'the light that led astray was light from heaven.' It may be traced in most of his poems, and flashes out in his lyrics, like sheetlightning in a summer's eve, when sung to the simple and pathetic melodies of his native land."—Captain Chas. Gray, in WOOD'S SONGS OF SCOTLAND, 1848.

THE CLAY BIGGIN.

With secret throes I marked that earth,

That COTTAGE witness of my birth.-(P. 159, Vol I.)

"William Burness had been settled in Ayrshire ten or twelve years before 1 knew him in 1765, and had been in the service of Mr. Crawford of Doonside. He was afterwards employed, as a gardener and overseer, by Provost Ferguson of Doonholm, in the parish of Alloway, which is now united with that of Ayr. In this parish, on the road-side, a Scots mile and a half from the town of Ayr, and half a mile from the (old) bridge of Doon, William Burness took a piece of land, consisting of about seven acres, part of which he laid out in garden ground, and part of which he kept to graze a cow, &c., still continuing in the employment of Provost Ferguson. Upon this little farm was erected a humble dwelling, of which William Burness was the architect. It was, with the exception of a little straw, literally a tabernacle of clay. In this mean cottage, of which I myself was at times an inhabitant, I really believe there dwelt a larger portion of content than in any palace in Europe. The Cotter's Saturday Night will give some idea of the temper and manners that prevailed there."-John Murdoch's Narrative.

THE POET'S BIRTH.
[1759.]

That night, a child might understand

The Deil had business on his hand.-(P. 352, Vol. I.)

"ROBERT BURNS, lawful son of William Burns, in Alloway, and Agnes Brown, his spouse, was born January 25, 1759:

baptised by Mr. William Dalrymple. Witnesses-John Tennant and James Young."-Extract from the SessionBooks of Ayr Parish.

"One very stormy morning, when my brother was nine or ten days old, a little before daylight, a part of the gable of the cottage fell out, and the rest appeared so shattered, that my mother, with the young poet, had to be carried through the storm to a neighbour's house, where they remained a week, till their own dwelling was adjusted."-Gilbert Burns' Narrative.

[See Song, There was a lad was born in Kyle, page 260, Vol. II. See Sonnet composed on the Author's Birthday, page 157, Vol. II. See also, The Vision, where Coila says to the bard,

"I mark'd thy embryo-tuneful flame-thy natal hour."-Page 49, Vol. I.]

EARLY EDUCATION.
[1765.-AGE 6.]

My talents they were not the worst,

Nor yet my education.-(P. 257, Vol. II.)

"In the month of May, 1765, I was engaged by Mr. Burness and four of his neighbours, to teach the little school at Alloway. My pupil, ROBERT BURNS, was between six and seven years of age, his preceptor about eighteen. Robert and his brother, Gilbert, had been grounded a little in English before they were put under my care. They both made a rapid progress in reading, and a tolerable progress in writing, and were generally at the head of the class, when ranged with boys far their seniors. Robert's countenance was generally grave, and expressive of a serious, contemplative, and thoughtful mind. Gilbert's face said, Mirth, with thee I mean to live; and certainly, if any person who knew the two boys had been asked which of them was the most likely to court the Muses, he would surely never have guessed that Robert had a propensity of that kind."-John Murdoch's Narrative.

MOUNT OLIPHANT.
[1766.-AGE 7.]

"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 he continued in that station, I must have been marched off to be one of the little underlings of 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 should discern between good and evil. So, with the assistance of his generous master, my father ventured on a small farm on his estate.”—Autob.