"A motion being made by the Earl of Glencairn, and seconded by Sir John Whitefoord, in favour of Mr. Burns, of Ayrshire, who had dedicated the new edition of his Poems to the Caledonian Hunt The meeting were of opinion that, in consideration of his superior merit, as well as of the compliment paid to them, Mr. Hagart should be directed to subscribe for One Hundred copies, in their name, for which he should pay to Mr. Burns, Twenty-five Pounds, upon the publication of his Book.'" THE EVENTFUL YEAR CLOSED IN THE SCOTTISH METROPOLIS. [1786.-AGE 27.] Thy Sons, Edina! social, kind, With open arms the Stranger hail.-(P. 181, Vol. I.) TUESDAY, 28TH NOVEMBER.-Supposed date of the poet's arrival. See Note, page 196, Vol. 1. [Obtained a share of bed and board with his Mauchline friend and correspondent, John Richmond, formerly apprentice with Gavin Hamilton, writer, and now (1786) clerk to Wm. Wilson, W.S.] [James Dalrymple, Esq. of Orangefield, seems to have been the first person of consequence, resident in the city, whom the poet waited on. By him, he was speedily introduced to the Earl of Glencairn.] [SATURDAY, 2ND DEC.]-"You want to know how I come on. The noble Earl of Glencairn took me by the hand to-day, and interested himself in my concerns, with a goodness like that benevolent Being whose image he so nobly bears."-Letter to Dalrymple. WEDNESDAY, 6TH DEC.-[The Ayrshire estates of the late unfortunate Earl of Loudoun were judicially sold. The poet, by request of his friend, Gavin Hamilton, attended, and next day dispatched to him a note of the result.] THURSDAY, 7TH DEC.-" My Lord Glencairn and the Dean of Faculty [Mr. H. Erskine] have taken me under their wing; and, by all probability, I shall soon be the tenth worthy, and the eighth wise man in the world. Through my lord's influence, it is inserted in the records of the Caledonian Hunt, that they universally, one and all, subscribe for the second edition. My subscription bills come out to-morrow. I have met in Mr. Dalrymple of Orangefield, what Solomon calls 'a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.""-Letter to Gavin Hamilton. SATURDAY, 9TH DEC.-[The last number of The Lounger was published, containing Henry Mackenzie's Review of Burns' Kilmarnock poems. A few days thereafter, Dr. Blacklock wrote to the Rev. Dr. Lawrie, recommending that the new edition should be prefaced by the article from The Lounger, and complain ing that Burns had not, as yet, called on him.] "WEDNESDAY, 13TH DEC.-I arrived here on Tuesday was se'night, and have suffered, ever since I came to town, with a miserable headache and stomach complaint, but am now a good deal better. By Lord Glencairn's interest, it is passed in the Caledonian Hunt, and entered in their books, that they are to take each a copy of the second edition, for which they are to pay One Guinea. I have been introduced to a good many of the noblesse: my avowed patrons are the Duchess of Gordon, the Countess of Glencairn, &c. An unknown hand left Ten Guineas for the Ayrshire Bard, with Mr. Sibbald, which I got. I have since discovered my generous, unknown friend to be Patrick Miller, Esq., brother to the Justice-Clerk. I am nearly agreed with Creech to print my book, and I suppose I will begin on Monday."-Letter to Ballantyne. POEM: Address to Edinburgh.-(Page 181, Vol. I.) Address to a Haggis.-(Page 179, Vol. I.) WEDNESDAY, 27TH DEC.-"I enclose you two poems I have carded and spun since I passed Glenbuck.* One blank in the Address to Edinburgh, ‘Fair B—‚' is heavenly Miss Burnet, daughter to Lord Monboddo, at whose house I have had the honour to be more than once."-Letter to Wm. Chalmers, writer, Ayr. SUNDAY, 31ST DEC.-[Birthday of Prince Charles Edward Stuart.] Birthday Ode.-(Page 133, Vol. II.) "The town is at present agog with the Ploughman Poet, who receives adulation with native dignity, and is the very figure of his profession-strong, but coarse; yet has he a most enthusiastic heart of love. He has seen Duchess Gordon, and all the gay world. His favourite, for looks and manners, is Bess Burnet-no bad judge indeed!"—Letter of Mrs. Alison Cockburn. PATRONAGE OF THE SCOTTISH GENTRY. [EDINBURGH, 1787.-AGE 28.] O would they stay aback frae courts, an' please themsel's wi' countra sports, MONDAY, 1ST JAN.-Verses to Miss Logan, with Beattie's Poems.-(P. 178, Vol. L.) THURSDAY, 11TH JAN.-"This is the great day-the assembly and ball of the Caledonian Hunt. A gentleman (Mr. Wauchope) waited on me yesterday, and gave me, by Lord Eglinton's order, ten guineas, by way of subscription for a brace of copies of my second edition."-Letter to Mr. Mackenzie, surgeon, Mauchline. FRIDAY, 12TH JAN.-[Grand Masonic demonstration. Burns present at a meeting of St. Andrew's Lodge. Grand Master Charteris, with the Grand Lodge and several other Lodges, attended.] "The Grand Master, who presided with great solemnity and honor to himself as a gentleman and as a mason, gave, among several other toasts, 'Caledonia! * Glenbuck is the source of the River Ayr.-See The Twa Brigs. and Caledonia's Bard-Robert Burns!' which rang through the whole assembly with multiplied honors and repeated acclamations. As I had no idea such a thing would happen, I was downright thunder-struck, and, trembling in every nerve, made the best return in my power. ... I have corrected to my 152 page."-Letter to Ballantyne. SUNDAY, 14TH JAN.-"My generous friend, Mr. Patrick Miller, has been talking with me about a lease of some farm or other in an estate called Dalswinton, which he has recently bought, near Dumfries. I dare say he means to favor me; yet, as he is no judge of land, he may give me an advantageous bargain that may ruin me."-Letter to Ballantyne. SONG: The Banks o' Doon.-First version.-(Page 310, Vol. I.) THURSDAY, 1ST FEB.-[Burns attended a meeting of the Canongate-Kilwinning Lodge-Alexander Ferguson, Esq., of Craigdarroch, R. W. Master, in the Chair.] "The R.W. Master having observed that Brother Burns was at present in the Lodge-who is well known as a great poetic writer, and for a late publication of his works, which have been universally commended-submitted that he should be assumed a member of the Lodge, which was unanimously agreed to, and he was assumed accordingly."-Lodge Minutes. POEM: Reply to the Gudewife of Wauchope-House.-(Page 134, Vol. II.) Crochallan Fencibles.-See pp. 137 and 342, Vol. IL-[Burns introduced to the Club by Wm. Smellie, printer.] [Alexander Nasmyth, artist, Writers' Court, paints the well-known portrait of the poet.-See pp. 306 and 307, Vol. II.] FEB. 6.-Robert Fergusson, the Poet.-[Burns petitions the managers of the Kirk and Kirkyard Funds of Canongate for leave to erect a headstone over his grave, which was granted.] Inscription on the Tomb of Fergusson.-(See pp. 136, 270, and 322, Vol. II.) FEB. 24.-Beugo's Engraving from Nasmyth's Painting.—“I am getting my phiz done by an eminent engraver (John Beugo, Princes Street), and if it can be ready in time, I shall appear in my book, looking, like other fools, to my title-page."-Letter to Ballantyne. Verses written below the Earl of Glencairn's Picture.-(Page 367, Vol. II.) Professor Dugald Stewart's Morning Walks with Burns.-"In the course of the Spring, he called on me once or twice, at my request, early in the morning, and walked with me to Braid Hills, in the neighbourhood of the town, when he charmed me still more by his private conversation than he had ever done in company. When I was admiring a distant prospect in one of our morning walks, he told me that the sight of so many smoking cottages gave a pleasure to his mind, which none could understand who had not witnessed, like himself, the happiness and the worth which they contained." APRIL 4.-[Date of the Poet's Dedication to the Caledonian Hunt.-P. 135, Vol. I.] 9. [Commences his Edinburgh Common-place Book.] 16.-Prologue spoken by Mr. Woods, on his Benefit-night.—(P. 204, Vol. II.) 21.-[New Edition of his Poems published. Price to Subscribers, 5s.; to Non-subscribers, 68.] MAY 5.-[Leaves Edinburgh, on a Border Tour of five weeks.] BACK TO AYRSHIRE-MOODY RETROSPECT-INFIRM RESOLVES. [1787.-AGE 28.] MAY 13TH, 1787.-Epistle to William Creech.-(Page 271, Vol. II.) MAY 5TH TO JUNE 9TH.-[The poet enjoyed an interesting zig-zag tour in the south border counties of Scotland during this period. The last week of the journey was spent in Dumfries and neighbourhood, embracing a visit to Dalswinton, with some inspection of Mr. Miller's farms.] JUNE 9TH.-[Arrived at Mauchline and Mossgiel. Slept not at home, but at John Dow's Inn, where the "old, old story" between the poet and Jean Armour was resumed.] JUNE 11TH.-"If anything had been wanting to disgust me completely at Armour's family, their mean, servile compliance would have done it. I cannot settle my mind. I cannot dare to risk on farms as they are. If I do not fix, I will go to Jamaica. Should I stay in an unsettled state here, I would only dissipate my little fortune, and ruin what I intend shall compensate my little ones for the stigma I have brought on their names."-Letter to James Smith. JUNE 13TH.-"I never, my friend, thought mankind very capable of anything generous; but the stateliness of the patricians of Edinburgh, and the civility of my plebeian brethren (who, perhaps, formerly eyed me askance) since I returned home, have nearly put me out of conceit altogether with my species. The many ties of acquaintance and friendship which I have, or think I have, in life,-I have felt along the lines, and (damn them!) they are almost all of them of such frail contexture, that I am sure they would not stand the breath of the least adverse breeze of fortune."-Letter to William Nicol. West Highland Tour.-" Having remained with his friends in Mauchline a few days, he set out on a journey to the Highlands; but no particulars of the tour have been found among his manuscripts.”—Currie. Epigram at Inverary.—(Page 205, Vol. II.) [Chambers suggests that the poet may have, on this occasion, secretly visited the relatives of Highland Mary, and perhaps dropped a tear over her grave at Greenock; and remarks that a sort of mystery hangs over this journey, much like that with which the poet has contrived to invest the whole story of Mary. With the exception of the ill-natured epigram at Inverary, and a like tempered note to Ainslie, written from Arrochar, by Lochlong, on 28th June, the only information we have concerning the tour is derived from letters addressed to James Smith and John Richmond, by the poet after his return home. The "gossip" which has been so religiously gathered by Dr. Waddell in relation to this and other incidents in the life of Burns, is very properly so denominated; for little, if any of it, seems to have much foundation beyond the natural vanity so frequently displayed by unscrupulous triflers, who are fond to bring themselves or their ancestors, in ever so contemptible a degree, into juxta position with greatness.-"When you, Mr. Garrick, played Hamlet at Drury Lane, I played the Cock!"] Verses addressed to Isabella M'Leod, of Raasay, on her Brother's Death.— (Page 365, Vol. I.) [In the Buccleuch Street Chapel burying-ground at Edinburgh, close by the resting-place of old David Herd and of Mrs. Alison Cockburn, is the tomb of "Flora, eldest daughter of M'Leod of Raasay, wife of Col. James Mure Campbell, of Rowallan, who died 3d September, 1780, a few hours after giving birth to her only child, Flora, who became Countess of Loudoun."] Masonic Mania.-"In Summer, 1787, I passed some weeks in Ayrshire, and saw Burnsoccasionally. I think that he made a pretty long excursion that season to the Highlands, and had visited what Beattie calls the Arcadian ground of Scotland, upon the Banks of Teviot and Tweed. I was led by curiosity to attend, for an hour or two, a Mason Lodge in Mauchline, where Burns presided. He had occasion to make some short, unpremeditated compliments to different individuals from whom he had no reason to expect a visit, and everything he said was happily conceived, and forcibly, as well as fluently expressed. His manner of speaking in public had evidently the marks of practice in extempore elocution."-Professor Dugald Stewart's Narrative. “MAUCHLINE, JUNE 30, 1787.-I have yet fixed on nothing with respect to the serious business of life. I am, as usual, a rhyming, mason-making raking, aimless, idle fellow. However, I shall have a farm soon: I was going to say a wife too; but that must never be my blessed lot. I am but a younger son of the house of Parnassus, and like other younger sons of great families, I may intrigue, if I choose to run all risks, but must not marry."-Letter to James Smith. “MAUCHLINE, 25TH JULY, 1787.-This night the Deputation of the Lodge met at Mauchline, and entered Brother Alexander Allison of Barmuir, an apprentice. Likewise admitted Brs. Professor Stuart of Cathrine, and Claude Alexander, Esq., of Ballochmyle, Claude Neilson, Esq., Paisley, John Farquhar Gray, Esq., of Gilmiscroft, and Dr. George Grierson, Glasgow, Honorary Members of the Lodge. ROBT. BURNS, D.M." Lodge Record, extracted by Editor. (Sig.) MORE EDINBURGH LIFE, AND SUNNY-DAY RECREATIONS. [1787.-AGE 28.] Down Pleasure's stream, wi' swelling sails, I'm tauld ye're driving rarely: Love Attachment.-[The Poet apprehended on a Fugae warrant, obtained at instance of a servant-girl, in Edinburgh, then "under a cloud," on his account.] AUG. 15.-[He finds security to her satisfaction, and is released] "The lady must have told you of a girl, a Jenny Clow, who had the misfortune to make me a father (with contrition I own it) contrary to the laws of our most excellent constitution, in our holy Presbyterian hierarchy. I would have taken my boy from her long ago, but she would never consent." *—Burns to Mrs. M'Lehose, 23rd November, 1791. AUG. 25.-Northern Tour.-[Sets out from Edinburgh, in a chaise, along. with Wm. Nicol, for Stirling and the North.] Verses at Carron.-(Page 206, Vol. II.) Inscriptions at Falkirk and Stirling.-(Page 309, Vol. II.) *Both mother and child are understood to have been dead when Mr. Alderman Shaw's Committee, in 1804, made provision for the other illegitimate offspring of the poet. |