ed by the Scottish Parliament, particularly that
for the establishment of parish-schools, the sta-
tute, punishing fornication with death, was suf-
fered to sleep in the grave of the stern fanatics
who had given it birth.
Note D. See p. 21.
The legitimation of children, by subsequent
marriage, became the Roman law under the
Christian emperors. It was the canon law of
modern Europe, and has been established in
Scotland from a very remote period. Thus a
child born a bastard, if his parents afterwards
marry, enjoys all the privileges of seniority over
his brothers afterwards born in wedlock. In the
Parliament of Merton, in the reign of Henry III,
the English clergy made a vigorous attempt to
introduce this article into the law of England,
and it was on this occasion that the Barons
made the noted answer, since so often appealed
to : Quod nolunt leges Anglic mutare ; qua hue
usque usitatae sunt et approbate. With regard
to what constitutes a marriage, the law of Scot-
land, as explained, p. 21, differs from the Ro-
man law, which required the ceremony to be
performed in facie ecclcsia.
No. II.
357
No. II.
Note A. See p. 42.
It may interest some persons to peruse
the first poetical production of our Bard, and it
is therefore extracted from a kind of common-
place book, which he seems to have begun in
his twentieth year; and which he entitled,
" Observations, Hints, Songs, Scraps of Po-
etry, 8(c. by Robert Burness, a man who had
little art in making money, and still less in
keeping it ; but was, however, a man of some
sense, a great deal of honesty, and unbounded
good-will to every creature, rational, or irra-
tional. As he was but little indebted to a scho-
lastic education, and bred at a plough-tail, his
performances must be strongly tinctured with
his unpolished rustic way of life -, but as, I be-
lieve, they are really his own, it may be some
entertainment to a curious observer of human
nature, to see how a ploughman thinks and
feels.
35S APPENDIX. No. II. Note A.
feels, under the pressure of love, ambition,
anxiety, grief, with the like cares and passions,
which, however diversified by the modes and
manners of life, operate pretty much alike, I
believe, in all the species."
" Pleasing, when youth is long expir'd, to trace
The forms our pencil or our pen design'd,
Such was our youthful air, and shape, and face,
Such the soft image of the youthful mind."
Shenstone.
This MS book, to which our poet prefixed
this account of himself, and of his intention in
preparing it, contains several of his earlier
poems, some as they were printed, and others
in their embryo state. The song alluded to is
as follows :
Tune ' I AM A MAN UNMARRIED.'
O once I lov'd a bonnie lass,
Ay, and I love her still,
And whilst that virtue warms my breast
I'll love my handsome Nell.
Tal lal de ral, fyc.
As bonnie lasses I hae seen,
And mony full as braw,
But for a modest gracefu' mien
The like I never saw.
A bonnie
Note A. APPENDIX. No. II. 359
A bonnie lass, I will confess,
Is pleasant to the e'e,
But without some better qualities
She's no a lass for me.
But Nelly's looks are blythe and sweet,
And what is best of a',
Her reputation is complete,
And fair without a flaw.
She dresses ay sae clean and neat,
Both decent and genteel :
And then there's something in her gait
Gars ony dress look weel.
A gaudy dress and gentle air
May slightly touch the heart,
But it's innocence and modesty
That polishes the dart.
Tis this in Nelly pleases me,
'Tis this enchants my soul ;
For absolutely in my breast
She reigns without control.
Tal lal de ral, fyc.
It must be confessed that these lines give no
indication of the future genius of Burns j but he
himself seems to have been fond of them, proba-
bly from the recollections they excited.
Note
360 APPENDIX. No. II. Note B.
Note B. p. 5
At the time that our poet took the resolution
of becoming wise, he procured a little book of
blank paper, with the purpose (expressed on the
first page) of making farming memorandums
upon it. These farming memorandums are cu-
rious enough ; many of them have been written
with a pencil, and are now obliterated, or at least
illegible. A considerable number are however
legible, and a specimen may gratify the reader.
It must be premised, that the poet kept the
book by him several years that he wrote upon
it, here and there, with the utmost irregularity,
and that on the same page are notations very
distant from each other as to time and place.
******
EXTEMPORE.
why the deuce should I repine,
And be an ill foreboder ;
I'm twenty-three, and five-feet nine,
I'll go and be a sodger.
1 gat some gear \vi' meikle care,
I held it weel thegither ;
But now it's gane, and something mair,
I'll go and be a sodger.
^f ^r "R* ^F *Q tt
April, 1782.
FRAGMENT.
NoteB. APPENDIX. No. II. 361
FRAGMENT.
Tune ' Donald Blue/
O leave novels, ye Maucbline belles,
Ye're safer at your spinning-wheel ;
Such witching books are baited hooks,
For rakish rooks like Rob Mossgiel.
Sing tal lal lay, fyc.
Your fine Tom Jones, and Grandisons,
They make your youthful fancies reel,
They heat your brains, and fire your veins,
And then you're prey for Rob Mossgiel.
Beware a tongue that's smoothly hung ;
A heart that warmly seems to feel ;
That feeling heart but acts a part,
Tis rakish art in Rob Mossgiel.
The frank address, the soft caress,
Are worse than poison'd darts of steel,
The frank address, and politesse,
Are all finesse in Rob Mossgiel.
For he's far aboon Dunkel the night
Maun white the stick and a' that.
Mem. To get for Mr. Johnston these two
songs :
' Molly,
362 APPENDIX. No. II. Note B.
' Molly, Molly, my dear honey.* ( The cock
and the hen, the deer in her den, y 8Cc.
******
Ah, Cloris ! Sir Peter Halket, of Pitferran,
the author. Note. He married her the heiress
of Pitferran.
Colonel George Crawford, the author of Down
the Burn Davy.
Pinkey -house, by J. Mitchell.
My apron Deary! and Amynta, by Sir G.
Elliot.
Willie was a wanton Wag, was made on Wal-
kinshaw of Walkinshaw, near Paisley.
I loe na a laddie but ane, Mr. Clunzee.
The bonnie wee thing beautiful Lundie's
Dream very beautiful.
He tilVt and she tilVt assez bien.
Armstrong's Farewell fine.
The author of the Highland Queen was a
Mr. M'lver, purser of the Solboy.
Fife and a? the land about it, R. Fergusson.
The
NoteC. APPENDIX. No. II. 363
The author of The Bush aboon Traquair was
a Dr. Stewart.
Polwart on the Green, composed by Captain
John Drummond M'Gregor of Boehaldie.
Mem. To inquire if Mr. Cockburn was the
author of / hae seen the smiling, &c.
# * * #
The above may serve as a specimen. All
the notes on farming are obliterated.
Note C. Seep. 107.
Rides and Regulations to be observed in the
Bachelor's Club.
1st. The club shall meet at Tarbolton every
fourth Monday night, when a question on any
subject shall be proposed, disputed points of re-
ligion, only excepted, in the manner hereafter
directed ; which question is to be debated in
the club, each member taking whatever side he
thinks proper.
2d. When the club is met, the president,
or, he failing, some one of the members till he
come, shall take his seat ; then the other mem-
bers shall seat themselves, those who are for one
side
364 APPENDIX. No. II. Note C.
side of the question, on the president's right
hand ; and those who are for the other side, on
his left; which of them shall have the right
hand is to be determined by the president. The
president and four of the members, being pre-
sent, shall have power to transact any ordinary
part of the society's business.
3d. The club met and seated, the president
shall read the question out of the club's book of
records (which book is always to be kept by
the president), then the two members nearest
the president shall cast lots who of them shall
speak first, and according as the lot shall de-
termine, the member nearest the president on
that side shall deliver his opinion, and the mem-
ber nearest on the other side shall reply to him ;
then the second member of the side that spoke
first ; then the second member of the side that
spoke second j and so on to the end of the com-
pany ; but if there be fewer members on one side
than on the other, when all the members of the
least side have spoken according to their places,
any of them, as they please among themselves,
may reply to the remaining members of the op-
posite side : when both sides have spoken the
president shall give his opinion, after which they
may go over it a second or more times, and so
continue the question.
4th.
Note C. APPENDIX. No. II. 365
4th. The club shall then proceed to the choice
of a question for the subject of next night's
meeting. The president shall first propose one,
and any other member who chooses may propose
more questions ; and whatever one of them is
most agreeable to the majority of the members,
shall be the subject of debate next club-night.
5th. The club shall, lastly, elect a new presi-
dent for the next meeting : the president shall
first name one, then any of the club may name an-
other, and whoever of them has the majority of
votes shall be duly elected; allowing the president
the first vote, and the casting vote upon a par,
but none other. Then after a general toast to
mistresses of the club, they shall dismiss.
6th. There shall be no private conversation
carried on during the time of debate, nor shall
any member interrupt another while he is speak-
ing, under the penalty of a reprimand from the
president for the first fault, doubling his share of
the reckoning for the second, trebling it for the
third, and so on in proportion for every other
fault, provided always however that any member
may speak at any time after leave asked, and given
by the president. All swearing and profane lan-
guage, and particularly all obscene and inde-
cent conversation, is strictly prohibited, under
the
366 APPENDIX. No. II. Note C.
the same penalty as aforesaid in the first clause of
this article.
7th. No member, on any pretence whatever,
shall mention any of the club's affairs to any
other person but a brother member, under the
pain of being excluded ; and particularly if any
member shall reveal any of the speeches or affairs
of the club, with a view to ridicule or laugh at
any of the rest of the members, he shall be for
ever excommunicated from the society ; and the
rest of the members are desired, as much as pos-
sible, to avoid, and have no communication with
him as a friend or comrade.
8th. Every member shall attend at the meet-
ings, without he can give a proper excuse for
not attending ; and it is desired that every one
who cannot attend, will send his excuse with
some other member ; and he who shall be ab-
sent three meetings without sending such ex-
cuse, shall be summoned to the next club-night,
when, if he fail to appear, or send an excuse, he
shall be excluded.
9th. The club shall not consist of more than
sixteen members, all bachelors, belonging to the
parish of Tarbolton : except a brother member
marry, and in that case he may be continued,
if
Note D. APPENDIX. No. II. 367
if the majority of the club think proper. No
person shall be admitted a member of this so-
ciety, without the unanimous consent of the
club ; and any member may withdraw from the
club altogether, by giving a notice to the presi-
dent in writing of his departure.
10th. Every man proper for a member of this
society, must have a frank, honest, open heart;
above any thing dirty or mean ; and must be a
professed lover of one or more of the female
sex. No haughty, self-conceited person, who
looks upon himself as superior to the rest of the
club, and especially no mean-spirited, worldly
mortal, whose only will is to heap up money,
shall upon any pretence whatever be admitted.
In short, the proper person for this society
is, a cheerful, honest-hearted lad, who, if he
has a friend that is true, and a mistress that is
kind, and as much wealth as genteelly to make
both ends meet is just as happy as this world
can make him.
Note D. See p. 308.
A great number of manuscript poems were
found among the papers of Burns, addressed to
him by admirers of his genius, from different parts
of Britain, as well as from Ireland and America.
Among these was a poetical epistle from Mr.
Telford,
368 APPENDIX. No. II. Note D.
Telford, of Shrewsbury, of superior merit. It is
written in the dialect of Scotland (of which
country Mr. Telford is a native), and in the ver-
sification generally employed by our poet himself.
Its object is to recommend to him other subjects
of a serious nature, similar to that of the Cot'
ter y s Saturday Night; and the reader will find
that the advice is happily enforced by example.
It would have given the editor pleasure to have
inserted the whole of this poem, which he hopes
will one day see the light : he is happy to have
obtained, in the mean time, his friend Mr. Tel-
ford's permission to insert the following extracts:
j|f 3 sft 3| 3 j
Pursue, O Burns ! thy happy style,
" Those manner-painting strains," that while
They bear me northward mony a mile,
Recall the days,
When tender joys, with pleasing smile,
Blest my young ways.
I see my fond companions rise,
I join the happy village joys,
I see our green hills touch the skies,
And thro' the woods,
I hear the river's rushing noise,
Its roaring floods.*
No.
* The banks of the Esk f in Dumfries-shire, are here
alluded to. .
Note D. APPENDIX. No. II. 369
No distant Swiss with warmer glow,
E'er heard, his native music flow,
Nor could his wishes stronger grow,
Than still have mine,
When up this ancient mount* I go,
With songs of thine.
O happy Bard ! thy gen'ious flame
Was given to raise thy country's fame,
For this thy charming numbers came,
Thy matchless lays ;
Then sing, and save her virtuous name,
To latest days.
# sfc ^s :{: : ; j
But mony a theme awaits thy muse,
Fine as thy Cotter's sacred views,
Then in such verse thy soul infuse,
With holy air,
And sing the course the pious choose,
With all thy care.
How with religious awe imprest,
They open lay the guileless breast,
And youth and age with fears distrest,
All due prepare,
The symbols of eternal rest
Devout to share, f
VOL. I. B B How
* A beautiful little mount, which stands immediately
before, or rather forms a part of Shrewsbury castle, a seat
of Sir William Pulteney, bait.
f The Sacrament, generally administered in the coun-
try parishes of Scotland in the open air. E.
370 APPENDIX, No. II. Note D.
How clown ilk lang withdrawing hill,
Successive crowds the valleys fill,
While pure religious converse still
Beguiles the way,
And gives a cast to youthful will,
To suit the day.
How plac'd along the sacred board,
Their hoary pastor's looks ador'd,
His voice with peace and blessing stor'd,
Sent from above,
And faith, and hope, and joy afford,
And boundless love.
O'er this, with warm seraphic glow,
Celestial beings pleased bow,
And, whisper'd, hear the holy vow,
'Mid grateful tears -,
And mark amid such scenes below,
Their future peers.
Jjc s -Jc 2jc ^ 4* ^f*
O mark the awful solemn scene !*
When hoary winter clothes the plain,
Along the snowy hills is seen
Approaching slow,
In mourning weeds, the village train,
In silent woe.
Some
# A Scottish funeral. .
NoteD. APPENDIX. No. II. 371
Some much-respected brother's bier,
(By turns in pious task they share)
With heavy hearts they forward bear
Along the path ;
Where nei'bours saw in dusky air,*
The light of death.
And when they pass the rocky how,
Where binwood bushes o'er them flow,
And move around the rising knowe,
Where far away
The kirk -yard trees are seen to grow,
By th' water brae.
Assembled round the narrow grave,
While o'er them wintry tempests rave,
In the cold wind their gray locks wave,
As low they lay
Their brother's body 'mongst the lave
Of parent clay.
Expressive looks from each declare
The griefs within, their bosoms bear,
One holy bow devout they share,
Then home return,
And think o'er all the virtues fair
Of him they mourn.
*******
B B c 2 Say
# This alludes to a superstition prevalent in Eskdale,
and Annandale, that a light precedes in the night every
funeral, marking the precise path it is to pass. E.
372 APPENDIX. No. II. Note IX
Say how by early lessons taught,
(Truth's pleasing air is willing caught)
Congenial to th' untainted thought,
The shepherd boy,
Who tends his flocks on lonely height,
Feels holy joy.
Is aught on earth so lovely known,
On sabbath morn and far alone,
His guileless soul all naked shown
Before his God
Such pray'rs must welcome reach the throne^
And blest abode.
O tell ! with what a heartfelt joy,
The parent eyes the virtuous boy;
And all his constant kind employ,
Is how to give
The best of lear he can enjoy,
As means to live.
The parish-school, its curious site,
The master who can clear indite,
And lead him on to count and write,
Demand thy care ;
Nor pass the ploughman's school at night
Without a share.
Nor
Note D. APPENDIX. No. II. 373
Nor yet the tenty curious lad,
Who o'er the ingle hings his head,
And begs of nei'bours books to read;
For hence arise
Thy country's sons, who far are spread,
Baith banld and wise.
The bonny lasses, as they spin,
Perhaps with Allan's sangs begin,
How Tay and Tweed smooth flowing rin
Thro' flowery hows ;
Where Shepherd-lads their sweethearts win
With earnest vows.
Or may be, Burns, thy thrilling page
May a' their virtuous thoughts engage,
While playful youth and placid age
In concert join,
To bless the bard, who, gay or sage,
Improves the mind.
*******
Long may their harmless, simple ways,
Nature's own pure emotions raise ;
May still the dear romantic blaze
Of purest love,
Their bosoms warm to latest days,
And ay improve.
May
374 APPENDIX. No. II. Note D.
May still each fond attachment glow,
O'er woods, o'er streams, o'er hills of snow;
May rugged rocks still dearer grow,
And may their souls
Even love the warlock glens which through
The tempest howls.
To eternize such themes as these,
And all their happy manners seize,
Will every virtuous bosom please,
And high in fame
To future times will justly raise
Thy patriot name.
While all the venal tribes decay,
That bask in flattery's flaunting ray,
The noisome vermin of a day,
Thy works shall gain
O'er every mind a boundless sway,
And lasting reign.
When winter binds the harden'd plains,
Around each hearth, the hoary swains
Shall teach the rising youth thy strains,
And anxious say,
Our blessing with our sons remains,
And Burns's Lay !
No. III.
375
No. III.
(First inserted in the Second Edition.)
The Editor has particular pleasure in
presenting to the public the following letter, to
the due understanding of which a few previous
observations are necessary.
The Biographer of Burns was naturally de-
sirous of hearing the opinion of the friend and
brother of the poet, on the manner in which he
had executed his task, before a second edition
should be committed to the press. He had the
satisfaction of receiving this opinion, in a letter
dated the 24th of August, approving of the Life
in very obliging terms, and offering one or two
trivial corrections as to names and dates chiefly,
which are made in this edition. One or two
observations were offered of a different kind.
In the 319th page of the first volume, first edi-
tion, a quotation is made from the pastoral song,
Ettrick Banks, and an explanation given of the
phrase " mony feck" which occurs in this quo-
tation. Supposing the sense to be complete after
" mony," the editor had considered " feck" as
a rustic oath which confirmed the assertion. The
words were therefore separated by a comma.
Mr.
376 APPENDIX. No. III.
Mr. Burns considered this an error. " Feck,"
he presumes, is the Scottish word for quantity,
and " mony feck" to mean simply, very many.
The editor, in yielding to this authority, ex-
pressed some hesitation, and hinted that the
phrase " mony feck" was in Mr. Burns's sense
a pleonasm or barbarism which deformed this
beautiful song.* His reply to this observation
makes the first clause of the following letter.
In the same communication he informed
me, that the Mirror and the Lounger were pro-
posed by him to the Conversation Club of
Mauchline, and that he had thoughts of giving
me his sentiments on the remarks I had made
respecting the fitness of such works for such
societies. The observations of such a man on
such a subject, the editor conceived, would be
received with particular interest by the public,
and having pressed earnestly for them, they will
be found in the following letter. Of the value
of this communication, delicacy towards his
very respectable correspondent prevents him
from expressing his opinion. The original letter
is in the hands of Messrs. Cadell and Davies.
* The correction made by Gilbert Burns has also
been suggested by a writer in the Monthly Magazine,
under the signature of Alboin, who, for taking this trouble,
and for mentioning the author of the poem of Donocht-
head, deserves the Editor's thanks.
APPENDIX. No. III. 377
Dinning, Dumfries-shire, %4th Oct. 1800.
DEAR SIR,
Yours of the 17th hist, came to my
hand yesterday, and I sit down this afternoon
to write you in return : but when I shall be able
to finish all I wish to say to you, I cannot tell.
I am sorry your conviction is not complete re-
specting feck. There is no doubt that if you
take two English words which appear synony-
mous to mony feck, and judge by the rules of
English construction, it will appear a barbarism.
I believe if you take this mode of translating
from any language, the effect will frequently be
the same. But if you take the expression mony
feck to have, as I have stated it, the same mean-
ing with the English expression very many
(and such license every translator must be al-
lowed, especially when he translates from a
simple dialect which has never been subjected
to rule, and where the precise meaning of words
is of consequence not minutely attended to), it
will be well enough. One thing I am certain
of, that ours is the sense universally understood
"in this country ; and I believe no Scotsman
who has lived contented at home, pleased with
the
378 APPENDIX. No. III.
the simple manners, the simple melodies, and
the simple dialect of his native country, unvi-
tiated by foreign intercourse, tc whose soul proud
science never taught to stray," ever discovered
barbarism in the song of Ettrick Banks.
The story you have heard of the gable of
my father's house falling down, is simply as
follows;* When my father built his " clay
biggin," he put in two stone-jambs, as they
are called, and a lintel, carrying up a chim-
ney in his clay-gable. The consequence was,
that as the gable subsided, the jambs, remaining
firm, threw it off its centre ; and, one very
stormy morning, when my brother was nine or
ten days old, a little before day-light, a part of
the gable fell out, and the rest appeared so shat-
tered, that my mother, with the young poet,
had to be carried through the storm to a neigh-
bour's house, where they remained a week till
their own dwelling was adjusted. That you
may not think too meanly of this house, or of
my father's taste in building, by supposing the
poet's description in the Vision (which is en-
tirely a fancy picture) applicable to it, allow
me to take notice to you, that the house con-
sisted
* The editor had heard a report that the poet was
born in the midst of a storm which blew down a part of
the house. E.
APPENDIX. No. III. 379
sisted of a kitchen in one end, and a room in
the other, with a fire-place and chimney ; that
my father had constructed a concealed bed in
the kitchen, with a small closet at the end, of
the same materials with the house, and, when
altogether cast over, outside and in, with lime,
it had a neat, comfortable appearance, such as
no family of the same rank, in the present im-
proved style of living, would think themselves
ill-lodged in. I wish likewise to take notice in
passing, that although, the " Cotter," in the
Saturday night, is an exact copy of my father
in his manners, his family devotion, and exhort-
ations, yet the other parts of the description do
not apply to our family. None of us were ever