The Canongate Burns (148 page)

First printed in S.M.M., 1796. 

First printed in S.M.M., 1796. 

First printed in Johnson's S.M.M., 1803.

Was e'er puir poet sae befitted,

The maister drunk – the horse commited?

Puir harmless beast! tak thee nae care,

Thou'lt be a horse when he's nae mair.

What are you doing, and how are you doing? Have you lately seen any of my few friends? What is become of the Borough Reform, or how is the fate of my poor Namesake, Madamois-selle [
sic
] Burns, decided? Which of their grave Lordships can lay his hand on his heart and say that he has not taken the advantage of such frailty; nay, if we may judge by near six thousand years experience, can the World do without such frailty? O Man! but for thee & thy selfish appetites & dishonest artifices, that beauteous form, & that once innocent & still ingenuous mind might have shone conspicuous & lovely in the faithful wife and the affectionate mother; and shall the unfortunate sacrifice to thy pleasures have no claim on thy humanity! As for those flinty-bosomed, puritannic Prosecutors of Female Frailty & Persecutors of Female Charms – I am quite sober – I am dispassionate – to shew you that I am so I shall mend my Pen ere I proceed – It is written, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord they God in vain,” so I shall neither say, G— curse them! nor G— blast them! nor G— damn them! but may Woman curse them! May Woman blast them! May Woman damn them! May her lovely hand inexorably shut the Portal of Rapture to their most earnest Prayers & fondest essays for entrance! And when many years, and much port and great business have delivered them over to Vulture Gouts and Aspen Palsies,
then
may the dear, bewitching Charmer in derision throw open the blissful Gate to tantalize their impotent desires which like ghosts haunt their bosoms when all their powers to give or receive enjoyment, are for ever asleep in the sepulchre of their fathers!!!

Currie, James.
The Complete Works of Robert Burns
, Milner & Sowerby, Halifax, 1824.

Douglas, W. Scott.
The Kilmarnock Edition of the Poetical Works of
Robert Burns
, Special Presentation Edition,
Scottish Daily Express
, Glasgow, 1938.

Henley, W.E. and Henderson, T.F.
The Poetry of Robert Burns
, Vols. 1–4, T.C. and E.C. Jack, Edinburgh, 1896.

Chambers, Robert and Wallace, William.
Life and Works of Robert
Burns
, 4 Vols. Edinburgh, 1896.

Dick, James C.
Songs of Robert Burns
, Mitchell Library fac. 1903.

Ferguson, J. De Lancey and Roy, G. Ross.
The Letters of Robert
Burns
2 Vols., Clarendon, Oxford, 1985.

Kinsley, James,
The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns
, 3 Vols., Clarendon, Oxford, 1968.

Low, Donald A., ed.
Songs of Robert Burns
, Routledge, 1993.

McGuirk, Carol.
Robert Burns: Selected Poems
, Penguin Classic, London, 1993.

Mackay, James.
Robert Burns: The Complete Poetical Works
, Alloway Publishing, Darvel, 1993.

Bateman, Raymond.
Robert Burns
, Twayne, Boston, 1987.

Carswell, Catherine.
Life of Robert Burns
, Canongate Classic, Edinburgh, 1990.

Crawford, Thomas.
Burns: A Study of the Poems and Songs
, Canongate Academic, Edinburgh, 1994.

Daiches, David.
Robert Burns: The Poet
, Saltire Society, Edinburgh 1994.

Donaldson, William.
The Jacobite Song: Poetical Myth and National
Identity
, Aberdeen University Press, 1988.

Ericson Roos, Catarina.
The Songs of Robert Burns: A Study of the
Unity and Poetry of Music
, diss. Studia Anglistica Upsaliensia, 30, 1977.

Ferguson, J. De Lancey. ‘They Censored Burns'
Scotland's Magazine
, Vol. 51, 1955.

Ferguson, J. De Lancey.
Pride and the Passion
: Robert Burns, Oxford, New York, 1939.

Hogg, Patrick Scott.
Robert Burns: The Lost Poems
, Clydeside Press, Glasgow, 1997.

Jack, R.D.S. and Noble, A. eds.
The Art of Robert Burns
, Vision Press, London, 1982.

Low, Donald.
Critical Essays on Robert Burns
, Routledge, London, 1975.

Low, Donald, ed.
Robert Burns: The Critical Heritage
, Routledge, London, 1974.

Mackay, James.
A Biography of Robert Burns
, Mainstream, Edinburgh, 1992.

McGuirk, Carol.
Robert Burns and the Sentimental Era
, University of Georgia Press, 1985.

Muir, Edwin.
Edwin Muir: Uncollected Scottish Criticism
, ed. Andrew Noble, Vision Press, London/N.Y., 1982.

Simpson, Kenneth.
Love and Liberty: Robert Burns: A Bicentenary
Celebration
, Tuckwell Press, Edinburgh, 1997.

Simpson, K. G., ed.
Burns Now
, Canongate Academic, 1994.

Thornton, Robert D.
William Maxwell to Robert Burns
, John Donald, Edinburgh, 1979.

Thornton, Robert D.
James Currie: The Entire Stranger and Robert
Burns
, Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1963.

Werkmeister, Lucylle. ‘Robert Burns and the London Newspapers',
Bulletin of the New York Public Library
, Vol. 65, Oct. 1961.

Werkmeister, Lucylle. ‘Robert Burns and the London Daily Press',
Modern Philology
, New York, 1966. 

Research for this edition was conducted in the following archives:

TS refers to the Treasury Solicitors Papers, Public Record Office, Kew, London.

RH refers to Registry House papers, Scottish Record Office, Princes Street, Edinburgh.

Laing I and II manuscripts, University Library, Edinburgh.

Ewart Library, Dumfries.

Geddes Archive, Essex Country Record Office, Cheltenham.

Linen Hall Library, Belfast.

Public Record Office, Kew, London.

Scottish Catholic Archives, Edinburgh.

The Mitchell Library, Glasgow.

The University Library, Glasgow.

The University Library, Strathclyde.

The University Library, Edinburgh.

The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.

The Central Library, Edinburgh.

The Borough Museum, Dumfries.

John Syme's MSS, Broughton House, Kirkcudbright.

The Roscoe Collection, Liverpool City Library.

The British Library, London.

Trinity College Library, University of Cambridge.

Wisbech and Fenland Museum, Cambridge. 

• Acquaintance who seemed to pass the Bard without notice, On an old,
  1
  
• Act Sederunt of the Session – A Scots Ballad,
  1
  
• Adam Armour's Prayer,
  1
  
• Address of Beelzebub,
  1
  
• Address to a Haggis,
  1
  
• Address to Edinburgh,
  1
  
• Address to the Deil,
  1
  
• Address to the Shade of Thomson,
  1
  
• Address to the Toothache,
  1
  
• Address to the Unco Guid,
  1
  
• Address to the Woodlark,
  1
  
• Addressed to Mr John Ranken in reply to an Announcement,
  1
  
• Adown Winding Nith,
  1
  
• Ae Fond Kiss,
  1
  
• Afton Water,
  1
  
• Again Rejoicing Nature Sees,
  1
  
• Ah, Woe is Me, My Mother Dear,
  1
  
• Ainslie in Church, To Miss,
  1
  
• Alexander Cunningham, To,
  1
  
• Alexander Findlater, To,
  1
  
• Amang the Trees,
  1
  
• An Extemporaneous Effusion,
  1
  
• An Unpublished Letter on Robert the Bruce,
  1
  
• And I'll Kiss Thee Yet,
  1
  
• Andrew Turner, On,
  1
  
• Anna Thy Charms,
  1
  
• Another,
  1
  
• Answer to a Trimming Epistle Received from a Tailor,
  1
  
• Answer to an Invitation,
  1
  
• As Down the Burn Davie,
  1
  
• As I Cam Down by Yon Castle Wa',
  1
  
• As I Cam o'er the Cairney Mount,
  1
  
• As I Stood by Yon Roofless Tower,
  1
  
• As I Was a Wand'ring,
  1
  
• As I Went Out Ae May Morning,
  1
  
• At Brownhill Inn,
  1
  
• At Dumfries Theatre,
  1
  
• At Roslin Inn,
  1
  
• At Whigham's Inn, Sanquhar,
  1
  
• Auld Farmers New-year Morning Salutation to His Auld Mare, Maggie, The,
  1
  
• Auld Lang Syne,
  1
  
• Auld Man's Mare's Dead, The,
  1
  
• Auld Man's Winter Thought, The,
  1
  
• Auld Rob Morris,
  1
  
• Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer, The,
  1
  
• Awa', Whigs, Awa',
  1
  
• Ay Waukin O,
  1
  

• Babington, On Rev. Dr,
  1
  
• Bank of Flowers, On a,
  1
  
• Banks and Braes o' Bonie Doon, Ye,
  1
  
• Banks of Cree, The,
  1
  
• Banks of Nith, The,
  1
  
• Banks of the Devon, The,
  1
  
• Bannocks o' Bear-Meal,
  1
  
• Bard's Epitaph, A,
  1
  
• Battle of Sherramuir, The,
  1
  
• Beautiful Miss Eliza J—N, To the,
  1
  
• Behold the Hour,
  1
  
• Being Shown a Beautiful Country Seat, On,
  1
  
• Belles of Mauchline, The,
  1
  
• Bessy and Her Spinning Wheel,
  1
  
• Beware o' Bonie Ann,
  1
  
• Birks of Aberfeldey, The,
  1
  
• Birth of a Posthumous Child, On the,
  1
  
• Birthday Ode, A. December 31st 1787,
  1
  
• Blackbird, To a,
  1
  
• Blue-Eyed Lassie, The,
  1
  
• Blythe Hae I Been on Yon Hill,
  1
  
• Blythe Was She,
  1
  
• Bob o' Dumblane, The,
  1
  
• Bonie Dundee,
  1
  
• Bonie Jean,
  1
  
• Bonie Lad that's Far Awa, The,
  1
  
• Bonie Laddie, Highland Laddie,
  1
  
• Bonie Lass o' Ballochmyle, The,
  1
  
• Bonie Lass of Albanie, The,
  1
  
• Bonie Mary,
  1
  
• Bonie Peg-a-Ramsay ,
  1
  
• Bonny Wee Thing, The,
  1
  
• Book-Worms – 1, The,
  1
  
• Book-Worms – 2, The,
  1
  
• Braes o' Ballochmyle, The,
  1
  
• Braw Lads o' Galla Water,
  1
  
• Braw Wooer, The,
  1
  
• Brigs o Ayr, The,
  1
  
• Broom Besoms,
  1
  
• Brose and Butter,
  1
  
• Burke, On Mr.,
  1
  
• Burns's Horse being Impounded, On,
  1
  
• Buy Braw Troggin,
  1
  
• By Allan Stream,
  1
  

• Ca' the Yowes to the Knowes,
  1
  ,
  2
  
• Cabinet Dinner, A,
  1
  
• Caledonia,
  1
  
• Calf, The,
  1
  
• Campbells are Comin, The,
  1
  
• Can Ye Labour Lea,
  1
  
• Canst Thou Leave Me Thus My Katy,
  1
  
• Capt. Lascelles, On,
  1
  
• Captain Gordon, To,
  1
  
• Captain Grose, On,
  1
  
• Captain Riddell on Returning a Newspaper, To,
  1
  
• Captain's Lady, The,
  1
  
• Cardin O't, The,
  1
  
• Cares o' Love, The,
  1
  
• Carl and the King Come,
  1
  
• Castle Gordon,
  1
  
• Cauld Frosty Morning,
  1
  
• Cauld House o' Clay, The,
  1
  
• Celebrated Ruling Elder, On a,
  1
  
• Charlie He's My Darling,
  1
  
• Charming Month of May, The,
  1
  
• Cheerful Man, The,
  1
  
• Chevalier's Lament, The,
  1
  
• Chloris Being Ill, On,
  1
  
• Chloris, On,
  1
  
• Chloris, To,
  1
  ,
  2
  
• Clarinda,
  1
  
• Clarinda, To,
  1
  
• Club in Dumfries, To a,
  1
  
• Cob Web – A Song, The,
  1
  
• Cock Up Your Beaver,
  1
  
• Coila, By the Banks of Nith,
  1
  
• Collector Mitchell, To,
  1
  
• Colonel De Peyster, To,
  1
  
• Come, Let Me Take Thee,
  1
  
• Comin Thro' the Rye,
  1
  
• Commemoration of Rodney's Victory, On the,
  1
  
• Commissary Goldie's Brains, On,
  1
  
• Composed in August,
  1
  
• Contented wi' Little,
  1
  
• Cotter's Saturday Night, The,
  1
  
• Country Lassie, The,
  1
  
• Couper o' Cuddy, The,
  1
  
• Craigie-burn Wood,
  1
  
• Craigieburn Wood,
  1
  
• Creed of Poverty, The,
  1
  
• Cruickshank, a Very Young Lady, To Miss,
  1
  

• Dagger, The,
  1
  
• Dainty Davie,
  1
  
• Daunton Me, To,
  1
  
• Davies, On Miss,
  1
  
• Day Returns, The,
  1
  
• Dean of the Faculty, The,
  1
  
• Death and Doctor Hornbook,
  1
  
• Death and Dying Words of Poor Mailie, The,
  1
  
• Death of Echo, a Lap-Dog, On the,
  1
  ,
  2
  
• Death of Lord President Dundas, On the,
  1
  
• Dedication to Gavin Hamilton, Esq, A,
  1
  
• Deil's Awawi' th' Exciseman, The,
  1
  
• Delia: An Ode,
  1
  
• Deluded Swain, the Pleasure,
  1
  
• Despondency: An Ode,
  1
  
• Destruction of Drumlanrig Woods, On the,
  1
  
• Deuk's Dang o'er My Daddie, The,
  1
  
• Dr. John Mackenzie, To,
  1
  
• Dr. Maxwell, To,
  1
  
• Dream, A,
  1
  
• Duchess of Gordon's Reel Dancing, On the,
  1
  
• Dumfries Epigrams,
  1
  
• Dumfries Volunteers, The,
  1
  
• Duncan Davison,
  1
  
• Duncan Gray,
  1
  
• Dusty Miller, The,
  1
  

• Election, The,
  1
  
• Election Ballad,
  1
  
• Election Ballad for Westerha',
  1
  
• Elegy,
  1
  
• Elegy on Captain Matthew
  
• Henderson,
  1
  
• Elegy on Mr. William Cruikshank, A.M.,
  1
  
• Elegy on the Death of Sir James Hunter Blair,
  1
  
• Elegy on the Late Miss Burnet of Monboddo,
  1
  
• Elegy on the Year 1788,
  1
  
• Elegy on Willie Nicol's Mare,
  1
  
• Elphinstone's Translation of Martial, On,
  1
  
• Epigram at Inveraray,
  1
  
• Epigram on Captain Francis Grose,
  1
  
• Epigram on Maxwell of Cardoness,
  1
  
• Epigram on Said Occasion,
  1
  
• Epistle to a Young Friend,
  1
  
• Epistle to Captain William Logan at Park,
  1
  
• Epistle to Davie, a Brother Poet,
  1
  
• Epistle to Dr. Blacklock,
  1
  
• Epistle to Hugh Parker,
  1
  
• Epistle to J. Lapraik,
  1
  
• Epistle to James Smith,
  1
  
• Epistle to John Goldie,
  1
  
• Epistle to John Ranken,
  1
  
• Epistle to Wm. Tytler of Woodhouselee,
  1
  
• Epitaph,
  1
  
• Epitaph for Hugh Logan, Esq. of Logan,
  1
  
• Epitaph for J. H., Writer in Ayr,
  1
  
• Epitaph for William Michie,
  1
  
• Epitaph for William Nicol,
  1
  
• Epitaph on a Henpecked Squire,
  1
  
• Epitaph on a Wag in Mauchline,
  1
  
• Epitaph on Holy Willie,
  1
  
• Epitaph on John Bushby,
  1
  
• Epitaph on John Dove, Innkeeper, Mauchline,
  1
  
• Epitaph on My Own Friend, and My Father's Friend, Wm Muir in Tarbolton Miln,
  1
  
• Epitaph on Robert Muir,
  1
  
• Epitaph: On Robert Fergusson,
  1
  
• Eppie Adair,
  1
  
• Eppie Macnab,
  1
  
• Ewe Bughts, The,
  1
  
• Extempore,
  1
  ,
  2
  
• Extempore — To Gavin Hamilton,
  1
  
• Extempore Epistle to Mr. M'adam of Craigengillan,
  1
  
• Extempore in the Court of Session,
  1
  
• Extempore Reply to an Invitation,
  1
  
• Extempore Verses on Dining with Lord Daer,
  1
  

• Fair Eliza,
  1
  
• Fair Jenny,
  1
  
• Fairest Maid on Devon Banks,
  1
  
• Farewell, The,
  1
  
• Farewell, Thou Stream,
  1
  
• Farewell to the Brethren of St. James's Lodge, Tarbolton, The,
  1
  
• Ferrier, To Miss,
  1
  
• Fête Champetre, The,
  1
  
• Fickle Fortune,
  1
  
• Five Carlins – A Ballad, The,
  1
  
• Flowery Banks o' Bonie Doon, Ye,
  1
  
• For Gavin Hamilton, Esq.,
  1
  
• For Robert Aiken, Esq.,
  1
  
• For the Author's Father,
  1
  
• For the Sake o' Somebody,
  1
  
• For William Creech,
  1
  
• Forlorn My Love,
  1
  
• Fornicator, The,
  1
  
• Frae the Friends and Land I Love,
  1
  
• Fragment to Clarinda,
  1
  
• Fragment, A,
  1
  
• From Esopus to Maria,
  1
  
• From Thee Eliza,
  1