| 1 | William Burness | 27 December 1781 | Irvine | This was written by Burns in his twenty-third year, when learning flax-dressing in Irvine, and is the earliest of his letters which has… |
| 2 | Mr. John Murdoch | 15 January 1783 | Lochlea | John Murdoch, one of the poet's early teachers, removed from the west of Scotland to London, where he lived to a good old age, and loved to… |
| 3 | Mr. James Burness | 21 June 1783 | Lochlea | James Burness, son of the poet's uncle, lives at Montrose, and, as may be surmised, is now very old: fame has come to his house through his… |
| 4 | Miss E | 1783 | Lochlea | The name of the lady to whom this and the three succeeding letters were addressed, seems to have been known to Dr. Currie, who introduced… |
| 5 | Miss E | 1783 | Lochlea | |
| 6 | Miss E | 1783 | Lochlea | |
| 7 | Miss E | 1783 | Lochlea | |
| 8 | Robert Riddel | – | – | These memoranda throw much light on the early days of Burns, and on the history of his mind and compositions. Robert Riddel, of the… |
| 9 | Mr. James Burness | 17 February 1784 | Lochlea | The elder Burns, whose death this letter intimates, lies buried in the kirk-yard of Alloway, with a tombstone recording his worth. |
| 10 | James Burness | August 1784 | Mossgiel | Mrs. Buchan, the forerunner in extravagance and absurdity of Joanna Southcote, after attempting to fix her tent among the hills of the west… |
| 11 | Miss ---- | – | – | This has generally been printed among the early letters of Burns. Cromek thinks that the person addressed was the "Peggy" of the… |
| 12 | Mr. John Richmond | 17 February 1786 | Mossgiel | John Richmond, writer, one of the poet's Mauchline friends, to whom we are indebted for much valuable information concerning Burns and his… |
| 13 | Mr. John Kennedy | March 1786 | Mossgiel | Who the John Kennedy was to whom Burns addressed this note, enclosing "The Cotter's Saturday night," it is now, perhaps, vain to inquire:… |
| 14 | Mr. Robert Muir | 20 March 1786 | Mossgiel | The Muirs—there were two brothers—were kind and generous patrons of the poet. They subscribed for half-a-hundred copies of the Kilmarnock… |
| 15 | Mr. Aiken | April 1786 | Mossgiel | Robert Aiken, the gentleman to whom the "Cotter's Saturday Night" is inscribed, is also introduced in the "Brigs of Ayr." This is the last… |
| 16 | Mr. M'Whinnie | 17 April 1786 | Mossgiel | Mr. M'Whinnie obtained for Burns several subscriptions for the first edition of his Poems, of which this note enclosed the proposals. |
| 17 | Mr. John Kennedy | 20 April 1786 | Mossgiel | "The small piece," the very last of his productions, which the poet enclosed in this letter, was "The Mountain Daisy," called in the… |
| 18 | Mon. James Smith | 1786 | – | James Smith, of whom Burns said he was small of stature, but large of soul, kept at that time a draper's shop in Mauchline, and was comrade… |
| 19 | Mr. John Kennedy | 16 May 1796 | Mossgiel | Burns was busy in a two-fold sense at present: he was seeking patrons in every quarter for his contemplated volume, and was composing for… |
| 20 | Mr. David Brice | 12 June 1786 | Mossgiel | David Brice was a shoemaker, and shared with Smith the confidence of the poet in his love affairs. He was working in Glasgow when this… |
| 21 | Mr. Robert Aiken | – | – | This letter was written under great distress of mind. That separation which Burns records in "The Lament," had, unhappily, taken place… |
| 22 | John Richmond | 9 July 1786 | Mossgiel | The minister who took upon him to pronounce Burns a single man, as he intimates in this letter, was the Rev. Mr. Auld, of Mauchline: that… |
| 23 | John Ballantyne | – | – | There is a plain account in this letter of the destruction of the lines of marriage which united, as far as a civil contract in a manner… |
| 24 | Mr. David Brice | 17 July 1786 | Mossgiel | The letters of Burns at the sad period of his life are full of his private sorrows. Had Jean Armour been left to the guidance of her own… |
| 25 | Mr. John Richmond | 30 July 1786 | Old Rome Forest | When this letter was written the poet was skulking from place to place: the merciless pack of the law had been uncoupled at his heels. Mr.… |
| 26 | Mr. Robert Muir | – | Mossgiel | Burns never tried to conceal either his joys or his sorrows: he sent copies of his favorite pieces, and intimations of much that befel him… |
| 27 | Mrs. Dunlop | 1786 | Ayrshire | Mrs. Dunlop was a poetess, and had the blood of the Wallaces in her veins: though she disliked the irregularities of the poet, she scorned… |
| 28 | Mr. John Kennedy | August 1786 | Kilmarnock | It is a curious chapter in the life of Burns to count the number of letters which he wrote, the number of fine poems he composed, and the… |
| 29 | Mr. James Burness | 26 September 1786 | Mossgiel | The good and generous James Burness, of Montrose, was ever ready to rejoice with his cousin's success or sympathize with his sorrows, but… |
| 30 | Miss Alexander | 18 November 1786 | Mossgiel | This letter, Robert Chambers says, concluded with requesting Miss Alexander to allow the poet to print the song which it enclosed, in a… |
| 31 | Mrs. Stewart | – | – | Mrs. Stewart, of Stair and Afton, was the first person of note in the West who had the taste to see and feel the genius of Burns. He used… |
| 32 | In The Name Of The Nine. Amen | – | – | The song or ballad which one of the "Deil's yeld Nowte" was commanded to burn, was "Holy Willie's Prayer," it is believed. Currie… |
| 33 | Mr. Robert Muir | 18 November 1786 | Mossgiel | The expedition to Edinburgh, to which this short letter alludes, was undertaken, it is needless to say, in consequence of a warm and… |
| 34 | Dr. Mackenzie | – | – | To the kind and venerable Dr. Mackenzie, the poet was indebted for some valuable friendships, and his biographers for some valuable… |
| 35 | Gavin Hamilton | – | – | From Gavin Hamilton Burns and his brother took the farm of Mossgiel: the landlord was not slow in perceiving the genius of Robert: he had… |
| 36 | John Ballantyne | 13 December 1786 | Edinburgh | This is the second letter which Burns wrote, after his arrival in Edinburgh, and it is remarkable because it distinctly imputes his… |
| 37 | Mr. Robert Muir | 20 December 1786 | Edinburgh | "Muir, thy weaknesses," says Burns, writing of this gentleman to Mrs. Dunlop, "thy weaknesses were the aberrations of human nature; but thy… |
| 38 | Mr. William Chalmers | 27 December 1786 | Edinburgh | William Chalmers drew out the assignment of the copyright of Burns's Poems, in favour of his brother Gilbert, and for the maintenance of… |
| 39 | The Earl Of Eglintoun | January 1787 | Edinburgh | Archibald Montgomery, eleventh Earl of Eglinton, and Colonel Hugh Montgomery, of Coilsfield, who succeeded his brother in his titles and… |
| 40 | Mr. Gavin Hamilton | 7 January 1787 | Edinburgh | This letter was first published by Hubert Chambers, who considered it as closing the enquiry, "was Burns a married man?" No doubt Burns… |
| 41 | John Ballantyne | 14 January 1787 | Edinburgh | This letter contains the first intimation that the poet desired to resume the labours of the farmer. The old saw of "Willie Gaw's Skate,"… |
| 42 | John Ballantyne | January 1787 | – | I have not hesitated to insert all letters which show what Burns was musing on as a poet, or planning as a man. |
| 43 | Mrs. Dunlop | 15 January 1787 | Edinburgh | The friendship of Mrs. Dunlop purified, while it strengthened the national prejudices of Burns. |
| 44 | Dr. Moore | January 1787 | Edinburgh | Dr. Moore, the accomplished author of Zeluco and father of Sir John Moore, interested himself in the fame and fortune of Burns, as soon as… |
| 45 | The Rev. G. Laurie | 5 February 1787 | Edinburgh | It has been said in the Life of Burns, that for some time after he went to Edinburgh, he did not visit Dr. Blacklock, whose high opinion of… |
| 46 | Dr. Moore | 15 February 1787 | Edinburgh | In the answer to this letter, Dr. Moore says that the poet was a great favourite in his family, and that his youngest son, at Winchester… |
| 47 | John Ballantyne | 24 February 1787 | Edinburgh | The picture from which Beugo engraved the portrait alluded to in this letter, was painted by the now venerable Alexander Nasmyth—the eldest… |
| 48 | The Earl Of Glencairn | 1787 | Edinburgh | The Earl of Glencairn seems to have refused, from motives of delicacy, the request of the poet: the verses, long lost, were at last found,… |
| 49 | The Earl Of Buchan | – | – | The Earl of Buchan, a man of talent, but more than tolerably vain, advised Burns to visit the battle-fields and scenes celebrated in song… |
| 50 | Mr. James Candlish | 21 March 1787 | Edinburgh | James Candlish, a student of medicine, was well acquainted with the poetry of Lowe, author of that sublime lyric, "Mary's Dream," and at… |
| 51 | ---- | March 1787 | Edinburgh | The name of the friend to whom this letter was addressed is still unknown, though known to Dr. Currie. The Esculapian Club of Edinburgh… |
| 52 | Mrs. Dunlop | March 1787 | Edinburgh | The poet alludes in this letter to the profits of the Edinburgh edition of his Poems: the exact sum is no where stated, but it could not… |
| 53 | Mrs. Dunlop | 15 April 1787 | Edinburgh | This seems to be a letter acknowledging the payment of Mrs. Dunlop's subscription for his poems. |
| 54 | Mr. Sibbald | – | Lawn Market | This letter first appeared in that very valuable work, Nicholl's Illustrations of Literature. |
| 55 | Dr. Moore | April 1787 | Edinburgh | The book to which the poet alludes, was the well-known View of Society by Dr. Moore, a work of spirit and observation. |
| 56 | Mrs. Dunlop | 30 April 1787 | Edinburgh | This letter was in answer to one of criticism and remonstrance, from Mrs. Dunlop, respecting "The Dream," which she had begged the poet to… |
| 57 | The Rev. Dr. Hugh Blair | May 1787 | Lawn-market | The answer of Dr. Blair to this letter contains the following passage: "Your situation, as you say, was indeed very singular: and in being… |
| 58 | The Earl Of Glencairn | – | – | The poet addressed the following letter to the Earl of Glencairn, when he commenced his journey to the Border. It was first printed in the… |
| 59 | Mr. William Dunbar | – | Lawn-market | William Dunbar, Colonel of the Crochallan Fencibles. The name has a martial sound, but the corps which he commanded was club of wits, whose… |
| 60 | James Johnson | 3 May 1787 | Lawn-market | James Johnson was an engraver in Edinburgh, and proprietor of the Musical Museum; a truly national work, for which Burns wrote or amended… |
| 61 | William Creech | 13 May 1787 | Selkirk | This characteristic letter was written during the poet's border tour: he narrowly escaped a soaking with whiskey, as well as with water;… |
| 62 | Mr. Patison | 17 May 1787 | Berrywell | This letter has a business air about it: the name of Patison is nowhere else to be found in the poet's correspondence. |
| 63 | W. Nicol | 1 June 1787 | Carlisle | Jenny Geddes was a zealous old woman, who threw the stool on which she sat, at the Dean of Edinburgh's head, when, in 1637, he attempted to… |
| 64 | Mr. James Smith | 11 June 1787 | Mauchline | Burns, it seems by this letter, had still a belief that he would be obliged to try his fortune in the West Indies: he soon saw how hollow… |
| 65 | William Nicol | 18 June 1787 | Mauchline | The charm which Dumfries threw over the poet, seems to have dissolved like a spell, when he sat down in Ellisland: he spoke, for a time,… |
| 66 | Mr. James Candlish | 1787 | Edinburgh | Candlish was a classic scholar, but had a love for the songs of Scotland, as well as for the poetry of Greece and Rome. |
| 67 | Robert Ainslie | 28 June 1787 | Arracher | "Burns had a memory stored with the finest poetical passages, which he was in the habit of quoting most aptly in his correspondence with… |
| 68 | William Nicol | June 1787 | Auchtertyre | This visit to Auchtertyre produced that sweet lyric, beginning "Blythe, blythe and merry was she;" and the lady who inspired it was at his… |
| 69 | William Cruikshank | – | Auchtertyre | At the house of William Cruikshank, one of the masters of the High School, in Edinburgh, Burns passed many agreeable hours. |
| 70 | Mr. James Smith | 30 June 1787 | – | The young lady to whom the poet alludes in this letter, was very beautiful, and very proud: it is said she gave him a specimen of both her… |
| 71 | Mr. John Richmond | 7 July 1787 | Mossgiel | Mr. John Richmond, writer, was one of the poet's earliest and firmest friends; he shared his room with him when they met in Edinburgh, and… |
| 72 | Robert Ainslie | July 1787 | Mauchline | This letter, were proof wanting, shows the friendly and familiar footing on which Burns stood with the Ainslies, and more particularly with… |
| 73 | Robert Ainslie | July 1787 | Mauchline | The "savage hospitality," of which Burns complains in this letter, was at that time an evil fashion in Scotland: the bottle was made to… |
| 74 | Dr. Moore | August 1787 | Mauchline | Dr. Moore was one of the first to point out the beauty of the lyric compositions of Burns. "'Green grow the Rashes,' and of the two songs,"… |
| 75 | Robert Ainslie | August 1787 | Edinburgh | This characteristic letter was first published by Sir Harris Nichols; others, still more characteristic, addressed to the same gentleman,… |
| 76 | Mr. Robert Muir | 26 August 1787 | Stirling | No Scotsman will ever read, without emotion, the poet's words in this letter, and in "Scots wha hae wi Wallace bled," about Bannnockburn… |
| 77 | Gavin Hamilton | 28 August 1787 | Stirling | It is supposed that the warmth of the lover came in this letter to the aid of the imagination of the poet, in his account of Charlotte… |
| 78 | Mr. Walker | 5 September 1787 | Inverness | Professor Walker was a native of Ayrshire, and an accomplished scholar; he saw Burns often in Edinburgh; he saw him at the Earl of Athol's… |
| 79 | Mr. Gilbert Burns | 17 September 1787 | Edinburgh | The letters of Robert to Gilbert are neither many nor important: the latter was a calm, considerate, sensible man, with nothing poetic in… |
| 80 | Miss Margaret Chalmers | 26 September 1787 | – | To Margaret Chalmers, the youngest daughter of James Chalmers, Esq., of Fingland, it is said that Burns confided his affection to Charlotte… |
| 81 | Miss Margaret Chalmers | – | Without date | That fine song, "The Banks of the Devon," dedicated to the charms of Charlotte Hamilton, was enclosed in the following letter. |
| 82 | James Hoy | 20 October 1787 | Edinburgh | James Hoy, librarian of Gordon Castle, was, it is said, the gentleman whom his grace of Gordon sent with a message inviting in vain that… |
| 83 | Rev. John Skinner | 25 October 1787 | Edinburgh | The songs of "Tullochgorum," and "John of Badenyon," have made the name of Skinner dear to all lovers of Scottish verse: he was a man… |
| 84 | James Hoy | 6 November 1787 | Edinburgh | In singleness of heart and simplicity of manners James Hoy is said, by one who knew him well, to have rivalled Dominie Sampson: his love of… |
| 85 | Mr. Robert Ainslie | – | Edinburgh | "I set you down," says Burns, elsewhere, to Ainslie, "as the staff of my old age, when all my other friends, after a decent show of pity,… |
| 86 | The Earl Of Glencairn | 1787 | Edinburgh | The views of Burns were always humble: he regarded a place in the excise as a thing worthy of paying court for, both in verse and prose. |
| 87 | James Dalrymple | 1787 | Edinburgh | James Dalrymple, Esq., of Orangefield, was a gentleman of birth and poetic tastes—he interested himself in the fortunes of Burns. |
| 88 | Charles Hay. Esq | – | – | The verses enclosed were written on the death of the Lord President Dundas, at the suggestion of Charles Hay, Esq., advocate, afterwards a… |
| 89 | Miss M----N | – | – | This letter appeared for the first time in the "Letters to Clarinda," a little work which was speedily suppressed—it is, on the whole, a… |
| 90 | Miss Chalmers | 21 November 1787 | Edinburgh | Some dozen or so, it is said, of the most beautiful letters that Burns ever wrote, and dedicated to the beauty of Charlotte Hamilton, were… |
| 91 | Miss Chalmers | 12 December 1787 | Edinburgh | The "Ochel-Hills," which the poet promises in this letter, is a song, beginning, "Where braving angry winter's storms The lofty Ochels… |
| 92 | Miss Chalmers | 19 December 1787 | Edinburgh | The eloquent hypochondriasm of the concluding paragraph of this letter, called forth the commendation of Lord Jeffrey, when he criticised… |
| 93 | Sir John Whitefoord | December 1787 | Edinburgh | The Whitefoords of Whitefoord, interested themselves in all matters connected with literature: the power of the family, unluckily for… |
| 94 | Miss Williams | December 1787 | Edinburgh | The name and merits of Miss Williams are widely known; nor is it a small honour to her muse that her tender song of "Evan Banks" was… |
| 95 | Mr. Richard Brown | 30 December 1787 | Edinburgh | Richard Brown was the "hapless son of misfortune," alluded to by Burns in his biographical letter to Dr. Moore: by fortitude and prudence… |
| 96 | Gavin Hamilton | – | – | The Hamiltons of the West continue to love the memory of Burns: the old arm-chair in which the bard sat, when he visited Nanse Tinnocks,… |
| 97 | Miss Chalmers | December 1787 | Edinburgh | The blank which takes the place of the name of the "Gentleman in mind and manners," of this letter, cannot now be filled up, nor is it much… |
| 98 | Mrs. Dunlop | 21 January 1788 | Edinburgh | The poet alludes in this letter, as in some before, to a hurt which he got in one of his excursions in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. |
| 99 | Mrs. Dunlop | 12 February 1788 | Edinburgh | The levity with which Burns sometimes spoke of things sacred, had been obliquely touched upon by his good and anxious friend Mrs. Dunlop:… |
| 100 | The Rev. John Skinner | 14 February 1788 | Edinburgh | When Burns undertook to supply Johnson with songs for the Musical Museum, he laid all the bards of Scotland under contribution, and Skinner… |
| 101 | Richard Brown | 15 February 1788 | Edinburgh | The letters of Burns to Brown, and Smith, and Richmond, and others of his west-country friends, written when he was in the first flush of… |
| 102 | Mrs. Rose | 17 February 1788 | Edinburgh | Mrs. Rose of Kilravock, a lady distinguished by the elegance of her manners, as well as by her talents, was long remembered by Burns: she… |
| 103 | Richard Brown | 24 February 1788 | Mossgiel | While Burns was confined to his lodgings by his maimed limb, he beguiled the time and eased the pain by composing the Clarinda epistles,… |
| 104 | Mr. William Cruikshank | March 1788 | Mauchline | The excise and farming alternately occupied the poet's thoughts in Edinburgh: he studied books of husbandry and took lessons in gauging,… |
| 105 | Robert Ainslie | March 1788 | Mauchline | The sensible and intelligent farmer on whose judgment Burns depended in the choice of his farm, was Mr. Tait, of Glenconner. |
| 106 | Richard Brown | 7 March 1788 | Mauchline | Richard Brown, it is said, fell off in his liking for Burns when he found that he had made free with his name in his epistle to Moore. |
| 107 | Mr. Muir | 7 March 1788 | Mossgiel | The change which Burns says in this letter took place in his ideas, refers, it is said, to his West India voyage, on which, it appears by… |
| 108 | Mrs. Dunlop | 17 March 1788 | Mossgiel | One of the daughters of Mrs. Dunlop painted a sketch of Coila from Burns's poem of the Vision: it is still in existence, and is said to… |
| 109 | Miss Chalmers | 14 March 1788 | Edinburgh | The uncouth cares of which the poet complains in this letter were the construction of a common farmhouse, with barn, byre, and stable to… |
| 110 | Richard Brown | 26 March 1788 | Glasgow | The excitement referred to in this letter arose from the dilatory and reluctant movements of Creech, who was so slow in settling his… |
| 111 | Mr. Robert Cleghorn | 31 March 1788 | Mauchline | Cleghorn was a farmer, a social man, and much of a musician. The poet wrote the Chevalier's Lament to please the jacobitical taste of his… |
| 112 | Mr. William Dunbar | 7 April 1788 | Mauchline | This letter was printed for the first time by Robert Chambers, in his "People's Edition" of Burns. |
| 113 | Miss Chalmers | 7 April 1788 | Mauchline | The sacrifice referred to by the poet, was his resolution to unite his fortune with Jean Armour. |
| 114 | Miss Chalmers | – | No date | The hint alluded to, was a whisper of the insolvency of Creech; but the bailie was firm as the Bass. |
| 115 | Miss Chalmers | – | Edinburgh | Although Burns gladly grasped at a situation in the Excise, he wrote many apologies to his friends, for the acceptance of a place, which,… |
| 116 | Mrs. Dunlop | 28 April 1788 | Mauchline | The Tasso, with the perusal of which Mrs. Dunlop indulged the poet, was not the line version of Fairfax, but the translation of Hoole—a far… |
| 117 | Mr. James Smith | 28 April 1788 | Mauchline | James Smith, as this letter intimates, had moved from Mauchline to try to mend his fortunes at Avon Printfield, near Linlithgow. |
| 118 | Professor Dugald Stewart | May 1788 | Mauchline | Dugald Stewart loved the poet, admired his works, and enriched the biography of Currie with some genuine reminiscences of his earlier days. |
| 119 | Mrs. Dunlop | 4 May 1788 | Mauchline | A poem, something after the fashion of the Georgics, was long present to the mind of Burns: had fortune been more friendly he might have,… |
| 120 | Mr. Robert Ainslie | 26 May 1788 | Mauchline | I have heard the gentleman say, to whom this brief letter is addressed, how much he was pleased with the intimation, that the poet had… |
| 121 | Mrs. Dunlop | – | – | This letter, on the hiring season, is well worth the consideration of all masters, and all servants. In England, servants are engaged by… |
| 122 | Mrs. Dunlop | 13 June 1788 | Ellisland | In this, the poet's first letter from Ellisland, he lays down his whole system of in-door and out-door economy: while his wife took care of… |
| 123 | Robert Ainslie | 14 June 1788 | Ellisland | Had Burns written his fine song, beginning "Contented wi' little and cantie wi' mair," when he penned this letter, the prose might have… |
| 124 | Robert Ainslie | June 1788 | Mauchline | The kindness of Field, the profilist, has not only indulged me with a look at the original, from which the profile alluded to in the letter… |
| 125 | Robert Ainslie | 30 June 1788 | Ellisland | "There is a degree of folly," says Burns in this letter, "in talking unnecessarily of one's private affairs." The folly is scarcely less to… |
| 126 | Mr. George Lockhart | 18 July 1788 | Mauchline | Burns, more than any poet of the age, loved to write out copies of his favourite poems, and present them to his friends: he sent "The Falls… |
| 127 | Mr. Peter Hill | – | – | Peter Hill was a bookseller in Edinburgh: David Ramsay, printer of the Evening Courant: William Dunbar, an advocate, and president of a… |
| 128 | Robert Graham | – | – | The filial and fraternal claims alluded to in this letter were satisfied with about three hundred pounds, two hundred of which went to his… |
| 129 | William Cruikshank | August 1788 | Ellisland | The verses which this letter conveyed to Cruikshank were the lines written in Friars-Carse Hermitage: "the first-fruits," says the poet,… |
| 130 | Mrs. Dunlop | 2 August 1788 | Mauchline | The lines on the Hermitage were presented by the poet to several of his friends, and Mrs. Dunlop was among the number. |
| 131 | Mrs. Dunlop | 10 August 1788 | Mauchline | This letter has been often cited, and very properly, as a proof of the strong attachment of Burns to one who was, in many respects, worthy. |
| 132 | Mrs. Dunlop | 16 August 1788 | Ellisland | Mrs. Miller, of Dalswinton, was a lady of beauty and talent: she wrote verses with skill and taste. Her maiden name was Jean Lindsay. |
| 133 | Mr. Beugo | 9 September 1788 | Ellisland | Mr. Beugo was at well-known engraver in Edinburgh: he engraved Nasmyth's portrait of Burns, for Creech's first edition of his Poems; and as… |
| 134 | Miss Chalmers | 16 September 1788 | Ellisland | To this fine letter all the biographer of Burns are largely indebted. |
| 135 | Mr. Morison | 22 September 1788 | Ellisland | Morison, of Mauchline, made most of the poet's furniture, for Ellisland: from Mauchline, too, came that eight-day clock, which was sold, at… |
| 136 | Mrs. Dunlop | 27 September 1788 | Mauchline | Burns had no great respect for critics who found blemishes without perceiving beauties: he expresses his contempt for such in this letter. |
| 137 | Mr. Peter Hill | 1 October 1788 | Mauchline | "The 'Address to Lochlomond,' which this letter criticises," says Currie in 1800, "was written by a gentleman, now one of the masters of… |
| 138 | The Editor Of "The Star." | 8 November 1788 | – | The clergyman who preached the sermon which this letter condemns, was a man equally worthy and stern—a divine of Scotland's elder day: he… |
| 139 | Mrs. Dunlop | 13 November 1788 | Mauchline | The heifer presented to the poet by the Dunlops was bought, at the sale of Ellisland stock, by Miller of Dalswinton, and long grazed the… |
| 140 | Mr. James Johnson | 15 November 1788 | Mauchline | James Johnson, though not an ungenerous man, meanly refused to give a copy of the Musical Museum to Burns, who desired to bestow it on one… |
| 141 | Dr. Blacklock | 15 November 1788 | Mauchline | Blacklock, though blind, was a cheerful and good man. "There was, perhaps, never one among all mankind," says Heron, "whom you might more… |
| 142 | Mrs. Dunlop | 17 December 1788 | Ellisland | The "Auld lang syne," which Burns here introduces to Mrs. Dunlop as a strain of the olden time, is as surely his own as Tam-o-Shanter. |
| 143 | Miss Davies | December 1788 | – | The Laird of Glenriddel informed "the charming, lovely Davies" that Burns was composing a song in her praise. The poet acted on this, and… |
| 144 | Mr. John Tennant | 22 December 1788 | – | The mill of John Currie stood on a small stream which fed the loch of Friar's Carse—near the house of the dame of whom he sang, "Sic a wife… |
| 145 | Mrs. Dunlop | 1789 | Ellisland | The feeling mood of moral reflection exhibited in the following letter, was common to the house of William Burns: in a letter addressed by… |
| 146 | Dr. Moore | 4 January 1789 | Ellisland | The poet seems, in this letter, to perceive that Ellisland was not the bargain he had reckoned it: he intimated, as the reader will… |
| 147 | Mr. Robert Ainslie | 6 January 1789 | Ellisland | The song which the poet says he brushed up a little is nowhere mentioned: he wrote one hundred, and brushed up more, for the Museum of… |
| 148 | Professor Dugald Stewart | 20 January 1789 | Ellisland | The iron justice to which the poet alludes, in this letter, was exercised by Dr. Gregory, on the poem of the "Wounded Hare." |
| 149 | Bishop Geddes | February 1789 | Ellisland | Alexander Geddes was a controversialist and poet, and a bishop of the broken remnant of the Catholic Church of Scotland: he is known as the… |
| 150 | Mr. James Burness | 9 February 1789 | Ellisland | Fanny Burns married Adam Armour, brother to bonnie Jean, went with him to Mauchline, and bore him sons and daughters. |
| 151 | Mrs. Dunlop | 4 March 1789 | Ellisland | The beautiful lines with which this letter concludes, I have reason to believe were the production of the lady to whom the epistle is… |
| 152 | The Rev. Peter Carfrae | – | – | Mylne was a worthy and a modest man: he died of an inflammatory fever in the prime of life. |
| 153 | Dr. Moore | March 1789 | Ellisland | Edward Nielson, whom Burns here introduces to Dr. Moore, was minister of Kirkbean, on the Solway-side. He was a jovial man, and loved good… |
| 154 | Mr. William Burns | 25 March 1789 | Isle | William Burns was the youngest brother of the poet: he was bred a sadler; went to Longtown, and finally to London, where he died early. |
| 155 | Mr. Hill | April 1789 | Ellisland | The Monkland Book Club existed only while Robert Riddel, of the Friars-Carse, lived, or Burns had leisure to attend: such institutions,… |
| 156 | Mrs. Dunlop | 4 April 1789 | Ellisland | Some lines which extend, but fail to finish the sketch contained in this letter, will be found elsewhere in this publication. |
| 157 | Mr. William Burns | 15 April 1789 | Isle | "Never to despair" was a favourite saying with Burns: and "firm resolve," he held, with Young, to be "the column of true majesty in man." |
| 158 | Mrs. M'Murdo | May 1789 | Ellisland | Of this accomplished lady, Mrs. M'Murdo, of Drumlanrig, and her daughters, something has been said in the notes on the songs: the poem… |
| 159 | Mr. Cunningham | 4 May 1789 | Ellisland | Honest Jamie Thomson, who shot the hare because she browsed with her companions on his father's "wheat-braird," had no idea he was pulling… |
| 160 | Mr. Samuel Brown | 4 May 1789 | Mossgiel | Samuel Brown was brother to the poet's mother: he seems to have been a joyous sort of person, who loved a joke, and understood double… |
| 161 | Richard Brown | 21 May 1789 | Mauchline | Burns was much attached to Brown; and one regrets that an inconsiderate word should have estranged the haughty sailor. |
| 162 | Mr. James Hamilton | 26 May 1789 | Ellisland | James Hamilton, grocer, in Glasgow, interested himself early in the fortunes of the poet. |
| 163 | William Creech | 30 May 1789 | Ellisland | The poetic address to the "venomed stang" of the toothache seems to have come into existence about this time. |
| 164 | Mr. M'Auley | 4 June 1789 | Ellisland | The poet made the acquaintance of Mr. M'Auley, of Dumbarton, in one of his northern tours,—he was introduced by his friend Kennedy. |
| 165 | Mr. Robert Ainslie | 8 June 1789 | Ellisland | The following high-minded letter may be regarded as a sermon on domestic morality preached by one of the experienced. |
| 166 | Mr. M'Murdo | 19 June 1789 | Ellisland | John M'Murdo has been already mentioned as one of Burns's firmest friends: his table at Drumlanrig was always spread at the poet's coming:… |
| 167 | Mrs. Dunlop | 21 June 1789 | Ellisland | The devil, the pope, and the Pretender darkened the sermons, for more than a century, of many sound divines in the north. As a Jacobite,… |
| 168 | Mr. ---- | – | – | The name of the person to whom the following letter is addressed is unknown: he seems, from his letter to Burns to have been intimate with… |
| 169 | Miss Williams | 1789 | Ellisland | Helen Maria Williams acknowledged this letter, with the critical pencilling, on her poem on the Slave Trade, which it enclosed: she agreed,… |
| 170 | Mr. John Logan | 7 August 1789 | Ellisland | The Kirk's Alarm, to which this letter alludes, has little of the spirit of malice and drollery, so rife in his earlier controversial… |
| 171 | Mrs. Dunlop | 6 September 1789 | Ellisland | The poetic epistle of worthy Janet Little was of small account: nor was the advice of Dr. Moore, to abandon the Scottish stanza and… |
| 172 | Captain Riddel | 16 October 1789 | Ellisland | The Whistle alluded to in this letter was contended for on the 16th of October, 1790—the successful competitor, Fergusson, of Craigdarroch,… |
| 173 | Captain Riddel | 1789 | Ellisland | Robert Riddel kept one of those present pests of society—an album—into which Burns copied the Lines on the Hermitage, and the Wounded Hare. |
| 174 | Mr. Robert Ainslie | 1 November 1789 | Ellisland | The ignominy of a poet becoming a gauger seems ever to have been present to the mind of Burns—but those moving things ca'd wives and weans… |
| 175 | Mr. Richard Brown | 4 November 1789 | Ellisland | With this letter closes the correspondence of Robert Burns and Richard Brown. |
| 176 | R. Graham | 9 December 1789 | – | The poet enclosed in this letter to his patron in the Excise the clever verses on Captain Grose, the Kirk's Alarm, and the first ballad on… |
| 177 | Mrs. Dunlop | 13 December 1789 | Ellisland | Burns was often a prey to lowness of spirits: at this some dull men have marvelled; but the dull have no misgivings: they go blindly and… |
| 178 | Lady W[Inifred] M[Axwell] Constable | 16 December 1789 | Ellisland | The Lady Winifred Maxwell, the last of the old line of Nithsdale, was granddaughter of that Earl who, in 1715, made an almost miraculous… |
| 179 | Provost Maxwell | 20 December 1789 | Ellisland | Of Lochmaben, the "Marjory of the mony Lochs" of the election ballads, Maxwell was at this time provost, a post more of honour than of… |
| 180 | Sir John Sinclair | – | – | Of the Monkland Book-Club alluded to in this letter, the clergyman had omitted all mention in his account of the Parish of Dunscore,… |
| 181 | Charles Sharpe | – | – | The family of Hoddam is of old standing in Nithsdale. It has mingled blood with some of the noblest Scottish names; nor is it unknown… |
| 182 | Mr. Gilbert Burns | 11 January 1790 | Ellisland | In the few fierce words of this letter the poet bids adieu to all hopes of wealth from Ellisland. |
| 183 | Mr. Sutherland | – | – | When the farm failed, the poet sought pleasure in the playhouse: he tried to retire from his own harassing reflections, into a world… |
| 184 | William Dunbar | 14 January 1790 | Ellisland | This letter was first published by the Ettrick Shepherd, in his edition of Burns: it is remarkable for this sentence, "I am resolved never… |
| 185 | Mrs. Dunlop | 25 January 1790 | Ellisland | Falconer, the poet, whom Burns mentions here, perished in the Aurora, in which he acted as purser: he was a satirist of no mean power, and… |
| 186 | Mr. Peter Hill | February 1790 | Ellisland | The Mademoiselle Burns whom the poet inquires about, was one of the "ladies of the Canongate," who desired to introduce free trade in her… |
| 187 | Mr. W. Nicol | 9 February 1790 | Ellisland | The poet has recorded this unlooked-for death of the Dominie's mare in some hasty verses, which are not much superior to the subject. |
| 188 | Mr. Cunningham | 13 February 1790 | Ellisland | Burns looks back with something of regret to the days of rich dinners and flowing wine-cups which he experienced in Edinburgh. Alexander… |
| 189 | Mr. Peter Hill | March 1790 | Ellisland | That Burns turned at this time his thoughts on the drama, this order to his bookseller for dramatic works, as well as his attendances at… |
| 190 | Mrs. Dunlop | 10 April 1790 | Ellisland | It is not a little singular that Burns says, in this letter, he had just met with the Mirror and Lounger for the first time: it will be… |
| 191 | Collector Mitchell | 1790 | Ellisland | Collector Mitchell was a kind and considerate gentle man: to his grandson, Mr. John Campbell, surgeon, in Aberdeen, I owe this… |
| 192 | Dr. Moore | 14 July 1790 | Dumfries | The sonnets alluded to by Burns were those of Charlotte Smith: the poet's copy is now before me, with a few marks of his pen on the margins. |
| 193 | Mr. Murdoch | 16 July 1790 | Ellisland | The account of himself, promised to Murdoch by Burns, was never written. |
| 194 | Mr. M'Murdo | August 1790 | Ellisland | This hasty note was accompanied by the splendid elegy on Matthew Henderson, and no one could better feel than M'Murdo, to whom it is… |
| 195 | Mrs. Dunlop | 8 August 1790 | – | Inquiries have been made in vain after the name of Burns's ci-devant friend, who had so deeply wounded his feelings. |
| 196 | Mr. Cunningham | 8 August 1790 | Ellisland | "The strain of invective," says the judicious Currie, of this letter, "goes on some time longer in the style in which our bard was too apt… |
| 197 | Dr. Anderson | – | – | The gentleman to whom this imperfect note is addressed was Dr. James Anderson, a well-known agricultural and miscellaneous writer, and the… |
| 198 | William Tytler | August 1790 | Lawn Market | William Tytler was the "revered defender of the beauteous Stuart"—a man of genius and a gentleman. |
| 199 | Crauford Tait | 15 October 1790 | Ellisland | Margaret Chalmers had now, it appears by this letter, become Mrs. Lewis Hay: her friend, Charlotte Hamilton, had been for some time Mrs.… |
| 200 | ---- | 1790 | Ellisland | This letter contained the Kirk's Alarm, a satire written to help the cause of Dr. M'Gill, who recanted his heresy rather than be removed… |
| 201 | Mrs. Dunlop | November 1790 | Ellisland | The poet wrote out several copies of Tam o' Shanter and sent them to his friends, requesting their criticisms: he wrote few poems so… |
| 202 | Lady W. M. Constable | 11 January 1791 | Ellisland | The present alluded to was a gold snuff-box, with a portrait of Queen Mary on the lid. |
| 203 | William Dunbar | 17 January 1791 | Ellisland | This letter was in answer to one from Dunbar, in which the witty colonel of the Crochallan Fencibles supposed the poet had been translated… |
| 204 | Mr. Peter Hill | 17 January 1791 | Ellisland | The poet's eloquent apostrophe to poverty has no little feeling in it: he beheld the money which his poems brought melt silently away, and… |
| 205 | Mr. Cunningham | January 1791 | Ellisland | To Alexander Cunningham the poet generally communicated his favourite compositions. |
| 206 | A.F. Tytler | February 1791 | Ellisland | "I have seldom in my life," says Lord Woodhouselee, "tasted a higher enjoyment from any work of genius than I received from Tam o' Shanter." |
| 207 | Mrs. Dunlop | 7 February 1791 | Ellisland | The elegy on the beautiful Miss Burnet, of Monboddo, was laboured zealously by Burns, but it never reached the excellence of some of his… |
| 208 | The Rev. Arch. Alison | 14 February 1791 | Ellisland | Alison was much gratified it is said, with this recognition of the principles laid down in his ingenious and popular work. |
| 209 | Dr. Moore | 20 February 1791 | Ellisland | Moore admired but moderately the beautiful ballad on Queen Mary, and the Elegy on Captain Matthew Henderson: Tam o' Shanter he thought full… |
| 210 | Mr. Cunningham | 12 March 1791 | Ellisland | Cunningham could tell a merry story, and sing a humorous song; nor was he without a feeling for the deep sensibilities of his friend's… |
| 211 | Mr. Alexander Dalzel | 19 March 1791 | Ellisland | Cromek says that Alexander Dalzel introduced the poetry of Burns to the notice of the Earl of Glencairn, who carried the Kilmarnock edition… |
| 212 | Mrs. Graham | 1791 | Ellisland | Mrs. Graham, of Fintray, felt both as a lady and a Scottish one, the tender Lament of the fair and unfortunate princess, which this letter… |
| 213 | Mrs. Graham | – | – | The following letter was written on the blank leaf of a new edition of his poems, presented by the poet, to one whom he regarded, and… |
| 214 | The Rev. G. Baird | 1791 | Ellisland | It was proposed to publish a new edition of the poems of Michael Bruce, by subscription, and give the profits to his mother, a woman eighty… |
| 215 | Mrs. Dunlop | 11 April 1791 | Ellisland | Francis Wallace Burns, the godson of Mrs. Dunlop, to whom this letter refers, died at the age of fourteen—he was a fine and a promising… |
| 216 | ---- | 1791 | Ellisland | That his works found their way to the newspapers, need have occasioned no surprise: the poet gave copies of his favorite pieces freely to… |
| 217 | ---- | 1791 | Ellisland | This singular letter was sent by Burns, it is believed, to a critic, who had taken him to task about obscure language, and imperfect… |
| 218 | Mr. Cunningham | 11 June 1791 | – | To Clarke, the Schoolmaster, Burns, it is said, addressed several letters, which on his death were put into the fire by his widow, because… |
| 219 | The Earl Of Buchan | 29 August 1791 | Ellisland | Lord Buchan printed this letter in his Essay on the Life of Thomson, in 1792. His lordship invited Burns to leave his corn unreaped, walk… |
| 220 | Mr. Thomas Sloan | 1 September 1791 | Ellisland | Thomas Sloan was a west of Scotland man, and seems, though not much in correspondence, to have been on intimate terms with Burns. |
| 221 | Lady E. Cunningham | – | – | The poem enclosed was the Lament for James, Earl of Glencairn: it is probable that the Earl's sister liked the verses, for they were… |
| 222 | Mr. Ainslie | 1791 | Ellisland | It has been said that the poet loved to aggravate his follies to his friends: but that this tone of aggravation was often ironical, this… |
| 223 | Col. Fullarton | 1791 | Ellisland | This letter was first published in the Edinburgh Chronicle. |
| 224 | Miss Davies | – | – | This accomplished lady was the youngest daughter of Dr. Davies, of Tenby, in Pembrokeshire: she was related to the Riddels of Friar's… |
| 225 | Mrs. Dunlop | 17 December 1791 | Ellisland | Burns, says Cromek, acknowledged that a refined and accomplished woman was a being all but new to him till he went to Edinburgh, and… |
| 226 | Mrs. Dunlop | 5 January 1792 | – | That the poet spoke mildly concerning the rebuke which he received from the Excise, on what he calls his political delinquencies, his… |
| 227 | Mr. William Smellie | January 1792 | Dumfries | When Burns sends his warmest wishes to Smellie, and prays that fortune may never place his subsistence at the mercy of a knave, or set his… |
| 228 | Mr. W. Nicol | 20 February 1792 | – | This ironical letter was in answer to one from Nicol, containing counsel and reproof. |
| 229 | Francis Grose | 1792 | Dumfries | Captain Grose was introduced to Burns, by his brother Antiquary, of Friar's Carse: he was collecting materials for his work on the… |
| 230 | Francis Grose | 1792 | Dumfries | This letter, interesting to all who desire to see how a poet works beauty and regularity out of a vulgar tradition, was first printed by… |
| 231 | Mr. S. Clarke | 1 July 1792 | – | This introduction of Clarke, the musician, to the M'Murdo's of Drumlanrig, brought to two of the ladies the choicest honours of the muse. |
| 232 | Mrs. Dunlop | August 1792 | Annan Water Foot | To enthusiastic fits of admiration for the young and the beautiful, such as Burns has expressed in this letter, he loved to give way:—we… |
| 233 | Mr. Cunningham | 10 September 1792 | Dumfries | There is both bitterness and humour in this letter: the poet discourses on many matters, and woman is among them—but he places the bottle… |
| 234 | Mr. Thomson | 16 September 1792 | Dumfries | George Thomson, of Edinburgh, principal clerk to the trustees for the encouraging the manufactures of Scotland, projected a work, entitled,… |
| 235 | Mrs. Dunlop | 24 September 1792 | Dumfries | One of the daughters of Mrs. Dunlop was married to M. Henri, a French gentleman, who died in 1790, at Loudon Castle, in Ayrshire. The widow… |
| 236 | Mrs. Dunlop | – | – | This letter has no date: it is supposed to have been written on the death of her daughter, Mrs. Henri, whose orphan son, deprived of the… |
| 237 | Mr. Thomson | – | – | Thomson had delivered judgment on some old Scottish songs, but the poet murmured against George's decree. |
| 238 | Mr. Thomson | 8 November 1792 | – | The poet loved to describe the influence which the charms of Miss Lesley Baillie exercised over his imagination. |
| 239 | Mr. Thomson | 14 November 1792 | – | The story of Mary Campbell's love is related in the notes on the songs which the poet wrote in her honour. Thomson says, in his answer, "I… |
| 240 | Mr. Thomson | 1 December 1792 | Dumfries | The poet approved of several emendations proposed by Thomson, whose wish was to make the words flow more readily with the music: he… |
| 241 | Mr. Thomson | 4 December 1792 | – | Duncan Gray, which this letter contained, became a favourite as soon as it was published, and the same may be said of Auld Rob Morris. |
| 242 | Mrs. Dunlop | 6 December 1792 | Dumfries | Burns often discourses with Mrs. Dunlop on poetry and poets: the dramas of Thomson, to which he alludes, are stiff, cold compositions. |
| 243 | R. Graham | December 1792 | – | Graham stood by the bard in the hour of peril recorded in this letter: and the Board of Excise had the generosity to permit him to eat its… |
| 244 | Mrs. Dunlop | 31 December 1792 | Dumfries | Burns was ordered, he says, to mind his duties in the Excise, and to hold his tongue about politics—the latter part of the injunction was… |
| 245 | Mr. Thomson | January 1793 | – | The songs to which the poet alludes were "Poortith Cauld," and "Galla Water." |
| 246 | Mr. Thomson | 26 January 1793 | – | Thomson explained more fully than at first the plan of his publication, and stated that Dr. Beattie had promised an essay on Scottish… |
| 247 | Mr. Cunningham | March 1793 | – | The seal, with the coat-of-arms which the poet invented, is still in the family, and regarded as a relique. |
| 248 | Mr. Thomson | 20 March 1793 | – | Burns in these careless words makes us acquainted with one of his sweetest songs. |
| 249 | Mr. Thomson | March 1793 | – | For the "Wandering Willie" of this communication Thomson offered several corrections. |
| 250 | Miss Benson | 21 March 1793 | Dumfries | Miss Benson, when this letter was written, was on a visit to Arbigland, the beautiful seat of Captain Craik; she is now Mrs. Basil Montagu. |
| 251 | Patrick Miller | April 1793 | Dumfries | The time to which Burns alludes was the period of his occupation of Ellisland. |
| 252 | Mr. Thomson | 7 April 1793 | – | This review of our Scottish lyrics is well worth the attention of all who write songs, read songs, or sing songs. |
| 253 | Mr. Thomson | April 1793 | – | The letter to which this is in part an answer, Currie says, contains many observations on Scottish songs, and on the manner of adapting the… |
| 254 | Mr. Thomson | April 1793 | – | Thomson, it would appear by his answer to this letter, was at issue with Burns on the subject-matter of simplicity: the former seems to… |
| 255 | John Francis Erskine | 13 April 1793 | Dumfries | This remarkable letter has been of late the subject of some controversy: Mr. Findlater, who happened then to be in the Excise, is vehement… |
| 256 | Robert Ainslie | 26 April 1793 | – | "Up tails a', by the light o' the moon," was the name of a Scottish air, to which the devil danced with the witches of Fife, on Magus Moor,… |
| 257 | Miss Kennedy | – | – | Miss Kennedy was one of that numerous band of ladies who patronized the poet in Edinburgh; she was related to the Hamiltons of Mossgiel. |
| 258 | Mr. Thomson | June 1793 | – | The name of the friend who fell a sacrifice to those changeable times, has not been mentioned: it is believed he was of the west country. |
| 259 | Mr. Thomson | 25 June 1793 | – | Against the mighty oppressors of the earth the poet was ever ready to set the sharpest shafts of his wrath: the times in which he wrote… |
| 260 | Mr. Thomson | July 1793 | – | Thomson, in his reply to the preceding letter, laments that anything should untune the feelings of the poet, and begs his acceptance of… |
| 261 | Mr. Thomson | July 1793 | – | Burns in this letter speaks of the pecuniary present which Thomson sent him, in a lofty and angry mood: he who published poems by… |
| 262 | Mr. Thomson | August 1793 | – | Stephen Clarke, whose name is at this strange note, was a musician and composer; he was a clever man, and had a high opinion of his own… |
| 263 | Mr. Thomson | August 1793 | – | "Phillis the Fair" endured much at the hands of both Burns and Clarke. The young lady had reason to complain, when the poet volunteered to… |
| 264 | Mr. Thomson | August 1793 | – | The infusion of Highland airs and north country subjects into the music and songs of Scotland, has invigorated both: Burns, who had a fine… |
| 265 | Mr. Thomson | August 1793 | – | While Burns composed songs, Thomson got some of the happiest embodied by David Allan, the painter, whose illustrations of the Gentle… |
| 266 | Mr. Thomson | August 1793 | – | Phillis, or Philadelphia M'Murdo, in whose honour Burns composed the song beginning "Adown winding Nith I did wander," and several others,… |
| 267 | Mr. Thomson | August 1793 | – | Burns was fond of expressive words: "Gloaming, the twilight," says Currie, "is a beautiful poetic word, which ought to be adopted in… |
| 268 | Mr. Thomson | August 1793 | – | "Cauld kail in Aberdeen, and castocks in Strabogie," are words which have no connexion with the sentiment of the song which Burns wrote for… |
| 269 | Miss Craik | August 1793 | Dumfries | Miss Helen Craik of Arbigland, had merit both as a poetess and novelist: her ballads may be compared with those of Hector M'Neil: her… |
| 270 | Lady Glencairn | – | – | Burns, as the concluding paragraph of this letter proves, continued to the last years of his life to think of the composition of a Scottish… |
| 271 | Mr. Thomson | September 1793 | – | Peter Pindar, the name under which it was the pleasure of that bitter but vulgar satirist, Dr. Wolcot, to write, was a man of little… |
| 272 | Mr. Thomson | September 1793 | – | This letter contains further proof of the love of Burns for the airs of the Highlands. |
| 273 | Mr. Thomson | September 1793 | – | This is another of the sagacious letters on Scottish song, which poets and musicians would do well to read and consider. |
| 274 | Mr. Thomson | September 1793 | – | Burns listened too readily to the suggestion of Thomson, to alter "Bruce's Address to his troops at Bannockburn:" whatever may be the… |
| 275 | Mr. Thomson | September 1793 | – | The poet's good sense rose at last in arms against the criticisms of the musician, and he refused to lessen the dignity of his war-ode by… |
| 276 | Mr. Thomson | September 1793 | – | For "Fy! let us a' to the bridal," and "Fy! gie me my coggie, Sirs," and "There's nae luck about the house," Burns puts in a word of… |
| 277 | Mr. Thomson | October 1793 | – | Of the Hon. Andrew Erskine an account was communicated in a letter to Burns by Thomson, which the writer has withheld. He was a gentleman… |
| 278 | John M'Murdo | December 1793 | Dumfries | The collection of songs alluded to in this letter, are only known to the curious in loose lore: they were printed by an obscure bookseller,… |
| 279 | John M'Murdo | 1793 | Dumfries | These words, thrown into the form of a note, are copied from a blank leaf of the poet's works, published in two volumes, small octavo, in… |
| 280 | Captain ---- | 5 December 1793 | Dumfries | This excellent letter, obtained from Stewart of Dalguise, is copied from my kind friend Chambers's collection of Scottish songs. |
| 281 | Mrs. Riddel | – | – | This clever lady, whom Burns so happily applies the words of Thomson, died in the year 1820, at Hampton Court. |
| 282 | A Lady | 1794 | Dumfries | The name of the lady to whom this letter is addressed, has not transpired. |
| 283 | The Earl Of Buchan | 12 January 1794 | Dumfries | This fantastic Earl of Buchan died a few years ago: when he was put into the family burial-ground, at Dryburgh, his head was laid the wrong… |
| 284 | Captain Miller | – | – | Captain Miller, of Dalswinton, sat in the House of Commons for the Dumfries district of boroughs. Dalswinton has passed from the family to… |
| 285 | Mrs. Riddel | – | – | The dragon guarding the Hesperian fruit, was simply a military officer, who, with the courtesy of those whose trade is arms, paid attention… |
| 286 | Mrs. Riddel | – | – | The patient sons of order and prudence seem often to have stirred the poet to such invectives as this letter exhibits. |
| 287 | Mrs. Riddel | – | – | The bard often offended and often appeased this whimsical but very clever lady. |
| 288 | Mrs. Riddel | – | – | Burns often complained in company, and sometimes in his letters, of the caprice of Mrs. Riddel. |
| 289 | Mrs. Riddel | – | – | The offended lady was soothed by this submissive letter, and the bard was re-established in her good graces. |
| 290 | John Syme | – | – | John Syme, of the stamp-office, was the companion as well as comrade in arms, of Burns: he was a well-informed gentleman, loved witty… |
| 291 | Miss ---- | 1794 | Dumfries | Burns, on other occasions than this, recalled both his letters and verses: it is to be regretted that he did not recall more of both. |
| 292 | Mr. Cunningham | 25 February 1794 | – | The religious feeling of Burns was sometimes blunted, but at times it burst out, as in this letter, with eloquence and fervour, mingled… |
| 293 | The Earl Of Glencairn | May 1794 | – | The original letter is in the possession of the Hon. Mrs. Halland, of Poynings: it is undated, but from a memorandum on the back it appears… |
| 294 | Mr. Thomson | May 1794 | – | The correspondence between the poet and the musician was interrupted in spring, but in summer and autumn the song-strains were renewed. |
| 295 | David M'Culloch | 21 June 1794 | Dumfries | The endorsement on the back of the original letter shows in what far lands it has travelled:—"Given by David M'Culloch, Penang, 1810. A.… |
| 296 | Mrs. Dunlop | 25 June 1794 | Castle Douglas | Castle Douglas is a thriving Galloway village: it was in other days called "The Carlinwark," but accepted its present proud name from an… |
| 297 | Mr. James Johnson | 1794 | Dumfries | The anxiety of Burns about the accuracy of his poetry, while in the press, was great: he found full employment for months in correcting a… |
| 298 | Mr. Thomson | July 1794 | – | The blank in this letter could be filled up without writing treason: but nothing has been omitted of an original nature. |
| 299 | Mr. Thomson | 30 August 1794 | – | Thomson says to Burns, "You have anticipated my opinion of 'O'er the seas and far away.'" Yet some of the verses are original and touching. |
| 300 | Mr. Thomson | September 1794 | – | The stream on the banks of which this song is supposed to be sung, is known by three names, Cairn, Dalgonar, and Cluden. It rises under the… |
| 301 | Mr. Thomson | September 1794 | – | Dr. Maxwell, whose skill called forth the praises of the poet, had the honour of being named by Burke in the House of Commons: he shared in… |
| 302 | Mr. Thomson | 19 October 1794 | – | The poet relates the history of several of his best songs in this letter: the true old strain of "Andro and his cutty gun" is the first of… |
| 303 | Mr. Thomson | November 1794 | – | The presents made to the poet were far from numerous: the book for which he expresses his thanks, was the work of the waspish Ritson. |
| 304 | Mr. Thomson | – | – | Sir Walter Scott remarked, on the lyrics of Burns, "that at last the writing a series of songs for large musical collections degenerated… |
| 305 | Mr. Thomson | 19 November 1794 | – | Willy and Phely, in one of the lyrics which this letter contained, carry on the pleasant bandying of praise till compliments grow scarce,… |
| 306 | Mr. Thomson | – | – | The instrument which the poet got from the braes of Athol, seems of an order as rude and incapable of fine sounds as the whistles which… |
| 307 | Peter Miller | November 1794 | Dumfries | In a conversation with James Perry, editor of the Morning Chronicle, Mr. Miller, who was then member for the Dumfries boroughs, kindly… |
| 308 | Mr. Samuel Clarke | – | – | Political animosities troubled society during the days of Burns, as much at least as they disturb it now—this letter is an instance of it. |
| 309 | Mr. Thomson | December 1794 | – | Burns allowed for the songs which Wolcot wrote for Thomson a degree of lyric merit which the world has refused to sanction. |
| 310 | Mr. Thomson | January 1795 | – | In this brief and off-hand way Burns bestows on Thompson one of the finest songs ever dedicated to the cause of human freedom. |
| 311 | Mr. Thomson | 7 February 1795 | Ecclefechan | Of this letter, Dr. Currie writes "the poet must have been tipsy indeed to abuse sweet Ecclefechan at this rate;" it is one of the… |
| 312 | Mr. Thomson | May 1795 | – | The song of Caledonia, in honour of Mrs. Burns, was accompanied by two others in honour of the poet's mistress: the muse was high in song,… |
| 313 | Mr. Thomson | – | – | The poet calls for praise in this letter, a species of coin which is always ready. |
| 314 | Mr. Thomson | May 1795 | – | Thomson at this time sent the drawing to Burns in which David Allan sought to embody the "Cotter's Saturday Night:" it displays at once the… |
| 315 | Mr. Thomson | – | – | In allusion to the preceding letter, Thomson says to Burns, "You really make me blush when you tell me you have not merited the drawing… |
| 316 | Mr. Thomson | – | – | In the double service of poesy and music the poet had to sing of pangs which he never endured, from beauties to whom he had never spoken. |
| 317 | Mr. Thomson | – | – | The unexampled brevity of Burns's letters, and the extraordinary flow and grace of his songs, towards the close of his life, have not now… |
| 318 | Mrs. Riddel | – | – | Ill health, poverty, a sense of dependence, with the much he had deserved of his country, and the little he had obtained, were all at this… |
| 319 | Mrs. Riddel | 1795 | Dumfries | Mrs. Riddel, it is said, possessed many more of the poet's letters than are printed—she sometimes read them to friends who could feel their… |
| 320 | Miss Louisa Fontenelle | December 1795 | Dumfries | That Miss Fontenelle, as an actress, did not deserve the high praise which Burns bestows may be guessed: the lines to which he alludes were… |
| 321 | Mrs. Dunlop | 15 December 1795 | – | Of the sweet girl to whom Burns alludes in this letter he was deprived during this year: her death pressed sorely on him. |
| 322 | Mr. Alexander Findlater | – | – | The person to whom this letter is addressed, is the same who lately denied that Burns was harshly used by the Board of Excise: but those,… |
| 323 | The Editor Of The Morning Chronicle | 1795 | Dumfries | Cromek says, when a neighbour complained that his copy of the Morning Chronicle was not regularly delivered to him from the post-office,… |
| 324 | Mr. Heron | 1794 | Dumfries | Of Patrick Heron, of Kerroughtree, something has been said in the notes on the Ballads which bear his name. |
| 325 | Mrs. Dunlop | 20 December 1795 | Dumfries | In the correspondence of the poet with Mrs. Dunlop he rarely mentions Thomson's Collection of Songs, though his heart was set much upon it:… |
| 326 | Address Of The Scotch Distillers | – | – | This ironical letter to the prime minister was found among the papers of Burns. |
| 327 | The Hon. Provost | – | – | The Provost and Bailies complied at once with the modest request of the poet: both Jackson and Staig, who were heads of the town by turns,… |
| 328 | Mrs. Riddel | 20 January 1796 | Dumfries | Mrs. Riddel was, like Burns, a well-wisher to the great cause of human liberty, and lamented with him the excesses of the French Revolution. |
| 329 | Mrs. Dunlop | 31 January 1796 | Dumfries | It seems that Mrs. Dunlop regarded the conduct of Burns, for some months, with displeasure, and withheld or delayed her usual kind and… |
| 330 | Mr. Thomson | February 1796 | – | Cromek informed me, on the authority of Mrs. Burns, that the "handsome, elegant present" mentioned in this letter, was a common worsted… |
| 331 | Mr. Thomson | April 1796 | – | It is seldom that painting speaks in the spirit of poetry Burns perceived some of the blemishes of Allan's illustrations: but at that time… |
| 332 | Mr. Thomson | – | – | The genius of the poet triumphed over pain and want,—his last songs are as tender and as true as any of his early compositions. |
| 333 | Mr. Thomson | – | – | John Lewars, whom the poet introduces to Thomson, was a brother gauger, and a kind, warm-hearted gentleman; Jessie Lewars was his sister,… |
| 334 | Mrs. Riddel | 4 June 1796 | Dumfries | This is the last letter which the poet wrote to this accomplished lady. |
| 335 | Mr. Clarke | 26 June 1796 | Dumfries | Who will say, after reading the following distressing letter, lately come to light, that Burns did not die in great poverty. |
| 336 | Mr. James Johnson | 4 July 1796 | Dumfries | "In this humble and delicate manner did poor Burns ask for a copy of a work of which he was principally the founder, and to which he had… |
| 337 | Mr. Cunningham | 7 July 1796 | Brow | Few of the last requests of the poet were effectual: Clarke, it is believed, did not send the second note he wrote for: Johnson did not… |
| 338 | Mr. Gilbert Burns | 10 July 1796 | – | This letter contained heavy news for Gilbert Burns: the loss of a brother whom he dearly loved and admired, was not all, though the worst. |
| 339 | Mr. James Armour | 10 July 1796 | – | The original letter is now in a safe sanctuary, the hands of the poet's son, Major James Glencairn Burns. |
| 340 | Mrs. Burns | – | Brow | Sea-bathing, I have heard skilful men say, was injudicious: but it was felt that Burns was on his way to the grave, and as he desired to… |
| 341 | Mrs. Dunlop | 12 July 1796 | Brow | "The poet had the pleasure of receiving a satisfactory explanation of this lady's silence," says Currie, "and an assurance of the… |
| 342 | Mr. Thomson | 12 July 1796 | Brow | Thomson instantly complied with the dying poet's request, and transmitted the exact sum which he requested, viz. five pounds, by return of… |
| 343 | Mr. James Burness | July | Brow | The good, the warm-hearted James Burness sent his cousin ten pounds on the 29th of July—he sent five pounds afterwards to the family, and… |
| 344 | James Gracie | 16 July 1796 | Brow | James Gracie was, for some time, a banker in Dumfries: his eldest son, a fine, high-spirited youth, fell by a rifle-ball in America, when… |
