THE LIFE AND WORKS OF ROBERT BURNS EDITED BY ROBERT CHAMBERS REVISED BY WILLIAM WALLACE IN FOUR VOLUMES VOLUME III. NEW YORK: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1896 All rights reserved PREFATORY NOTE. WHILE the plan of the third volume of Dr Chambers's Life and Works of Robert Burns has been adhered to in the New Edition, the volume itself has been rewritten and greatly enlarged to include fresh biographical matter and nearly thirty letters which are now for the first time given a place in the Life of the poet. Among these are several discovered in London, which are of very great importance, disclosing as they do a remarkable controversy that Burns had, while at Ellisland, with opponents whom he termed 'The London News-men,' and showing that Henry Dundas, the chief 'dispenser of patronage' in Scotland at the end of last century, was not specially well affected towards the greatest of his contemporaries. I have followed up certain lines of inquiry which suggested themselves to Dr Chambers before his death, and so have obtained new light upon Burns's liaison with Helen Anne Park, who inspired Yestreen I had a pint o' wine,' and upon his political views and action at the period of the French Revolution. I have been able to secure and embody either in text or in notes much accurate and hitherto unpublished information relating to the numerous persons mentioned in the poems and letters written by Burns or connected with his life in Ellisland and Dumfries. I am greatly indebted to Mr R. B. Adam of Buffalo, United States, for permission to include in this work three letters forming part of his large and valuable collection of Burns MSS., and to Mr Hew Morrison of the Edinburgh Public Library, in whose custody this collection now is, for giving me copies of them. I have also to thank the Rev. Richard Simpson, Dunscore Manse, Dumfriesshire; Mr A. H. Millar, Dundee; Dr James Colville, Glasgow; and Mr James Lennox and Mr Thomas Watson, Dumfries, for the assistance of various kinds that they have so cordially rendered me. W. W. CONTENTS-VOL. III. Ellisland: the farm, the house, and surroundings-Dunscore parish-Letter to Mrs Dunlop Elegy on the year 1788: "For Lords or Kings I dinna mourn "'-Letters to Dr Moore, Ainslie, M'Murdo, and Dugald Stewart-The Poet's Progress '-Burns's relations with his publisher-Letters to Lady Elizabeth Cunningham and [Henry Erskine (?)]—' Extempore to Captain Riddel: "Your News and Review, Sir, I've read through and through, Sir"'- 'Caledonia, a Ballad '-Letters to Blair, Cleghorn, Cunningham, Bishop Geddes, and James Burness-Uncle Robert-Burns visits Edinburgh a further racking of accounts' with Creech-Letters from and to William Burns-Letter to Mrs M'Lehose: a defence- James Mylne, farmer and poet: letters from and to Rev. Patrick Carfrae-Letters to Mrs Dunlop and Dr Moore-A parish library: letter to Peter Hill-An unwritten incident in Burns's life: his connection with Stuart's Star: his contributions, poetical and prose: 'Ode, sacred to the memory of Mrs Oswald of Auchencruive;' 'Address of the Scottish Distillers to Pitt;' 'Ode to the Departed Regency-Bill, 1789;' 'Stanzas of Psalmody'-Letters to Mrs M'Murdo and Mrs Dunlop 'Sketch, inscribed to Charles James Fox-Letter to Cunningham: verses On seeing a fellow wound a hare'-Letters to William Burus, Graham of Fintry, and Lady Betty Cunningham-Dr Gregory's 'iron justice-Rhyming Epistle 'To James Tennant of Glenconner'-Letters to M'Aulay, Ainslie, Mrs Dunlop, and Graham of Fintry-Correspondence with Helen Maria Williams: criticism of The Slave Trade-Nonsense under the name of Scottish poetry'-Letters to Sillar and Logan-'The Kirk's Alarm'-Poet, farmer, exciseman-‘To Graham of Fintry, on receiving a favour'-Burns's second son born-Letters to Peter Stuart and Mrs Dunlop-Two merry episodes: Willie brew'd a peck o' maut;' 'The Whistle'-Letter to the Duke of Queensberry— Anniversary of the death of Mary Campbell: To Mary in Heaven '- Rhyming correspondence with Dr Blacklock-Francis Grose, Hear, Land o' Cakes, and brither Scots-Letters to Grose and Dugald |