Letter from Robert Burns to John Richmond, 27 September 1786

Key details

Archive number: NTS/02/25/BRN/01/09
Alt. number: 3.6035
Date: 27 September 1786
On display: Yes
Creator: Burns, Robert (Author)
Recipient: Richmond, John

Explore correspondence between the creator and recipient

Description

Letter from Robert Burns to John Richmond, dated 27 September 1786. 2 leaves; no place, no date, but docketed by Richmond, "Poet Burness, 27 Sept., 1786."

John Richmond was a close friend of Robert Burns from his Mauchline days who became a lawyer in Edinburgh and with whom Burns conducted an active correspondence.

This letter shows the first indications that Robert's desire to move to Jamaica is weakening and the potential of another book of poems is giving him a renewed lease of life.

The letters between Burns (in Mauchline) and Richmond (in Edinburgh) appear to have been carried by an acquaintance name Connel. The hastily written letter shows Burns keeping Richmond up to date with his plans and letting him know that he is doing all right.

These letters show the change Robert made to the spelling of his surname: from ‘Burness’ (or ‘Burnes’) to ‘Burns’. This is probably because the name was pronounced ‘Burns’ in Ayrshire, so he simply removed the unused letters.

Archive information

Themes

Hierarchy

Letters from and to Robert Burns ( )

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