Draft of letter from Robert Burns to Lady Elizabeth Cunningham, 23 December 1879
My Lady
The honour you have done your poor Poet in your
writing him so very obliging a letter & the pleasure the enclosed
beautiful verses have given him, came very seasonally to his aid
amid ill weather out of doors the cheerless gloom & sinking despondency
of diseased nerves & December weather.- As to forgetting the
Family of Glencairn, Heaven is my witness with what sincerity
I could use those old verses which notwithstanding please me more
in their rude simplicity than the most elegant lines I ever saw
If thee Jerus'lem I forget,
Skill part from my right hand. -
My tongue to my mouth's roof let cleave,
If I do thee forget
Jerusalem, & thee above
My chief joy do not set. -
When I am tempted to do anything improper, I dare not, because I
look on myself as accountable to your Ladyship & Family;
I am now & then, when I have the honour to be called to the tables of
the Great, of I happen to be mortified by meet with by with morlany
mortifying from the stately stupidity of self-sufficient Squires or
the luxuriant insolence of upstart Nabobs, I get above the creatures
by calling to remembrance that I am patronised by the noble House of
Glencairn; & at gala times, such as New year day, a christening, or
the Kirn-night, when my punch-bowl is brought from its dusty
-ner & filled up in honour of the occasion, I begin with, The County
of Glencairn; my good woman with the enthusiasm of ^a grateful heart
next cries, My Lord; & so we go the toast goes on until I end with
Lady Hariet's little angel whose Epithalamium I have pledged
myself to write. -
When I received your Ladyship's letter, I was just in the act of
transcribing ^for you some verses I have lately composed; and meant to have
sent them my first leisure hour and acquainted you with my late
change of life. - I mentioned to my Lord, my fears concerning mu
farm. Those fears were indeed too true; it is a ruin bargain would
The honour you have done your poor Poet in your
writing him so very obliging a letter & the pleasure the enclosed
beautiful verses have given him, came very seasonally to his aid
amid ill weather out of doors the cheerless gloom & sinking despondency
of diseased nerves & December weather.- As to forgetting the
Family of Glencairn, Heaven is my witness with what sincerity
I could use those old verses which notwithstanding please me more
in their rude simplicity than the most elegant lines I ever saw
If thee Jerus'lem I forget,
Skill part from my right hand. -
My tongue to my mouth's roof let cleave,
If I do thee forget
Jerusalem, & thee above
My chief joy do not set. -
When I am tempted to do anything improper, I dare not, because I
look on myself as accountable to your Ladyship & Family;
I am now & then, when I have the honour to be called to the tables of
the Great, of I happen to be mortified by meet with by with morlany
mortifying from the stately stupidity of self-sufficient Squires or
the luxuriant insolence of upstart Nabobs, I get above the creatures
by calling to remembrance that I am patronised by the noble House of
Glencairn; & at gala times, such as New year day, a christening, or
the Kirn-night, when my punch-bowl is brought from its dusty
-ner & filled up in honour of the occasion, I begin with, The County
of Glencairn; my good woman with the enthusiasm of ^a grateful heart
next cries, My Lord; & so we go the toast goes on until I end with
Lady Hariet's little angel whose Epithalamium I have pledged
myself to write. -
When I received your Ladyship's letter, I was just in the act of
transcribing ^for you some verses I have lately composed; and meant to have
sent them my first leisure hour and acquainted you with my late
change of life. - I mentioned to my Lord, my fears concerning mu
farm. Those fears were indeed too true; it is a ruin bargain would
have ruined me but for the lucky circumstances of my having
and Excise Commission. - Your Ladyship may have heard that
the Excise Salaries are now raised to £50 per annum. - I live
in the middle of an Excise Division; and my truly generous friend
Mr Graham of Fintry, though I had never done Excise Duty in
my life, got me settled as officer in this place where I go out from
my own house in the morning & return to it at night. -
People may talk as they please, of the ignominy of the Excise, £50
a year will support my wife & children & keep me independent of
the world; and I would much rather have it said that my Profession
borrowed credit from me, than that I borrowed credit from my
Profession. Another advantage I have in this business, is the
knowledge it gives me of the various shades of human character, and consequently futher assisting me vastly in my
Poetic pursuits. - I had the most ardent enthusiasm to be for
a poet my Muses when nobody knew me, and by myself, and that ardour is by no means cooled now that My Lord Glencairn's goodness
has introduced me to all the world. - Not that I am in a
haste for the Press. - I have no idea of publishing, else I certain
ly had consulted my noble generous Patron; but next after acting
the part of an honest man & supporting my family, my whole
wishes & views are directed to Poetic pursuits. - I am aware that tho'
I were pub to bring give performances to the world superior to my former
works, still if the were of the same kind as with those, the comparative
reception they would meet ^with would mortify me. - For this
reason I am determined if possible still to secure my great friend, Novelty
on my side, by the kind of my performances; I will have turned
my thoughts on the Drama.- I do not mean the stately busk
of the Tragic Muse, but considering the favourite authors things of the day
the two & three act Pieces of O Keefe, Mrs Inchbald, & c. does not
your Ladyship think that an Edinburgh Theatre would be
more amused with the affection, folly & whim of their own
true Scottish growth, than manners which by far the greatest
part of the audience can only know second hand?
and Excise Commission. - Your Ladyship may have heard that
the Excise Salaries are now raised to £50 per annum. - I live
in the middle of an Excise Division; and my truly generous friend
Mr Graham of Fintry, though I had never done Excise Duty in
my life, got me settled as officer in this place where I go out from
my own house in the morning & return to it at night. -
People may talk as they please, of the ignominy of the Excise, £50
a year will support my wife & children & keep me independent of
the world; and I would much rather have it said that my Profession
borrowed credit from me, than that I borrowed credit from my
Profession. Another advantage I have in this business, is the
knowledge it gives me of the various shades of human character, and consequently futher assisting me vastly in my
Poetic pursuits. - I had the most ardent enthusiasm to be for
a poet my Muses when nobody knew me, and by myself, and that ardour is by no means cooled now that My Lord Glencairn's goodness
has introduced me to all the world. - Not that I am in a
haste for the Press. - I have no idea of publishing, else I certain
ly had consulted my noble generous Patron; but next after acting
the part of an honest man & supporting my family, my whole
wishes & views are directed to Poetic pursuits. - I am aware that tho'
I were pub to bring give performances to the world superior to my former
works, still if the were of the same kind as with those, the comparative
reception they would meet ^with would mortify me. - For this
reason I am determined if possible still to secure my great friend, Novelty
on my side, by the kind of my performances; I will have turned
my thoughts on the Drama.- I do not mean the stately busk
of the Tragic Muse, but considering the favourite authors things of the day
the two & three act Pieces of O Keefe, Mrs Inchbald, & c. does not
your Ladyship think that an Edinburgh Theatre would be
more amused with the affection, folly & whim of their own
true Scottish growth, than manners which by far the greatest
part of the audience can only know second hand?
Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/01/37
- Alt. number
- 3.6064
- Date
- 23 December 1879 to 23 December 1789
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Recipient
- Cunningham, Lady Elizabeth
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/01/37
- Alt. number
- 3.6064
- Date
- 23 December 1879 to 23 December 1789
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Recipient
- Cunningham, Lady Elizabeth
Description
Draft of a letter from Robert Burns to Lady Elizabeth Cunningham, dated Ellisland, 23 December 1879.
This is a first draft of letter. The final letter is in Edinburgh University Library collection. Unsigned.
These are the first two pages of the first draft of a three page letter which Burns wrote to Lady Elizabeth Cunningham, sister of his patron, the Earl of Glencairn. While the first page remains largely unchanged, the second shows considerable editing and addition in the final version.
In the first page, Burns acknowledges receipt of a letter and some verses from the Lady which he says has lifted his December gloom. He defends her challenge of neglect of the Glencairn family with some lines from Psalm 137, and describes how he honors their patronage whenever he has the toast at a gala occasion.
He indicates that he is enclosing poems with the letter and starts to describe his change of life through obtaining an Excise commission due to the need for a regular income on account of the ruinous state of his farming affairs. This latter problem he plays down in the final version.
The first seven lines of this second page are condensed to four in the final version and Burns is at pains to justify the economic reason for his change and assures her that he still has 'poetic pursuits'. He changes this section considerably, with it becoming 'to be a Poet, is my highest ambition, my dearest wish, and my unwearied study'.
In the final section on this page he shows an interest in branching out into writing Drama and asks Lady Cunningham for a view on whether an Edinburgh audience would be more interested in Scottish rather than unfamiliar subjects.
In the first page, Burns acknowledges receipt of a letter and some verses from the Lady which he says has lifted his December gloom. He defends her challenge of neglect of the Glencairn family with some lines from Psalm 137, and describes how he honors their patronage whenever he has the toast at a gala occasion.
He indicates that he is enclosing poems with the letter and starts to describe his change of life through obtaining an Excise commission due to the need for a regular income on account of the ruinous state of his farming affairs. This latter problem he plays down in the final version.
The first seven lines of this second page are condensed to four in the final version and Burns is at pains to justify the economic reason for his change and assures her that he still has 'poetic pursuits'. He changes this section considerably, with it becoming 'to be a Poet, is my highest ambition, my dearest wish, and my unwearied study'.
In the final section on this page he shows an interest in branching out into writing Drama and asks Lady Cunningham for a view on whether an Edinburgh audience would be more interested in Scottish rather than unfamiliar subjects.
Archive information
Place of creation
Themes
Hierarchy
-
Letters from and to Robert Burns
(
a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
- Draft of letter from Robert Burns to Lady Elizabeth Cunningham, 23 December 1879
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