A rhymed invitation from Agnes McLehose to Archibald Menzies, 1791
To Mr Archd Menzies- Canongate 1791.
Mr Dear, and ever much-respected friend -
Will you, to night, a select few attend
To see old Shakespears Hamlet tread the Stage?
Hear, the pale Ghosst, the Queen's sad doom presage-
Mourn o'er Ophelia's last, distructed state --
Admire the Prince - mad, and wild confusion, Great! -
At each fine stroke, throughout the Church yard-
-Scene
Own - the Immortal - Shakespeare must remain!
At six oclock - but lest I sink to prose -
I'll sign myself, yours-
Agnes McLehose.
Mr Dear, and ever much-respected friend -
Will you, to night, a select few attend
To see old Shakespears Hamlet tread the Stage?
Hear, the pale Ghosst, the Queen's sad doom presage-
Mourn o'er Ophelia's last, distructed state --
Admire the Prince - mad, and wild confusion, Great! -
At each fine stroke, throughout the Church yard-
-Scene
Own - the Immortal - Shakespeare must remain!
At six oclock - but lest I sink to prose -
I'll sign myself, yours-
Agnes McLehose.
Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/02/149
- Alt. number
- 3.6377
- Date
- 1791
- On display
- No
- Creator
- McLehose, Agnes (Author)
- Recipient
- Menzies, Archibald
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/02/149
- Alt. number
- 3.6377
- Date
- 1791
- On display
- No
- Creator
- McLehose, Agnes (Author)
- Recipient
- Menzies, Archibald
Description
A rhymed invitation from Agnes McLehose to Archibald Menzies, 1791.
Robert met Mrs Agnes McLehose during his extended trip to Edinburgh. Although they were both involved with other people, the two began an epistolatory affair which has been immortalized through their surviving correspondence. Addressing each other as ‘Sylvander’ and ‘Clarinda’ to protect their identities in case of exposure, Robert and Agnes continued to write to each other for years, even after Robert married Jean Armour and moved to Ellisland near Dumfries.
Life continued on for Agnes after Burns's departure from Edinburgh in 1791. Here, she writes a rhymed invitation to Archibald Menzies of Canongate asking him to join in a party attending a peformance of Shakespeare's Hamlet that evening.
Archive information
Themes
Hierarchy
-
Robert Burns, collection of poems and songs
(
a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
- A rhymed invitation from Agnes McLehose to Archibald Menzies, 1791