Letter from Robert Burns to Alexander Cunningham, 27 July 1788
My godlike Friend - nay do not stare,
You think the phrase is odd like;
But "Got is Love" the Saints declare,
Then surely thou are godlike. -
And is thy Ardour still the same?
And kindled still at Anna?
Others may boast a partial flame,
But thou are a Voleant. -
Even Wedlock asks not Love beyond
Death's tie dissolving Portal;
But thou, omnipotently fond,
May'st promise Love Immortal.
Such Symptoms dire attend them;
That last great Antihectic try,
Marriage, perhaps may mend them. -
Sweet Anna has an air, a grace,
Divine magnetic touching!
She takes, she charms - but who can trace
The process of Bewitching?
_______________________
My spur-galled, spavin'd Pegasus makes so hobbling a pro
gress over the Course of Extempore, that I must here alight
& try the food path of plain prose. - I have not met
with anytime this long while, my dear Sir, that has
given my inward man such a fillip as your kind
Epistle.
For my own Biographical story, I can only say with
the venerable Hebrew Patriarch; "Here, am I, with the Children
"God has given me!" I have been a Farmer since Whit-
Sunday, & am just now building a house - not a Palace to
[?] the train - attended steps of pride -swoln Greatness
![](https://ciim-data.nts.org.uk/media/iiif/3/pf%2F2%2F1%2F40%2F758%2FNTSBRNp06059.ptif/full/!640,640/0/default.jpg)
Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/01/47
- Alt. number
- 3.6075
- Date
- 27 July 1788
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Recipient
- Cunningham, Alexander
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/01/47
- Alt. number
- 3.6075
- Date
- 27 July 1788
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Recipient
- Cunningham, Alexander
Description
Letter from Robert Burns to Alexander Cunningham, dated Ellisland, 27 July, 1788.
This three page letter from Burns to Alexander Cunningham contains five verses of the poem 'My godlike friend - nay do not stare'. It also contains news regarding Burns's marriage, family life and new farm at Ellisland.
It happens that Cunningham was jilted by Anne Stewart that same year in favour of an Edinburgh surgeon, but Burns was clearly not aware of it at the time he wrote these verses.
Page two continues with two more verses of the poem, after which Burns admits that his muse, in the guise of Pegasus, has fallen lame and he must 'alight and try the foot-path of plain prose'. Delighted to hear from Cunningham, Burns proceeds to update him on his situation.
First he tells that he has become a farmer at Ellisland and is building a house where his family can live. It will not be a palace but a more modest abode to generate humility and contentment.
In the last page Burns explains that he has married 'my Jean' out of love and responsibility and has a son, the only one living out of four children born to Jean. He intends that his son should become a priest for he is showing suitable traits in that direction.
Burns finally explains that he is commuting between Mauchline and Ellisland at roughly weekly intervals until the house is completed, and that Cunningham should send mail to Ellisland from now on.
The Edinburgh lawyer Alexander Cunningham met Burns when he travelled to the Scottish capital. The two became live-long friends with much correspondence travelling between them. Following Burns's death, Cunningham led the effort to raise funds to support the remaining Burns family.
Archive information
Place of creation
Themes
Hierarchy
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Letters from and to Robert Burns
(
a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
- Letter from Robert Burns to Alexander Cunningham, 27 July 1788