Letter of Robert Burns to Alexander Cunningham, 24 January 1789
My Dear Cunningham
When I saw in my last Newspaper that a
Surgeon in Edinburgh was married to a certain amiable and accomplished
young lady whose name begins with, Ann; a lady with whom I fancy
I have the honour of being a little acquainted, I sincerely felt for a worthy
much-esteemed friend of mine. - As you are the single only instance
in human that ever came within the sphere of my observation of hu
man nature, of a young fellow dissipated but not debauched, a circum-
stance that has ever given me the highest idea of the native qualities
of your heart, I am certain ^that a disappointment in the tender
patron must, to you, be a very serious matter.
To the hopeful youth,
keen on the badger-foot of Mammon, or listed under the gaudy
banners of Ambition, a love-disappointment as such, is an easy
business; nay, perhaps he hugs himself on his escape; but to
your scanty tribe of mankind, whose souls bear, on the richest
materials, the most elegant impress of the Great Creator, Love
enters deeply into their existence, it is estivated with their very
thread of life. - I myself can affirm, both from bachelor and
wedlock experience, that Love is the Alpha and the Omega of
human enjoyment. - All the pleasures, all the happiness
of my humble Compeers, flow immediately and directly
When I saw in my last Newspaper that a
Surgeon in Edinburgh was married to a certain amiable and accomplished
young lady whose name begins with, Ann; a lady with whom I fancy
I have the honour of being a little acquainted, I sincerely felt for a worthy
much-esteemed friend of mine. - As you are the single only instance
in human that ever came within the sphere of my observation of hu
man nature, of a young fellow dissipated but not debauched, a circum-
stance that has ever given me the highest idea of the native qualities
of your heart, I am certain ^that a disappointment in the tender
patron must, to you, be a very serious matter.
To the hopeful youth,
keen on the badger-foot of Mammon, or listed under the gaudy
banners of Ambition, a love-disappointment as such, is an easy
business; nay, perhaps he hugs himself on his escape; but to
your scanty tribe of mankind, whose souls bear, on the richest
materials, the most elegant impress of the Great Creator, Love
enters deeply into their existence, it is estivated with their very
thread of life. - I myself can affirm, both from bachelor and
wedlock experience, that Love is the Alpha and the Omega of
human enjoyment. - All the pleasures, all the happiness
of my humble Compeers, flow immediately and directly
from this delicious source. It is that spark of celestial fire which
lights up the wintry hut of Poverty, and makes the chearless
mansion, warm, comfortable, and gay. - In is the emanation
of Divinity which that preserves the sons and Daughters of rustic
labour from degenerating into the brutes with which they
daily hold converse. - Without it, life to the poor inmates of the
Cottage would be a damning gift. -
I intended to go on with some kind of consolatory epistle, when
unaware, I flew off in this rhapsodical tangent. Instead of
attempting to resume a subject for which I am so ill qualified.
I shall ask your opinion of some verses I have lately begun,
on a theme of which you are the best judge I ever saw. -
It is Love too; tho' not just warranted by the law of nations. -
A married lady of my acquaintance, whose crim. con,.
amour with a certain Captain, has made some noise in
the world is suppos writes to him, now in the West Indies,
as follows.-
- - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - -
By all I lov'd neglected and forgot,
No friendly face e'er lights my squalid cot:
Shunn'd, hated, wrong'd unpitied, undrest,
The mock'd quotation of the scorner's jest.
lights up the wintry hut of Poverty, and makes the chearless
mansion, warm, comfortable, and gay. - In is the emanation
of Divinity which that preserves the sons and Daughters of rustic
labour from degenerating into the brutes with which they
daily hold converse. - Without it, life to the poor inmates of the
Cottage would be a damning gift. -
I intended to go on with some kind of consolatory epistle, when
unaware, I flew off in this rhapsodical tangent. Instead of
attempting to resume a subject for which I am so ill qualified.
I shall ask your opinion of some verses I have lately begun,
on a theme of which you are the best judge I ever saw. -
It is Love too; tho' not just warranted by the law of nations. -
A married lady of my acquaintance, whose crim. con,.
amour with a certain Captain, has made some noise in
the world is suppos writes to him, now in the West Indies,
as follows.-
- - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - -
By all I lov'd neglected and forgot,
No friendly face e'er lights my squalid cot:
Shunn'd, hated, wrong'd unpitied, undrest,
The mock'd quotation of the scorner's jest.
Even the poor support of my wretched life,
Snatch'd by the violence of legal strife.
Oft grateful for my very daily bread
To those my Fam'ly's once large bounty fed,
A welcome inmate at their homely fare,
My grieds, my woes, my sighs, my tears they share:
(Their vulgar souls unlike the souls refin'd,
The fashion'd marble of the polish's mind! )
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Now, raving wild, I curse that fatal night,
Then bless the hour that charm'd my guilty sight!
In vain the laws their feeble force oppose;
[page torn] at his feet, they groan Love's vanquish'd f-
[page torn] meets my shrinking eye;
I date [page torn] but I turn and fly:
Conscience, in vain, upbraids th' unhallow'd fire,
Love grasps her scorpions stifled, they expire:
Reason drops headlong from his sacred throne;
Your dear idea reigns and reigns alone:
Each thought intoxicated homage yields,
And riots, wanton, in forbidden fields. -
By all on high, adoring mortals know!
By all the conscious villain fears below!
By, what, alas! much more my soul alarms,
Snatch'd by the violence of legal strife.
Oft grateful for my very daily bread
To those my Fam'ly's once large bounty fed,
A welcome inmate at their homely fare,
My grieds, my woes, my sighs, my tears they share:
(Their vulgar souls unlike the souls refin'd,
The fashion'd marble of the polish's mind! )
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Now, raving wild, I curse that fatal night,
Then bless the hour that charm'd my guilty sight!
In vain the laws their feeble force oppose;
[page torn] at his feet, they groan Love's vanquish'd f-
[page torn] meets my shrinking eye;
I date [page torn] but I turn and fly:
Conscience, in vain, upbraids th' unhallow'd fire,
Love grasps her scorpions stifled, they expire:
Reason drops headlong from his sacred throne;
Your dear idea reigns and reigns alone:
Each thought intoxicated homage yields,
And riots, wanton, in forbidden fields. -
By all on high, adoring mortals know!
By all the conscious villain fears below!
By, what, alas! much more my soul alarms,
My doubtful hopes once more to fill thy arms!
Even shouldst thou, false, forswear the guilty tie,
Thine, and thine only I shall live and die!
- - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Jan 24 1789
Mr Alexander Cunningham
Writer
James Square
New Town Edin.r
I intend being in Edin.r about the end of Feb.ry --
Adieu! Rob.t Burns
Even shouldst thou, false, forswear the guilty tie,
Thine, and thine only I shall live and die!
- - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Jan 24 1789
Mr Alexander Cunningham
Writer
James Square
New Town Edin.r
I intend being in Edin.r about the end of Feb.ry --
Adieu! Rob.t Burns
Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/01/48
- Alt. number
- 3.6076
- Date
- 24 January 1789
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Recipient
- Cunningham, Alexander
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/01/48
- Alt. number
- 3.6076
- Date
- 24 January 1789
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Recipient
- Cunningham, Alexander
Description
Letter of Robert Burns to Alexander Cunningham, dated Ellisland, 24 January, 1789. A portion of this letter is transcribed in the Glenriddell Manuscript Vol. 2.
In this four page letter Burns writes to his friend Alexander Cunningham to commiserate with him on the loss of his fiancée to a surgeon in Edinburgh. He also asks his friend to comment on two poems which he encloses.
This first page is where Burns sets out to write Cunningham a 'consolatory epistle' after having learned from a newspaper report that his friend has lost his fiancée Anne. He recognises Cunningham would take this as a serious matter in view of him being a person for whom 'Love enters deeply into their existence'. Burns however deviates somewhat from his intended path and rhapsodises on a theme of love for the rest of the page. He confirms that from his own experience love is the source from which all pleasures and happiness flows.
In page two Burns continues with his dissertation on the subject of love and then realises he has wandered off his intended path which was to console Cunningham on the loss of his fiancée. He then changes tack and asks Cunningham for an opinion on some verses he has been working on. Burns introduces the setting for the poem in which a married lady has an adulterous affair with a ship's Captain and now writes to him in the West Indies. The first four lines are on this page.
The eight lines at the start of page three go with the four lines on the previous page as a single set and appear to be an early version of the opening twelve lines of his poem 'Passion's Cry'. They clearly express the anguish of a woman charged with adultery.
Burns has then drawn a line across the page and started again with lines which represent the continuation of 'Passion's Cry' from about line 12 with some differences from the published version.
The fourth page of this letter carries the address on which Burns has written at the top the last three lines of 'Passion's Cry'. Also at the bottom he has finished the letter by letting Cunningham know he will be in Edinburgh in a month or so.
Burns has addressed Cunningham as: Writer, of James Square, Newtown, Edin, and a Dumfries postal stamp can be seen with the remains of a seal which has left a hole in the paper.
In page two Burns continues with his dissertation on the subject of love and then realises he has wandered off his intended path which was to console Cunningham on the loss of his fiancée. He then changes tack and asks Cunningham for an opinion on some verses he has been working on. Burns introduces the setting for the poem in which a married lady has an adulterous affair with a ship's Captain and now writes to him in the West Indies. The first four lines are on this page.
The eight lines at the start of page three go with the four lines on the previous page as a single set and appear to be an early version of the opening twelve lines of his poem 'Passion's Cry'. They clearly express the anguish of a woman charged with adultery.
Burns has then drawn a line across the page and started again with lines which represent the continuation of 'Passion's Cry' from about line 12 with some differences from the published version.
The fourth page of this letter carries the address on which Burns has written at the top the last three lines of 'Passion's Cry'. Also at the bottom he has finished the letter by letting Cunningham know he will be in Edinburgh in a month or so.
Burns has addressed Cunningham as: Writer, of James Square, Newtown, Edin, and a Dumfries postal stamp can be seen with the remains of a seal which has left a hole in the paper.
Archive information
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Hierarchy
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Letters from and to Robert Burns
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a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
- Letter of Robert Burns to Alexander Cunningham, 24 January 1789