Letter from Robert Burns to Alexander Cunningham, 10 September 1792

Burns writes this seven page letter to his friend Alexander Cunningham during an inebriated late night session. In it, he acknowledges several past events, expounds on the supernatural, religious nonsense, and matrimony issues at some length, finishing with a poem written about a recent meeting with Miss Leslie Bailie.

On the first page, Burns describes how busy he has been, and his discomfort at not responding to the events of Cunningham's marriage and his own elevation to the 'Caledonian Archers'. He paints the picture of himself sitting down to write close to midnight, admitting that he has 'set a nipperkin of Toddy by me, just by way of a Spell to keep away the meikle horned Deil, or any of his subaltern Imps who may be on their nightly rounds'.

In page two, Burns struggles for a subject to write about, going off into a supernatural quest which has echoes of the drunken journey he pens for 'Tam O' Shanter' on his storm bound route from Ayr to Alloway. He asks of each spirit form, including Bogles, Brownies, Kelpies and Ghosts, for inspiration and lets his light-headed imagination create lurid scenes associated with each of the supernatural forms.

Page three finds Burns still on his supernatural quest for inspiration but then seeking a gentler inspiration suited to a 'prating Advocate' or a 'tea-bibbing Gossip' whose tittle-tattle ('clishmaclaiver') runs at a 'light-horse gallop'. Burns then admits to being 'a poor devil who is quite jaded in the attempt to share half an idea among half a hundred words; to fill up four quarto pages, while he has not got one single sentence of recollection, information, or remark, worth putting down on paper for!'.

Page four brings Burns's resolve for inspiration to the subject of Nonsense. Obscurely he mentions the disciplines of Law, Physics and Divinity as offenders. Settling on Divinity 'leaving Common Sense confounded', for the rest of the page he rambles on, failing to bring any clarity to the subject. He predicts little scope for redemption, offering odds of 'nineteen hundred thousand to one' against the poor and needy escaping eternal damnation 'by the dogmas of Theology'.

By page five Burns's toddy-driven pen determines that 'Religious Nonsense is the most nonsensical'. He rails against those 'children of Sanctity' who go about with their noses in the air which he associates with the titled classes looking down on 'the many-aproned sons of Mechanical life'. His final barb is left for 'godly women' in an uncharacteristic slight on the fair sex. Perhaps the rum is too good as his final toast in the paragraph suggests.

Burns's mood swiftly changes on this sixth page where he offers the newly-wedded Cunningham 'my ideas on the Conjugal state'. Here he lists a scale of worth associated with various components of 'Good-wife-ship'. The best qualities include good nature, good-sense, wit, and personal charms. He then explains how he has met Miss Leslie Bailie and has admired her loveliness to the extent that he was inspired to write a 'ballad on her'. The two stanzas are copied on the last page of the letter.

The final page includes early versions of the third and fourth verses of the poem 'O saw ye bonie Lesley' which Burns wrote after escorting her and her Father's family for fifteen miles during their journey in Dumfriesshire. He writes that he composed the ballad while riding home after seeing them off. He closes the letter wishing well to Cunningham and his wife, almost in the form of a prayer.