There are a great many recordings of the poems and songs of Burns, and preference will be a matter of personal taste. I listened to the late Jean Redpath’s extensive collection of the Songs of Robert Burns, which includes the beautiful and the bawdy, and everything in between, all sung in a pure, no-nonsense voice that seems to evoke Jean Armour, and with helpful notes about the history and background of each song. But there are many recordings and all are well worth exploring. Andy M Stewart’s available recordings of Burns’s songs are some of the best interpretations I have ever heard.
Little of Jean’s own correspondence survives, although it’s clear that she was literate. We have a scant handful of letters from the poet to his wife, touchingly domestic, extraordinarily loving. In fact, it seems very odd to me that so many commentators have been blind to just how much and how deeply he loved her, and was willing to tell her so.
The life stories of Rab and Jean’s surviving children are only peripherally a part of the novel, but are well worth investigating. I was particularly intrigued by Jean’s grand-daughter, Sarah, who lived with her grandmother for a while as a little girl. Extraordinarily, Sarah would live to see another new century and only died at the age of eighty-seven, in 1907. She and her husband lived in some splendour in Cheltenham. Throughout her long and distinguished life, Sarah remained indignant, furious even, at the treatment of her grandfather and her much-loved grandmother at the hands of all the men of letters who flocked around Jean after the poet’s death. She was particularly angry that the letters and papers that should by rights have belonged to Jean and the Burns family were never returned. She was passionately defensive of her grandfather, feeling that his memory had been tarnished by faint praise and by an over-emphasis on his failings at the expense of his many virtues. This is a judgement with which Jean herself would have been in complete agreement.
There are, of course, various museums associated with Burns and all are worth visiting. The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway and the nearby cottage that William Burness built for himself and his wife, and where Robert was born, are an excellent starting point for an overview of the poet’s life and times, with a number of engaging artefacts, many of them associated with Jean herself. The rooms in the superb Burns House Museum in Mauchline, where the couple began their married life, are also deeply atmospheric, as is the Globe Inn in Dumfries and the Robert Burns House, now a museum, in the same town. Ellisland itself, little changed, is magical, and if you are going to see the ghosts of Rab and Jean anywhere, I fancy it will be there. The Ayrshire and Dumfriesshire countryside, the fields and woodlands, rivers and streams the poet and his wife knew and loved are, in essence, not much changed, and there are plenty of places for daydreaming, plenty of quietly beautiful corners where the past seems very close indeed.
My aim in this novel has been as much accuracy as is consistent with a fictional account. Everything either happened, or could have happened. The casual reader might be surprised by what is documented fact and how little is invention, but if he or she finds it hard to distinguish between the two, I will be very well pleased.
Catherine Czerkawska
Glossary
agley awry
airt direction, especially wind
ajee ajar
auld licht traditional presbyterian
Auld Nick the devil
aye I’m eerie they come ben I’m afraid they’ll come in
babie-clouts baby clothes, sometimes swaddling clothes
back-style back stair, outdoor staircase leading to upper floor
back-yett back gate
baldeirie (sometimes beldairy) the green winged orchis with aphrodisiac properties
bannock large flat bread, often made from oats or barley
bawbee small coin
beastie small creature, often but not always an insect
bield shelter
birl whirl, spin
bishop weed ground elder
black affronted very embarrassed
black fit go-between, matchmaker
blaeberries bilberries
blaggard scoundrel
bletherin, blusterin, drunken blellum a chattering, blustering, drunken idler (from ‘Tam o’ Shanter’)
braggart boaster
brambles blackberries
braw pleasing
brogues leather shoes
burr prickly seed head
but ’n ben single storey two-roomed cottage
ca’ canny work slowly
chaff husks of corn (or oats in Scotland) used to fill mattresses where feathers could not be procured.
change house tavern
chuckie stone small pebble
clappin caressing
clegs horseflies
clouts often (but not exclusively) menstrual rags
coatie short coat
collops sliced meat
compeared summoned
coo cow
coorie snuggle
crack to me my lane talk to me alone
creeshie flannen dirty flannel
cronies friends
crowdie cream cheese
cruisie oil lamp with rush wick
cuckold husband of adulteress
cutty sark short linen shirt or shift, commonly worn by women, next to the skin.
daffin foolish behaviour or behaving foolishly
delft pottery
dram measure of whisky
drappie drop
dreich dreary and bleak, mostly of weather
drystane dry stone, as in walls
dyvor rogue, good-for-nothing
faither father
fause house false house, specifically, space within a corn stack
feart afraid
fidgin fain sexually aroused
fley frighten
for the behoof of on behalf of
fou full, drunk
gang go
gar make
gey very
glowrin glowering
gowan daisy
gowden golden
graip large fork (often for digging potatoes)
guid good
hair halter halter of woven hair, low-quality harness
hale sound
hallan en a kind of porch
haud yer wheesht be quiet
havrel halfwit
houghmagandie fornication
ilka every
interlowper incomer
jurr skivvy
kale kind of cabbage
ken/kent know/ knew
knotless thread feckless man
lad o’ pairts young man with prospects
laverock sky lark
leal loyal
lintie linnet, songbird
loofs lies
loun lad
lutestring silk high quality, glossy silk
maut malt
mavis thrush
meikle black deil big black devil
midge or midgie the tiny but vicious mosquito-like insect of Scotland
nabbery gentry, colloquial Ayrshire
ne’er do weel vagabond, rogue
oslin old variety of dessert apple
oxtered took by the elbow
peely wally pale and ill
plaid or plaidie long and heavy woollen wrap, worn by men. Lowland plaids were often black and white check or in Burns’s case, a fashionable autumn tint called feuille morte, or dead leaf.
prentice apprentice
pulling tongues sticking your tongue out at somebody, pulling faces.
quean young woman
reck heed
reticule small handbag
sair sore
schaws potato stems, including the section ly
ing in the ground
seventeen hunner unit denoting quality of the weave in textile
shift woman’s loose-fitting undergarment, worn under the stays, for comfort
siller silver, usually money
skellum rogue
sonsie jolly, plump and pleasant (originally meaning lucky)
span old measure, hand’s width
spleuchan female pudendum, literally small pouch
stang to wound, in this case to carry astride a wooden pole
stumpie drugget short and made of coarse linen
swee swinging cast iron arm upon which a cooking pot could be hung over a fire
syne since
tent pay attention
the feint a (the devil a) emphatic negative
thole suffer, bear
toddy whisky, lemon and sugar
toun town
unco remarkable
unkend unknown
waeful want woeful poverty
wanton wander carelessly
wark work
wean child, especially in Ayrshire, although bairn is also used
weel well
weel (wael) a deep river pool
whaup curlew (a whaup’s in the nest expecting a baby)
whin gorse
your coat’s hangin on a shoogly peg (literally, your coat is hanging on a wobbly peg) you are on shaky ground
Bibliography
Jean Aitchison. 2001. Servants in Ayrshire, 1750 – 1914. Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.
AANHS Collections. 1959. Ayrshire at the Time of Burns. Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.
James Barke. 1959. Bonnie Jean. Collins.
W F Blair. 1922. An Octogenarian’s Reminiscences. Kilmarnock Standard.
Alan Bold. 1992. Robert Burns. A Pitkin Guide.
A M Boyle. 1985. The Ayrshire Book of Burns-Lore. Alloway Publishing.
Nancy Bradfield. 1968. Costume in Detail. George G Harrap & Co Ltd.
Robert Burns. Henry Arthur Bright. 1874. Some Account of the Glenriddell Manuscripts of Burns’s Poems. Kessinger Legacy Reprints.
Robert Burns. 1786. Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. Facsimile Kilmarnock Ed. printed by John Smith and Son, Glasgow Ltd, 1927.
Robert Burns. 1815. The Works of Robert Burns with an Account of His Life. Gale and Fenner, London.
Robert Burns. 1991. The Complete Illustrated Poems, Songs and Ballads. Lomond Books.
Robert Burns. 2013. Complete Works, Ultimate Collection, Everlasting Flames Publishing on Kindle.
David Kerr Cameron. 1978. The Ballad and the Plough. Victor Gollancz.
Catherine Carswell. 1990. The Life of Robert Burns. Canongate Classics.
Robert Crawford. 2010. The Bard, Robert Burns, a Biography. Pimlico.
R H Cromek. 1808. Reliques of Robert Burns. T Cadell & W Davies.
D C Cuthbertson. 1933. Carrick Days. Grant and Murray.
Charles S Dougall. 1911. The Burns Country. Adam and Charles Black.
Robert Fitzhugh and DeLancey Ferguson (ed). 1943. Robert Burns, his Associates and Contemporaries. The University of North Carolina Press.
John Galt. 1911. The Annals of the Parish. T N Foulis, Edinburgh.
George Gilfillan (ed). C1890. The National Burns including the Airs of all the Songs. William Mackenzie.
Hannah Glasse. 1747. This edition 1997. The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. Applewood Books.
William Jolly. 1881. Robert Burns at Mossgiel, with reminiscences of the poet by his herd boy. Kessinger Legacy Reprints.
Maurine Lindsay (intro) 1981. In the Land o’ Burns. Richard Drew Publishing.
James Mackay. 1987. The Complete Letters of Robert Burns. Alloway Publishing Ltd.
James Mackay. 2004. Burns. A Biography. Alloway Publishing Ltd.
Ian McIntyre. 2009. Robert Burns, a Life. Constable.
David McClure. 1994. Tolls and Tacksmen. Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.
Rosalind K Marshall. 1984. Wet Nursing in Scotland 1500 – 1800. Review of Scottish Culture.
Mauchline Burns Club. (Compiled by) 1986. Mauchline in Times Past. Chamberlain Publishing Ltd.
Mauchline Burns Club. 1996. Mauchline Memories of Robert Burns. Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.
Stuart Maxwell and Robin Hutchison. 1958. Scottish Costume, 1550 – 1850. Adam and Charles Black.
John D Ross. (Ed) 1894. Highland Mary: Interesting Papers on an Interesting Subject. www.archive.org or Kessinger Legacy Reprints.
Gavin Sprott. 1990. Robert Burns, Farmer. National Museums of Scotland.
Maisie Steven. 1995. Parish Life in 18th Century Scotland. Scottish Cultural Press.
J B Stevenson. 1993. Cup and Ring Markings at Ballochmyle, Ayrshire. Edinburgh University Publishing.
Philip Sulley. 1896. Robert Burns and Dumfries. 1796 – 1896. Thos Hunter and Co. Dumfries.
Peter J Westwood. 2001. Jean Armour, My Life and Times with Robert Burns. Creedon Publications.
About the Author
Catherine Czerkawska, author of The Physic Garden, is a Scottish-based novelist and playwright. She graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in Mediaeval Studies, followed by a Masters in Folk Life Studies from the University of Leeds. She has written many plays for the stage and for BBC Radio and for television, and has published nine novels, historical and contemporary. Her short stories have been published in many literary magazines and anthologies and as ebook collections, most recently by Hearst Magazines UK. She has also written non-fiction in the form of articles and books and has reviewed professionally for newspapers and magazines. Wormwood, her play about the Chernobyl disaster, was produced at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre to critical acclaim in 1997, while her novel The Curiosity Cabinet was shortlisted for the Dundee Book Prize in 2005.
Catherine has taught creative writing for the Arvon Foundation and spent four years as Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the University of the West of Scotland. She is currently serving on the committee of the Society of Authors in Scotland. When not writing, she collects and deals in the antique textiles that often find their way into her fiction.
Acknowledgements
The list of people and institutions that have been helpful to me, generous with advice and support in all kinds of ways, is a long one, and I must apologise in advance for leaving anyone out. They include: Creative Scotland for financial support; the National Trust for Scotland; the beautiful Burns Birthplace Museum and Burns Cottage (with special thanks to Rebecca McCallum Stapley and Nat Edwards); the excellent Burns House Museum in Mauchline; the equally atmospheric and excellent Ellisland Farm with its uniquely knowledgeable curator, Les Byers; Friar’s Carse Hotel, where the Riddells once lived; Robert Burns House in Dumfries; the Globe Inn, also in Dumfries (and especially Jane Brown); Scotland’s People; Aberdeen University Library for helpful information about John Moir; the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University; members of the Ayrshire Association of Businesswomen; the National Library of Scotland; and the Carnegie Library in Ayr.
Individual friends and acquaintances who have made the project much easier than it might otherwise have been include: the Rev David Albon and Hugh Brown of the Church of Scotland in Mauchline; the Rev Gerald Jones in Kirkmichael; Professor Alan Riach; Dr Valentina Bold; Nigel Deacon; Elinor Clark at Rozelle for kindly showing me the Moir portrait and the shawls; Elizabeth Kwasnik; old friends and dedicated Burns fans John and Brenda Kevan; the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow; and Dr Sarah Learmonth for information about endocarditis and oral infection.
Thanks are due to Liam Brennan and Gerda Stevenson for ‘being Rab and Jean’ in my play Tam o’ Shanter, for BBC Radio 4, and to Liam for reciting the poem in exactly the right accent; a
lso to Donald Pirie, who was an utterly convincing Rab on stage at the Òran Mór, and to Clare Waugh, for being my definitive Jeany.
The project would have been much harder to complete without Alison Bell’s inspirational and comforting chats over coffee and scones. Thanks too, to long-time friend and advice-giver Oenone Grant, to Valerie Laws and Chris Longmuir of Authors Electric, Carol Speirs of Many Thanks in Mauchline, writer friends Helena Sheridan, Fiona Atchison, Lesley Deschner and Janice Johnston, and all my many other Ayrshire friends and colleagues.
Huge thanks must go to my publisher, Sara Hunt, to Jenny Hamrick and Heather McDaid for editorial and proofreading, and to all at Saraband for support, inspiration and patience.
Finally, love, as ever, to my long-suffering husband Alan Lees, my son Charles and my dear late mum and dad who patiently and enthusiastically endured a great many weekends trekking and driving about Ayrshire and Dumfries with a poet-obsessed daughter.
This novel is dedicated, with love and respect, to the real Jean, with whom I seem to have lived and worked intensively for so many years.
By night, by day, a-field, at hame,
The thoughts o’ thee, my breast inflame
And aye I muse and sing thy name –
I only live to love thee.
Copyright
Published by Saraband
Suite 202, 98 Woodlands Road
Glasgow, G3 6HB, Scotland
www.saraband.net
Copyright © 2016 Catherine Czerkawska
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without first obtaining the written permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN: 9781910192238
ebook: 9781910192245
Publication of this book has been supported by Creative Scotland.
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