by Robert Burns
An’ Lord, remember singing Sannock7
Wi’ hale-breeks, saxpence, an’ a bannock; whole breeches, sixpence
And next, my auld acquaintance, Nancy,8
50 Since she is fitted to her fancy;
An’ her kind stars hae airted till her, have, given her
A guid chiel wi’ a pickle siller: good man, some money
My kindest, best respects I sen’ it,
To cousin Kate an’ sister Janet,
55 Tell them frae me, wi’ chiels be cautious; from, men
For, faith they’ll aiblins fin’ them fashious: maybe, trouble
To grant a heart is fairly civil,
But to grant a maidenhead’s the devil!
An’ lastly, Jamie, for yoursel,
60 May guardian angels tak a spell,
An’ steer you seven miles south o’ Hell;
But first, before you see Heaven’s glory,
May ye get mony a merry story, many
Mony a laugh and mony a drink,
65 And ay eneugh o’ needfu’ clink. enough, coins
Now fare ye weel, an’ joy be wi’ you, well
For my sake this I beg it o’ you,
Assist poor Simson a’ ye can,
Ye’ll fin’ him just an honest man: find
70 Sae I conclude and quat my chanter, so, end, song
Yours, saint or sinner,
RAB THE RANTER.
This casual, colloquial rhyming epistle was written in 1786 to James Tennant (1755–1835) of Glenconner who was a miller in Ochiltree. It was his father, John, who advised Burns to take the Ellisland lease. Burns seems to have borne no grudge over this as the poem intimately recalls seemingly the whole Tennant clan. What is of most interest is the opposition Burns builds in the text between Smith and Reid’s Enlightenment philosophical texts which he is sending to Tennant and the earlier religous tracts which, left with at home, he is endangering his soul by compulsively reading (ll. 19–30). Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress was widely disseminated among the Scottish peasantry (David Craig, Scottish Literature and the Scottish People 1680–1830, p. 66). John Brown (1722–87) was author of The Self-Interpreting Bible. Thomas Boston (1676–1732) was the author of The Four-fold State of Man. If proof be further needed, this poems confirms Burns’s easy grasp of theological and philosophical issues. Ll. 55–8 reveal Burns in his occasional mood of Polonian prudence.
1 The dance teacher at Ochiltree.
2 John Tennant, James’s father.
3 Rev. William Tennant.
4 John Tennant Junior.
5 Margaret Colville.
6 This weaver is not identified by any editor.
7 Robert Tennant.
8 Agnes Tennant.
Inscribed on a Work of Hannah More’s
Presented to the Author by a Lady
First printed circa 1824.
Thou flattering mark of friendship kind
Still may thy pages call to mind
The dear, the beauteous donor:
Tho’ sweetly female every part
5 Yet such a head, and more the heart,
Does both the sexes honor.
She showed her taste refined and just
When she selected thee,
Yet deviating own I must,
10 For so approving me.
But kind still, I mind still,
The giver in the gift;
I’ll bless her and wiss her wish
A Friend aboon the Lift. above, heavens
These lines were written by Burns in a letter to Robert Aitken, in April 1786 (Letter 24). The poet merely refers to the ‘flattering’ he obtained from ‘Mrs C -’s notice’. The identity of Mrs C – who gave Burns a copy of Hannah More’s poetry is still unknown. The original text in the book is missing. It would appear from the language of Burns, the lady was aristocratic. Previous editors speculatively list various names as possible candidates.
Ah, Woe is Me, My Mother Dear
Jeremiah, chap. 15, verse 10
First printed by James Hogg, 1835.
Ah, woe is me, my Mother dear!
A man of strife ye’ve born me:
For sair contention I maun bear, sore, must
hey hate, revile, and scorn me. —
5 I ne’er could lend on bill or band, bond
That five per cent might blest me;
And borrowing, on the tither hand,
The deil a ane wad trust me. — devil, no one would
Yet I, a coin-denied wight,
10 By Fortune quite discarded,
Ye see how I am day and night,
By lad and lass blackguarded. — miscalled
This is a versification of Biblical prose and clearly alludes to the troubles suffered in 1786 by the poet while the wrangle ensued over his relationship with Jean Armour.
To Mr Gavin Hamilton, Esq., Mauchline
Recommending a Boy. Mossgaville, May 3, 1786
First printed in Cromek, 1808.
I hold it, Sir, my bounden duty
To warn you how that MASTER TOOTIE,
Alías, Laird M’Gawn,
Was here to hire yon lad away
5 ’Bout whom ye spak the tither day, spoke, other
An’ wad hae don’t aff han’: would have done it, off hand
But lest he learn the callan tricks, boy
As faith I muckle doubt him, much
Like scrapin out auld Crummies’ nicks, old cows’ horns
10 An’ tellin lies about them;
As lieve then I’d have then, rather
Your CLERKSHIP he should sair; serve
If sae be ye may be so
Not fitted otherwhere. —
15 Altho’ I say’t, he’s gleg enough, sharp
An’ bout a HOUSE that’s rude an’ rough
The boy might learn to SWEAR;
But then wi’ you, he’ll be sae taught, so
An’ get sic fair EXAMPLE straught, such, straight
20 I hae na ony fear. have not any
Ye’ll catechise him, every quirk,
An’ shore him weel wi’ HELL; threaten, well
An’ gar him follow to the kirk — make
— Ay when ye gang YOURSEL. always, go
25 If ye, then, maun be then must
Frae hame, this comin Friday, from home
Then please Sir, to lea’e Sir, leave
The orders wi’ your LADY.
My word of HONOR I hae gien, have given
30 In PAISLEY JOHN’S, that night at e’en,
To meet the WARLD’S WORM; world’s – a greedy person
To try to get the twa to gree, two to agree
An’ name the airles, an’ the fee, conditions/payment
In legal mode an’ form:
35 I ken, he weel a SNICK can draw, know, well, play a trick
When simple bodies let him;
An’ if a DEVIL be at a’,
In faith, he’s sure to get him. —
To phrase you, an’ praise you,
40 Ye ken, your LAUREAT scorns: know, poet
The PRAY’R still, you share still
Of grateful MINSTREL BURNS.
This personal, genuinely occasional poem was not published till Cromek’s edition of 1808. It involves Burns’s attempt to save a lad in his service at the ironically Frenchified ‘Mossgaville’ from becoming the servant of Master Tootie, known in Mauchline as ‘Laird McGaun’. One of McGaun’s specialities was scraping the horns of cattle to make them look younger. He wished instead to install the lad in apprenticeship to Hamilton. The second stanza is, of course, entirely ironic, given Hamilton’s habits, as to the degree of religious instruction and discipline the boy would receive. The last stanza cautions Hamilton that, due to the poet himself, the proposed apprenticeship of the boy to diabolic McGaun is far advanced. What is also interesting is the degree to which Burns’s immediate, consummate technical virtuosity allowed him to dash off an occasional piece in such elaborate metrical form
.
Nature’s Law
Humbly Inscribed to Gavin Hamilton, Esq.
First printed in the Aldine edition of 1830. ‘
Great Nature spoke, observant man obey’d’.
POPE
Let other heroes boast their scars,
The marks o’ sturt and strife; violence/trouble
And other poets sing of wars,
The plagues o’ human life;
5 Shame fa’ the fun; wi’ sword and gun fall
To slap mankind like lumber!
I sing his name, and nobler fame,
Wha multiplies our number. who
Great Nature spoke, with air benign,
10 ‘Go on, ye human race;
This lower world I you resign;
Be fruitful and increase.
The liquid fire of strong desire
I’ve poured it in each bosom;
15 Here, on this hand, does Mankind stand,
And there, is Beauty’s blossom.’
The Hero of these artless strains,
A lowly Bard was he,
Who sung his rhymes in Coila’s plains, Kyle’s
20 With meikle mirth an’ glee; much
Kind Nature’s care had given his share
Large, of the flaming current;
And, all devout, he never sought
To stem the sacred torrent.
25 He felt the powerful, high behest
Thrill, vital, thro’ and thro’;
And sought a correspondent breast,
To give obedience due:
Propitious Powers screen’d the young flow’rs,
30 From mildews of abortion;
And lo! the Bard — a great reward —
Has got a double portion!1
Auld cantie Coil may count the day, old cheerful Kyle
As annual it returns,
35 The third of Libra’s equal sway,
That gave another Burns,
With future rhymes, an’ other times,
To emulate his sire,
To sing auld Coil in nobler style, old
40 With more poetic fire.
Ye Powers of peace, and peaceful song,
Look down with gracious eyes;
And bless auld Coila, large and long, old
With multiplying joys;
45 Lang may she stand to prop the land, long
The flow’r of ancient nations;
And Burnses spring, her fame to sing,
To endless generations!
It is not to be wondered at that this poem did not surface till the Aldine edition of 1830. While not seditious, it certainly provides a somewhat frisky and risky celebration (especially ll. 29–32) of the birth of Jean Armour’s twins on 3rd September, 1786 (‘The third of Libra’s equal sway’). The poem begins with a general assertion, frequent in Burns, that procreation is everywhere and in every manner to be preferred to assassination. Like Blake, Burns was hypersensitive to the pervasive state and military violence of the late eighteenth century. Burns, indeed, could have been resurrected with Blake in the 1960s as an assertor against the bloody South-East Asian tide that it was better to make love than war.
1 A reference to the birth of the poet’s twins.
Extempore – To Gavin Hamilton
First printed by Alexander Smith, 1868.
To you, Sir, this summons I’ve sent,
Pray whip till the pownie is fraething; pony, frothing
But if you demand what I want,
I honestly answer you, naething. — nothing
5 Ne’er scorn a poor Poet like me,
For idly just living and breathing,
While people of every degree
Are busy employed about — naething. —
Poor Centum per centum may fast,
10 And grumble his hurdies their claithing; buttocks, clothing
He’ll find, when the balance is cast,
He’s gane to the Devil for — naething. —
The Courtier cringes and bows,
Ambition has likewise its plaything;
15 A Coronet beams in his brows,
And what is a Coronet? naething. —
Some quarrel the presbyter gown,
Some quarrel Episcopal graithing, vestments
But every good fellow will own
20 The quarrel is all about — naething. —
The lover may sparkle and glow,
Approaching his bonie bit gay thing; handsome
But marriage will soon let him know,
He’s gotten a buskit up naething. — dressed-up nothing
25 The Poet may jingle and rhyme,
In hopes of a laureate wreathing,
And when he has wasted his time,
He’s kindly rewarded with naething. —
The thundering bully may rage,
30 And swagger and swear like a heathen;
But collar him fast, I’ll engage
You’ll find that his courage is naething. —
Last night with a feminine Whig,
A Poet she couldna put faith in, could not
35 But soon we grew lovingly big,
I taught her, her terrors were naething. —
Her Whigship was wonderful pleased,
But charmingly tickled wi’ ae thing; one
Her fingers I lovingly squeezed,
40 And kissed her, and promised her — naething. —
The Priest anathemas may threat,
Predicament, Sir, that we’re baith in; both
But when honor’s reveillé is beat,
The holy artillery’s naething. — clerical punishments
45 And now I must mount on the wave,
My voyage perhaps there is death in;
But what of a watery grave!
The drowning a Poet is naething. —
And now as grim Death’s in my thought,
50 To you, Sir, I make this bequeathing:
My service as long as ye’ve ought,
And my friendship, by God, when ye’ve naething. —
This poem was first printed by Alexander Smith in 1868. It was questioned first but later accepted when discovered in the Glenriddel Manuscript collection. Its retarded appearance is due to the fact that it is a disturbed and disturbing poem. The short jarring lines and the repetitive ‘naething’ at the end of the stanza gives the poem a Byronic or, indeed, modern feeling of nihilistic anxiety. It is not for nothing that John Berryman knew and admired Burns to the degree that the Scottish poet features in his extraordinary Dream Songs. The ascending catalogue of emptiness, including that of poetry itself, evolves to include the possibility of the poet’s own death by drowning on the proposed Atlantic passage to Jamaica. Another reason for its non-publication is, of course, the allusion in ll. 33–40 of Jean Armour’s Whig opposition’s failure to withstand the Bard’s (phallic) divine right. Ll. 41–0 again testify to his and Hamilton’s mutual loathing of clerical intrusion. It is a bitter poem, quite without the consolations of the Ayrshire epistolary poetry contemporary with it.
Lines Written on a Bank-Note
First printed in The Morning Chronicle, 27th May, 1814.
WAE worth thy pow’r, thou cursed leaf!
Fell source of a’ my woe and grief!
For lake o’ thee I’ve lost my lass; lack
For lake o’ thee I scrimp my glass;
5 I see the children of Affliction
Unaided, thro’ thy curs’d restriction;
I’ve seen th’ Oppressor’s cruel smile
Amid his hapless victims’ spoil;
And for thy potence vainly wish’d
10 To crush the Villain in the dust:
For lake o’ thee I leave this much-lov’d shore,
Never, perhaps to greet old Scotland more!
R. B. Kyle.
These lines were written by Burns on the back of a Bank of Scotland note for one guinea. The note is dated for 1780. They express the poet’s despair at ever being able through farm labou
r to make ends meet. It is evident in the final couplet that composition occurred during 1786 when the poet felt he might be forced to leave Scotland. The modern folk band The McCluskey Brothers have put music to and recorded these biting, indignant lines.
Lines Addressed to Mr John Ranken
First published by Thomas Stewart, 1801.
Ae day, as Death, that grusome carl, one, fellow
Was driving to the tither warl’ other world
A mixtie-maxtie motley squad, hotch-potch
And mony a guilt-bespotted lad; many
5 Black gowns of each denomination, clerical robes
And thieves of every rank and station,
From him that wears the star and garter Knights
To him that wintles in a halter: dangles, noose/rope
Asham’d himself to see the wretches,
10 He mutters, glow’ring at the bitches,
‘By God I’ll not be seen behint them, behind
Nor ‘mang the sp’ritual core present them,
Without, at least, ae honest man, one
To grace this damn’d infernal clan.’
15 By Adamhill a glance he threw,
‘Lord God!’ quoth he, ‘I have it now,
There’s just the man I want, in faith,’
And quickly stoppit Ranken’s breath. stopped
Kinsley allows this poem a single sentence noting that it was probably written in 1785. Extensively derivative of Kinsley, MacKay inevitably provides no further help. While not of the order of Death and Dr Hornbook, the poem again presents Death in a quandary due, on this occasion, to the characteristically Burnsian image of criminality pertaining to all ranks of society. To save his self-respect, Death is forced to claim one honest man, John Rankine.