Book/Printed Material Letter, 1788, June 23, Mauchline to Robert Ainslie, Edinburgh.
About this Item
Title
- Letter, 1788, June 23, Mauchline to Robert Ainslie, Edinburgh.
Summary
- Robert Burns (1759-96) is best known for his poems and songs that reflect Scotland's cultural heritage. He was born in Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland, the first of seven children belonging to William Burnes, a tenant farmer, and his wife Agnes Broun. Burns had little formal education, but he read English literature and absorbed the traditional, largely oral Scots-language folk songs and tales of his rural environment. He began to compose songs in 1774, and published his first book, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, in 1786. The work was a critical success, and its poems in both Scots and English, on a range of topics, established Burns's broad appeal. While building his literary reputation, Burns worked as a farmer, and in 1788 he was appointed an excise officer in Ellisland. He spent the final 12 years of his life collecting and editing traditional Scottish folk songs for collections including The Scots Musical Museum and A Select Collection of Original Scotish [sic] Airs for the Voice. Burns contributed hundreds of Scottish songs to these anthologies, sometimes rewriting traditional lyrics and setting them to new or revised music. Burns first met Robert Ainslie, to whom this letter is addressed to, in early 1787. The poet was in Edinburgh seeing a new edition of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect through the press, and Ainslie subscribed to two copies of the work. Ainslie and Burns became intimate friends, and the two became traveling companions of a border tour in May 1787. Burns describes this letter as "only a business scrap," but his request illustrates the relationship between Burns, Ainslie, Dr. Blacklock, Lord Glencairn, and John Miers. Burns suggests that Ainslie sit for a profile by painter John Miers, in order to hang "Lord Glencairn, the Dr. and you, in trio, over my new chimney-piece that is to be." The "chimney-piece" is a reference to Burns establishing his home with Jean Armour, whom he married in 1788.
Names
- Burns, Robert, 1759-1796 Author.
Created / Published
- [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1788-06-23.
Headings
- - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland--Scotland
- - 1788
- - Ainslie, Robert, 1766-1838
- - Blacklock, Thomas, 1721-1791
- - Burns, Robert, 1759-1796
- - Correspondence
- - Letters
- - Miers, John
Notes
- - Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
- - Original resource extent: 1 item (2 leaves) ; 18.2 x 22.7 centimeters.
- - Original resource at: University of South Carolina.
- - Content in English.
- - Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.
Medium
- 1 online resource.
Source Collection
- Robert Burns Collection
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2021667623
Online Format
- compressed data
- image