1788, denounced the essay as heretical, and its author as one who received the privileges of the church with one hand, and stabbed her with the other. M'Gill published a defence; but on 15th April, 1789, a complaint of his non-orthodoxy was lodged with the Synod. The case came before the General Assembly in May following; and by a deliverance of that Court, a remit was ordered to be made to a committee of fifteen ministers and ten elders to draw up an abstract of objectionable passages from Dr M'Gill's publication, and to lay the same before the presbytery within two months. William Fisher-the "Holy Willie" whom the poet had already so severely scourged-was one of the elders chosen, and the ministers satirized in this poem (commencing at stanza sixth) were all against the accused. On 15th July, 1789, the committee was formed, and began its work; and at this stage the aid of Burns's pen was lent in favour of M'Gill. We first hear of this satire in the poet's letter to Mr John Logan of Knockshinnoch, of date 7th August, 1789. He had picked up acquaintance with that gentleman in course of his frequent journeys between Ellisland and Mauchline, during the previous twelve months. He thus proceeds :-"I dare not write you a long letter, as I am going to intrude on your time with a long ballad. I have, as you will shortly see, finished ‘The Kirk's Alarm;' but, now that it is done, and that I have laughed once or twice at the conceits in some of the stanzas, I am determined not to let it get into the public; so I send you this copy, the first that I have sent to Ayrshire, except some few of the stanzas which I wrote off in embryo for Gavin Hamilton, under the express provision and request that you will only read it to a few of us, and do not on any account give, or permit to be taken, any copy of the ballad. If I could be of any service to Dr M'Gill, I would do it, though it should be at a much greater expense than irritating a few bigoted priests; but I am afraid that serving him in his present embarras is a task too hard for me. I have enemies enow, God knows, though I do not wantonly add to the number. Still, as I think there is some merit in two or three of the thoughts, I send it to you as a small, but sincere testimony how much, and with what respectful esteem I am," &c. Mr Logan's residence was at Laight; but the custom then was to name small lairds and farmers, after the title of their crofts and lease-holdings, and Logan was styled "of Knockshinnoch," and sometimes "laird of Afton." Burns would seem to have gathered quite a little troop of friends in the vale of Afton, near New Cumnock. From some inspiration connected with this district must have sprung the bard's exquisite pastoral song, "Afton Water," which we conjecture to have been composed in 1791. Sanquhar also was a favourite resting-place of the poet in his journeys between Ellisland and Ayrshire; and a constant intercourse was kept up between "Crichton Peel" and the vale of Afton. A curious memorandum in Burns's handwriting addressed to Provost Edward Whigham of Sanquhar has recently turned up, which evinces that fact. It is as follows: "Mem.-To get from John French his sets of the following old Scots airs-(1) The auld yowe jumpt o'er the tether. (2) Nine nights awa, welcome hame my dearie. (3) A' the nights o' the year, the chapman drinks nae water. If Mr Whigham will, either of himself, or through the medium of that hearty veteran of original wit, and social iniquity-Clackleith-procure these airs, it will be extremely obliging to-R. B." One of the supplementary "presentation stanzas" in the text refers to a neighbouring laird, Mr Johnston of Clackleith, who was to have the privilege of a copy of this satire. The words in the supplementary stanza, about giving Clackleith a copy of this poem "On the same sicker score as I mentioned before," evidently refers to the "express provision and request" embodied in the letter above quoted. The "factor John" of the other "presentation stanza" was, in all likelihood, John Kennedy, factor to the last Earl of Dumfries, who is noticed at p. 262, vol. I., and to whom the "Mountain Daisy" was enclosed in April, 1786. It has also been suggested that John Macmurdo, Chamberlain of the Duke of Queensberry, at Drumlanrig, may be the person to whom that copy was sent. Burns had been introduced to that gentleman by his neighbour of Friars Carse, and was now on visiting terms at Drumlanrig. The same expression is made use of here, which he adopted three years after this date, in the song "O saw ye bonie Lesley"-" Nature made her what she is, and never made anither." George Thomson, who could not apprehend the poetic idea of perfection contained in that expression, took upon him to alter the line to "and ne'er made sic anither." Burns enclosed a copy of "The Kirk's Alarm" to Mr Graham of Fintry some months after it was composed, and, in the letter which accompanied it, says, "I think you must have heard of Dr M'Gill, one of the clergymen of Ayr, and his heretical book. God help him, poor man! Though he is one of the worthiest, as well as one of the ablest, of the whole priesthood of the Kirk of Scotland, in every sense of that ambiguous term, yet the poor Doctor and his numerous family are in imminent danger of being thrown out to the mercy of the winter winds." The issue of this prosecution was not very satisfactory to Burns, and other lovers of free enquiry; for M'Gill, after enduring the browbeating of his censors for two years, was harassed into the humbling necessity of apologizing to the offended majority in the church courts, and of declaring his adherence to the Kirk's Confession of Faith in all points. The poet's notes to his own text are chiefly taken from the Glenriddell MS. In farther explanation of verse third-"Town of Ayr,” &c., it is necessary to state that when Dr M'Gill's case first came before the Synod, the Magistrates of that town published an advertisement in the newspapers, bearing a warm testimony to the excellence of the defender's character, and their appreciation of his services as a pastor. The manuscripts of this satire are very numerous, and very dissimilar in the arrangement of the stanzas. The copies having the fullest number of verses, contain eighteen, exclusive of a supplementary or presentation stanza. A very fine holograph copy, to which we are much beholden, is the one preserved in the Poet's Monument at Edinburgh. It has seventeen verses, and the supplementary one, addressed to "Factor John." The stanza omitted is the one dedicated to "Holy Will;" and that concerning "Muirland Jock" differs very much from, but is no improvement on, the one in our text. Allan Cunningham gives a variation of this verse which we suspect is not genuine :-" Muirland George, whom the L-d made a scourge." This does not tally with the author's note which marks "John Shepherd, of Muirkirk" as the person hit at. The Glenriddell version is headed, "A ballad on the heresy of Dr M'Gill, Ayr," and contains fifteen stanzas, those omitted being "Holy Will," "Singet Sawnie," and "Town of Ayr;" and the verse on "Davie Bluster" is a new formation, beginning " Davie Rant.” 66 There are two holograph copies in the British Museum, from one of which we take our heading, while the name of the tune to which the ballad is to be sung is from the Edinburgh MS. There are eleven stanzas in one of the Museum copies, and only nine in the other. The latter is the one which was transcribed for Mr Graham of Fintry, where, instead of "Orthodox," we have "Brother Scots" for the opening words. The other verses are (2) Dr Mac, (3) Town of Ayr, (4) D'rymple mild, (5) Calvin's sons, (6) Rumble John, (7) Daddie Auld, (8) Singet Sawnie, (9) Poet Willie. The verses wanting in the other copy of eleven "Holy Will," "Poet Burns," "Muirland Jock," ""Cessnockside," "" Barr Steenie," " Andro Gowk," and "Davie Bluster." In that copy, the stanza on "Jamie Goose" is changed to "Billy Goose.” The variations indicated in the reference figures are the following: stanzas are 1 Brother Scots. 5 storehouses o' lead. 66 4 wicked writers. 7 evils await. 2 there's a. 3 stretch. 12 Irvine side. 8 the foul thief is just at your gate. 13 will. 10 Billy Goose. gives a stock 15 11 it's a sign they're. 14 they daur grant ye nae mair. Wad set up a Tinkler in brass. 18 E'en tho' she were tipsy. The remodelled 16 to prove the poor Doctor an Ass. 17 Douglas Heron and Co. Had e'en laid you fu' low, Yet if, &c. verse in the Glenriddell MS. reads thus : Davie Rant, Davie Rant, in a face like a saunt, And a heart that would poison a hog, Raise an impudent roar, like a breaker lee-shore, SONNET ON RECEIVING A FAVOUR. 10 AUG., 1789. Addressed to ROBERT GRAHAM, Esq. of Fintry. (CURRIE, 1800.) I CALL no Goddess to inspire my strains, I lay my hand upon my swelling breast, And grateful would, but cannot speak the rest. [At page 164, the reader has seen the poet's epistle, soliciting the favour which, now, after a year's waiting, had been granted. That favour consisted in a formal appointment to exercise the duties of an exciseman in the rural district where the poet's farm was situated. However, he does not appear to have entered upon these avocations till the month of November following. The earliest reference to this in his correspondence occurs on the first of that month, when he merely informs Ainslie of the appointment. Writing to Mr Graham on 9th December, he says, "I have found the Excise business go on a great deal smoother with me than I expected, owing a good deal to the generous friendship of Mr Mitchell, my collector, and the kind assistance of Mr Findlater, my supervisor. I dare to be honest, and I fear no labour. Nor do I find my hurried life greatly inimical to my correspondence with the Muses. I take the liberty to enclose you a few bagatelles, all of them the productions of my leisure thoughts in my Excise rides." The original MS. of the text, with postmark of date, is in the possession of James T. Gibson-Craig, Esq., Edinburgh, which contains the concluding couplet, omitted by Currie, and which does not usually form a part of the text of this poem.] EXTEMPORANEOUS EFFUSION ON BEING APPOINTED TO AN EXCISE DIVISION. (CROMEK, 1808.) SEARCHING auld wives' barrels, Ochon, the day! That clarty barm should stain my laurels; These movin' things ca'd wives an' weans, [Eight days after the preceding sonnet to Mr Graham was composed, the poet's wife brought him a son who was named Francis Wallace, in compliment to the family name of his patron, Mrs Dunlop. In his epistle to Dr Blacklock in the following October, he refers to this subject in similar terms to those in the text : "I'm turn'd a gauger-Peace be here ! Parnassian queans, I fear, I fear, Ye'd now disdain me, And then my fifty pounds a year Will little gain me. To his friend Ainslie he says, on 1st November:-"Without ever having been an expectant, as they call their journeymen excisemen, I was directly planted down to all intents and purposes an officer of Excise, there to flourish and bring forth fruits-worthy of repentance. I know how the word "exciseman," or still more opprobrious "gauger" will sound in your ears. I too have seen the day when my auditory nerves would have felt very delicately on this subject; but a wife and children are things that have a wonderful power in blunting these kind of sensations. Fifty pounds a year for life, and a provision for widows and orphans, you will allow, is no bad settlement for a poet." But the best sentiment he uttered on the subject was to the mother of his patron Glencairn, "I would much rather have it said that my profession borrowed credit from me, than that I borrowed credit from my profession."] |