DOCSLIB.ORG

THE EMIGRATION of ADAM SMITH's PLOUGHMAN: a Case Study of the Intellectual Culture of Scots Emigrants to Lower Canada 1760-1850

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE EMIGRATION of ADAM SMITH's PLOUGHMAN: a Case Study of the Intellectual Culture of Scots Emigrants to Lower Canada 1760-1850 McGILL UNIVERSITY THE EMIGRATION OF ADAM SMITH'S PLOUGHMAN: A Case Study of the Intellectual Culture of Scots Emigrants to Lower Canada 1760-1850 Sarah Katherine Gibson A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Faculty of McGill University in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History McGILL UNIVERSITY Montreal, Quebec August 2007 © Sarah Katherine Gibson, 2007 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-50821-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-50821-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract THE EMIGRATION OF ADAM SMITH'S PLOUGHMAN: A Case Study of the Intellectual Culture of Scots Emigrants to Lower Canada 1760-1850 My dissertation examines the knowledge culture of ordinary Scots in late-18th Scotland and early-19th century Canada from a microhistorical perspective. In 1803 a branch of the Brodie family from Lochwinnoch parish, Renfrewshire in western Scotland emigrated to Montreal in Lower Canada. In so doing they created a direct link between the knowledge cultures of late-18th century Scotland in which they had grown up and that of colonial Montreal. The Brodies' intellectual and cultural formation is explored through the prism, first, of the family's consumption and production of knowledge in Scotland and second, their reproduction and embodiment of that Scottish knowledge in Canada. The dissertation comprises four linked studies addressing different facets of widely-held claims of Scotland's distinctively high rates of literacy at the turn of the 19th century and of the disproportionate contributions of ordinary Scots to British colonies such as Canada. Despite the virtual absence of studies addressing the issue from the perspective of the ordinary Scot, the idea of a widely and democratically educated Scottish population—captured in the expression the "democratic intellect"—has been an important facet of Scottish identity at home and abroad for over two hundred years. The dissertation concludes that the idea of Scotland's "democratic intellect" does indeed have historical reality, but not in the way that many historians have suggested. A close reading of the intellectual and cultural material the Brodies consumed and produced reveals the inapplicability of the concept of a "democratic intellect" as an expression conveying the idea of the popular Scottish-mind as a product of elite institutions. In Scotland the Brodies exercised agency and independence in acquiring knowledge that surpassed basic literacy skills at the parish school. They wove together facets from a folk culture with select ideas from the Scottish Enlightenment to produce distinctive intellectual and cultural values based upon the concept of the primitive or the folk. Contrary to the 18th century elite invention of the folk as a vessel bearing the essential and anti-modern spirit of the nation, the Brodie helped advance the folk as a forward- looking group identity that included mental cultivation and independence of mind as core values. 11 Resume ^EMIGRATION DU LABOUREUR D'ADAM SMITH: Etude de cas de la culture intellectuelle des emigrants ecossais au Bas-Canada, 1760-1850 Ma these examine, d'un point de vue microhistorique, la culture du savoir des Ecossais ordinaires en Ecosse a la fin du XVIIf siecle et au Canada au debut du XIXe. En 1803, une branche de la famille Brodie de la paroisse de Lochwinnoch (Renfrewshire), dans l'ouest de l'Ecosse, a emigre a Montreal au Bas-Canada. Ce faisant, les membres de la famille ont cree un lien direct entre la culture du savoir de la fin du XVIII6 siecle en Ecosse, ou ils avaient grandi, et celle du Montreal colonial. La formation intellectuelle et culturelle des Brodie est exploree a travers le prisme, tout d'abord, de la consommation et de la production de savoir par la famille en Ecosse et en deuxieme lieu, de leur reproduction et incarnation de ce savoir ecossais au Canada. La these comprend quatre etudes interreliees portant sur differents aspects d'affirmations souvent entendues touchant les taux d'alphabetisation particulierement eleves de l'Ecosse au tournant du XDCe siecle et les contributions disproportionnees d'Ecossais ordinaires aux colonies britanniques comme le Canada. Malgre l'absence presque totale d'etudes abordant cette question du point de vue de l'Ecossais ordinaire, depuis plus de deux cents ans l'idee d'une population largement et democratiquement instruite - idee traduite par 1'expression «intellect democratique » - constitue un element important de l'identite ecossaise, tant en Ecosse qu'a l'etranger. La these conclut que l'idee de « 1'intellect democratique » en Ecosse correspond bien a une realite historique, mais qui n'est pas celle evoquee par de nombreux historiens. Un examen attentif des materiaux intellectuels et culturels consommes et produits par les Brodie montre que la notion de «l'intellect democratique » n'est pas pertinente pour transmettre l'idee d'une pensee populaire ecossaise comme produit des institutions d'elite. En Ecosse, les Brodie ont manifeste leur independance et leur capacite d'agir en acquerant des connaissances qui allaient au-dela de l'alphabetisation de base transmise in par l'ecole paroissiale. Hs ont combine des elements de la culture populaire (folk culture) et certaines idees issues des Lumieres en Ecosse pour creer des valeurs intellectuelles et culturelles distinctes basees sur les notions du primitif ou du populaire. A l'inverse de la notion inventee par 1'elite au XVIDf siecle du populaire comme vehicule de 1'esprit essentiel et antimoderne de la nation, les Brodie ont contribue a promouvoir l'idee du populaire comme identite collective progressiste basee sur les valeurs essentielles de la culture mentale et de l'independance d'esprit. IV Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE 26 LOCHWINNOCH PARISH IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT. 30 THE LANDSCAPE OF LOCHWINNOCH PARISH 37 CIRCUMVENTING THE WASHED-OUT PATH TO LOCHWINNOCH SCHOOL 43 AN EVANGELICAL MINISTER WORTH THE RIGHT-OF-WAY THROUGH CASTLESEMPLE WOODS 51 DRILL MARCH TO LIBERTY OR FLIGHT TO RADICALISM: THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN PRACTICE 59 WOND'RING SHEPHERDS 65 CHAPTER TWO 73 BRODIEASFOLK 81 'THE FARMER SITUATION is TO ADAPT TO CONTEMPLATION' 90 'THE HILLS AND THE VALLEYS, AND THE CLODS OF THE EARTH' 110 CHAPTER THREE 114 MR HUGH BRODIE, FARMER, COTEAUST. PIERRE, MONTREAL 121 THE SCOTS IN MONTREAL 134 OF SEEDS AND Cows AND WILKES' SCOTCH PLOUGH 140 THE PRACTICAL FARMER 151 CHAPTER FOUR 161 THE CAIRN OF LOCHWINNOCH AND THE LOCHWINNOCH FOLK 166 THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF LETTERS 170 KEEPING THE NEIGHBOUR'S INTEREST AT HEART 174 THE APOTHEOSIS OF FARMER BRODIE 184 CONCLUSION 198 BIBLIOGRAPHY 208 v List of Figures Figure 1 Counties of Scotland 28 Figure 2 John Ainslie 's Map of the County of Renfrew, London: s.n., 1800 29 Figure 3 Detail ofAinslie's 1800 Map of Renfrewshire showing the regular streets of Lochwinnoch Village 40 Figure 4 Detail of Ainslie's 1800 Map of Renfrewshire showing the Relationship between Newtown ofBelltrees (far right, two thirds from the top) and the Town of Lochwinnoch (upper left hand corner) 44 Figure 5 Detail of Ainslie's 1800 Map of Renfrewshire showing Langcraft farm 66 Figure 6 District of Montreal, showing the Island of Montreal and Chambly on the Richelieu River 123 Figure 7 Spade and Boyne, detail from Ainslie's 1800 Map 150 Figure 8 Image of Wilkie's Plough 150 VI Acknowledgements I hereby acknowledge debts I owe colleagues, family and friends. First and foremost I must acknowledge my intellectual debts to my supervisor, Brian Young who is a good historian because he is a good gardener and understands about process, patience and deep attention. Thanks also to Elsbeth Heaman, Catherine Desbarats, Pierre Boulle, Elizabeth Elbourne, Brian Lewis, Susanne Morton, Nancy Partner, Jarrett Rudy, Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert and the History and Philosophy of Science seminar of James Delbourgo and Nicholas Dew. Marjory Harper and Elizabeth Jane Errington provided supportive interest, while Fredrik Albritton Jonsson provided encouragement and much insight into 18 century Scotland. In particular I must thank Nigel Willis, Gillian Leitch and Robert Sweeny for sharing research. Finally, to my parents John and Katherine Gibson, I owe a great debt of gratitude, as do I to my aunt, Ellen Henderson.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • ROBERT BURNS and PASTORAL This Page Intentionally Left Blank Robert Burns and Pastoral
    ROBERT BURNS AND PASTORAL This page intentionally left blank Robert Burns and Pastoral Poetry and Improvement in Late Eighteenth-Century Scotland NIGEL LEASK 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX26DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York # Nigel Leask 2010 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2010 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, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by MPG Books Group, Bodmin and King’s Lynn ISBN 978–0–19–957261–8 13579108642 In Memory of Joseph Macleod (1903–84), poet and broadcaster This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements This book has been of long gestation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gazetteer for Scotland Guidebook Series
    The Gazetteer for Scotland Guidebook Series: Stirling Produced from Information Contained Within The Gazetteer for Scotland. Tourist Guide of Stirling Index of Pages Introduction to the settlement of Stirling p.3 Features of interest in Stirling and the surrounding areas p.5 Tourist attractions in Stirling and the surrounding areas p.9 Towns near Stirling p.15 Famous people related to Stirling p.18 Further readings p.26 This tourist guide is produced from The Gazetteer for Scotland http://www.scottish-places.info It contains information centred on the settlement of Stirling, including tourist attractions, features of interest, historical events and famous people associated with the settlement. Reproduction of this content is strictly prohibited without the consent of the authors ©The Editors of The Gazetteer for Scotland, 2011. Maps contain Ordnance Survey data provided by EDINA ©Crown Copyright and Database Right, 2011. Introduction to the city of Stirling 3 Scotland's sixth city which is the largest settlement and the administrative centre of Stirling Council Area, Stirling lies between the River Forth and the prominent 122m Settlement Information (400 feet) high crag on top of which sits Stirling Castle. Situated midway between the east and west coasts of Scotland at the lowest crossing point on the River Forth, Settlement Type: city it was for long a place of great strategic significance. To hold Stirling was to hold Scotland. Population: 32673 (2001) Tourist Rating: In 843 Kenneth Macalpine defeated the Picts near Cambuskenneth; in 1297 William Wallace defeated the National Grid: NS 795 936 English at Stirling Bridge and in June 1314 Robert the Bruce routed the English army of Edward II at Stirling Latitude: 56.12°N Bannockburn.
    [Show full text]
  • ROBERT BURNS and FRIENDS Essays by W. Ormiston Roy Fellows Presented to G
    University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Robert Burns and Friends Robert Burns Collections 1-1-2012 ROBERT BURNS AND FRIENDS essays by W. Ormiston Roy Fellows presented to G. Ross Roy Patrick G. Scott University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected] Kenneth Simpson See next page for additional authors Publication Info 2012, pages 1-192. © The onC tributors, 2012 All rights reserved Printed and distributed by CreateSpace https://www.createspace.com/900002089 Editorial contact address: Patrick Scott, c/o Irvin Department of Rare Books & Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries, 1322 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208, U.S.A. ISBN 978-1-4392-7097-4 Scott, P., Simpson, K., eds. (2012). Robert Burns & Friends essays by W. Ormiston Roy Fellows presented to G. Ross Roy. P. Scott & K. Simpson (Eds.). Columbia, SC: Scottish Literature Series, 2012. This Book - Full Text is brought to you by the Robert Burns Collections at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Robert Burns and Friends by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Author(s) Patrick G. Scott, Kenneth Simpson, Carol Mcguirk, Corey E. Andrews, R. D. S. Jack, Gerard Carruthers, Kirsteen McCue, Fred Freeman, Valentina Bold, David Robb, Douglas S. Mack, Edward J. Cowan, Marco Fazzini, Thomas Keith, and Justin Mellette This book - full text is available at Scholar Commons: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/burns_friends/1 ROBERT BURNS AND FRIENDS essays by W. Ormiston Roy Fellows presented to G. Ross Roy G. Ross Roy as Doctor of Letters, honoris causa June 17, 2009 “The rank is but the guinea’s stamp, The Man’s the gowd for a’ that._” ROBERT BURNS AND FRIENDS essays by W.
    [Show full text]
  • The Paisley Directory and General Advertiser
    ^« W C£ W ^ '^ S ^ w I- CO W PL, U) o O oCO LO 60 Uj EH o CO r-Z '2 si t^ o « ^ c Hi CO IS o ~: '^ N ^ ?< O H - o V a (X S O 3 Q ^^ o £<( ^•4-4 o CO CO CO K S?:^^ .^•^ O PI t^ CO n o f-» .s a 0) « N t>1 a 00 t> <o 3 r£3 ^ r£5 <^ <D « pi »o ^ 0) o e^ ^ (0 o o ^ i> »o ra o ^ O N <D »0 r-l (0 N CJ « N « ^ o J ^ fl s ^ a> 2 o ,c5 (^ ;^ u f-t eS CM o a ® S2S PI 0) =* ^ .2i o OQ -^ P> Pi is _ .U3 S W CQ PI O a ^ £ — ^ rJ=5 ft r P! ^ -^^ tT M O (0 p t^ t^ 00 00 00 cw ;; 00 00 00 00 A .3 pH IH l-l IH H <D pi ^'^"^'^^^^^'^'^^^^'^''^^^''^''^''^'^'^'^^^^ISS'^'l^ P7. NORTH BRITISH AND MERCANTILE INSURANCE COMPANY. Incorporated, lay Hoya,l Cliax-ter and Acts of 3r*arliament. Hstablished 1809. Glasgow Branch Office -102 ST. YOCENT STEEET. GLASGOW BOARD OF DIRECTORS. Chairman—Sm CHARLES TENNANT, Bart. ROBERT GOURLAY, Esq., Bank of Scotland. JAMES GRAHAM, Esq., Writer. JOHN M. HILL, Esq., Writer. ABRAM LYLE, Esq., Greenock. JAMES L. MITCHELL, Esq., Merchant. Local Manager—G. W. Snodgrass. Local Secretary—Dkvit> L. Laidlaw. LIFE INSURANCE. NEW AND IMPORTANT FEATURES. Claims paid on proof of death and title. Premiums adjusted to each half-year of age. Minimum Surrender Values fixed, and held at Credit of Insured for five years.
    [Show full text]
  • The Coulter Collection of Burns Manuscripts
    Studies in Scottish Literature Volume 24 | Issue 1 Article 7 1989 The oultC er Collection of Burns Manuscripts lain G. Brown Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Brown, lain G. (1989) "The oultC er Collection of Burns Manuscripts," Studies in Scottish Literature: Vol. 24: Iss. 1. Available at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol24/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you by the Scottish Literature Collections at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in Scottish Literature by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. lain G. Brown The Coulter Collection of Burns Manuscripts In the Department of Manuscripts of the National Library of Scotland we are fairly used to members of the public bringing in for an opinion documents which they believe to be original manuscripts of Robert Burns. Some of these tum out to be common and well-known facsimiles, often framed behind dirty glass_"Robert Bruce's March to Bannockburn" is an outstanding example. Many are the owners who go away clutching their "Scots wha hae... " from great-granny's living-room wall, disappointed to be told that what they have is only a reproduction. Then there are the cele­ brated Alexander Howland ('Antique') Smith forgeries. These are more confusing as they are, unlike a facsimile, intended to deceive. They have to be examined patiently for tell-tale details such as the use of a steel pen, or the presence of letter-forms a little too laboured; or until one is sure that the strange, indefinable feeling of the thing being just wrong is indeed the proper judgement.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert Burns, Pre-Confederation Poets, and Transatlantic Circulation
    The “Unfetter’d” Muse: Robert Burns, Pre-Confederation Poets, and Transatlantic Circulation Leith Davis n May 1859, artist and writer James Ballantine published his Chronicle of the Hundredth Birthday of Robert Burns, collecting into one massive volume accounts of 872 celebrations “honouring the Imemory of the Ploughman Bard” that had been held on 25 January that year (v). As Ballantine’s book makes clear, within the British North American colonies, from Pictou, Nova Scotia, to Peterborough, Canada West, a variety of lavish events marked the centenary of the birth of Burns. In Galt, Canada West (named after another Scottish writer, John Galt), for example, over one thousand inhabitants gathered at the Town Hall to enjoy “recitations from the Poet’s works; some of his sweetest, most patriotic, and manly songs; addresses from gentlemen of well-known ability; music from the Galt band; singing by the Galt Philharmonic Society; and exquisite music from the piano” (514). In Montreal, Canada East, the City Concert Hall was “beautifully and appropriately decorated for the occasion with illustrations of and quota- tions from the works of Burns, under the direction and auspices of the Montreal Burns Club” (530). In Toronto, Canada West, there were two banquets, one at the Rossin Hotel and one at the nearby St. Lawrence Hall, each with elaborate toasts and musical performances. Even small towns joined in the centenary celebrations. In Downie, Canada West, one Mr. James Simpson “invited a number of his friends and neighbours to his house, on the 25th, to do honour to the memory of the poet” (513).
    [Show full text]
  • Download PDF Catalogue
    THE ROMANTICS Part I: A-C Jarndyce THE ROMANTICS Part I: A-C Jarndyce Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers 46, Great Russell Street Telephone: 020 7631 4220 (opp. British Museum) Fax: 020 7631 1882 Bloomsbury, Email: [email protected] London www.jarndyce.co.uk WC1B 3PA VAT.No.: GB 524 0890 57 CATALOGUE CCXLVI AUTUMN 2020 THE ROMANTICS: PART I. A-C Byron, Clare, Coleridge, &c. Catalogue: Joshua Clayton & Jessica Starr Production: Carol Murphy & Ed Nassau Lake. All items are London-published and in at least good condition, unless otherwise stated. Prices are nett. Items marked with a dagger (†) incur VAT (20%) to customers within the EU. A charge for postage and insurance will be added to the invoice total. We accept payment by credit card or bank transfer. Images of all items are available on the Current Catalogues page at www.jarndyce.co.uk JARNDYCE CATALOGUES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE include: The Dickens Catalogue; XIX Century Fiction, Part I A-K; Turn of the Century; Women Writers Parts I-IV; Plays, 1623-1980; Pantomime, Extravaganzas & Burlesques; Evolution; Summer Miscellany. Books & Pamphlets 1473-1845 (price £10.00 each) JARNDYCE CATALOGUES IN PREPARATION include: XIX Century Literature Part II: H-Z; The Museum; English Language, including dictionaries; The Romantics: Part II. D-R. PLEASE REMEMBER: If you have books to sell, please get in touch with Brian Lake at Jarndyce. Valuations for insurance or probate can be undertaken anywhere, by arrangement. A SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE is available for Jarndyce Catalogues for those who do not regularly purchase. Please send £30.00 (£60.00 overseas) for four issues, specifying the catalogues you would like to receive.
    [Show full text]
  • July 18 Hello, Welcome to Our New What’S on Guide
    january – july 18 Hello, welcome to our new What’s On Guide Our journey continues… while Paisley ultimately didn’t win the accolade of UK City of Culture 2021, we did win new friends and self belief. Our programme sees us welcome an exciting creative mix of singers, bands, theatre makers, dance artists and comedians from the local area and further afield. National icon The Monarch of the Glen the fourth annual John Byrne Drawing by Sir Edwin Landseer will be on Competition for Scottish schools. display at Paisley Museum as part of a We welcome the success story of four-stop tour supported by National the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe, (More) Galleries Scotland. Ballet West will Moira Monologues, and many of the return to Paisley Town Hall with their best productions in contemporary performance of Giselle ou les Wills. touring theatre. The Scottish Alternative Music Awards We’re inspired by the fantastic creative will stage a takeover of Paisley Arts people we welcome to our venues, Centre. We continue to develop we hope you enjoy the show. opportunities for children and young Morag Macpherson people with the Inspired exhibition, Head of Cultural Services the Puppet Animation Festival, and Renfrewshire Leisure of course we are very proud to host drama music dance film comedy exhibitions family special events guest events regular events Sign up to Our Booking Fees our monthly We charge a £1 transaction fee for all bookings made online. This includes e–newsletter! postage if you opt to have your tickets Don’t miss out on any upcoming posted out to you.
    [Show full text]
  • Poems About Robert Burns to 1859 G
    University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Selected Essays on Robert Burns by G. Ross Roy Robert Burns Collections 3-1-2018 "The airm they talk, I'm kend the better": Poems about Robert Burns to 1859 G. Ross Roy University of South Carolina - Columbia Publication Info 2018, pages 126-143. (c) G. Ross Roy, 1997; Estate of G. Ross Roy and Studies in Scottish Literature, 2018. First published in Love and Liberty: Robert Burns, A Bicentenary Celebration, ed. Kenneth Simpson (East Linton: Tuckwell, 1997), 53-68. This Chapter is brought to you by the Robert Burns Collections at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Selected Essays on Robert Burns by G. Ross Roy by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “THE MAIR THEY TALK, I’M KEND THE BETTER”: POEMS ABOUT ROBERT BURNS TO 1859 (1997) Any student of Robert Burns will know that the writing about the poet seems to be without end: scholarly books and articles, entries in magazines, guidebooks to the poet’s haunts, newspaper accounts, novels, plays, radio and television scripts, movies—and of course poems. They all bear witness to the enduring fame of the Bard. I have chosen to discuss some of the poems which have been written to honor him. Not all of them are good, few are memorable, but they all bear witness to the fact that Burns is a poet who has attracted other poets’ attention. Even before his death there were poems about Burns; in a fashion the rhyming epistles which he received from Thomas Blacklock, Janet Little, David Sillar and others are poems about him.
    [Show full text]
  • A Burns Manuscript Rediscovered in Paisley
    'Sir, Yours this moment I unseal': A Burns Manuscript Rediscovered in Paisley Craig Lamont, David Weir Scottish Literary Review, Volume 9, Number 2, Autumn/Winter 2017, pp. 85-95 (Article) Published by Association for Scottish Literary Studies For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/678042 Access provided by University of Glasgow Library (20 Aug 2018 11:02 GMT) CRAIG LAMONT AND DAVID WEIR ‘Sir, Yours this moment I unseal’: A Burns Manuscript Rediscovered in Paisley Abstract Following the discovery of a manuscript in Burns’s hand in the Archive of Paisley Museum and Central Library, new questions regarding the history of the piece had to be asked. The short rhyming reply opens ‘Sir, Yours this moment I unseal,’ but o¡ers no information connecting the piece to anyone else. This short essay tracks the appearance of the work in nineteenth-century editions of Burns’s works and pieces together what we know about it. There- after, an attempt is made to clarify the provenance of the item and the literary connections around it, particularly those in Paisley at the turn of the nineteenth century. The world came to terms with the death of Robert Burns by establishing hundreds of Clubs in his honour, many of which can boast some claim of pre-eminence. The ¢rst, in Greenock (""), calls itself ‘The Mother Club’. Paisley Burns Club was founded in ", claiming precedence as the ‘¢rst formally constituted’ club in the world. Robert Tannahill ("ª^"") was CRAIG LAMONT AND DAVID WEIR of Burns Night commemorations, a suitable showcase for Paisley in its bid to become the UK City of Culture in ÆÆ".
    [Show full text]
  • 1975 the Digital Conversion of This Burns Chronicle Was Sponsored by Irvine Lasses Burns Club
    Robert BurnsLimited World Federation Limited www.rbwf.org.uk 1975 The digital conversion of this Burns Chronicle was sponsored by Irvine Lasses Burns Club The digital conversion service was provided by DDSR Document Scanning by permission of the Robert Burns World Federation Limited to whom all Copyright title belongs. www.DDSR.com ROBERT BURNS CHRONICLE 1975 THE BURNS FEDERATION . KILMARNOCK Price 75p-Paper bound: 9Op-Cloth bound: Price to Non-Members 8Op-Paper bound: £l.00-Cloth bound. 'BURNS CHRONICLE' ADVERTISER BURNS CHRONICLE BURNS CHRONICLE AND CLUB DIRECTORY INSTITUTED 1891 PUBLISHED ANNUALLY THIRD SERIES: VOLUME XXIV THE BURNS FEDERATION KILMARNOCK 1975 Published by The Burns Federation Kilmarnock Printed by William Hodge & Company Limited Great Britain LIST OF CONTENTS PAGE Editorial 1 Burns's Clarinda in Jamaica, 1794 by A. M. Kinghorn.. 2 More Recorded Voices by R. Peel.. 14 Robert Tannahill, Bi-centenary Study by Clark Hunter. 18 The Elder Tree, a poem by Kate A. Y. Bone 23 Auld Lang Syne by W. H. Dunlop 24 Postscript to Flax and Flax-Dressing by Bruce P. Lenman 29 Taking Burns to Canada 30 The Rev. James Oliphant by J. L. Hempstead 31 Auguste Angellier. Translation by Jane Burgoyne 35 April, a poem by L. M. Stirling 58 The Editor's Choice, Book Reviews 59 Allan Ramsay, Book Review by R. Peel 65 A Border Poet by R. H. 66 John Gray's Booklet in Demand 67 Mrs. Maggie Coulson by Alex. MacMillan 68 Andrew Stenhouse by W. Page Burgess 69 Regiment Honours Dundonald Burns Club 71 Poems by William Graham, M.A.
    [Show full text]
  • The Burns Calendar Without Any Prefatory
    iiOBERT BT7RNS ?3r! Similf EiiC'.-Hved byMaaliu't! &MSedouald.GU3^iiw. ; THE feURNS CALENDAR: A MANUAL BURNSIANA;OF RELATING EVENTS IN THE POET'S HISTORY, NAMES ASSOCIATED WITH HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS, A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY, ^ AND ' A RECORD OF BURNS RELICS. " All hail ! my oivn inspired Bard ! In me thy native muse regard ! Nor longer mourn thy fate is hard, Thus poorly low ! I come to give thee such reward. As <we bestow. ' ^ Atid wear thou this,' she solemn said. And bound the Holly round my head : Tlie polished leaves and berries red, Did rustling play And, like a passing thought, she fled In light away." The Vision. \P R A f» ' or THE VN1VER8ITY KILMARNOCK; PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY JAMES M'KIE, 2 KING STREET. MDCCCLXXIV. — ; f^L^3?La^.l?7f.MAiAJ " The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men gang aft agley."— To a Mouse. PREFACE Our original intention was to publish the Burns Calendar without any prefatory remarks ; for one reason, the title page so distinctly indicates its purpose, that no introduction seemed to be needed ; and again, our vocation in compiling it was to produce—rather than describe, to collect the materials as best we could in the haze of a receding century, combine these in a graceful garniture, " bringing nothing of our own but the hand that gathered them;" this was all we sought td accomplish, and our labour of love will fulfil its mission if this contribution to Bums Literature find acceptance as a work of reference, and meet with a friendly welcome in that wider circle of kindred spirits who manifest a national interest in whatever concerns the name and fame of Scotland's greatest Poet.
    [Show full text]