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His father wrote the family name BURNES; Robert early adopted the orthography BURNESS from his cousin in the Mearns; and in his twenty-eighth year changed it once more to BURNS. It is plain that the last transformation was not made without some qualm; for in addressing his cousin he adheres, in at least one more letter, to spelling number two.
I expect, therefore, my dear Sir, you will not neglect any opportunity of letting me hear from you, which will very much oblige, My dear Cousin, yours sincerely, XI. To MR. JAMES BURNESS, WRITER, MONTROSE. MOSSGIEL, 3rd August 1784. We have been surprised with one of the most extraordinary phenomena in the moral world, which, I dare say, has happened in the course of this half century.
Dunlop, regretting her continued silence; and letters begging a temporary loan to James Burness, Montrose, and to George Thomson, whom he had been supplying with songs without fee or reward. Thomson at once forwarded the amount asked five pounds!
Writers have demonstrated to their own satisfaction that it was perfectly natural that Burns should have been the man he was. But the other children of William Burness were not great poets. It has even been discovered that his genius was Celtic, whatever that may mean!
If you would act your part as a friend, I am sure neither good nor bad fortune should estrange or alter me. Excuse haste, as I got yours but yesterday. I am, my dear Sir, yours, ROBERT BURNESS. ... Against two things I am fixed as fate, staying at home, and owning her conjugally. The first, by Heaven, I will not do! the last, by Hell, I will never do!
Burness, and the rest of your family, along with those of, dear Sir, your affectionate cousin, X.-To MR. JAMES BURNESS, WRITER, MONTROSE. LOCHLIE, 17th Feb. 1784.
William Burness, the father of the poet, was a native of Kincardineshire, and 'was thrown by early misfortunes on the world at large. After many years' wanderings, he at last settled in Ayrshire, where he worked at first as a gardener before taking a lease of some seven acres of land near the Bridge of Doon, and beginning business as a nurseryman.
It will be seen that he now dropped the fifth and sixth letters from the name inherited of his father, and the boy Burness became the man Burns. This book achieved immediate and unexpected success; and having realized a few pounds from its profits, Burns set out for Greenock, where he was to take ship for his new West Indian home.
James Burness, Montrose, wherein he describes the strange doings of a strange sect called the Buchanites, surely in itself a convincing proof of the degeneracy of the times in the matter of religion, we have an interesting reflection which gives us some insight into the poet's mind.
Strong, rough, and eminently straight, intolerant of contradiction and ready with words like blows, his unsympathetic side recalls rather the father of the Brontes on the wild Yorkshire moor than William Burness by the ingle of Mount Oliphant. Margaret Carlyle was in theological theory as strict as her husband, and for a time made more moan over the aberrations of her favourite son.
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