147
Wha Is that at My Bower Door? 156
What Can a Young Lassie 142
Whistle, and I'll Come to Ye, My Lad 132
Will Ye Go to the Indies, My Mary? 40
Willie Brew'd a Peck o' Maut 238
Willie's Wife 156
Ye Banks and Braes (two versions) 130
Yestreen I Had a Pint o' Wine 104

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I BIOGRAPHY 1
1. Alloway, Mount Oliphant, and Lochlea 3
2. Mossgiel 31
3. Edinburgh 44
4. Ellisland 58
5. Dumfries 62

II INHERITANCE: LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 69

III BURNS AND SCOTTISH SONG 90

IV SATIRES AND EPISTLES 171

V DESCRIPTIVE AND NARRATIVE POETRY 206

VI CONCLUSION 310

INDEX 325

ROBERT BURNS

BURNS

CHAPTER I

BIOGRAPHY

"I have not the most distant pretence to what the pye-coated
guardians of Escutcheons call a Gentleman. When at Edinburgh last
winter, I got acquainted at the Herald's office; and looking thro'
the granary of honors, I there found almost every name in the
kingdom; but for me,

My ancient but ignoble blood
Has crept thro' scoundrels since the flood.

Gules, purpure, argent, etc., quite disowned me. My forefathers
rented land of the famous, noble Keiths of Marshal, and had the
honor to share their fate. I do not use the word 'honor' with any
reference to political principles: _loyal_ and _disloyal_ I take
to be merely relative terms in that ancient and formidable court
known in this country by the name of 'club-law.' Those who dare
welcome Ruin and shake hands with Infamy, for what they believe
sincerely to be the cause of their God or their King, are--as Mark
Antony in _Shakspear_ says of Brutus and Cassius--'honorable men.'
I mention this circumstance because it threw my Father on th