322 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



" After I left him, he studied mu- 

 sic, and was a good player on the 

 violin. 



"But as my brother Nat had 

 married a Woolwich woman, it hap- 

 pened that Robert took a fancy to 

 Mary Anne Church, a comely young 

 woman of that town, whose fatlier 

 is a boat-builder in the govern- 

 ment yard there. He married her 

 12th December, 1790. 



" Soon after he married, Robert 

 told me, in a letter, that ' he had 

 sold his fiddle and got a wife.' — 

 Like most poor men, he got a wife 

 first, and had to get household stuff 

 afterwards. It tookhim some years 

 to get out of ready-furnished lodg- 

 ings. At length, by hard work- 

 ing, he acquired a bed of his own, 

 and hired a room up one pair of 

 stairs, at 14, Bell-alley, Coleman 

 street. The landlord kindly gave 

 him leave to sit and work in 

 the light gtuTet, two pair of stairs 

 higher. 



" In this garret, amid six or seven 

 other workmen, his active mind 

 employed itself in composing the 

 Farmer's Boy. 



"In my correspondence I have 

 seen several poetical effusions of 

 his; all of them of a good moral 

 tendency ; but which he very likely 

 would think do him little credit : 

 on that account I have not pre- 

 served them. 



" Robert is a lady's shoemaker, 

 and works for Davies, Lombard- 

 street. He is of a slender make ; 

 about 5 feet 4 inches high; very dark 

 complexion. — His mother, who is 

 a very religious member of the 

 church of England, took all the 

 pains she could in his infancy to 

 make him piou;: and, as his rea- 

 son expanded, his love of God and 

 man increased with it, I never 



knew his fellow for mildness of 

 temper and goodness of disposition. 

 And since I left him, universally 

 is he praised by those who know 

 him best, for the best of husbands, 

 an indulgent father, and quiet neigh- 

 bour. He is between thirty three 

 and four years old, and has three 

 children; two daughters and a son." 



Account of Robert Burns, the Ayr- 

 shire Ploughman, by himself, in 

 a Letter to Dr. Moore; from his 

 Workslatety ediledby Dr. Currie. 



Mmichline, August 2, 1787. 

 Sir, 



FOR some months past I have 

 been rambling over the coun- 

 try, but I am now confined with 

 some lingering complaints, origina- 

 ting, as I take it, in the stomach. 

 To divert my spirits a little in this 

 miserable fog of ennui, I have taken 

 a whim to give you a history of 

 myself. My name has made some 

 little noise in this country; you 

 have done me the honour to inter- 

 est yourself very warmly in my be- 

 half ; and I think a faithful account 

 of what character of a man I am, 

 and how I came by that character, 

 may perhaps amuse you in an idle 

 moment. I will give you an honest 

 narrative, though I know it will be 

 often at my own expense; for I 

 assure you. Sir, I have like Solomon, 

 whose character, excepting in the 

 trifling article of wisdom, I some- 

 times think I resemble — I have, I 

 say, like him, turned ray eyes to 

 behold madness and folly, and like 

 him, too, frequently shaken hands 

 with their intoxicating friendship. 

 After you have perused these 

 pages, should you think them tri- 

 fling and impertinent, I only beg 



