The Complete Works of Robert Burns

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Works of Robert Burns:
Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence., by Robert Burns
and Allan Cunningham
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Title: The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems,
Songs, and Correspondence.
With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical by
Allan Cunningham
Author: Robert Burns and Allan Cunningham
Release Date: June 4, 2006 [EBook #18500]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
0. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF
ROBERT BURNS ***
Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Sankar Viswanathan,
and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was made using scans of
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Transcriber's Note.
. The hyphenation and accent of words is not uniform throughout the
book. No change has been made in this.
. The relative indentations of Poems, Epitaphs, and Songs are as

printed in the original book.
THE
COMPLETE WORKS
OF
ROBERT BURNS:
CONTAINING HIS
POEMS, SONGS, AND CORRESPONDENCE.
WITH
A NEW LIFE OF THE POET,
AND
NOTICES, CRITICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL,
BY ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.
ELEGANTLY ILLUSTRATED.
BOSTON:
PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY.
NEW YORK: J.C. DERBY.
1855

TO
ARCHIBALD HASTIE, ESQ.,
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR PAISLEY
THIS
EDITION
OF

THE WORKS AND MEMOIRS OF A GREAT POET,
IN WHOSE SENTIMENTS OF FREEDOM HE SHARES,
AND WHOSE PICTURES OF SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE
HE LOVES,
IS RESPECTFULLY AND GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED
BY
ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.
DEDICATION.
TO THE
NOBLEMEN AND GENTLEMEN
OF THE
CALEDONIAN HUNT.
[On the title-page of the second or Edinburgh edition, were these words:
"Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, by Robert Burns, printed for the
Author, and sold by William Creech, 1787." The motto of the
Kilmarnock edition was omitted; a very numerous list of subscribers
followed: the volume was printed by the celebrated Smellie.]
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN:
A Scottish Bard, proud of the name, and whose highest ambition is to
sing in his country's service, where shall he so properly look for
patronage as to the illustrious names of his native land: those who bear
the honours and inherit the virtues of their ancestors? The poetic genius
of my country found me, as the prophetic bard Elijah did Elisha--at the
PLOUGH, and threw her inspiring mantle over
me. She bade me sing
the loves, the joys, the rural scenes and rural pleasures of my native soil,
in my native tongue; I tuned my wild, artless notes as she inspired. She

whispered me to come to this ancient metropolis of Caledonia, and lay
my songs under your honoured protection: I now obey her dictates.
Though much indebted to your goodness, I do not approach you, my
Lords and Gentlemen, in the usual style of dedication, to thank you for
past favours: that path is so hackneyed by prostituted learning that
honest rusticity is ashamed of it. Nor do I present this address with the
venal soul of a servile author, looking for a continuation of those
favours: I was bred to the plough, and am independent. I come to claim
the common Scottish name with you, my illustrious countrymen; and to
tell the world that I glory in the title. I come to congratulate my country
that the blood of her ancient heroes still runs
uncontaminated, and
that from your courage, knowledge, and public spirit, she may expect
protection, wealth, and liberty. In the last place, I come to proffer my
warmest wishes to the great fountain of honour, the Monarch of the
universe, for your welfare and happiness.
When you go forth to waken the echoes, in the ancient and favourite
amusement of your forefathers, may Pleasure ever be of your party: and
may social joy await your return! When harassed in courts or camps
with the jostlings of bad men and bad measures, may the honest