PREFACE. THE writings of Burns-his Poems, Songs, and Letters-are most of them so expressly the coinage of his immediate experiences and feelings, that his life might be read in them alone. As hitherto arranged, each series might be likened to a fragmentary view of the Poet's life, supplementary to the meagre memoir usually prefixed. So arranged, the biographic effect of the whole is either imperfectly developed, or lost by dissipation. It occurred to me-and I find that the same idea had latterly occurred to Allan Cunningham -that if the various compositions were strung in strict chronological order upon the memoir, they might be made to render up the whole light which they are qualified to throw upon the history of the life and mental progress of Burns, at the same time that a new significancy was given to them by their being read in connection with the current of events and emotions which led to their production. Such is the plan here adopted, and the result is not merely a great amount of new biographical detail, but a new sense, efficacy, and feeling, in the writings of the Poet himself.' This quotation from the preface to the first edition of Dr Robert Chambers's Life and Works of Robert Burns fully explains the spirit in which that work was undertaken, and the plan in accordance with which it was carried out. The forty-five years that have passed since these words were written have signally proved their wisdom. During his life-time, Dr Chambers accumulated much biographical and other material which, for reasons that the lapse of time has deprived of force, he was unable fully to utilise. The last forty years have also witnessed an extraordinary production of literature relating to the life and works of Burns; as a consequence, several poems and letters of the Poet have been discovered and published. In this connection the gratitude of all lovers and students of Burns is especially due to Mr William Scott Douglas, the editor of the Library edition of the Works (Poetry and Prose), and to Mr George A. Aitken, the editor of the third Aldine edition of the Poetical Works. Under these circumstances, it has become desirable to issue a new and revised edition of Dr Chambers's work, without departing in any important degree from its original plan. Every effort has been made in this edition to give a reliable text of both poems and letters. As regards the poems, the edition of 1794-the last published during Burns's life-time-is accepted as final and authoritative, so far as the pieces included in it are concerned. Variations from the text are given in notes where this course has been considered desirable; but for the sake of convenience, and on account of their extraordinary number, the great majority of these are reserved for a special appendix attached to each of the four volumes of which this edition will be conposed. Poems, songs, and letters which have been discovered by Dr Chambers, Mr Scott Douglas, and others since 1851, are incorporated in this edition, along with such new biographical and historical facts as have been verified. An effort has been made to remove the difficulties that stand in the way of the English reader of Burns, by copious explanatory notes and a full marginal glossary of Scots words. As in the first edition, the poems, the letters, and the biographical narrative are so combined and arranged as to show their relation to one another, to present a view of social life in Scotland during the later half of the eighteenth century, and to illustrate the circumstances in which Burns lived his extraordinary life and did his extraordinary and immortal work. As the final chapter of the fourth volume will give a critical estimate of Burns's life and work, comment on both during the progress of the book has been reduced to the minimum. For the rest, the golden Cromwellian rule of biography-warts and all, but not warts above all -has been strictly observed. The first volume of this new edition, which is now given to the public, has been to some extent recast as well as rewritten, and presents several new features. The autobiographic portion of Burns's Letter to Moore, as revised by himself towards the close of his life, and as, therefore, giving his final estimate of his own character and career, is presented in its entirety, and as the opening chapter. The question of the poet's ancestry has been treated at length, both in the text and in an appendix. An attempt has been made to accurately define his theological position; this is supported by a careful analysis of the books which, there is reason to believe, influenced his mind in his early years. Some fresh light is thrown upon his stay in Irvine. The story |