PREFACE. "A true Poet-a man in whose heart resides some effluence of Wisdom, some tone of the 'Eternal Melodies,' is the most precious gift that can be bestowed on a generation: his life is a rich lesson to us; and we mourn his death as that of a benefactor who loved and taught us."-CARLYLE. In these days when new editions of Burns 66 are as plentiful as blackberries in autumn," a few words by way of preface may naturally be expected here, to account for the appearance of these volumes. It is now more than twenty years since the present editor felt that he might opportunely say and do something regarding Burns, whose biography and writings had long been the favourite recreation and study of his leisure hours. Contented as he was to read and admire, in common with the rest of the world, the memoirs of the Bard, with relative words of wisdom and enthusiasm from the pens of Currie, Walker, Lockhart, Carlyle, Cunningham, and Wilson, he nevertheless, could not help being dissatisfied with the looseness, and abounding inaccuracies as to dates, facts, and details, uniformly exhibited by the Poet's editors, in treating of notable events in his brief career. The increasing interest everywhere felt concerning Burns, had created a strong furor for hunting up and recording petty anecdotes regarding him, and accumulating his impromptu versicles and fragmentary effusions. A host of peripatetic annotators fed the press from time to time with their gatherings, but no one seemed to set himself earnestly to the task of investigating important facts in the Poet's history, hitherto misrepresented or embellished with fiction, and of correcting palpable errors of date, as well in the details of his Life, as in the arrangement of his Correspondence. In the course of preparing for his own use-a chronological table of the principal events of the Poet's life and the productions of his Muse, it fell to the lot of the editor to make some remarkable discoveries in reference to what had hitherto been a very obscure and mysterious passage in the history of Burns-namely, that of his brief but tender intercourse with the "Highland Mary" of his most impassioned and affecting lyrics. These revelations. were announced to the world through the medium (first) of Dr. Daniel Wilson, now of Toronto, and (secondly) of Dr. Robert Chambers, of Edinburgh. The result of his researches caused considerable commotion at the time in literary circles, and awakened the interest (among other magnates of the press) of Professor Wilson and J. G. Lockhart. Some lasting public benefit has accrued from the humble labours referred to; inasmuch as the new discoveries formed the main inducement for Chambers to edit and publish, in 1851-52, his admirable Chronological Edition of Burns, in four volumes. So very satisfactory, as a whole, is the edition by Chambers, just referred to, that the present writer would have felt it unecessary to come before the public as an editor of Burns, had not the "chapter of accidents " dragged him forward, by making him acquainted with Mr. M'Kie, publisher of the finely executed fac-simile of the Poet's rare Kilmarnock Edition, 1786, (here reproduced verbatim et literatim, although our fac-simile extends only to the title-page.) It was the desire of Mr. M'Kie, that the present editor should assist him in bringing out, for popular circulation, a more complete and accurate Edition of the Poems and Songs of Burns than has hitherto been presented to the public. For the plan of these twinvolumes, the one shewing, in successive groups, all the Poems and Songs which the Author lived to see in print; and the other, containing his posthumous publications similarly arranged; thus telling of life in the one, death in the other, and immortality in both,-the editor is alone responsible. For the annotations throughout the work and the Chronological Memoir prefixed to this volume, both together comprising more letterpress than is contained in the Author's text, the editor is also responsible. That refined portion of the Poet's admirers who can relish his inspiration only after it has been distilled and filtered into a "well undefiled," in the form of a "Family Edition," need not expect to find here much sympathy with their peculiar tastes; for no castration, suppression, or vitiation of the Author's text has been resorted to, nor has a single known production of his Muse been excluded, that can really bear the light of print. The editor's grateful acknowledgments are due to several warm appreciators of his efforts, who kindly aided him with their contributions during the progress of the work; but to no source of assistance is he more indebted, than to the ample stores of Burns-literature which were readily supplied to him from the private library of the publisher. During the interval of four years since the date of our former edition, several original poems by Burns have been brought to light. The Ode to Washington, hitherto known to the public only in the form of a "Fragment of Liberty," has made its appearance from America in a complete shape, and the "Glenriddel Manuscripts," which for seventy years had been hid from public inspection, were ushered into daylight in 1874. It thus became necessary that our "Kilmarnock Edition" should be made complete by every new accession. This, together with the consideration that our publisher's shelves are eutirely cleared of the former edition of 2,000 copies is the best apology for re-appearing thus early before the world of the Poet's admirers. Advantage of this opportunity has been taken to overhaul and remedy errors in both volumes, and our friendly reviewers will perceive that faults formerly pointed out in course of criticism, have been candidly corrected. EDINBURGH, June, 1876. |