On the same sicker score I mention'd before, To that trust auld worthy Clackleeth.**] [The history of the kirk's alarm is curious: "Macgill and Dalrymple, the two ministers of the town of Ayr, had long been suspected of entertaining heterodox opinions on several points, particularly the doctrine of Original Sin and the Trinity; and the former at length published an essay, which was considered as demanding the notice of the church courts. More than a year was spent in the discussions which arose out of this: and at last, Dr. Macgill was fain to acknowledge his errors, and promise that he would take an early opportunity of apologizing for them to his congregation from the pulpit, which promise, however, he never performed. The gentry of the country took, for the most part, the side of Macgill, who was a man of cold unpopular manners, but of unreproached moral character, and possessed of some accomplishments, though certainly not of distinguished talents. bulk of the lower orders espoused, with far more fervid zeal, the cause of those who conducted the prosecution against this erring doctor. Gavin Hamilton, and all persons of his stamp, were, of course, on the side of Macgill—Auld and the Mauchline elders, with his enemies. Robert Aiken, a writer in Ayr, a man of remarkable talents, particularly in public speaking, had the principal management of Macgill's cause before the Presbytery, and the Synod. He was an intimate friend of Hamilton, and through him had about this time formed an acquaintance which soon ripened into a warm friendship with Burns. Burns was, therefore, from the beginning, a zealous, as in the end he was, perhaps, the most effective, partizan of the side on which Aiken had staked so much of his reputation."-LOCKHART.] The The eloquence of Aiken and the wit of Hamilton were deeply felt and resented by the [In the second version the Poet adds the partizans of the Old Light. The hue and cry following POSTSCRIPT. Afton's Laird, Afton's Laird,¶ When your pen can be spar'd A copy o' this I bequeath, his prayer for the royal family, he would express himself thus:-"Bless the King-his Majesty the Queen-her Majesty the Prince of Wales." The word chemistry he pronounced in three different ways-hemistry, shemistry, and tchemistry-but never, by any chance, in the right way. Notwithstanding the antipathy he could scarcely help feeling towards Burns, one of the Poet's comic verses would make him laugh heartily, and confess that, "after all, he was a droll fellow."] against the latter drew these words of condolence from Burns:-"You have erred-you have committed the blasphemous heresies of squaring religion by the rules of common sense, took for wit, and thus laid himself open to the satire of the To claw Common Sense for her sins. With real battle powder, Be sure double load her, And the bullet ́s Divinity lead. John Logan, Esq. of Afton. ** In the second version of "The Kirk's Alarm" which the Poet sent to Major Logan, the only material variation which he introduces is the repetition of the half of the first and the whole of the last line of each stanza, thus, after Stanza XVIII.: Poet Burns She cou'd ca' us nae waur than we are. and attempting to give a consistent character to Almighty God, and a rational account of his proceedings with the sons of men." O, Moodie, man, and wordy Russell, O, sirs! whae'er wad hae expeckit, But by the brutes themselves eleckit, ["Mr. Hamilton lived in what is still called the castle of Mauchline-a half-fortified old The Lord's cause ne'er gat sic a twistle mansion near the church, forming the only reSin' I ha'e min'. mains of the ancient priory. He was the son of a gentleman who had practised the same profession in the same place, and was, in every respect, a most estimable member of societygenerous, affable, and humane. Unfortunately, his religious practice did not square with the notions of the then minister of Mauchline, the Daddy Auld' of Burns' Poem, who, in 1785, is found in the session-records to have summoned him for rebuke, on the four following charges:-1. Unnecessary absence from church, for five consecutive Sundays; 2. Setting_out on a journey to Carrick on a Sunday; 3. Habitual, if not total, neglect of family worship; 4. Writing an abusive letter to the session in reference to some of their former proceedings respecting him. Strange though this prosecution may seem, it was strictly accordant with the right assumed by clergymen at that period to inquire into the private habits of parishioners."-CHAMBERS.] 66 "Polemical divinity," says the Poet at this period to Dr. Moore, was putting the country half-mad, and I, ambitious of shining in conversation parties on Sundays, at funerals, &c., used to puzzle Calvinism with so much heat and indiscretion that I raised the hue and cry of heresy against me, which has not ceased to this hour." Blockheads with reason wicked wits abhor, O' a' ye pious godly flocks, Weel fed on pastures orthodox, * [This satirical ballad first appeared in the Glasgow collection of those pieces which had either been rejected by the fastidious taste of Dr. Currie, or had escaped his notice. It has been collated with a copy in his own hand-writing.] VAR. Fifty.-MS. Russell is described as a "large, robust, dark complexioned man, imperturbably grave, fierce of temper, and of a stern expression of countenance." He preached with much vehemence and at the height of a tremendous voice, which, in certain states of the atmosphere, caught the ear at What flock wi' Moodie's flock could rank, He let them taste. Frae Calvin's well, aye clear, ‡ they drank,— The thummart, wil'-cat, brock, and tod, Baith out and in, What herd like Russell § tell'd his tale, And saw gin they were sick or hale, He fine a mangy sheep could scrub, Sic twa-O! do I live to see 't, While New-Light herds, wi laughin' spite, A' ye wha tent the gospel fauld, That thou wilt work them, het and cauld, ין Consider, sirs, how we're beset; I hope frae heav'n* to see them yet Dalrymple has been lang our fae, That aft hae made us black and blae, Auld Wodrow ¶ lang has hatch'd mischief, We thought aye ** death wad bring relief, And mony a ane that I could tell, There's Smith for ane, O! a' ye flocks o'er a' the hills, And get the brutes the powers themsels Then Orthodoxy yet may prance, Then Shaw's and Dalrymple's eloquence, And guid M Math, + Rev. Dr. Dalrymple, one of the ministers of Ayr. He died in 1814, having enjoyed his charge for the uncommon period of sixty-eight years. Rev. William M Gill, one of the ministers of Ayr, and the colleague of Dr. Dalrymple. Minister of St. Quivox, an enlightened man and elegant preacher. He has been succeeded in the parish by his son. Dr. Andrew Shaw of Craigie, and Dr. David Shaw of Coylton. Dr. Andrew was a man of excellent abilities, but extremely diffident a fine speaker and an accomplished scholar. Dr. David, in personal respects, was a prodigy. He was ninety-one years of age before he required an assist ant. At that period of life he read without the use of glasses, wrote a neat small hand, and had not a furrow in his cheek or a wrinkle in his brow. He was moderator of the General Assembly in 1775. He had a fine old clergymanlike kind of wit. In the house of a man of rank, where he once spent the burlesque lamentation on a quarrel between two reverend Calvinists, both of them dramatis persona in my 'Holy Fair.' I had a notion myself that the piece had some merit; but, to prevent the worst, I gave a copy of it to a friend who was very fond of such things, and told him I could not guess who was the author of it, but that I thought it pretty clever. With a certain description of the clergy, as well as laity, it met with a roar of applause." [The twa herds were-Moodie, Minister of Riccarton, and Russell, assistant to the Minister of Kilmarnock, who afterwards had a harmonious call to Stirling. "They were apostles of the Old Light, but this did not hinder controversy, and whilst indulging in a discussion on Effectual Calling, on their way home from the Monday sermon of a Sacrament, they quarrelled by the way, and, as some assert, proceeded to blows. The first intimation which the world of Kyle had of this bitter black outcast' was from Russell himself, who was seen approaching the house of Barleith at full gallop.—'Wha can this be, riding in sic a daft-like manner?' exclaimed one. It's awfu' like our ain minister, honest man;' said another. That can never be,' said John Parker, a decorous man and an elder and yet it's him. Na, I'll no believe my ain een!' The doubts of this elder were cut short by the minister himself halting, and explaining the cause of his gallopping. On inquiring long afterwards of a person, who was present with Parker, what Russell said, he replied that he heard him say something about the unsound doctrine of Moodie; how that hot words ensued, and he was obliged to give his brother's horse a crack across the nose to put it and its rider back.-'But wadna believe me ye now, if I were to tell you that I think he missed the horse, and hit the minister. Black Russell was na sparing!' "At the time when Burns was beginning to exercise his powers as a poet, theological controversy raged amongst the clergy and laity of his native country. The prominent parts related to the doctrines of original sin and the Trinity; a scarcely subordinate one referred to the right of patronage. Burns took the moderate and liberal side, and seems to have de The night, an alarm took place after midnight, which brought all the members of the family from their dormitories. doctor encountered a countess in her chemise, which occasioned some mutual confusion. At breakfast, next morning, a lady asked him what he thought when he met the countess in the lobby. "Oh, my lady," said he, "I was in a trance.” Trance, in Scotland, signifies a passage or vestibule, as well This amiable man died, April 26, 1810, in the ninety-second year of his age, and sixty-first of his ministry. -R. CHAMBERS. as a swoon. There were three brothers of this name, descended from the church historian, and all ministers-one at Eastwood, their ancestor's charge, the second at Stevenston, and the third, Dr. Peter Wodrow, at Tarbolton. Dr. Peter is the person named in the poem. The assistant and successor mentioned in the verse was the Rev. Mr. M'Math, to whom the poet addressed one of his epistles. ** VAR.-"Trusted."-MS. What was I, or my generation, lighted in doing all he could to torment the unwritten code.' "These satiric sallies were not unavenged. Burns was called unbeliever, profane scoffer, and ungodly rhymer-epithets of influence in those days: and it was moreover represented that the Bachelors' Club of Mauchline, where the poet presided, met for other than moral purposes. Their language was reported as loose, their toasts indecorous, and one of the elders, it is said, having caught up two or three | wild stanzas, scattered by Burns at one of those mirthful meetings, kept repeating them wherever he went, saying, at the end of every verse, 'Oh, what a wild lad! A lost sheep-a lost sheep!""-ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.] *Kennedy gives the following account of the origin of "Holy Willie's Prayer:"-Gavin Hamilton, Esq., Clerk of Ayr, the Poet's friend and benefactor, was accosted one Sunday morning by a mendicant, who begged alms of him. Not recollecting that it was the sabbath, Hamilton set the man to work in his garden, which lay on the public road, and the poor fellow was discovered by the people on their way to the kirk, and they immediately stoned him from the ground. For this offence, Mr. Hamilton was not permitted to have a child christened, which his wife bore him soon afterwards, until he applied to the synod. His most officious opponent was William Fisher, one of the elders of the Church and to revenge the insult to his friend, Burns made him the subject of this humorous ballad. It was no doubt to this satire that the subjoined jeu d'esprit refers. "In the name of the Nine, Amen. "We, Robert Burns, by virtue of a warrant from nature bearing date the twenty-fifth day of January, anno domini, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, poet laureate and bard in chief, in and over the districts and countries of Kyle, Cunningham, and Carrick, of old extent, to our trusty and well beloved William Chalmers and John Mc Adamn, students When frae my mither's womb I fell, Whare damned devils roar and yell, Chain'd to a stake. Wi' great and sma'; For I am keepit by thy fear, Free frae them a'.] But yet, O L-d! confess I must, But thou remembers we are dust, [O L-d! yestreen, thou kens, wi' Meg- O may it ne'er be a livin' plague To my dishonour, And I'll ne'er lift a lawless leg Again upon her.] Besides, I farther maun avow, and practitioners in the ancient and mysterious science of confounding right and wrong. "Right trusty, "Be it known unto you, that whereas, in the course of our care and watchings over the order and police of all and sundry the manufacturers, retainers and venders of poesy; bards, poets, poetasters, rhymers, jinglers, songsters, balladsingers, &c. &c. male and female-we have discovered a certain nefarious, abominable and wicked song, or ballad, a copy whereof we have here inclosed; our will, therefore, is, that ye pitch upon and appoint the most execrable individual of that most execrable species, known by the appellation, phrase, and nickname of the Deil's Yeld Nowte; and after having caused him to kindle a fire at the cross of Ayr, ye shall, at noontide of the day, put into the said wretch's merciless hands, the said copy of the said nefarious and wicked song, to be consumed by fire in the presence of all beholders, in abhorrence of, and terrorem to, all such compositions and composers. And this in no wise leave ye undone, but have it executed in every point as this our mandate bears, before the twenty-fourth current, when in person we hope to applaud your faithfulness and zeal. "Given at Mauchline, this twentieth day of November, anno domini one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six. "God save the Bard!" When I came near her, Or else, thou kens, thy servant true Maybe thou lets this fleshly thorn If sae, thy han' maun e'en be borne, L-d, bless thy chosen in this place, L-d, mind Gawn Hamilton's deserts, Wi' great and sma', Frae G-d's ain priests the people's hearts An' whan we chasten'd him therefore, As set the warld in a roar O' laughin' at us ; · Curse thou his basket and his store, L-d, hear my earnest cry and pray'r, L-d, weigh it down, and dinna spare, O L-d my G-d, that glib-tongu'd Aiken, While Auld wi' hinging lip gaed snakin', L-d, in the day of vengeance try him, Nor hear their pray'r; ["It is amusing to observe how soon even really Bucolic bards learn the tricks of their trade: Burns knew already what lustre a compliment gains from being set in sarcasm, when he made Willie call for special notice to "Gawn Hamilton's deserts." LOCKHART.] + [In 1787, a new offence in the eyes of the Kirk-synod was committed by Mr. Hamilton. He had, on a Sunday morning, ordered a servant to take in some potatoes which happened to have been left out in the garden after being dug. This came to the ears of the minister, and Mr. Hamilton was summoned to answer for the offence. Some ludicrous details occur in the session-records. It is there alleged that two and a half rows of potatoes were dug on the morning in question, by Mr. Hamilton's express order, and carried home by his daughter: nay, so keen had the spirit of persecution been, that the rows had been formally measured, and found But, L-d, remember me and mine, An' a' the glory shall be thine, Epitaph on Holy Willie. Stop! there he is, as sure's a gun, But hear me, sir, deil as ye are, "Holy Willie's Prayer' is a piece of satire more exquisitely severe than any which Burns ever afterwards wrote."-SIRWALTER SCOTT.] [The "Holy Willie" of this sarcastic but too daring poem, was one William Fisher, a farmer near Mauchline, and leading Elder of the Rev. Mr. Auld's Session. He was a great pretender to sanctity, austere of speech, and punctilious about outward observances. Yet he was by no means rigid as far as regarded himself: he scrupled not to "get fou," when whiskey flowed at the expense of others: he was more particular too in the examination of female transgressors than some of his brethren thought was seemly; and when he left Mauchline for an eldership in a neighbouring parish, it was discovered he had to be each eleven feet long; so that twenty-seven feet and a half altogether had been dug. The Presbytery, or Synod, treated this prosecution in the same way as the former, and Burns did not overlook it in his poems. He alludes to it in Holy Willie's Prayer, when he makes that individual implore a curse upon Mr. Hamilton's -basket and his store, Kail and potatoes—" CHAMBERS.] |