His first lodgings were in Baxter’s Close, which hasn’t survived into the modern day, but was located in the Royal Mile on the Lawnmarket where Deacon Brodie’s pub now stands. It wasn’t long before he became acquainted with some of the big names in the literary and business world, but it wasn’t one of the literati that initially caught his attention, but a man by the name of James Johnson.

There are no images of James Johnson anywhere, but he was an engraver and seller of music with a particular love of old Scottish songs. His ambition was to preserve as many of them for posterity as he could, even though he probably knew deep down that it wouldn’t make him a fortune. The two men met in the winter of 1786/87, while Burns was involved in his second publication of poems and Johnson was producing the first volume of his collection of traditional Scottish songs, which, as strange as it may sound, he called the Scots Musical Museum.

On 17^th April 1787, the Edinburgh edition of Rabbie’s poems was published by William Creech, which not only enhanced his bank balance, but his reputation as well. By now though, his enthusiasm had turned towards the preservation of traditional songs with James Johnson. Love of music and song had been with Rabbie since his childhood days when the family used to sit around the fire at their Alloway cottage; and now his association with James Johnson had rekindled those memories – in fact Burns contributed three of his own songs in that first volume. We don’t know the exact date it was published but it was sometime in 1787.

Rabbie became almost obsessed with collecting these old songs and tunes, travelling to various parts of Scotland to find them. He then passed them on to Johnson, without charging him a penny: That’s how passionate he was about his country and cultural heritage. In 1788 a second volume appeared, with Burns contributing 40 songs, and by now, Johnson considered his accomplice as the driving force behind the project. Between 1787 and 1803 a total of six volumes were published with 100 songs in each, Burns being responsible for about a third of them.

You would think wouldn’t you? that working to build up his literary career and galloping around the countryside looking for old Scottish folk songs would be enough to keep Rabbie Burns occupied while he was living and working in Edinburgh, but not so, and he was soon up to his old tricks again.

The two years he spent living in the city found him mixing with people from a higher social class than he was used to, and one of those people was the estranged Mrs Agnes ‘Nancy’ McLehose. Once again, he managed to worm his way into her affections, but that was as far as he got. The two of them entered into a ‘literary’ relationship, which meant exchanging letters under the pseudonyms of ‘Sylvander’ and ‘Clarinda’ to avoid detection. Burns became infatuated with Nancy but she was determined to keep the relationship platonic, and so to keep the flame of his carnal desires still burning he turned his attention to her servant Jenny Clow, who was quite willing to oblige where Nancy wasn’t: The following year, Robert Burns Clow was born.

For all his literary genius, Rabbie was sadly lacking in common sense where relationships were concerned. Jenny was another maid who fell for his lustful charms, but not enough to spend more time with him than was necessary, and even though he was prepared to look after the bairn, she wasn’t prepared to let him, and three years later she died of tuberculosis.

I expect you’re all wondering how Jean was getting on with the twins back at Mauchline while Rabbie was out sowing his oats in Auld Reekie: Well, he wasn’t neglecting her that’s for sure, because he managed to slip in under James Armour’s radar and make her pregnant again. On 23^rd February 1788, Rabbie decided to leave Edinburgh and head back to Ayrshire, but it meant leaving another love of his life behind.

There’s no doubt that Rabbie and Nancy were passionately in love, but at the end of December 1791 she decided to leave for Jamaica to be with her estranged husband. Before she left, he sent her the manuscript of “Ae Fond Kiss”, which tells her how he felt, and has since become one of Burns’s best known love songs. The reconciliation with her husband was short-lived, and I think it’s true to say the she missed Rabbie as much as he missed her.

The words to the song are below and the YouTube video is by the Scottish singer, Robyn Stapleton.

Ae fond kiss and then we sever
Ae fareweel, alas for ever
Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee
Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee

 

Who shall say that fortune grieves him
While the star of hope she leaves him
Me, nae cheerful twinkle lights me
Dark despair around benights me

 

I’ll ne’er blame my partial fancy
Nothing can resist my Nancy
For to see her was to love her
Love but her, and love for ever

 

Had we never loved sae kindly
Had we never loved sae blindly
Nor never met, nor never parted
We would never have been so broken-hearted

 

Fare thee weel, my first and fairest
Fare thee weel, my best and dearest
Thine be like joy and treasure…
Peace, enjoyment, love and pleasure

 

Mmm, ae fond kiss, and then we sever
Ae fareweel alas, for ever
Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee
Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee

Nancy (or Clarinda) is buried in Canongate graveyard which is overlooked by the Burns Monument (see featured image at top of the page), and in the next instalment we’ll see where his way with words and women led to next.

POSTED – AUGUST 2023