O WORKS OF ROBERT BURNS; WITH HIS LIFE, BY ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. "High Chief of Scottish song! Whose lines are mottoes of the heart, Whose truths electrify the sage." Campbell. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. II. BOSTON: HILLIARD, GRAY, AND COMPANY. NOTICE. To arrange the Poems according to the order in which they were composed, and supply the places and names hitherto left blank, was the aim of the Editor. In this he has been assisted by some of the early friends of Burns, and aided by a copy of his Poems, in which, for the information of Dr. Geddes, he had filled up all deficiencies with his own hand. Though correct, perhaps, in general, he fears that he may have erred in particular instances. "The Kirk's Alarm," he was told, was partly, if not wholly, written during the Old and New Light discussions: but that, to suit the controversy in which Dr. M Gill was engaged, the Poet modified and augmented it. The Editor has ventured to one copy of the poem along with the controversial satires of the year 1785, reserving a later version—differing from the other both in manner and matter—to accompany the Poems of the year 1789. He has availed himself of variations in the Poet's manuscripts—particularly in poems printed after his death. He has followed, in general, the text of the first Edinburgh edition, and added such notes, biographical, historical, or critical, as he thought would be acceptable to the reader. February, 1834. |