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The Waverley Gazette
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“To The Lassies” Robert Burns (Burns Night 25 January); Tam O' Shanter Part 3
Today we are sharing the third part of Tam O’Shanter and Burns Supper thoughts.
A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns. Burns Night is Monday 25th January.
Anyone can host one. It can be a small gathering of family and friends. Or it can be organised on a much grander scale with strict ceremonial tradition.
Once Burns Suppers were ‘men only’. Things have changed and now such clubs and suppers are fewer in number. The ‘men only’ was modelled on a format followed by the Tarbolton Bachelors’ Club, a men-only debating society, co-founded by Burns in 1780.
The first Burns Supper was a memorial dinner with nine guests. It was held in the poet’s birthplace of Alloway, in July 1801, where they enjoyed a dinner of haggis and sheeps’ head. “The Address to the Haggis was read, and every toast was drank by three times three.”
It was a clergyman – the Rev. Hamilton Paul – later the author of an 1819 edition of The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns with A Life Of The Author who organised what was the forerunner of the Burns supper we know today.
Robert Burns however, preferred the company of women to men. Had he attended one of these first celebrations he may have looked at his silver pocket-watch and wondered when the female guests would arrive.
“The finest hours that e’er I spent were spent amang the lasses, O’.”
Burns loved women, penning some of his finest verse for the "lassies". Without them his volumes of poetry would have been considerably thinner. He wrote the poem, ‘The Rights of Women’ in 1792, in its day, innovative and groundbreaking. In the poem, written for Louisa Fontenelle, an actress who caught Burns’ eye when playing at the Theatre Royal in Dumfries, he calls for respect for womankind. Fontenelle recited the poem at her benefit performance in November 1792.
Extract from “The Rights Of Women”:
There was, indeed, in far less polish'd days,
A time, when rough rude man had naughty ways,
Would swagger, swear, get drunk, kick up a riot,
Nay even thus invade a Lady's quiet.
Now, thank our stars! those Gothic times are fled;
Now, well-bred men - and you are all well-bred -
Most justly think (and we are much the gainers)
Such conduct neither spirit, wit, nor manners.
“The Toast to the Lassies” is an essential speech at any Burns’ Supper. Together with the lassies’ reply, it performs a key part of the supper. “The Toast to the Lassies” now demands wit and entertainment, and adds hugely to the sense of occasion of the whole event.
Robert Burns ? Yes - we know Burns . . . .'Tam O'Shanter'. . . . but what does the poem mean? Part 2
Tam O'Shanter
We introduced this blog theme yesterday, explaining that in the past 10 months or so, we have missed the face-to-face interaction with our overseas customers. Many of our customers we have known for more than 25 years. These friendships are unusual in that many have been formed simply by meeting at trade shows – reinforced sometimes with only occasional visits to their country, or when they have visited us on our home ground.
Conversation has in recent years, of course touched on Brexit, but always there is some talk of Scotland – hopes and plans to visit. Often Robert Burns is mentioned, but even the best English speakers have difficulty in understanding his poetry. Burns' verse is written not only in the Scots language but also in the Scottish English dialect of the English language.
With so many 'on-line' gatherings planned, there are even more opportunities this year, for folk from beyond these shores to experience something of the work of Burns and gain some insight into how Burns is celebrated.
As Burns’ Night itself approaches, on 25th January, we offer some help with 'Tam O’ Shanter'. You can find below the second group of verses as written by Robert Burns, together with a translation in English which keeps the spirit of the work. We will share subsequent parts each day, concluding on the 25th. Stay posted!
'Tam O' Shanter' is Burns’ epic poem in which Burns presents a vivid picture of the drinking classes in the old Scottish town of Ayr in the late 18th century. The poem features several characters : Tam himself, his friend Souter (Cobbler) Johnnie and Tam’s long suffering wife Kate. We meet Kirkton Jean, the ghostly, "winsome wench", Cutty Sark and Tam’s horse, Maggie.
Robert Burns ? Yes - we know Burns . . . .'Tam O'Shanter'. . . . but what does the poem mean?
Tam O'Shanter
In the past 10 months or so we have missed the face-to-face interaction with our overseas customers. Many of our customers we have known for more than 25 years. These friendships are unusual in that many have been formed simply by meeting at trade shows – reinforced sometimes with only occasional visits to their country, or when they have visited us on our home ground.
Conversation has in recent years, of course touched on Brexit, but always there is some talk of Scotland – hopes and plans to visit. Often Robert Burns is mentioned, but even the best English speakers have difficulty in understanding his poetry. Burns' verse is written not only in the Scots language but also in the Scottish English dialect of the English language.
As Burns’ Night approaches, on 25th January, we offer some help with 'Tam O’ Shanter'. You can find below the first verses as written by Robert Burns, together with a translation in English which keeps the spirit of the work. We will share the rest day by day. Stay posted!
'Tam O' Shanter' is Burns’ epic poem in which Burns presents a vivid picture of the drinking classes in the old Scottish town of Ayr in the late 18th century. The poem features several characters : Tam himself, his friend Souter (Cobbler) Johnnie and Tam’s long suffering wife Kate. We meet Kirkton Jean, the ghostly, "winsome wench", Cutty Sark and Tam’s horse, Maggie.
As we approach the 25th of January we will post the complete poem and its translation day by day.
HRH Queen Elizabeth II as patron of The Dough School (The Queen's College, Glasgow) - The Glasgow Cookery Book
The Haggis Mystery
The poem which we know as ’Address to a Haggis’ was written in 1786 - one of Burns's most famous and regularly performed poems.
Researching ‘AN OLD FARMER'S NEW YEAR'S MORNING SALUTATION’ we were distracted by a reference to the ‘Address to a Haggis’ which entitled it: ‘An Address To A Scotch Haggis on New Year’s Day’.
In 1806, it was part of a chapbook pamphlet published by Charles Randall, Stirling, with the title ‘An Address To A Scotch Haggis on New Year’s Day’, as a ‘filler’ supporting ‘The Auld Farmer’s Salutation To His Auld Mare Maggy’.
Burns didn’t call it ‘An Address To A Scotch Haggis on New Year’s Day’.
Where did that come from?
There are various stories linked to the writing of 'Address To A Haggis’.
• The first found, was contained in a caption relating to an engraving:
Archibald Prentice of Covington Mains, near Lanark, farmer, and friend of the Poet, known as "The Gudeman o' the Mains."
Mr. Prentice subscribed for 20 copies of the Edinburgh edition of the poems.
Burns, when on his way to Edinburgh in 1778, stayed overnight with Prentice. A sheet hoisted on a stack in the yard was the signal of the Poet's arrival, and all the neighbours assembled. To them, at supper time, the Poet recited the ‘Address to a Haggis’, composed for the occasion.
• Other accounts of the evening at Covington Mains make no mention of ‘Address to a Haggis’ but do however recount a telling of the ’Jolly Beggars’.
‘Robert Burns, in his itinerary to Edinburgh (per Mr Thomas Somerville LLD, nephew of Archibald Prentice) spent a night at the farmhouse of Mr Prentice, Covington Mains, near Carnwath. Archibald Prentice informed his brother farmers that Burns was expected at the Mains and a white sheet hoisted on a cornstack was to be a notice of his arrival and for all to assemble. Rev Briye Little, minister of the parish, Lang the schoolmaster and his brother the minister of Leadhills were present. Burns’s wonderful conversational powers drawn out by intelligent gentlemen and congenial friends carried all by storm. Songs and recitations, now grave, now gay, melted and cheered them by turns. In their excitement Burns said he would give the best yet after Mrs Prentice had left the room. She told him to go on – she would not leave the room that night. Burns then said, “Here is for the ‘Jolly Beggars’ (which was not published till after his death). Next morning accompanied by Prentice and the two Lang brothers, Burns breakfasted at Mr John Stoddart’s bank. On the way Mr Lang, of Leadhills asked Burns for a repetition of the ‘Jolly Beggars’. He replied ‘Na, na, Mr Lang, the inspiration is gone.’
• The Edinburgh Literary Journal, 1829 : “About 16 years ago, there resided at Mauchline, a Mr Robert Morrison, cabinet-maker. He was a great crony of Burns and it was in Mr Morrison's house that the poet usually spent the ‘mids o’ the day’ on Sunday. It was in this house that he wrote his celebrated ‘Address To A Haggis’ after partaking liberally of that dish, as prepared by Mrs Morrison.
• According to Robert Chambers, Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd has, on the contrary, averred that the poem was written in the house of Mr Andrew Bruce of Castle Hill, Edinburgh after in like manner partaking of the dish, but declares that it was first published in the Scots Magazine for January 1787. It was indeed published then, but it was actually first published on Tuesday December 19th 1786 when the poem appeared in The Caledonian Mercury with the heading :
FOR THE CALEDONIAN MERCURY
ADDRESS TO A HAGGICE.
BY R. BURNS
[NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED]
But there’s a difference to the last verse that we are familiar with.
The Caledonian Mercury has, as the last verse :
Ye
Pow’rs wha gie us a’ that’s gude,
Still
bless auld Caledonia’s brood
Wi’
great John Barleycorn’s heart’s blude
In
strowps or luggies;
And
on our board that king o’ food,
A
glorious Haggice!
The last verse – as we know today is :
Ye Pow’rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o’ fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu’ prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!
• The Life & Works of Robert Burns, 1852, edited by Robert Chambers, features the original last verse as an impromptu Grace given by Burns :
EXTEMPORANEOUS GRACE ON A HAGGIS
It has been stated, that being present at a party where a haggis formed part of the entertainment, and being asked to say something appropriate on the occasion, Bums produced this stanza by way of grace; which being well received, he was induced to expand it into the poem entitled ‘To a Haggis’, retaining the verse in an altered form as a peroration. [The concluding part of a speech, typically intended to inspire enthusiasm in the audience.]
Robert Crawford’s The Bard, in which Crawford states “The best new poem Burns added (to the Edinburgh Edition) was ‘To a Haggis’. Perhaps composed in Mauchline for a ‘Haggis Club’ harvest supper in 1785 (as John Richmond claimed) the poem was certainly ready in time for 19 December’s Caledonian Mercury – a ‘taster’ for his second edition.
It seems unlikely that Burns composed a poem of 48 lines with 267 words ‘there and then’ at dinner on Castle Hill.
Perhaps it began at Mauchline, in Mr Morrison's house, and Robert Burns worked away at it and was perhaps able to perform it at Castle Hill – from memory.
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