The Early History Of "Why Should We Idly Waste Our Prime"
Nov 2018
The Early History Of "Why Should We Idly Waste Our Prime"
Patrick Scott
Discusses varying editorial opinions on the origin and authorship of the radical song, "Why Should We Idly Waste Our Prime," first included in a Burns edition in the 1830s, and undertakes textual comparison between a number of versions of the song printed in the mid-1790s and later, in London, Belfast, and Newcastle, to suggest the ways in which such songs might be adapted and modified to fit changing political circumstances. Current version an unedited prepublication text, not in final form or with pagination.
The Kilmarnock Census: An Update, Patrick Scott, Allan Young
Nov 2018
The Kilmarnock Census: An Update, Patrick Scott, Allan Young
Patrick Scott
Records and describes two further copies of Burns's first book, noted since publication of The Kilmarnock Burns: A Census (2017), one at Mount St Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and one in the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library, Lexington, MA, bringing the current total of located extant copies to 86.
Burns’S Reading Of Milton, Or How Big Was Burns’S Pocket?, Patrick Scott
Nov 2018
Burns’S Reading Of Milton, Or How Big Was Burns’S Pocket?, Patrick Scott
Patrick Scott
Locates and describes a copy of Milton's Poetical Works with the ownership signature of Robert Burns, traces its provenance, and assesses the likelihood that it was the "pocket Milton" Burns told William Nicol in June 1787 that he had bought himself and carried with him "perpetually" to study "the dauntless magnanimity; the intrepid, unyielding independance; the desperate daring, and noble defiance of hardship, in that great Personage, Satan."
Burns And The Edinburgh Gazetteer: A New Resource, Patrick Scott
Nov 2018
Burns And The Edinburgh Gazetteer: A New Resource, Patrick Scott
Patrick Scott
A description of the recent digital edition of the Edinburgh Gazetteer (1792-1794), edited by Rhona Brown of the University of Glasgow, and a brief account of Burns's contact with its editor, William Johnston, the contributions to it by Burns and his neighbour Robert Riddell, government hostility to its publication, and the value of the digital version for Burnsians exploring the Scottish political climate of the 1790s.
Robert Burns: A Documentary Volume, Patrick Scott
Oct 2018
Robert Burns: A Documentary Volume, Patrick Scott
Patrick Scott
This volume in the long-established Dictionary of Literary Biography series collects primary source materials on Burns’s life, reading, and writing; contemporary descriptions of the places he lived; reviews and selected poetic responses; obituaries; and contextual material on such topics as Ayrshire agriculture, the duties of an excise officer, song-editing, and 1790’s radicalism. Along with over 300 documents and extracts, the book includes 34 manuscript facsimiles, 45 sidebars on special topics, 10 maps, and over 100 supporting illustrations. The link here is to the preface only, describing the book in more detail; the book itself is available in print, as an …
Selected Essays On Robert Burns, G. Ross Roy, Patrick Scott, Elizabeth A. Sudduth, Jo Durant
Mar 2018
Selected Essays On Robert Burns, G. Ross Roy, Patrick Scott, Elizabeth A. Sudduth, Jo Durant
Patrick Scott
This book collects essays and talks about Robert Burns by the Burns scholar G. Ross Roy (1924-2013). Along with introductions to such well-known Burns poems as "Tam o' Shanter" and "Auld Lang Syne," it includes essays discussing Burns's attitudes to the French Revolution, politics, and religion, his love-letters to Clarinda, The Merry Muses of Caledonia, poems written about Burns, and the editing of Burns's works. The volume opens with some autobiographical reflections about reading and working on Burns that Ross Roy recorded shortly before his death, and it concludes with an illustrated interview about his six decades as a …
