Beschreibung:

BURNS, Robert (1759-1796). Autograph letter signed ('Robt Burns') to William Niven, Mossgiel, 30 August 1786. 1½ pages, approx 225 x 185mm, on a bifolium with integral address (losses of about 50 x 35mm and 15 x 35mm to outer margin, affecting 8 lines of text, and to a blank portion of the address leaf; old mounting and restoration). Framed and glazed. Provenance : recorded in 1899 as 'in the possession of Mr Rennie, Union Bank [Maybole]'; and by descent. 'Never blow my Songs among the Million, as I would abhor to hear every prentice mouthing my poor performance in the streets' . Burns writes after an enjoyable evening with his old schoolfriend in Maybole, and sends his regards to 'the worthy knot of lads you introduced me to. – Never did I meet with as many congenial souls together, without one dissonant jar in the Concert'. There is an implication of some extravagant behaviour on Burns's part, as in relation to 'two truly worthy old gentlemen' Burns observes ruefully 'I am afraid the conduct you forced me on may make them see me in a light I would fondly think I do not deserve'. He goes on to refer to his recently-published Kilmarnock volume ( Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect , which had been published on 31 July): 'In the mean time remember this, Never blow my Songs among the Million, as I would abhor to hear every prentice mouthing my poor performance in the streets. Every one of [my] Maybole friends are welcome to a copy, if they chuse ... as a small [mark] of my respect for them: a respect as sincere as [the love] of dying saints'. The letter opens with an apology for not having altogether fulfilled a promise (or perhaps repaid a debt) – 'but you know [the old] Proverb "The break o' a day's no' the br[eak o' a] bargain." Have patience and I will [pay you] all'. The letter, to one of his earliest friends, dates from a crisis in Burns's life: he had repudiated his marriage to Jean Armour on 25 June and transferred his share of Mossgiel farm to his brother on 22 July; following the publication of the Poems on 31 July he was at the time of this letter still planning to emigrate to Jamaica (a plan he only postponed on 1 September). Following the enthusiastic reception of his published poems, however, Burns set out for Edinburgh – and literary fame – on 26 November. Letters from before the Edinburgh expedition are rare at auction: according to ABPC, only a letter to James Smith of c.1 August 1786 (about his courtship with Jean Armour) predates this amongst auction examples. The text was first published by R. Lawson of Maybole in the Burns Chronicle and Club Directory , January 1899, when the letter was evidently still intact, but with a few inaccuracies (notably 'blaze' for 'blow' in Burns's striking disclaimer of a desire for popularity).