Letter going on display reveals Burns’ modesty

Note: Writing to one of his closest friends, poet claims he did not want to be famous

A letter from Robert Burns claiming he did not want to be famous, is to go on public view for the first time in more than 100 years.

The letter to William Niven, one of Burns’ oldest friends, will go on special display at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh tomorrow to celebrate Burns Day.

The two pages signed “Robt Burns” were acquired by the library in July last year at Christie’s in London for £3,250, after being in private hands since 1899.

They tell of an evening Burns spent with his former schoolfriend in Maybole in Ayrshire, near to where they had gone to school.

The letter was written on August 30 1786, just weeks after publication of his first work The Kilmarnock Volume, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect.

Burns, who was 27 years old at the time, was planning to emigrate to Jamaica, but the enthusiastic reception of his published poems saw him instead head for Edinburgh, and literary fame.

In the letter, he refers to the recently published work, telling his friend: “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’.”

Dr Ralph McLean, specialist at the National Library of Scotland, said Burns was claiming he did not seek fame but it was false modesty.

He said: “In this letter it looks like Burns is shying away from fame, but I think he’s being falsely modest.

“I think he’s saying ‘please don’t be singing these songs’, but with a twinkle in his eye and actually he’s perfectly happy for people to be going around mouthing his performances.

“This is Burns right at the beginning of his career effectively. Only a small number of the Kilmarnock edition were published and the large majority of those who subscribed to those volumes were local people in the Kilmarnock area.

“I think he’s actually delighted that people were going around singing his songs.

“He’s saying on one hand he doesn’t want people sharing the poems out loud, but on the other he’s handing out copies to all his friends.”

It goes on show at the library tomorrow from 11am to 3pm. Entry is free.

The letter was bought at auction for £3,250.

Burns wrote the letter in 1786.