Robert Burns

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• Robert Burns, St George Cross, Glasgow
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• Ye Jacobites by Name, by Robert Burns. 
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• In the Glasgow University archives, early 2024, a manuscript of the 1791 version of Robert Burns' Ye Jacobite by Name, was discovered with Jacobite replaced by Black-Nebs. This term was used to describe supporters of the French Revolution. During that period in the 1790s where war would break out between Revolutionary France and the British Empire it was politically dangerous for anyone to openly support radical or revolutionary ideas. Therefore, the name was changed to Jacobites which was safer to use with the Jacobite threat no more, but it would be recognised by some to be code for Black-Nebs. Robert Burns was believed to have been a secret  Radical who expressed his ideas through songs and poems.

• https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/archiveofnews/2024/january/headline_1037953_en.html
  

• Ye Jacobites by Name, by Robert Burns

• Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear, give an ear,
  Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear,
  Ye Jacobites by name,
  Your fautes I will proclaim,
  Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear, you shall hear
  Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear.
  
  What is Right, and What is Wrang, by the law, by the law?
  What is Right and what is Wrang by the law?
  What is Right, and what is Wrang?
  A short sword, and a lang,
  A weak arm and a strang, for to draw, for to draw
  A weak arm and a strang, for to draw.
  
  What makes heroic strife, famed afar, famed afar?
  What makes heroic strife famed afar?
  What makes heroic strife?
  To whet th' assassin's knife,
  Or hunt a Parent's life, wi' bluidy war?
  
  Then let your schemes alone, in the state, in the state,
  Then let your schemes alone in the state.
  So let your schemes alone,
  Adore the rising sun,
  And leave a man undone, to his fate, to his fate.
  And leave a man undone, to his fate.

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• Scots Wha Hae -
  Charles Harvey Weigall (1794 - 1877) 

Scots Wha Hae

BY Robert Burns

Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,

Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;

Welcome to your gory bed,

         Or to victory!

Now's the day, and now's the hour;

See the front o' battle lour;

See approach proud Edward's power—

         Chains and slavery!

Wha will be a traitor knave?

Wha can fill a coward's grave!

Wha sae base as be a slave?

         Let him turn and flee!

Wha for Scotland's king and law

Freedom's sword will strongly draw,

Freeman stand, or freeman fa',

         Let him follow me!

By oppression's woes and pains!

By your sons in servile chains!

We will drain our dearest veins,

         But they shall be free!

Lay the proud usurpers low!

Tyrants fall in every foe!

Liberty's in every blow!—

         Let us do or die!

Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots, on the Approach of Spring - by Robert Burns

Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.  Bequethed by Adam Teacher, 1898.

After her defeat at the Battle of Langside on May 13th 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots crossed the Scottish border into England in expectation of support from Queen Elizabeth, of whom she considered her 'sister'

 Elizabeth however would ensure that Mary was placed under a strict form of house arrest, and for nineteen years Mary was practically a captive until she was accused of plotting the death of Elizabeth, and being tried and found quilty she was executed in 1587. In the poem Mary expressses her love for nature, with thoughts on her life as Queen of France then Scotland. She scorns the traitors  within her country and reserves vengeance for Elizabeth whom she accuses of betrayal. Mary wishes better fortune in governing Scotland to her son James VI whilst being aware that as the seasons change her death was drawing nearer.

Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots, on the Approach of Spring

By Robert Burns

Now Nature hangs her mantle green

    On every blooming tree,

And spreads her sheets o’ daisies white

    Out o’er the grassy lea:

Now Phoebus cheers the crystal streams,

    And glads the azure skies;

But nought can glad the weary wight

    That fast in durance lies.

Now lav’rocks wake the merry morn,

    Aloft on dewy wing;

The merle, in his noontide bow’r,

    Makes woodland echoes ring;

The mavis wild wi’ mony a note,

    Sings drowsy day to rest:

In love and freedom they rejoice,

    Wi’ care nor thrall opprest.

Now blooms the lily by the bank,

    The primrose down the brae;

The hawthorn’s budding in the glen,

    And milk-white is the slae;

The meanest hind in fair Scotland

    May rove their sweets amang;

But I, the Queen of a’ Scotland,

    Maun lie in prison strang!

I was the Queen o’ bonnie France,

    Where happy I hae been;

Fu’ lightly rase I in the morn,

    As blythe lay down at e’en:

And I’m the sov’reign o’ Scotland,

    And mony a traitor there;

Yet here I lie in foreign bands

    And never-ending care.

But as for thee, thou false woman!

    My sister and my fae,

Grim vengeance yet shall whet a sword

    That thro’ thy soul shall gae!

The weeping blood in woman’s breast

    Was never known to thee;

Nor th’ balm that draps on wounds of woe

    Frae woman’s pitying e’e.

My son! my son! may kinder stars

    Upon thy fortune shine;

And may those pleasures gild thy reign,

    That ne’er wad blink on mine!

God keep thee frae thy mother’s faes,

    Or turn their hearts to thee:

And where thou meet’st thy mother’s friend

    Remember him for me!

O! soon, to me, may summer suns

    Nae mair light up the morn!

Nae mair, to me, the autumn winds

    Wave o’er the yellow corn!

And in the narrow house o’ death

    Let winter round me rave;

And the next flow’rs that deck the spring

    Bloom on my peaceful grave!

(By Alan Nasmyth, 1787)

Robert Burns January 25, 1759 - July 21, 1796

A Man’s a Man for a’ that

Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an’ a’ that;
The coward-slave, we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that.
Our toils obscure an’ a’ that,
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The Man’s the gowd for a’ that.

What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an’ a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man’s a Man for a’ that:
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that;
The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that.

Ye see yon birkie ca’d a lord,
Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that,
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a coof for a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
His ribband, star, an’ a’ that,
The man o’ independent mind,
He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.

A Prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an’ a’ that!
But an honest man’s aboon his might Guid faith, he mauna fa’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Their dignities, an’ a’ that,
The pith o’ Sense an’ pride o’ Worth
Are higher rank than a’ that.

Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a’ that,
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth
Shall bear the gree an’ a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s comin yet for a’ that,
That Man to Man the warld o’er
Shall brithers be for a’ that.

Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a’ that,
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth
Shall bear the gree an’ a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s comin yet for a’ that,
That Man to Man the warld o’er
Shall brithers be for a’ that.

Robert Burns first published this poem anonymously in the Glasgow Magazine, August, 1795, a Radical publication. The poem reflects the ideas of social equality and republicanism that was prevalent during that period, and which was being promoted by groups like the the Society of the Friends of the People in Scotland. 

 Not being of a high enough social class to vote, Burns used his pen and poetry to express his ideals about a world where people are equal. Expressing revolutionary ideas was dangerous in Scotland, especially as the British Empire was locked in a global conflict with revolutionary France.

For example, in 1793, radical lawyer Thomas Muir and the Scottish Martyrs for Liberty were put on trial and sentenced to Botany Bay for what was called sedition, the crime of producing pamphlets and leaflets demanding parliamentary reform. Burns supposedly wrote the patriotic song "Scots Wha Hae" during Muir's trial, and whilst Muir's name is not mentioned and the lyrics center around the medieval wars of independence, it is believed that Burns used this composition to express his support for the cause of the Scottish Martyrs. In much the same way A Man’s a Man for a’ that

was Burn's contribution to the cause of equal rights for all. 

St George's Square 

Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation

(By Walter Thomas Monnington (1902-1976), The signing of the Act of Union, 1707)

Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation

Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame,

Fareweel our ancient glory;

Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name,

Sae fam'd in martial story.

Now Sark rins over Solway sands,

An' Tweed rins to the ocean,

To mark where England's province stands-

Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

What force or guile could not subdue,

Thro' many warlike ages,

Is wrought now by a coward few,

For hireling traitor's wages.

The English steel we could disdain,

Secure in valour's station;

But English gold has been our bane -

Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

O would, ere I had seen the day

That Treason thus could sell us,

My auld grey head had lien in clay,

Wi' Bruce and loyal Wallace!

But pith and power, till my last hour,

I'll mak this declaration;

We're bought and sold for English gold-

Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

Robert Burns was born on 25 January 1759, on a dark and windy night in the village of Alloway in Ayrshire. He was born the son of poor tenant farmers and was the eldest of seven children. A good education allowed him to pursue his artistic ambitions, and in the course of his life he wrote and composed a immense collection of poetry and songs that have been recited and sang for over 200 years and across the globe. 

Recognised as Scotland's national poet and a hero and inspiration to millions throughout the ages, in his birthplace of Alloway there is a museum dedicated to him which attracts thousands of visitors per year.

 His song "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and at New Year celebrations across  the world. His song "Scots Wha Hae" was once considered the unofficial  national anthem of the country. Other  songs and poems known across the world; "A Parcel of Rogues in a Nation",  "A Red, Red Rose" (which Bob Dylan once cited as a major inspiration in his song writing), "A Man's a Man for A' That", "To a Louse", "To a Mouse", "The Battle of Sherramuir", "Tam o' Shanter" and "Ae Fond Kiss".

At the young age of 37 he would die on July 21, 1796 at his home in Dumfries

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