Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-04-04

1 fAipis boDEIA Du AlS II Win MS Odu1l
ter" On the delivery ofthis messing
, Mr.. Armor refused to credit it; supp,
| sing himself trihed with. Jean was h
, favorite child, and in Burns he saw III
: INDECENT, unfortunate and researches
peasant. After the advertisement ha
taken place, the stern old man, with
fall knowledge ofall the circumstances
babe Burns begone for ever.
After Miss Armor's, or rather Mrs
Burns illness, Kennedy, in passing tn
farm where the poet and his brothe
Gilbert struggled to obtain subsistence
was requested by the former, to be
come the bearer of a gift to his ''pool
wife" The present, hoisted by hi:
brawny arm to the pommel ofthe sad
die, consisted Of bag filled with the
substantial delicacics of farm Penu.
~, approaching to absolute destitution,
admitted him no choice of gentle souv.
enirsl kennedy's road lay to killmar-
noe, but 'there was nae resisting Ro-
bert" and he journied to Mauchlinc.
On his arrival, Mistress Armor Ito her
n. attributes a the difficulty violently
protesting against admitting him to an
interview with her daughter, besides
bestowlng on HIM sundry uncoremoni-
Gus appellations for be-lriending the
"rake-belly" Burns. The lady how
ever, in this instance, was overrulcd
by her husband, and X. was permitted
to proceed to the apartment where Mrs
Burns was confined to her bed. He
had mae been there aboon fifteen min
utes," when he heard a scrambling on
the stairs, and ''Och, sic a screaming,
when Burns burst into the room, hot
" pursued by the lady of the mansion
who, i'll turn, was as closely followed
by her inflriatcd husband. Burns flew
TO the bed, and, ''putting his face to
Jeans, and sine to each Of the wee
BARNS, wept like ony child; and Ochl
had we been there, ye're heart would
have burst as mine did," This only
outraged the uniccling parents.--The
sequel is well known. The harsh and
cruel father having obtained from them
the documentary evidence oftheir clan
de8tine marriage, destroyed it. The
thundcrs of the Kirk, ]" exasperated by
the publication of'IIoly Willies' prayer
now burst upon his shelterlcss head.
The history Of that famous produc-
ton is as follows Gavin Hamilton, Esq
Clerk of Ayr, who was our poets
friend and benefactor, was accosted on
a Sabbath morning, by a mendicant
who begged aims of him. Alas poor
houses and penitentiarics have driven
the Edie Ochiltrees--the blue gowned
gaborlunzies Of lang syne, from the
face of bonny Scotland. Hamilton,
without the day occurring to him set
the man laboring in his kali patch.
This, unfortunately, lay on the public
road, and the poor fellow was discov-
cred by the people on their way to
Kirk, who zealously stoned him off
from the ground. For this offence,
Hamilton was not permitted (until he
appealed to the synod to have child
christened, which his wife bore him
soon after that event. His most oilici-
Gus opposer was one William Fisher,
one Of the digntaries of the church. 1t
was this individual who sat for tho por-
trait in the Prayer, which was written
by Burns, to revenge the insult offered
to his patron. Kennedy received CO.
py of it by post, with request to try
its effects upon its immortalized SUBJ
ect. This was Immediately complied
with. The description given Of the
scene by X. is highly ludicrous and a.
musing. Willie unhesitatingly attrib-
uted it to the ''black guard Burns" |
have no limits to give the story.
| An occasion was now presented, by
the destruction of the proofs of Burns
marriage, for cancclling the long score
of vengeance. In his own words, the
hell-hounds of the law were uncoupled
upon him. His sad experience had
never led him TO feel the business ofthe
exclamation of his Roman fellow bard.
so fortunatos minimum, qua 81 bona novit
Agricolas!"
And he now, cloven down in every
thing but the native independence OF
his soul, was compelled to surrender
the lease of those lands he had SO fire.
quently toiled on. When he was on
the point of embarking for the West
Indies, the change produced in his for
tunes by the publication of his poems,
is well known. Courted and caressed
by the literary and the noble; he de-
manded and obtained the hand he had
been so ruthlessly deprived of.
| Kennedy's acquaintance with his
friend was dropped about this time, as
he removed into distant part of the
country. The old gentleman having
| Il - Al