Burns and Stair - John McVie
Robert Burns and his friend David Sillar were regular visitors to the kitchen of Stair House, where Sillar's sweetheart Peggy Orr worked as nurse-maid. After one such visit, Burns had left behind some songs in manuscript form which were later shown to Mrs. Stewart. Suitably impressed with the quality of the writing, Mrs Stewart duly invited Burns to meet with her on his next visit to Stair.
Tradition suggests that this was the one and only meeting between patroness and poet. However, considerable correspondence followed from which emerged two great collections of manuscripts.
Others say:
Margaret or Peggy Orr was a nurserymaid at Stair House and Robert Burns lent a hand as a 'blackfoot' with his friends courtship of this lady, however the engagement was brief and she later married John Paton, an Edinburgh shoemaker. In his first 'Epistle to Davie' entitled 'An Epistle to Davy, a Brother-Poet, Lover, Ploughman and Fiddler, Burns wrote :-
:There's a' the pleasures o' the heart,
:The lover an' the frien' ,
:You hae your Meg,
:your dearest part,
:And I my darling Jean.
Catherine Stewart of Stair and Afton Lodge, the wife of Major-General Alexander Stewart, became aware of 'Robert Burns the poet' through his visits with David and she was the first member of the upper classes to acknowledge his ability and befriend him. Burns sent her a number of his poems in a document known as the 'Stair Manuscripts'.
Burns would visit the thatched cottage at the Clachan of Milton in which Mailly Crosbie lived, onetime housekeeper at Stair House and a friend from the days of David Sillars attempts at courtship. The family kept the handleless cup from which Burns used to drink as a souvenir.
8vo. Pp, 105. Frontis. and 3 plates. Original cloth. A very nice copy.
Robert Burns and his friend David Sillar were regular visitors to the kitchen of Stair House, where Sillar's sweetheart Peggy Orr worked as nurse-maid. After one such visit, Burns had left behind some songs in manuscript form which were later shown to Mrs. Stewart. Suitably impressed with the quality of the writing, Mrs Stewart duly invited Burns to meet with her on his next visit to Stair.
Tradition suggests that this was the one and only meeting between patroness and poet. However, considerable correspondence followed from which emerged two great collections of manuscripts.
Others say:
Margaret or Peggy Orr was a nurserymaid at Stair House and Robert Burns lent a hand as a 'blackfoot' with his friends courtship of this lady, however the engagement was brief and she later married John Paton, an Edinburgh shoemaker. In his first 'Epistle to Davie' entitled 'An Epistle to Davy, a Brother-Poet, Lover, Ploughman and Fiddler, Burns wrote :-
:There's a' the pleasures o' the heart,
:The lover an' the frien' ,
:You hae your Meg,
:your dearest part,
:And I my darling Jean.
Catherine Stewart of Stair and Afton Lodge, the wife of Major-General Alexander Stewart, became aware of 'Robert Burns the poet' through his visits with David and she was the first member of the upper classes to acknowledge his ability and befriend him. Burns sent her a number of his poems in a document known as the 'Stair Manuscripts'.
Burns would visit the thatched cottage at the Clachan of Milton in which Mailly Crosbie lived, onetime housekeeper at Stair House and a friend from the days of David Sillars attempts at courtship. The family kept the handleless cup from which Burns used to drink as a souvenir.
8vo. Pp, 105. Frontis. and 3 plates. Original cloth. A very nice copy.
Robert Burns and his friend David Sillar were regular visitors to the kitchen of Stair House, where Sillar's sweetheart Peggy Orr worked as nurse-maid. After one such visit, Burns had left behind some songs in manuscript form which were later shown to Mrs. Stewart. Suitably impressed with the quality of the writing, Mrs Stewart duly invited Burns to meet with her on his next visit to Stair.
Tradition suggests that this was the one and only meeting between patroness and poet. However, considerable correspondence followed from which emerged two great collections of manuscripts.
Others say:
Margaret or Peggy Orr was a nurserymaid at Stair House and Robert Burns lent a hand as a 'blackfoot' with his friends courtship of this lady, however the engagement was brief and she later married John Paton, an Edinburgh shoemaker. In his first 'Epistle to Davie' entitled 'An Epistle to Davy, a Brother-Poet, Lover, Ploughman and Fiddler, Burns wrote :-
:There's a' the pleasures o' the heart,
:The lover an' the frien' ,
:You hae your Meg,
:your dearest part,
:And I my darling Jean.
Catherine Stewart of Stair and Afton Lodge, the wife of Major-General Alexander Stewart, became aware of 'Robert Burns the poet' through his visits with David and she was the first member of the upper classes to acknowledge his ability and befriend him. Burns sent her a number of his poems in a document known as the 'Stair Manuscripts'.
Burns would visit the thatched cottage at the Clachan of Milton in which Mailly Crosbie lived, onetime housekeeper at Stair House and a friend from the days of David Sillars attempts at courtship. The family kept the handleless cup from which Burns used to drink as a souvenir.
8vo. Pp, 105. Frontis. and 3 plates. Original cloth. A very nice copy.