Mauchline and its Characters at the time of Rabbie Burns

[hahaya2004]

No. 12 Jean Armour (concluded)—a Monument to Burns
From the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald 07th August 1858

The attachment which Burns entertained towards Jean Armour was indeed a strong one. Severe as was the shock which it received from Jean's seemingly heartless desertion, and bitter as were the reproaches which, in the anguish of his soul, he poured forth on the unhappy girl, it had taken too deep a root in the poet's breast, to give way even before the fury of such a storm. Indeed it seemed as if, the agony of mind he had undergone on her count, instead of loosening, served but to tighten the more firmly the hold which Jean's image had upon his heart; and he never experienced anything like real peace of mind, till he returned from the capital to claim her as his wedded wife. Even before the first burst of wrath which her conduct had excited in his breast, was passed away, we find him thus writing to his friend Richmond:—'I have visited Armour since her return home, not from the least view of reconciliation, but merely to ask for her health, and, to you, I confess it, from a foolish, hankering fondness, very ill placed indeed'. He does not seem to have got much encouragement, however, on this occasion, for he adds, ' the mother forbade me the house, nor did Jean show that penitence that might have been expected. However the priest, I am informed, will give me a certificate as a single man, if I comply with the rules of the church, which for that very reason I intend to do.' In accordance with the intention here expressed, Burns commenced to make a series of public appearances, and he and Jean, after submitting to the censures of the church, were each presented with a certificate as free from the bonds of matrimony. On September 3, 1786, while the poet was busy in preparing for the press the first edition of his immortal works, as a means of assisting him to procure a passage across the Atlantic, an event happened, which was destined to influence in no small degree his future movements—Jean Armour brought into the world two twin children, who put in a mute but irresistible claim for the name and protection of Burns. Though the breach between the two families—the Burnses and the Armours—was as wide as ever, arrangements were immediately entered into by both parties for the future provision of the children. One, a fine boy, who received the name of his father, was guaranteed the protection of the Mossgiel family; the other, a girl who survived only fourteen months, was taken under the immediate charge of the mother herself. This was one tie more, which bound the poet to his native land, and, without doubt, it had considerable weight, in leading Burns, who was a man of strong affections, to renounce all intentions of seeking a living in plantations of Jamaica. A question has since been raised as to the legitimacy of these infants, and, strange to say, it has been pretty fairly established that the irregular marriage of Jean Armour and Robert Burns was never legally annulled, and that in the eye of human as well as Divine law they were still husband and wife, and their children legitimate in everything but the name.
The first edition of Burns' works met with the most flattering reception, and the voice of fame now called him to the capital. But amid the brilliant society of Edinburgh, and the intoxication of a nation's applause, he could never fairly banish from his thoughts, the simple village maiden he had so long and ardently loved, and on whose account he had so long and bitterly suffered. The very first time that he returned to Mauchline, in June, 1787, he could not resist the temptation, of calling in at James Armour's house—ostensibly to see his daughter, but with a secret desire, we doubt not, to see also the mother of his daughter, and to discover what feelings Jean now entertained towards him. The result may be easily guessed.
Burns was now no longer the poor struggling, luckless farmer whom James Armour had scouted as a son-in-law; but a man of fame and comparative affluence, recognised as the 'National Poet,' courted and caressed by all ranks and classes. The Armours received him now with open arms. Though the nobility of his disposition shrunk with disgust from this display of servility, Burns could not resist the force of Jeanie's charms; and the long-estranged pair were soon as intimate as ever. Too intimate; for they flew but too ardently into each others' arms.
The fact of their former connection served but as an excuse for a renewal of their imprudence.
When, in the following winter, the consequences of their renewed intercourse, became apparent, the indignation of James Armour against his daughter knew no bounds. Considering her now as finally lost, he turned her fairly out of doors; and when Burns came back to Mauchline in the end of February, he found her, as he himself says,—'banished like a martyr—forlorn, destitute, and friendless.' The poet did all he could for her in the circumstances. He obtained shelter for her, first of all, in the house of a friend, Mrs Muir, wife of the honest Tarbolton miller, who is alluded to in 'Dr Hornbook'; and then, after he had obtained a promise from Mrs Armour, that she would attend her daughter in her present delicate condition, removed Jean for that purpose to lodgings in Mauchline. In Burns' 'Family Bible,' the following record occurs, though obviously under an earlier date than the correct one: March 3, 1788—Were born to them twins again, two daughters, who died within a few days after their birth'. The birth of these infants is not entered in the parish register, probably because they did not live to be baptised.
Burns was now finally returned from Edinburgh, and he resolved on a real union with Jean Armour. In the circumstances of the case, he could not act honourably otherwise; for Jean was already by moral, and, as it afterwards appeared, by legal right his wife. The first intimation we have of this intention is given in the close of a letter to James Smith, dated April 28th, 1788 'Mrs Burns (it is only her private designation) begs her best compliments to you.' Before they could be united, however, by the regular ceremony, it was necessary again to submit to ecclesiastical rebuke. The following entry is taken from the session records of the Mauchline church:—"1788, August 5th,—Compeared [presented themselves before the session] Robert Burns with Jean Armour, his alleged spouse: They acknowledge their irregular marriage, and their sorrow for that irregularity, and desire that the session will take such steps as may seem to them proper, in order to the solemn confirmation of the said marriage. The session taking this affair under their consideration, agree that they both be rebuked for this acknowledged irregularity, and that they be solemnly engaged to adhere faithfully to one another as man and wife all the days of their life. In regard the session have a title in law to some fine for behoof of the poor, they agree to refer to Mr Burns' own generosity. The above sentence was accordingly executed, and the session absolved the said parties from any scandal on this account.

(Signed) William Auld, Moderator.
Robert Burns.
Jean Armour.

Mr Burns gave a guinea note for behoof of the poor". It appears that Jean Armour was finally united to the poet, on the 3rd Aug., by what is called a justice-of-peace marriage, in the writing chambers of Burns' friend and patron, Gavin Hamilton.
We must not regard Burns as forced into this union by his own imprudence, or led into it by commiseration for one whom he had once loved. We ought rather to view it as a sincere attachment, which had survived for years in the midst of everything which tended to discourage it, at length crowned with a lasting union, which had been looked forward to as desirable. But hear his own testimony on, this subject. 'I had' says he in a letter to Miss Chalmers, 'I had a long and much loved fellow-creature's happiness or misery in my determination, and I durst not trifle with so important a deposit. Nor have I any cause to repent it. If I have not got polite tattle, modish manners, and fashionable dress; I am not sickened and disgusted with the multiform curse of boarding -school affectation; and I have got the handsomest figure, the sweetest temper, the soundest constitution in the county.'
Burns was getting Ellisland prepared for the reception of his bride; and meanwhile he took an apartment in Main Street, which was thus honoured as being the place, where the poet and his Jean first 'took up house.' George Patrick tells us that, at that time, James Armour whose indignation against his daughter had plot yet fairly - subsided, would not suffer any of his family to carry over a single piece of furniture to the new house in Main Street. George himself carried over a few things for Jean, and among them her chaff-bed. The house of which Jean Armour thus for a time became mistress, is now, as we have formerly mentioned, occupied by an aged female, Mrs Paterson, (better known in the village by her maiden name of Bell Black,) who has herself some recollection of the poet. Many a visit she has had from the admirers of Burns, who were naturally eager to get a look at the house and bed once occupied by the poet and his bonny Jean; for there is still shown the identical bedstead which, being attached to the house, was used by Burns when he stayed beneath that humble roof. The worthy dame tells us that she has often been pressed by strangers, to allow them to pass a night on the same bed where the immortal bard, so oft before has reposed his wearied limbs after travelling all the way from Ellisland, to visit his Jean. One zealous admirer of Burns, on visiting this interesting relict of the poet, put a piece of money into Mrs Paterson's hands, and asked her if she had any objections to his getting inside the bed. Oh! no,' said the good lady, and immediately the stranger jumped in, boots and all, and rolled himself about among the bed-clothes with great satisfaction. Far from being displeased with the taste of her visitor, Mrs Paterson laughed heartily, and told him since he had paid for his share o' the bed, jist to tak' his pleasure o't.
Jean Armour is now become Mrs Bums, and henceforth her history mingles with that of the illustrious bard, and need not here be followed out. We may merely say that Mrs Burns proved a most faithful and exemplary wife, "conducting her household ' as Dr Currie tells with uniform prudence and good management.' Few could have performed so well the duties of a wife to such a man as Robert Burns. She was ever indulgent to his failings; and her sweetness of temper was so great, that she was always enabled to retain that gentleness of disposition which formed one of her chief attractions, even in the midst of the numerous provocations she had to undergo, from the occasional irregularities in which her husband indulged in the late years of his life. When these irregularities, too, were misrepresented and exaggerated after his death, the poet found nowhere a more zealous defender than in his noble-minded widow, who had herself been the greatest sufferer from his misconduct. She could assist him, too, in his intellectual pursuits; for she was blessed with an excellent memory, and could quote, especially from old Scotch songs, with great ease and accuracy. The bard read to her every piece he composed, and was never certain whether he had succeeded in any of his lyrics, till he heard the words and the tune together from her voice.
On the poet's death Mrs Burns performed an act of generosity which throws considerable lustre round her name. Burns had, when at the zenith of his fame, advanced £180 to his brother Gilbert, who had never yet been able to repay it. Now, however, on the death of his brother, Gilbert aware of the depressed circumstances in which Mrs Burns was placed, resolved to sell all he possessed in order to free himself from the debt hanging on his shoulders. Mrs Burns, when she heard of this intention, refused to accept a single farthing from her brother-in-law, though she had then a family of seven or eight depending on her; and this debt was not paid till twenty-four years afterwards, and even then without interest.
She was not long in meeting with her reward; for subscriptions for the poet's widow were opened in all the principal towns of the empire, and the sum of £700 raised for her by this means, This was evidently inadequate, however, and other £1400 was soon added to this sum, being the profits from Dr Currie's edition of Burn' works. Lord Panmure, in 1817 settled on her a pension of £50 a-year, and this she enjoyed for a year and a half, when her son James, having obtained a place in the commissariat, was thus enabled to accomplish the great object of his ambition, in freeing his mother from all dependence on a stranger's bounty. Through the liberality of her children, Mrs Burns spent the decline of her life in comparative affluence, and in April 1834, at the age of sixty-eight, she breathed her last in the same room where her husband had closed his brief and troubled career, thirty-eight years before.
Several relations of Mrs Burns are still living in Mauchline. Among these are a son and daughter of her sister Nelly, a widow of of her nephew Robert Armour; and a niece, daughter of her brother Adam, (who was doubly related to Burns, by marriage with Fanny Burns, a cousin of the poet's). It may be interesting to state that Mary Armour, the last-mentioned of these, has in her prossession[sic] a table of Nanse Tinnocks, procured from a nephew and successor of the alewife's, a chest which belonged to the poet, and which held his clothes; and a chest of drawers presented by Burns as a marriage gift to the mother of the present owners, and in which he was wont to keep his private papers.
Thus ends for the present our series of articles on Mauchline and its Characters'. The subject is still unexhausted, and may possibly be resumed at some future time. Meanwhile we would conclude by venturing to broach a subject which has been already agitated more than once, and which deserves the attention not only of the inhabitants of Mauchline, but also of all the admirers of Burns everywhere. The want of a public monument in Mauchline to the memory of Burns, has been long a matter of remark. Dumfries has its mausoleum, and Edinburgh and Ayr their monuments: why not Mauchline, a place perhaps more intimately associated with the name of the poet, than any of these places—have also some public memorial of its connection with the illustrious bard? The reasons which would urge us to take steps for supplying this want are very obvious to all. It is evidently a mark of disrespect to our national poet, that a place so intimately connected with his history, and consecrated by so many effusions of his genius, should be allowed to remain without a single stone to inform the stranger of the sacredness of the spot, and to remind the passer-by of the mighty genius who has hallowed the scenes by his presence. If Ayr was deemed worthy of a monument, because it was there the poet first saw the light; why should not Mauchline be considered entitled to the same honour, when it was here the light of his genius was first fully developed, and dazzled the world with its brightness? As the place where' Burns spent three years—three most momentous years of his life; where he formed the most important and the most endearing connections of his life; where he wrote the most numerous, as well as the most brilliant effusions of his genius; where, in short, every spot of ground is hallowed by some interesting associations regarding him—surely Mauchline can be allowed no longer to be without a monument to the memory of him, with whom it enjoys so close and honourable a connection.
We are glad to see that some of the leading inhabitants of Mauchline are beginning to entertain serious thoughts about setting on foot subscriptions for this purpose, and we trust that those who ought to take the lead in such a matter will not be backward in rendering their cordial assistance. The country will follow them, and a monument will be raised in honour of our poet, worthy of the object it is intended to fulfil.

(In common with ourselves our readers will regret the discontinuance, for a time at least, of the "Mauchline Sketches," which have been perused with great acceptance, and thrown much new light on that portion of the life of our own bard whilst he resided in the vicinity of Mauchline. The closing suggestion of the writer deserves attention. There could be no more appropriate site for a monument to his memory than the Cross of Mauchline. Every spot is associated with him, and the visitor (and how many would visit it) would feel himself treading, turn where he would, on ground hallowed by his genius.— ED. A. & S. H)

[Burns Memorial Tower, Mauchline
http://www.futuremuseum.co.uk/collectio ... hline.aspx ]