116-451: Whistle-Binkie, or, The piper of the party: Being a collection of songs for the social circle was a Scottish poetry and song anthology first appearing in 1832. There were later volumes under the same title, at least four more anthologies, and collected editions appearing from 1853. The style of verse typically was in imitation of Robert Burns . The series was enduringly popular, and the final Whistle Binkie anthology appeared in 1890. While
232-788: A "heaven-taught ploughman". Burns influenced later Scottish writers, especially Hugh MacDiarmid , who fought to dismantle what he felt had become a sentimental cult that dominated Scottish literature. Burns had a significant influence on Alexander McLachlan and some influence on Robert Service . While this may not be so obvious in Service's English verse, which is Kiplingesque, it is more readily apparent in his Scots verse. History of education in Scotland#adventure schools The history of education in Scotland in its modern sense of organised and institutional learning, began in
348-438: A 1792 poem argued as an example of his abolitionist views, is disputed. His name is absent from any abolitionist petition written in Scotland during the period, and according to academic Lisa Williams, Burns "is strangely silent on the question of chattel slavery compared to other contemporary poets. Perhaps this was due to his government position, severe limitations on free speech at the time or his association with beneficiaries of
464-451: A Mouse ", " Epitaph for James Smith ", and " To a Mountain Daisy ", many of which had been written at Mossgiel farm. The success of the work was immediate, and soon he was known across the country. Burns postponed his planned emigration to Jamaica on 1 September, and was at Mossgiel two days later when he learnt that Jean Armour had given birth to twins. On 4 September Thomas Blacklock wrote
580-467: A Scottish grammar school, then Cambridge, before moving to Paris, where he matriculated in 1493. By 1497 the humanist and historian Hector Boece , born in Dundee and who had studied at Paris, returned to become the first principal at the new university of Aberdeen. These international contacts helped integrate Scotland into a wider European scholarly world and would be one of the most important ways in which
696-466: A bookseller in Trongate , Glasgow . The editor was John Donald Carrick , who also contributed to the collection. Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns , was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in
812-648: A chair of chemistry and medicine at Edinburgh (1713). It was Edinburgh's medical school , founded in 1732 that came to dominate. By the 1740s it had displaced Leiden as the major centre of medicine in Europe and was a leading centre in the Atlantic world. The universities still had their difficulties. The economic downturn in the mid-century forced the closure of St Leonard's College in St Andrews, whose properties and staff were merged into St Salvator's College to form
928-575: A completely new university on a greenfield site in 1966. Five existing degree awarding institutions became universities after 1992, as a result of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 . These were Abertay , Glasgow Caledonian , Napier , Paisley and Robert Gordon . In 2001 the University of the Highlands and Islands was created by a federation of 13 colleges and research institutions in
1044-659: A cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish diaspora around the world. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature . In 2009 he was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV . As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) " Auld Lang Syne "
1160-574: A family, he accepted a job offer from Patrick Douglas, an absentee landowner who lived in Cumnock , to work on his sugar plantations near Port Antonio , Jamaica . Douglas' plantations were managed by his brother Charles, and the job offer, which had a salary of £30 per annum, entailed working in Jamaica as a "book-keeper", whose duties included serving as an assistant overseer to the Black slaves on
1276-517: A four-volume edition of his complete works and a biography written by James Currie. Subscriptions were raised to meet the initial cost of publication, which was in the hands of Thomas Cadell and William Davies in London and William Creech, bookseller in Edinburgh. Hogg records that fund-raising for Burns's family was embarrassingly slow, and it took several years to accumulate significant funds through
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#17328017017961392-416: A friend of mine overthrew all my schemes, by opening new prospects to my poetic ambition. The Doctor belonged to a set of critics for whose applause I had not dared to hope. His opinion that I would meet with encouragement in Edinburgh for a second edition, fired me so much, that away I posted for that city, without a single acquaintance, or a single letter of introduction." On 27 November 1786 Burns borrowed
1508-593: A largely illiterate society. In the High Middle Ages new sources of education arose, with song and grammar schools . These were usually attached to cathedrals or a collegiate church and were most common in the developing burghs. By the end of the Middle Ages grammar schools could be found in all the main burghs and some small towns. Early examples including the High School of Glasgow in 1124 and
1624-524: A lasting impression on, the 16-year-old Walter Scott , who described him later with great admiration: [His person was strong and robust;] his manners rustic, not clownish, a sort of dignified plainness and simplicity which received part of its effect perhaps from knowledge of his extraordinary talents. His features are presented in Mr Nasmyth's picture but to me it conveys the idea that they are diminished, as if seen in perspective. I think his countenance
1740-528: A letter expressing admiration for the poetry in the Kilmarnock volume, and suggesting an enlarged second edition. A copy of it was passed to Burns, who later recalled, "I had taken the last farewell of my few friends, my chest was on the road to Greenock; I had composed the last song I should ever measure in Scotland ;– 'The Gloomy night is gathering fast' – when a letter from Dr Blacklock to
1856-463: A local needs and sometimes took pupils away from the official schools. Outside of the established burgh schools, masters often combined their position with other employment, particularly minor posts within the kirk, such as clerk. At their best, the curriculum included catechism , Latin , French , Classical literature and sports. In 1616 an act in Privy council commanded every parish to establish
1972-527: A local plasterer of Queensbury Street, Dumfries. The skull was later returned to the tomb. A plaster cast was sent to George Combe , a Scottish lawyer and practitioner of phrenology based in Edinburgh. Combe published a report about his findings, entitled ‘Phrenological development of Robert Burns. From a cast on his skull moulded at Dumfries, the 31st day of March, 1834’. It is unknown how many casts were made by Fraser, with some sources reporting three were made. Six casts are known though some may be copies of
2088-469: A major influence on late medieval religious thought. After the outbreak of the Wars of Independence, with occasional exceptions under safe conduct, English universities were closed to Scots and continental universities became more significant. Some Scottish scholars became teachers in continental universities. At Paris this included John De Rate and Walter Wardlaw in the 1340s and 1350s, William de Tredbrum in
2204-502: A paper attesting his marriage to Jean, but her father "was in the greatest distress, and fainted away". To avoid disgrace, her parents sent her to live with her uncle in Paisley . Although Armour's father initially forbade it, they were married in 1788. Armour bore him nine children, three of whom survived infancy. Burns had encountered financial difficulties due to his lack of success as a farmer. In order to make enough money to support
2320-432: A physical relationship, Burns moved on to Jenny Clow (1766–1792), Nancy's domestic servant, who bore him a son, Robert Burns Clow, in 1788. He also had an affair with a servant girl, Margaret "May" Cameron . His relationship with Nancy concluded in 1791 with a final meeting in Edinburgh before she sailed to Jamaica for what turned out to be a short-lived reconciliation with her estranged husband. Before she left, he sent her
2436-609: A poet. He continued to write poems and songs and began a commonplace book in 1783, while his father fought a legal dispute with his landlord. The case went to the Court of Session , and Burnes was upheld in January 1784, a fortnight before he died. Robert and Gilbert made an ineffectual struggle to keep on the farm, but after its failure they moved to Mossgiel Farm , near Mauchline , in March, which they maintained with an uphill fight for
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#17328017017962552-535: A pony and set out for Edinburgh . On 14 December William Creech issued subscription bills for the first Edinburgh edition of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect , which was published on 17 April 1787. Within a week of this event, Burns had sold his copyright to Creech for 100 guineas. For the edition, Creech commissioned Alexander Nasmyth to paint the oval bust-length portrait now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery , which
2668-399: A publisher commissioned arrangements of "Scottish, Welsh and Irish Airs" by such eminent composers of the day as Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven , with new lyrics. The contributors of lyrics included Burns. While such arrangements had wide popular appeal, Beethoven's music was more advanced and difficult to play than Thomson intended. Burns described how he had to master singing
2784-476: A reversion to the 1633 position, in 1696 new legislation restored the provisions of 1646 together with means of enforcement "more suitable to the age". Underlining the aim of having a school in every parish. In rural communities these obliged local landowners (heritors) to provide a schoolhouse and pay a schoolmaster, while ministers and local presbyteries oversaw the quality of the education. In many Scottish towns, burgh schools were operated by local councils. By
2900-596: A school "where convenient means may be had", and when the Parliament of Scotland ratified this with the Education Act 1633 , a tax on local landowners was introduced to provide the necessary endowment. A loophole which allowed evasion of this tax was closed in the Education Act 1646 , which established a solid institutional foundation for schools on Covenanter principles. Although the Restoration brought
3016-447: A shorter time and to a lower level. They were frequently taught reading, sewing and knitting, but not writing. Female illiteracy rates based on signatures among female servants were around 90 percent, from the late seventeenth to the early eighteenth centuries and perhaps 85 percent for women of all ranks by 1750, compared with 35 per cent for men. Among the nobility there were many educated and cultured women, of which Mary, Queen of Scots
3132-413: A state-funded national system of free basic education and common examinations. At the beginning of the 19th century Scottish universities had no entrance exam, students typically entered at ages of 15 or 16, attended for as little as two years, chose which lectures to attend and left without qualifications. After two commissions of enquiry in 1826 and 1876 and reforming acts of parliament in 1858 and 1889,
3248-577: A third of the 600 songs in the whole collection, as well as making a considerable editorial contribution. The final volume was published in 1803. On his return from Edinburgh in February 1788, he resumed his relationship with Jean Armour and they married in March 1788. He took out a lease on Ellisland Farm, Dumfriesshire, settling there in June. He also took up a training position as an exciseman or gauger, which involved long rides and detailed bookkeeping. He
3364-569: A warrant for an enormous sum ... I am wandering from one friend's house to another." On 31 July 1786 John Wilson published the volume of works by Robert Burns, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect . Known as the Kilmarnock volume , it sold for 3 shillings and contained much of his best writing, including "The Twa Dogs" (which features Luath, his Border Collie ), " Address to the Deil ", " Halloween ", " The Cotter's Saturday Night ", " To
3480-684: Is considered to be the first work of modern economics. Hugh Blair (1718–1800) was a minister of the Church of Scotland and held the Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at the University of Edinburgh. He produced an edition of the works of Shakespeare and is best known for Sermons (1777-1801), Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1783). The focus of the Scottish Enlightenment ranged from intellectual and economic matters to
3596-399: Is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and " Scots Wha Hae " served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well known across the world today include " A Red, Red Rose ", " 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 ". Burns
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3712-694: Is set to the tune of "Major Graham" and " The Battle of Sherramuir " is set to the "Cameronian Rant". Burns alienated some acquaintances by freely expressing sympathy with the French, and American Revolutions, for the advocates of democratic reform and votes for all men and the Society of the Friends of the People which advocated Parliamentary Reform. His political views came to the notice of his employers, to which he pleaded his innocence. Burns met other radicals at
3828-590: Is the most obvious example. After the Reformation, Scotland's universities underwent a series of reforms associated with Andrew Melville , who returned from Geneva to become principal of the University of Glasgow in 1574. A distinguished linguist, philosopher and poet, he had trained in Paris and studied law at Poitiers , before moving to Geneva and developing an interest in Protestant theology. Influenced by
3944-617: The American Revolution . Burns sent the poem anonymously in 1795 to the Glasgow Magazine . He was also a radical for reform and wrote poems for democracy, such as – "Parcel of Rogues to the Nation" and the "Rights of Women". Many of Burns's most famous poems are songs with the music based upon older traditional songs. For example, " Auld Lang Syne " is set to the traditional tune "Can Ye Labour Lea", " A Red, Red Rose "
4060-600: The High School of Dundee in 1239. There were also petty schools, more common in rural areas and providing an elementary education. Some monasteries, like the Cistercian abbey at Kinloss , opened their doors to a wider range of students. The number and size of these schools seems to have expanded rapidly from the 1380s. They were almost exclusively aimed at boys, but by the end of the fifteenth century, Edinburgh also had schools for girls, sometimes described as "sewing schools", and probably taught by lay women or nuns. There
4176-536: The Scots language , although much of his writing is in a "light Scots dialect " of English, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest. He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement , and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism , and
4292-655: The Scottish Kirk of his time, Scottish cultural identity, poverty, sexuality, and the beneficial aspects of popular socialising (carousing, Scotch whisky, folk songs, and so forth). The strong emotional highs and lows associated with many of Burns's poems have led some, such as Burns biographer Robert Crawford, to suggest that he suffered from manic depression —a hypothesis that has been supported by analysis of various samples of his handwriting. Burns himself referred to suffering from episodes of what he called "blue devilism". The National Trust for Scotland has downplayed
4408-465: The United College of St Salvator and St Leonard . Access to Scottish universities was probably more open than in contemporary England, Germany or France. Attendance was less expensive and the student body more representative of society as a whole. Humbler students were aided by a system of bursaries established to aid in the training of the clergy. In this period residence became divorced from
4524-520: The University of Edinburgh , although influential friends offered to support his claims. He did however accept membership of the Royal Company of Archers in 1792. After giving up his farm, he removed to Dumfries. It was at this time that, being requested to write lyrics for The Melodies of Scotland , he responded by contributing over 100 songs. He made major contributions to George Thomson 's A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for
4640-472: The catechism and even to be able to independently read the Bible, but most commentators, even those that tended to encourage the education of girls, thought they should not receive the same academic education as boys. In the lower ranks of society, they benefited from the expansion of the parish schools system that took place after the Reformation, but were usually outnumbered by boys, often taught separately, for
4756-420: The 1380s and Laurence de Lindores in the early 1500s. This situation was transformed by the founding of the University of St Andrews in 1413, the University of Glasgow in 1451 and the University of Aberdeen in 1495. Initially these institutions were designed for the training of clerics, but they would increasingly be used by laymen who would begin to challenge the clerical monopoly of administrative posts in
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4872-538: The Early Middle Ages, Scotland was overwhelmingly an oral society and education was verbal rather than literary. Fuller sources for Ireland of the same period suggest that there may have been filidh , who acted as poets, musicians and historians, often attached to the court of a lord or king, and passed on their knowledge in Gaelic to the next generation. After the "de-gallicisation" of the Scottish court from
4988-567: The Gaelic Society schools taught the Bible in Gaelic, the overall effect contributed to the erosion of Highland culture. Throughout the last part of the century schools and universities also benefitted from the robust educational publishing industry that existed across the Lowlands and which printed primers, dabbity sheets, textbooks, lecture heads and other kinds of effective learning tools that helped students remember information. In
5104-626: The Globe Inn Dumfries. As an Exciseman he felt compelled to join the Royal Dumfries Volunteers in March 1795. Latterly Burns lived in Dumfries in a two-storey red sandstone house on Mill Hole Brae, now Burns Street. The home is now a museum. He went on long journeys on horseback, often in harsh weather conditions as an Excise Supervisor, and was kept very busy doing reports. The father of four young children, he
5220-481: The Highlands and Islands. After devolution, in 1999 the new Scottish Executive set up an Education Department and an Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department , which together took over its functions. One of the major diversions from practice in England, possible because of devolution, was the abolition of student tuition fees in 1999, instead retaining a system of means-tested student grants. For
5336-442: The Middle Ages, when Church choir schools and grammar schools began educating boys. By the end of the 15th century schools were also being organised for girls and universities were founded at St Andrews , Glasgow and Aberdeen . Education was encouraged by the Education Act 1496 , which made it compulsory for the sons of barons and freeholders of substance to attend the grammar schools, which in turn helped increase literacy among
5452-491: The Scots began developing a uniquely practical branch of humanism . Major thinkers produced by this system included Francis Hutcheson , who held the Chair of Philosophy at the University of Glasgow from 1729 to 1746, who helped develop Utilitarianism and consequentialist thinking. Some modern attitudes towards the relationship between science and religion were developed by his proteges David Hume and Adam Smith . By
5568-522: The Scottish Highlands as well as problems of distance and physical isolation, most people spoke Gaelic which few teachers and ministers could understand. Here the Kirk's parish schools were supplemented by the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge , established in 1709. Their aim was to teach English language and end Roman Catholicism associated with rebellious Jacobitism. Though
5684-492: The Voice as well as to James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum . Arguably his claim to immortality chiefly rests on these volumes, which placed him in the front rank of lyric poets . As a songwriter he provided his own lyrics, sometimes adapted from traditional words. He put words to Scottish folk melodies and airs which he collected, and composed his own arrangements of the music including modifying tunes or recreating melodies on
5800-544: The admission of women to Scottish universities, creating the Lady Licentiate in Arts (LLA) , which proved highly popular. From 1892 Scottish universities could admit and graduate women and the numbers of women at Scottish universities steadily increased until the early 20th century. The Scottish education system underwent radical change and expansion in the 20th century. In 1918 Roman Catholic schools were brought into
5916-416: The air with the verses I have framed. when I feel my Muse beginning to jade, I retire to the solitary fireside of my study, and there commit my effusions to paper, swinging, at intervals, on the hind-legs of my elbow chair, by way of calling forth my own critical strictures, as my, pen goes. Burns also worked to collect and preserve Scottish folk songs , sometimes revising, expanding, and adapting them. One of
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#17328017017966032-417: The anti-Aristotelian Petrus Ramus , he placed an emphasis on simplified logic and elevated languages and sciences to the same status as philosophy, allowing accepted ideas in all areas to be challenged. He introduced new specialist teaching staff, replacing the system of "regenting", where one tutor took the students through the entire arts curriculum. Metaphysics was abandoned and Greek became compulsory in
6148-448: The basic entry qualification for university study. The centre of the education system also became more focused on Scotland, with the ministry of education partly moving north in 1918 and then finally having its headquarters relocated to Edinburgh in 1939. The first half of the 20th century saw Scottish universities fall behind those in England and Europe in terms of participation and investment. The decline of traditional industries between
6264-528: The basis of fragments. In letters he explained that he preferred simplicity, relating songs to spoken language which should be sung in traditional ways. The original instruments would be fiddle and the guitar of the period which was akin to a cittern , but the transcription of songs for piano has resulted in them usually being performed in classical concert or music hall styles. At the 3 week Celtic Connections festival Glasgow each January, Burns songs are often performed with both fiddle and guitar. Thomson as
6380-459: The better known of these collections is The Merry Muses of Caledonia (the title is not Burns's), a collection of bawdy lyrics that were popular in the music halls of Scotland as late as the 20th century. At Dumfries, he wrote his world famous song " A Man's a Man for A' That ", which was based on the writings in The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine , one of the chief political theoreticians of
6496-509: The city also resulted in some lifelong friendships, among which were those with Lord Glencairn , and Frances Anna Dunlop (1730–1815), who became his occasional sponsor and with whom he corresponded for many years until a rift developed. He embarked on a relationship with the separated Agnes "Nancy" McLehose (1758–1841), with whom he exchanged passionate letters under pseudonyms (Burns called himself "Sylvander" and Nancy "Clarinda"). When it became clear that Nancy would not be easily seduced into
6612-503: The colleges and students were able to live much more cheaply and largely unsupervised, at home, with friends or in lodgings in the university towns. The system was flexible and the curriculum became a modern philosophical and scientific one, in keeping with contemporary needs for improvement and progress. Scotland reaped the intellectual benefits of this system in its contribution to the European Enlightenment . Many of
6728-495: The community of Tarbolton. To his father's disapproval, Robert joined a country dancing school in 1779 and, with Gilbert, formed the Tarbolton Bachelors' Club the following year. His earliest existing letters date from this time, when he began making romantic overtures to Alison Begbie (b. 1762). In spite of four songs written for her and a suggestion that he was willing to marry her, she rejected him. Robert Burns
6844-508: The compulsory Latin, Greek and philosophy of the old MA curriculum. The historic University of Glasgow became a leader in British higher education by providing the educational needs of youth from the urban and commercial classes, as well as the upper class. It prepared students for non-commercial careers in government, the law, medicine, education, and the ministry and a smaller group for careers in science and engineering. St Andrews pioneered
6960-500: The curriculum and system of graduation were reformed to meet the needs of the emerging middle classes and the professions. Entrance examinations equivalent to the School Leaving Certificate were introduced and average ages of entry had risen to 17 or 18. Standard patterns of graduation in the arts curriculum offered 3-year ordinary and 4-year honours degrees and separate science faculties were able to move away from
7076-467: The education system became increasingly centred on Scotland, with the final move of the ministry of education to Edinburgh in 1939. After devolution in 1999 the Scottish Executive also created an Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department and there was significant divergence from practice in England, including the abolition of student tuition fees at Scottish universities. In
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#17328017017967192-481: The efforts of John Syme and Alexander Cunningham . Burns was posthumously given the freedom of the town of Dumfries. Hogg records that Burns was given the freedom of the Burgh of Dumfries on 4 June 1787, 9 years before his death, and was also made an Honorary Burgess of Dumfries. Through his five surviving children (of 12 born), Burns has over 900 living descendants as of 2019. Armour died on 26 March 1834 and
7308-430: The eighteenth century Scotland's universities went from being small and parochial institutions, largely for the training of clergy and lawyers, to major intellectual centres at the forefront of Scottish identity and life, seen as fundamental to democratic principles and the opportunity for social advancement for the talented. Chairs of medicine were founded at Marsichial College (1700), Glasgow (1713), St. Andrews (1722) and
7424-410: The eighteenth century many poorer girls were being taught in dame schools , informally set up by a widow or spinster to teach reading, sewing and cooking. Among members of the aristocracy by the early eighteenth century a girl's education was expected to include basic literacy and numeracy, needlework and cookery and household management, while polite accomplishments and piety were also emphasised. In
7540-574: The excise, allowing the completion of buildings including the college in the High Street in Glasgow. They were still largely seen as a training school for clergy, and came under the control of the hard line Protestors , who were generally favoured by the regime because of their greater antipathy to royalism, with Patrick Gillespie being made Principal at Glasgow. After the Restoration there
7656-522: The existing educational system and in the late nineteenth century it was reorganised and expanded to produce a state-funded national system of free basic education and common examinations. The reform of Scottish universities made them major centres of learning and pioneers in the admission of women from 1892. In the 20th century Scottish secondary education expanded, particularly for girls, but the universities began to fall behind those in England and Europe in investment and expansion of numbers. The government of
7772-532: The first year followed by Aramaic , Syriac and Hebrew , launching a new fashion for ancient and biblical languages. Glasgow had probably been declining as a university before his arrival, but students now began to arrive in large numbers. He assisted in the reconstruction of Marischal College , Aberdeen , and in order to do for St Andrews what he had done for Glasgow, he was appointed Principal of St Mary's College, St Andrews , in 1580. The University of Edinburgh developed out of public lectures were established in
7888-506: The forefront of Enlightenment thinking. One of the effects of this extensive network of schools was the growth of the "democratic myth" in the 19th century, which created the widespread belief that many a "lad of pairts" had been able to rise up through the system to take high office and that literacy was much more widespread in Scotland than in neighbouring states, particularly England. Historians now accept that very few boys were able to pursue this route to social advancement and that literacy
8004-449: The government and law. Those wanting to study for second degrees still needed to go elsewhere and Scottish scholars continued to visit the continent and English universities, which reopened to Scots in the late fifteenth century. The continued movement to other universities produced a school of Scottish nominalists at Paris in the early sixteenth century, of which John Mair was probably the most important figure. He had probably studied at
8120-436: The group included Adam Rankine, James Kerr, James Bogie, Andrew Crombie and their assistants. The night before Armour's funeral, the group was supposedly granted permission to exhume Burns's body by Armour's brother, Robert Armour. The group attempted to enter the mausoleum at 7pm. There were many people present in the graveyard and they decided to try again later that evening. The skull was removed and taken to James Fraser,
8236-497: The growing urban working classes. By 1890 the Baptists had more Sunday schools than churches and were teaching over 10,000 children. The number would double by 1914. From 1830 the state began to fund buildings with grants, then from 1846 it was funding schools by direct sponsorship, and in 1872 Scotland moved to a system like that in England of state-sponsored largely free schools, run by local school boards . Overall administration
8352-488: The growth of the "democratic myth" that poor boys had been able to use this system of education to rise to the top of Scottish society. However, Scotland's University system did help to make it one of the major contributors to the Enlightenment in the 18th century, producing major figures such as David Hume and Adam Smith . Religious divisions and the impact of industrialisation, migration and immigration disrupted
8468-456: The house and took the tenancy of the 70-acre (280,000 m ) Mount Oliphant farm, southeast of Alloway. Here Burns grew up in poverty and hardship, and the severe manual labour of the farm left its traces in a weakened constitution. He was given irregular schooling and a lot of his education was with his father, who taught his children reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and history and also wrote for them A Manual of Christian Belief . He
8584-460: The intention at the time was to publish Scottish writers, later critics such as Edwin Morgan have attacked the series on grounds of taste. Alexander Laing saw in it "sentiment, mild pathos and sly humour" writing in 1857; by a century later Hugh MacDiarmid could regard it as opening the way for children to be given "sentimental trash". Whistle Binkie was published in 1832 by David Robertson ,
8700-492: The key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment were university professors, who developed their ideas in university lectures. They included Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746), who held the Chair of Philosophy at the University of Glasgow from 1729 to 1746, whose ideas were developed by his protégés David Hume (1711–76), who became a major figure in the sceptical philosophical and empiricist traditions of philosophy, and Adam Smith (1723–90), whose The Wealth of Nations , (1776)
8816-461: The late seventeenth century there was a largely complete network of parish schools in the lowlands, but in the Highlands basic education was still lacking in many areas. The widespread belief in the limited intellectual and moral capacity of women, vied with a desire, intensified after the Reformation, for women to take personal moral responsibility, particularly as wives and mothers. In Protestantism this necessitated an ability to learn and understand
8932-468: The manuscript of " Ae Fond Kiss " as a farewell. In Edinburgh, in early 1787, he met James Johnson , a struggling music engraver and music seller with a love of old Scots songs and a determination to preserve them. Burns shared this interest and became an enthusiastic contributor to The Scots Musical Museum . The first volume was published in 1787 and included three songs by Burns. He contributed 40 songs to volume two, and he ended up responsible for about
9048-478: The new ideas of humanism were brought into Scottish intellectual life. The humanist concern with widening education was shared by the Protestant reformers, with a desire for a godly people replacing the aim of having educated citizens. In 1560, the First Book of Discipline set out a plan for a school in every parish, but this proved financially impossible. In the burghs the old schools were maintained, with
9164-414: The next four years. In mid-1784 Burns came to know a group of girls known collectively as The Belles of Mauchline, one of whom was Jean Armour , the daughter of a stonemason from Mauchline. Burns's first child, Elizabeth "Bess" Burns , was born to his mother's servant, Elizabeth Paton , while he was embarking on a relationship with Jean Armour, who became pregnant with twins in March 1786. Burns signed
9280-433: The nobility being literate by the end of the period. Until the fifteenth century, those who wished to attend university had to travel to England or the continent, and just over a 1,000 have been identified as doing so between the twelfth century and 1410. Among these the most important intellectual figure was John Duns Scotus , who studied at Oxford , Cambridge and Paris and probably died at Cologne in 1308, becoming
9396-488: The original cast. Burns's style is marked by spontaneity, directness, and sincerity, and ranges from the tender intensity of some of his lyrics through the humour of "Tam o' Shanter" and the satire of "Holy Willie's Prayer" and "The Holy Fair". Burns's poetry drew upon a substantial familiarity with and knowledge of Classical , Biblical , and English literature , as well as the Scottish Makar tradition. Burns
9512-518: The plantations (Burns himself described the position as being "a poor Negro driver"). The position, which was for a single man, would entail Burns living on a plantation in rustic conditions, as it was unlikely a book keeper would be housed in the plantation's great house . Some historians have argued in Burns's defence that in 1786, the Scottish abolitionist movement was just beginning to be broadly active. Burns's authorship of " The Slave's Lament ",
9628-405: The river Nith, now holds a unique collection of Burns's books, artefacts, and manuscripts and is mostly preserved as when Burns and his young family lived there. Burns gave up the farm in 1791 to move to Dumfries. About this time he was offered and declined an appointment in London on the staff of The Star newspaper , and refused to become a candidate for a newly created Chair of Agriculture in
9744-555: The same day that Jean Armour's father tore up the paper in which Burns attested his marriage to Jean. To obtain a certificate that he was a free bachelor, Burns agreed on 25 June to stand for rebuke in the Mauchline kirk for three Sundays. He transferred his share in Mossgiel farm to his brother Gilbert on 22 July, and on 30 July wrote to tell his friend John Richmond that, "Armour has got a warrant to throw me in jail until I can find
9860-411: The seventeenth century. Much of their work was never written down and what survives was only recorded from the sixteenth century. The establishment of Christianity brought Latin to Scotland as a scholarly and written language. Monasteries served as major repositories of knowledge and education, often running schools and providing a small educated elite, who were essential to create and read documents in
9976-805: The slave trade system". Around the same time, Burns fell in love with a woman named Mary Campbell , whom he had seen in church while he was still living in Tarbolton. She was born near Dunoon and had lived in Campbeltown before moving to work in Ayrshire. He dedicated the poems "The Highland Lassie O", "Highland Mary", and "To Mary in Heaven" to her. His song "Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary, And leave auld Scotia's shore?" suggests that they planned to emigrate to Jamaica together. Their relationship has been
10092-439: The song schools and a number of new foundations becoming reformed grammar schools or ordinary parish schools. Schools were supported by a combination of kirk funds, contributions from local heritors or burgh councils and parents that could pay. They were inspected by kirk sessions, who checked for the quality of teaching and doctrinal purity. There were also large number of unregulated "adventure schools", which sometimes fulfilled
10208-471: The specifically scientific as in the work of William Cullen , physician and chemist, James Anderson , an agronomist , Joseph Black , physicist and chemist, and James Hutton , the first modern geologist . Industrialisation, urbanisation and the Disruption of 1843 all undermined the tradition of parish schools. 408 teachers in schools joined the breakaway Free Church of Scotland . By May 1847 it
10324-714: The subject of much conjecture, and it has been suggested that on 14 May 1786 they exchanged Bibles and plighted their troth over the Water of Fail in a traditional form of marriage. Soon afterwards Mary Campbell left her work in Ayrshire, went to the seaport of Greenock , and sailed home to her parents in Campbeltown. In October 1786, Mary and her father sailed from Campbeltown to visit her brother in Greenock. Her brother fell ill with typhus , which she also caught while nursing him. She died of typhus on 20 or 21 October 1786 and
10440-481: The suggestion on the grounds that evidence is insufficient to support the claim. Burns is generally classified as a proto- Romantic poet , and he influenced William Wordsworth , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , and Percy Bysshe Shelley greatly. His direct literary influences in the use of Scots in poetry were Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson . The Edinburgh literati worked to sentimentalise Burns during his life and after his death, dismissing his education by calling him
10556-410: The system, but retained their distinct religious character, access to schools by priests and the requirement that school staff be acceptable to the Church. The school leaving age was raised to 14 in 1901, and although plans to raise it to 15 in the 1940s were never ratified, increasing numbers stayed on beyond elementary education and it was eventually raised to 16 in 1973. As a result, secondary education
10672-555: The town 1540s on law, Greek, Latin and philosophy, under the patronage of Mary of Guise . These evolved into the "Tounis College", which would become the University of Edinburgh in 1582. The results were a revitalisation of all Scottish universities, which were now producing a quality of education the equal of that offered anywhere in Europe. Under the Commonwealth , the universities saw an improvement in their funding, as they were given income from deaneries, defunct bishoprics and
10788-448: The tune before he composed the words: My way is: I consider the poetic sentiment, correspondent to my idea of the musical expression, then chuse my theme, begin one stanza, when that is composed—which is generally the most difficult part of the business—I walk out, sit down now and then, look out for objects in nature around me that are in unison or harmony with the cogitations of my fancy and workings of my bosom, humming every now and then
10904-638: The twelfth century, a less highly regarded order of bards took over these functions and they would continue to act in a similar role in the Highlands and Islands into the eighteenth century. They often trained in bardic schools, of which a few, like the one run by the MacMhuirich dynasty, who were bards to the Lord of the Isles , existed in Scotland and a larger number in Ireland, until they were suppressed from
11020-513: The upper classes. The Scottish Reformation resulted in major changes to the organisation and nature of education, with the loss of choir schools and the expansion of parish schools, along with the reform and expansion of the Universities. In the seventeenth century, legislation enforced the creation and funding of schools in every parish, often overseen by presbyteries of the local kirk. The existence of this network of schools later led to
11136-618: The wars undermined recruitment. English universities increased the numbers of students registered between 1924 and 1927 by 19 per cent, but in Scotland the numbers fell, particularly among women. In the same period, while expenditure in English universities rose by 90 per cent, in Scotland the increase was less than a third of that figure. In the 1960s the number of Scottish Universities doubled, with Dundee being demerged from St. Andrews, Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt developing from Scottish Office "central institutions" and Stirling beginning as
11252-559: Was initiated into the Masonic lodge St David, Tarbolton, on 4 July 1781, when he was 22. In December 1781, Burns moved temporarily to Irvine to learn to become a flax -dresser, but during the workers' celebrations for New Year 1781/1782 (which included Burns as a participant) the flax shop caught fire and was burnt to the ground. This venture accordingly came to an end, and Burns went home to Lochlea farm. During this time he met and befriended Richard Brown , who encouraged him to become
11368-473: Was 21, and a bacterial infection, possibly arising from a tooth abscess, may have exacerbated this. On the morning of 21 July 1796, Burns died in Dumfries, at the age of 37. The funeral took place on Monday 25 July 1796, the day that his son Maxwell was born. He was at first buried in the far corner of St. Michael's Churchyard in Dumfries; a simple "slab of freestone" was erected as his gravestone by Jean Armour, which some felt insulting to his memory. His body
11484-411: Was a purge of the universities, but much of the intellectual advances of the preceding period was preserved. The five Scottish universities recovered with a lecture-based curriculum that was able to embrace economics and science, offering a high quality liberal education to the sons of the nobility and gentry. It helped the universities to become major centres of medical education and would put Scotland at
11600-432: Was also frequently occupied as a song collector and songwriter . As his health began to give way, he aged prematurely and fell into fits of despondency. Rumours of intemperance (alleged mainly by temperance activist James Currie ) may have been overstated. Hard manual farm labour earlier in his life may have damaged Burns's health. Burns possibly had a long-standing rheumatic heart condition, perhaps beginning when he
11716-499: Was also taught and tutored by the young teacher John Murdoch (1747–1824), who opened an " adventure school " in Alloway in 1763 and taught Latin, French, and mathematics to both Robert and his brother Gilbert (1760–1827) from 1765 to 1768 until Murdoch left the parish. After a few years of home education, Burns was sent to Dalrymple Parish School in mid-1772 before returning at harvest time to full-time farm labouring until 1773, when he
11832-447: Was also the development of private tuition in the families of lords and wealthy burghers. The growing emphasis on education cumulated with the passing of the Education Act 1496 , which decreed that all sons of barons and freeholders of substance should attend grammar schools to learn "perfyct Latyne". All this resulted in an increase in literacy, but which was largely concentrated among a male and wealthy elite, with perhaps 60 per cent of
11948-475: Was appointed to duties in Customs and Excise in 1789. Burns chose the land of Ellisland a few miles north of the town of Dumfries , from Patrick Miller's estate at Dalswinton, where he had a new farmhouse and byre built. He and Jean moved in the following summer 1789 to the new farm house at Ellisland. In November 1790, he had written his masterpiece, the narrative poem " Tam O' Shanter ". The Ellisland farm beside
12064-611: Was born two miles (3 km) south of Ayr , in Alloway , the eldest of the seven children of William Burnes (1721–1784), a self-educated tenant farmer from Dunnottar in the Mearns , and Agnes Broun (1732–1820), the daughter of a Kirkoswald tenant farmer. He was born in a house built by his father (now the Burns Cottage Museum), where he lived until Easter 1766, when he was seven years old. William Burnes sold
12180-491: Was buried there . As Burns lacked the funds to pay for his passage to Jamaica, Gavin Hamilton suggested that he should "publish his poems in the meantime by subscription, as a likely way of getting a little money to provide him more liberally in necessaries for Jamaica." On 3 April Burns sent proposals for publishing his Scotch Poems to John Wilson, a printer in Kilmarnock , who published these proposals on 14 April 1786, on
12296-617: Was claimed that 513 schoolmasters were being paid direct from a central education fund and over 44,000 children being taught in Free Church Schools. Attempts to supplement the parish system included Sunday Schools . Originally begun in the 1780s by town councils, they were adopted by all religious denominations in the nineteenth century. By the 1830s and 1840s these had widened to include mission schools , ragged schools , Bible societies and improvement classes, open to members of all forms of Protestantism and particularly aimed at
12412-409: Was consistently unfortunate, and migrated with his large family from farm to farm without ever being able to improve his circumstances. At Whitsun , 1777, he removed his large family from the unfavourable conditions of Mount Oliphant to the 130-acre (0.53 km ) farm at Lochlea , near Tarbolton , where they stayed until William Burnes's death in 1784. Subsequently, the family became integrated into
12528-440: Was engraved to provide a frontispiece for the book. Nasmyth had come to know Burns and his fresh and appealing image has become the basis for almost all subsequent representations of the poet. In Edinburgh, he was received as an equal by the city's men of letters—including Dugald Stewart, Robertson, Blair and others—and was a guest at aristocratic gatherings, where he bore himself with unaffected dignity. Here he encountered, and made
12644-627: Was eventually moved to its final location in the same cemetery, the Burns Mausoleum, in September 1817. The body of his widow Jean Armour was buried with his in 1834. Armour had taken steps to secure his personal property, partly by liquidating two promissory notes amounting to fifteen pounds sterling (about 1,100 pounds at 2009 prices). The family went to the Court of Session in 1798 with a plan to support his surviving children by publishing
12760-532: Was in the hands of the Scotch (later Scottish) Education Department in London. Education was now compulsory from five to thirteen and many new board schools were built. Larger urban school boards established "higher grade" (secondary) schools as a cheaper alternative to the burgh schools. The Scottish Education Department introduced a Leaving Certificate Examination in 1888 to set national standards for secondary education and in 1890 school fees were abolished, creating
12876-431: Was interred into the Burns Mausoleum on 31 March 1834. The opening of the mausoleum provided an opportunity to exhume Burns body by a local group who believed in phrenology , a pseudo-science whose practitioners believed an individual's personality could be predicted by measuring the skulls. The group was led by Archibald Blacklock, a surgeon, and John McDiarmid, Dumfries Courier editor and phrenologist. Other members of
12992-468: Was more massive than it looks in any of the portraits ... there was a strong expression of shrewdness in all his lineaments; the eye alone, I think, indicated the poetical character and temperament. It was large, and of a dark cast, and literally glowed when he spoke with feeling or interest. [I never saw such another eye in a human head, though I have seen the most distinguished men of my time.] The new edition of his poems brought Burns £400. His stay in
13108-476: Was not noticeably higher than comparable nations, as the education in the parish schools was basic, short and attendance was not compulsory. However, Scotland did reap the intellectual benefits of a highly developed university system. Scottish thinkers began questioning assumptions previously taken for granted; and with Scotland's traditional connections to France, then in the throes of the Enlightenment ,
13224-554: Was sent to lodge with Murdoch for three weeks to study grammar, French, and Latin. By the age of 15, Burns was the principal labourer at Mount Oliphant. During the harvest of 1774, he was assisted by Nelly Kilpatrick (1759–1820), who inspired his first attempt at poetry, " O, Once I Lov'd A Bonnie Lass ". In 1775, he was sent to finish his education with a tutor at Kirkoswald, where he met Peggy Thompson (born 1762), to whom he wrote two songs, "Now Westlin' Winds" and " I Dream’d I Lay ". Despite his ability and character, William Burnes
13340-651: Was skilled in writing not only in the Scots language but also in the Scottish English dialect of the English language. Some of his works, such as "Love and Liberty" (also known as "The Jolly Beggars"), are written in both Scots and English for various effects. His themes included republicanism (he lived during the French Revolutionary period ) and Radicalism , which he expressed covertly in " Scots Wha Hae ", Scottish patriotism , anticlericalism , class inequalities, gender roles, commentary on
13456-569: Was the major area of growth in the inter-war period, particularly for girls, who stayed on in full-time education in increasing numbers throughout the century. New qualifications were developed to cope with changing aspirations and economics, with the Leaving Certificate being replaced by the Scottish Certificate of Education Ordinary Grade ('O-Grade') and Higher Grade ('Higher') qualifications in 1962, which became
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