Robert Burns came to know James Cunninghamme, Earl of Glencairn in Edinburgh in 1786 through a 'Letter of Introduction' provided by Dalrymple of Orangefield who was married to Lady Glencairn's sister. The Earl received the poet warmly in his house and introduced him to his friends.Burns Encyclopedia Retrieved : 2012-11-24 One of several gifts from the earl to the poet was a diamond point pen,Engraving Glass Retrieved : 2012-11-24 stylus, or cutterFuture Museum Retrieved : 2012-11-24 which he used to write upon many windowpanes and glasses, scribing verse, his signature, epigrams, or other writings for posterity. Many of these diamond-point engravings survive, some however are contentious as regards either their authenticity, meaning, or both.
Burns's diamond point pen The pen may well survive to this day, made of a cylindrical piece of wood (elder?), and has the diamond inserted at one end in a metal extension. It is held in the collection of the Rozelle House Galleries in South Ayrshire. Its Accession Number is AYRTOS:100346, The Digital Number is SABN001n. The original catalogue record for the object states that it is an "old glass cutting diamond used by Robert Burns".Robert Burns Lives! Retrieved : 2012-11-24 The pen is part of the collections from the former Tam O'Shanter Museum in Ayr, currently under the care of South Ayrshire Council (datum 2012).
Diamond point
This is one of the oldest glass engraving techniques, practiced by the ancient Romans probably using flint and in the mid-sixteenth century in England and Holland using diamond tipped tools and a stipple technique to produce landscapes, portraits, still life, etc. Old glass has a higher lead content than the present day and this generally made scribing easier and more fluid in its execution.history Scotland. Vol. 11, No.1., Page 24.
On windowpanes
1. The Inn at Inverary Burns paid a visit to the Duke of Argyll in June 1787, but was unfortunate in that the duke was busy with a large gathering of the British Fishery Society. John Frazer, the innkeeper, was too busy to attend to Burns. He wrote these linesMackay, Page 323 on a window in the inn in the presence of his travelling companion Dr. George Grierson with his newly acquired diamond-point pen so it would be one of his first :
"Whoe'er he be that sojourns here, I pity much his case. Unless he comes to wait upon The lord their god, His Grace
There's naething here but Highland pride, And Highland scab and hunger; If Providence has sent me here, 'Twas surely in an anger."
Three different versions of the verses have been published. The whereabouts of the windowpane and inscription are longer known.Mackay, Page 324 It was in the hands of the Argyll family for many years and then lent to an exhibition and never returned.Hempstead, Page 208
2. Kirkliston, Edinburgh Kirkliston is often given the nickname of "Cheesetown". One theory is that this because of an inscription mentioning cheese inscribed by Burns on a window pane of Castle House, formerly an inn. The window pane in question was put on show in the late 19th century at Broxburn in the Strathbock Inn. No satisfactory explanation has been given for Burns stopping here at the start of his Highland Tour and the poet himself has left no record of the event and the details of the whereabouts of the pane itself has been lost.Burns Chronicle, Page 4
"The ants about their clod employ their care, And think the business of the world is theirs; Lo: Waxen combs seem palaces to bees. And mites conceive the world to be a cheese. "
3. Inver Inn, Dunkeld In 1787 Robert Burns set out from Edinburgh on a Highland Tour. Local tradition has long held that Burns visited Niel Gow at Dunkeld and went with him to the Inver Inn where, on seeing and hearing an irate woman, the poet inscribed an epigram which he wrote then and there on the window with his diamond pen. The lines were not those of the poet, having been published some years before:
Ye gods, ye gave to me a wife, out of your grace and pleasure, To be the partner of my life and I was glad to have her. But if your providence divine for better things design her, I obey your will at any time, I'm willing to resign her."
The non-existence of the windowpane with this inscription was explained away in the middle of last century, the glass was said to have been cut out for better preservation and was broken in the act. Retrieved : 2012-11-24
4. Carron Inn, Falkirk In 1789 Robert Burns attempted to visit the Carron Ironworks at Camelon near Falkirk, however he was refused entry because it was a Sunday and the works were closed. The poet went to the nearby Carron Inn opposite and breakfasted on the second floor where he inscribed on a windowpane the following lines:
At Carron Ironworks
We cam here to view your warks, In hopes to be mair wise, But only, lest we gang to hell, It may be nae surprise:
But when we tirl'd at your door, Your porter dought na hear us; Sae may, shou'd we to Hell's yetts come, Your billy Satan sair us!
William Benson, a clerk at Carron Works (from 1765), saw these lines and copied into an order book. He penned a reply:
If you came here to view our works, You should have been more civil, Than to give a fictitious name, In hopes to cheat the devil,
Six days a week to you and all, We think it very well; The other if you go to church, May keep you out of hell.
These verses were published in the 5 October 1789 edition of the Edinburgh Evening Courant and inscription survived until the window was blown in on a stormy night.
5. Wee Bush Inn, Carnwath
Opened in 1750, Burns stayed here and also used to drop in on his journeys to Edinburgh, for Carnwath was where he would pick up the old coach road to the capital, known as the 'Lang Whang'. He is said to have been asked his opinion on the hostelry and wrote on a window pane "Better a Wee Bush than Nae Bield." This was also a motto that he added to his coat of arms. It is not recorded as to what happened to the inscribed pane of glass.Glasgow Herald. 17 February 1997
6. Cross Keys Inn, Falkirk In 1787 Burns toured the Highlands with Willie Nicol as a companion and visited Falkirk en route where he is said to have inscribed a glass window pane of the Cross Keys Inn with 4 lines beginning – 'Sound be his sleep and blithe his morn'; dated 25 August 1787.
Sound be his sleep and blythe his morn', That never did a lassie wrong; Who poverty ne'er held in scorn, For misery ever tholed a pang. 25th Aug. 1787
The bard is not known to have acknowledged these lines, however local tradition is strongly supportive of the story. The owners took the glass pane with them to Sydney in Australia. Although it was thought to be lost it is now on display in the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway. A signature, said to be by Robert Burns was uncovered on a glass partition and subsequently purchased for a princely sum, but is now lost.Burns Chronicle, Page 5
7. Ecclefechan Burns in February 1795 is said to have been held up in an inn at Ecclefechan during a snowstorm and encountered Jean Scott, the daughter of the postmaster John Scott. Burns engraved the lines of "Epigram on miss Jean Scott" on a window pane.
O had each Scot of ancient times Been, Jeanie Scott, as thou art; The bravest heart on English ground Had yielded like a coward.
8. Braehead House, Kilmarnock This was the home of William Paterson, the Town Clerk. Burns was an occasional visitor and apparently in a melancholic mood he engraved two lines from a poem by John Dryden. The complete window frame and engraved lines are recorded to have been preserved at the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock.
9. Finlaystone House
Burns's signature is said to exist on a windowpane in an upstairs bedroom at Finlaystone, home of James Cunningham, Earl of Glencairn.Clan Cunningham. Retrieved : 2012-11-24 Mason records that Robert Burns left his initials on a window pane in the library.Mason, Page 137 Gibb records the message written as:
R. Burns,1768. Under an aged oak, AMEN,
This was inscribed on a window pane in a first floor bedroom, which was at that time was a drawing room. The words refer to Burns drinking wine with the family and their guests under a large oak that still stood in the 1870s.Gibb, Page 45
A photograph shows a broken pane with part of the name 'Robert' broken off and no 'Under an aged oak'. It is recorded to be associated with a bottle seal also dated 1768. Burns would have been nine years old in 1768 and it is suggested that this date makes reference to the wine's vintage being 1768, enjoyed by Burns and the earl in the 1780s.
10. The Whitefoord Arms, Mauchline Burns engraved 'sarcastic' lines about John Dow, Landlord of the Whitefoord Arms, on a window pane in the upper room of the inn which he had often used to communicate with Jean Armour whose home lay just across the street from the back of the building. It is not recorded how much of the poem was engraved. The room was preserved as it was in Burns time for the sake of tourists, however the pane was destroyed when the Whitefoord Arms was demolished at a date after 1881 when the author William Jolly saw it intact.
Here lies Johnie Pigeon: What was his religion Whae'er desires to ken To some other warl' Maun follow the carl, For here Johnie Pigeon had nane!
Strong ale was ablution; Small beer, persecution; A dram was memento mori; But a full flowing bowl Was the saving his soul, And port was celestial glory!
11. Richard Brown's House, Bay Street, Port Glasgow Richard Brown's granddaughter, Mrs Robert Montgomerie, is on record as stating that Robert Burns slept for one night in Brown's house on a journey from Greenock to Finlaystone House circa 1788 even though his friend Richard was at aea at the time. The family house in Bay Street was demolished at some point between 1960 and the end of the 1970s. The details of the inscription are not available and the pane was accidentally smashed. It had been the middle pane of the mid window in the dining room. Burns is said to have left behind a pair of hose which had been soaked in the rain.
12. Cross Keys Hostelry, Greenock Burns is said to have lodged on 24 June 1787 at this hostlery in Cross Shore Street, Greenock and the window pane upon which he inscribed some words was in the possession of a Mr George Williamson, a local historian and was inherited by his descendants.The Burns Chronicle 1905, Page 92.
13. Drumlanrig Castle and Queensberry estates From 1780 to 1797 James McMurdo was the chamberlain to the Duke of Queensberry and was a good friend of Robert Burns, who wrote a poem in tribute to McMurdo. Burns is recorded to have etched the following verse onto a window pane at McMurdo's dwelling on the estate.Dumfries and Galloway Standard Retrieved : 2013-04-25
On Mr McMurdoDouglas, Page 373
Blest be McMurdo to his latest day! No envious cloud o'ercast his evening ray; No wrinkle furrow'd by the hand of care, Nor ever sorrow add one silver hair! O may no son the father's honour stain, Nor ever daughter give the mother pain.
14. Queensberry Arms (New Inn), Sanquhar Burns was a frequent visitor to Sanquhar on account of his excise duties and he often stayed at the New Inn, later the Queensberry Arms, on the High Street where he is thought to engraved lines in 1789 on a windowpane in the breakfast room. Edward Whigham (1750–1823) was the innkeeper and later provost. The poem was not originally composed by Burns himself, but by John Hughes (1677–1720), before 1719, for a window in Wallington House, home of a Mrs Elizabeth Bridges.Scott, Patrick (2016). At Whigham's Inn. Burns Chronicle 2016. Page 86 In the 1880s, the window pane was said to have been broken or removed during repairs to the house, but in the 1880s Miss Allison, a granddaughter of Edward,Scott, Patrick (2016). At Whigham's Inn. Burns Chronicle 2016. Page 85 recited the lines from memory for the author of a local guidebook.