Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Letter from Robert Burns, Mossgiel, to Frances Anna Wallace Dunlop, 1789 January? : autograph manuscript signed.

BIB_ID
429979
Accession number
MA 46.12
Creator
Burns, Robert, 1759-1796, sender.
Display Date
Mossgiel, Scotland, 1789 January.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, before 1913.
Description
1 item (3 pages, with address) ; 31.2 x 19.3 cm
Notes
Dated "Wedensday [sic] morning."
With partial seal; address panel reads "Mrs. Dunlop of Dunlop / Stewarton."
Part of a collection of 54 letters and poems from Robert Burns to Mrs. Dunlop between 1786 and 1796. Also housed with MA 45. See related records for more information.
Inscriptions/Markings
Watermark: Coat of arms in circle surmounted by crown.
Watermark: Countermark: Crown above GR.
Summary
Describing how the bad weather impacted his travel; acknowledging receipt of 2 of her epistles since his initial response on New Years Day; describing an encounter he had when he was in Sanquhar and how it inspired him to compose the following Ode, sacred to the memory of Mrs O--- of A---, "Dweller in yon dungeon dark ..." (Ode, Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. --- of ---); stating to "soften the matter a little" he altered the title to Mrs A--- of O--- because he was afraid they would suspect him for the author.