Genealogical memoirs of the family of Robert Burns and of the Scottish house of Burnes

THE FAMILY OF JlOBEllT BURNS. 11
act. His various compositions were acted on the provincial
stage, the author assisting in the performances. 1 He married
Margaret Davidson, a native of Peterhead, without issue.
Another tombstone in Glenhervie churchyard celebrates
James Burnes, tenant in Brawlinmuir, younger brother,
as is believed, of William Burnes in Bogjorgan. On his
tombstone James Burnes and his wife are commemorated by
the following inscription :
" Here under lyes the body of James Burnes, who was
tenant in Brawlinmuir, who died the 23d of January 1743,
aged 87 years. Also, the body of Margaret Falconer, his
spouse, who departed this life the 28th of December 1749,
aged 90 years.
"Altho' our bodys worms destroy,
Our reins consumed be ;
Yet in our flesh and with our eyes
Shall our Redeemer see. "
For the farm of Brawlinmuir James Burnes paid a rent
equal to £300 sterling. 2 According to tradition, he was a
person of great sagacity and shrewdness. He lived at a
period when Highland freebooters made predatory incursions
into Kincardineshire. On one occasion, when these Kate/ran,
as they were called, were hovering in his neighbourhood, lie
adopted the precaution of concealing his money in the nave
of an old cart wheel which lay in the jaw-hole in front of his
house. The aperture being plugged up, the robbers entered
and left the house without suspecting the existence of the
treasure they were treading upon. 3
1 Dramatic Writers of Scotland, by llalston Inglis, Glasgow, 186S, 12mo,
p. 26.
3 Dr Burnes' Notes, p. 14.
1 Chambers's Life of Burns, Edin. 1851, p. 334.