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

4 PEEFACE.
had a daughter pronounced by the poet tire smartest of her
kin; the third was the poet's father.
The family name was originally Burnes; it has been
variously spelt — Burnace, Burniee, and Burness. For a time
the poet spelt it Burness ; but prior to issuing proposals for
the first edition of his poems in 1786, he finally changed
the spelling to Burns, as the name was usually rendered in
Ayrshire. Not a few descendants of the house, especially
in the north of Scotland, adopt the form of Burness.
The present work is chiefly founded on Dr James Burnes'
" Notes on his Name and Family," a thin duodecimo privately
printed in 1851, and on entries in the parochial and other
registers. Among the members of the poet's family who
have afforded willing help may be named Mr Gilbert Burns,
of Dublin, his nephew; Misses Agnes and Isabella Begg, of
Alloway, his nieces; Mrs Everitt and Mrs Hutchinson, his
grandchildren ; and his relatives Mrs Adam Burnes and Lieu-
tenant Albert Whish, both of Montrose. In many ways Mi-
Myers, town clerk of Montrose, Mr James Gibson of Liver-
pool, and Mr James M'Kie of Kilmarnock, have rendered
praiseworthy and important service. Through the good
offices of James Cowie, Esq., Sundridge Hall, Kent, an ac-
curate account is for the first time presented of the ^cir-
cumstances under which the poet's grandfather, Eobert
Burnes, quitted the farm of Clochnahill, an event bearing
materially on the latter history of the family. To render the
genealogical narrative minute and accurate, no effort has
been spared.
Grampian Lodge, Forest Hill, S. K.,
October 1877.