Exhibits at Irvine Burns Museum

This painting, by Charles Martin Hardie, A.R.S.A., records an incident in the life of Burns when, in 1787, at the height of his popularity, he met the literati in the Scottish capital. The date of the painting is not known, but was not later than 1888.

The various people are shown assembled in the drawing room of the Edinburgh residence of Her Grace, the Duchess of Gordon. The poet is seen in the costume of the time - blue coat with brass buttons, yellow striped vest, buckskin breeches and top boots - in the act of reciting his poem "A Winter Night" (Collected Works, p.258). The description of the painting stated that attitude and expression had both been excellently seized and is a fine tribute to Burns. Hardie obviously went to great research to do this work and used some artistic licence in, for example, portraying the Duchess of Gordon as a slightly younger woman (she was 40 at the time). She is seated resplendent in rose-coloured drapery in a gown of rich brocade, her cheek propped by her hand, intently listening. Over the back of her chair appears the eager out-stretched face of the fair Peggy Chalmers, and the raven-locked Miss Burnett leans upon a harp beside her; while on the right side is the seated figure of the pallid and snow-haired poet, Dr Blacklock, and on the other, the erect, slim, soldierly shape of the Earl of Glencairn.

Nearer the poet, seated at the dark old-fashioned table which occupies the centre of the room, is the portly form of William Fraser Tytler, the defender of Mary, Queen of Scots, and beside him, nursing his attenuated knee, the alert little figure of Lord Monboddo, the eccentric author of the "Origin and Progress of Language", his grotesque face given much as it was drawn by his friend John Brown, the excellent portraitist of the time, of whose art the Society of Antiquaries possesses many fine examples. A little more remote, a little less engrossed, is the critic and rhetorician, Dr Hugh Blair, in wig and clerical bands; and near him Henry Mackenzie, "The Man of Feeling"; William Creech, the publisher; and Alexander Nasmyth, the portrait painter; while to the left, behind the poet, are seated Dr Adam Ferguson; the placid, grey-haired Dowager-Countess of Glencairn; and the meditative Dugald Stewart.

The extreme left corner is occupied by a card table, over which the young keen-faced Harry Erskine bends, directing the attention of the players to the marvellous recital; and this group is balanced on the right by a pair of servants in the Gordon liveries of white and red, set in the soft light of a curtained window, stopping their punch-brewing to listen to the poet; while in the centre of the room the eye is led away through an half-open door, thronged with the heads of eager domestics, into a remote passage, with a vista of staircase window and a gleam of sharp clear daylight.

Footnotes:
The Duchess of Gordon invited Burns to several of her dinner-parties; she frequently asked him to recite for her guests; she also once commented that the poet was "the only man whose conversation ever fairly carried her off her feet".
Mrs Margaret ('Peggy') Chalmers first met Burns at Dr Blacklock's in Edinburgh. A relative once wrote: "I have often been told that her gentleness and vivacity had a favourable influence on the manners of Burns."
Miss Elizabeth Burnett was the youngest daughter of Lord Monboddo, whom Burns frequently visited; she was a young lady of exquisite beauty and grace; unfortunately she died of consumption in her 25th year.
Dr Blacklock lost his eyesight through smallpox at six months old. It was on his advice that Burns proceeded to Edinburgh instead of going to the West Indies. One of Burns' best epistles is directed to him.
James, Earl of Glencairn, was the first of the nobility to welcome the poet on his arrival in the capital. Burns named his fourth son after him.
William Tytler, later Lord Woodhouselee, was a sincere admirer of Burns. He collaborated with Johnson in the SMM project. Burns wrote an Address to him (CW276).
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, was prominent in Masonic circles; see the mention of his daughter above.
Dr Hugh Blair corresponded with Burns.
Henry Mackenzie's praise of Burns served to introduce his poems to the fashionable and higher ranks of society throughout Scotland and England.
William Creech published the Edinburgh edition of Burns' works. He served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1811-13.
Alexander Nasmyth painted the only authentic portrait of Burns, one which was engraved by Beugo for the Edinburgh edition.
Dr Adam Ferguson was Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh from 1764. It was at his house that the young Walter Scott saw Burns for the first and only time.
The Countess of Glencairn, the mother of James, the 14th Earl, resided at Coates House in Edinburgh.
Professor Dugald Stewart met Burns at Catrine, when introduced to him there by Henry Mackenzie in 1786.
The Hon. Henry Erskine, a kind and generous man, was a friend and patron of Burns as well as a brother Mason.