Photo: Ellisland Farm. Image by Eileen Henderson
Burns rented a small farm on the banks of the River Nith in 1787. He planned to live there with his wife Jean Armour and his children like ‘an old-style farmer’. Burns wrote many of his most famous poems at Ellisland Farm.
On the 20 October 1787 Robert Burns wrote a letter to Patrick Miller, the landlord of Ellisland Farm:
I want to be a farmer in a small farm, about a plough-gang, in a pleasant country, under the auspices of a good landlord. I have no foolish notion of being a tenant on easier terms than another.
To find a farm where one can live at all is not easy - I only mean living soberly, like an old-style farmer, and joining personal industry.
The banks of the Nith are as sweet poetic ground as any I ever saw; and besides, Sir, 'tis but justice to the feelings of my own heart and the opinion of my best friends, to say that I would wish to call you landlord sooner than any landed gentleman I know…
Sir, your obliged humble servant, Robert Burns
Robert was 29 years old when he set up home with Jean at Ellisland Farm. There was an orchard by the farmhouse and Burns kept four horses, nine cows, and some sheep and hens. Ellisland was ‘the poet’s choice’ of Patrick Miller’s farms. It was a romantic setting. The farm lay on the banks of the river Nith but the land was stony and poor and the rent was £50 a year.
Burns became an exciseman in the summer of 1788. He was appointed Excise Officer for Dumfries the following September.
While Burns lived at Ellisland he wrote passionate letters to Mrs Agnes Craig M’Lehose, his ‘Clarinda’. Agnes, known as Nancy to her friends, was married to the lawyer James M’Lehose. Nancy met Burns at a tea-party on 4 December 1787. They were instantly attracted to each other. In the weeks and months that followed they met, talked and began to write letters to one another using the names ‘Clarinda’ for Nancy and ‘Sylvander’ for Burns.
Their affair played out in a series of letters between December 1787 and December 1791. Robert’s passion for Clarinda eventually died but it inspired his most famous love song, ‘Ae Fond Kiss’.
Ae Fond Kiss
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, alas, for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.
Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerful twinkle lights me;
Dark despair around benights me.I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy,
Naething could resist my Nancy:
But to see her was to love her;
Love but her, and love for ever.
Had we never lov'd sae kindly,
Had we never lov'd sae blindly,
Never met - or never parted,
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.Fare-thee-weel, thou first and fairest!
Fare-thee-weel, thou best and dearest!
Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
Peace, Enjoyment, Love and Pleasure!
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!
Ae fareweel, alas, for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.
Burns gave up hope of earning a living as a farmer at Ellisland. In November 1791 he left Ellisland Farm and moved his family to Dumfries.
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