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I like to have quotations ready for every occasions - they give one's ideas so pat and save one the trouble of finding expression adequate to one's feeling.

Robert Burns

We continue our new Feature in this section of the Flag - Scottish Quotations - statements in prose and verse which reflect all aspects of Scottish life and outlook from the 1^st century to the present day.  New quotes added every week.  The quotations are not restricted to native Scots but include observations from abroad which help us, in the words of our National Bard, Robert Burns, "To see oursels as others see us"    

Julie Bertagna

I’m a big fan of Robert Burns’ work. It’s difficult not to be. His work was so incredibly rich. In so many ways Burns is the high point for Scottish poetry. Hopefully, the continued interest in him, both at home and abroad, will encourage an ongoing following for our cultural heritage and also provoke people to look at the extraordinary talent Scotland has to offer today.

(January 2007)

Professor John Stuart Blackie (1809-1895)

When Scotland forgets Burns, then history will forget Scotland.

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

I was born a poor dog; and however I may occasionally pick up a better bone than I used to do, I know I must live and die poor; but I will indulge the flattering faith that my poetry will considerably outlive my poverty.

(Letter to Mrs Graham of Fintry 1791)

James Halliday

Strangers to Scotland, and many Scots themselves, often feel puzzled by the hero-worship which so many bestow upon Robert Burns. The truth is that if Burns had never lived, Scotland could hardly have avoided going the way of ancient English-speaking kingdoms whose identity is long lost. Merged within a greater whole. Scotland today would rank alongside Mercia or Northumbria or Wessex, of interest as an antiquity, a curiosity or an affectation. If Scotland is anything more in modern times, it is because Burns, speaking as and for the ordinary man, stemmed the tide of history, flowing strongly in the direction of absorption and integration. His work meant that a sense of identity was preserved at a time when the politically active classes in Scotland showed little interest in such sense. Aristocracy is by its nature international. It is ordinary people, involved with humbler local community life, who have greater national awareness. These ordinary people had no political power until more than a century had passed, but when in due course these people for whom Burns spoke did gain the right to political participation, Scotland was still there.

(British Scotland – Scotland A Concise History 1990)

Alexander (Alex) Elliot Anderson Salmond

Burns personifies the Scottish democratic intellect, and the true radical spirit of Scotland. The values championed by Burns are timeless and universal.

(January 2007)

GALLA WATER
Robert Burns

Braw, braw lads on Yarrow braes,
   Ye wander thro’ the blooming heather;
But Yarrow braes, nor Ettric shaws,
   Can match the lads o’ Galla water.

But there is ane, a secret ane,
   Aboon them a’ I lo’e him better;
And I’ll be his, and he’ll be mine,
   The bonie lad o’ Galla water.

Altho’ his daddie was nae laird,
   And tho’ I hae na meikle tocher;
Yet rich in kindest, truest love,
   We’ll tent our flocks by Galla water.

It ne’er was wealth, it ne’er was wealth
   That coft contentment, peace or pleasure;
The bands and bliss o’ mutual love,
   O that’s the chiefest warld’s treasure!

Footnote:  Burns produced this song for George Thomson in January 1793, agreeing to alter the opening words to suit the verse! The song by Burns replaced in popularity an older song by the same title and we give below the traditional version as published in Chamber’s collection of Scottish songs in 1829.

GALLA WATER
Traditional

Though barley rigs are gude to see,
   Yet flocks o’ sheep are mickle better;
And oats will shake on a windy day,
   When the lambs will play by Galla Water.

Chorus:
Braw lads o’ Galla water!
   Bonie lads o’ Galla Water!
Lothian lads will ne’er compare
   Wi’ the braw lads o’ Galla Water.

Lothian lads are black wi’ reek,
   And Teviotdale lads are little better;
Let them a’ say what they will,
   The gree gaes ay doun Galla Water.

There’s Blindylee and Torwoodlee,
   And Galashiels that rides the water;
But young Hawtree, he bears the gree
   Of a’ the Pringles o’ Galla Water.

See the SING A SANG AT LEAST in our Features section
 

SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

As we enter the Burns Supper season we look at how the Burns’ generation regarded Robert Burns (for modern views please see Scottish Quotations).  

After the poet’s death a traveller in Scotland reported a conversation he had with an old countryman by the roadside. When the name of Burns was mentioned, the old man’s back straightened and a fire came into his eyes and he said -

“He had the heart of man in him. He was all heart and all man. And there’s nothing, at least in a poor man’s experience, either bitter or sweet, which can happen to him, but a line of Burns springs into his mouth and gives him courage and comfort if he needs it.”

He spoke for us all.

When Robert Burns first went to Mauchline he wrote a jolly jingle about the ‘Belles of Mauchline’:

Miss Miller is fine, Miss Markland’s divine,
   Miss Smith she has wit, and Miss Betty is braw;
There’s beauty and fortune to get wi’ Miss Morton,
   But Armour’s the jewel for me o’ them a’.

One of the Mauchline Belles, Jean Armour, became immortal as spouse of Scotland’s greatest son, but Robert Burns touched all their lives. Some seventy years after the verse had been written, the old women who had been the youthful Miss Morton, lay dying. Her grand-children stood around the bed. Waiting for the end, they spoke in hushed tones of past times. “Do you remember Robert Burns ?” one of them asked. A smile lit the drawn and wrinkled face. The woman’s dying lips moved –

“Ay” she said “Brawly that!”

Almost nothing else needs said, what better way to remember Robert Burns – Ay, brawly that.

No Burns Supper would be complete without a piece, or two, of shortbread and this week’s recipe makes a simple but delicious Shortbread, which goes very well with a Fly Cup out-with the Burns Season.

Shortbread

Ingredients:  8oz margarine; 10oz plain flour; 2oz cornflour; 4oz caster sugar

Method:  Pre-heat oven to 160 deg C/ Gas Mark 3. Rub margarine into flour and cornflour until mixture is fine crumbs. Stir in sugar, Form into a ball and roll out (approx ¼ inch). Cut into circles or shapes. Bake for 25-30 minutes, When cool dust with caster sugar.

athout: without
feart: afraid
gauger: an exciseman
grauvit: scarf
Janwar: January
towmond: year
A Scotch grauvit: An embrace

"O thou grim mischeif-makin chiel,

 That gars the notes of discord squeal,

 Till daft mankind aft dances a reel

                       In gore a shoe-thick ;-

 Gie a' the faes o SCOTLAND'S weal

                     A towmond's Toothache."

 

            frae "Address to the Toothache" - Robert Burns