"Lord Gregory" first line: O mirk, mirk is this midnight hour.
"Lord Gregory" is without edits and is as published in Kinsley.
Part of a large collection of letters from Robert Burns to George Thomson. See collection record (MA 47 and MA 50) for full description.
Watermark: Countermark: Letters "TF".
Approving of Thomson's plans to include Dr. Beattie's essay and mentioning that Burns has taken down Mr. Tytler's anecdotes "from his own mouth." Discussing the possibility of publishing a collection of Jacobite songs, but wondering whether it would give offense. Suggesting that "it would be proper to have one set of Scots words for every air," praising Scottish verses over English. Giving the verses of "Lord Gregory." Agreeing that Thomson's criticism of the first stanza of Burns's "Highland Mary" is "just," but that Burns "cannot alter it without injuring the poetry in proportion as ... I mended the perspicuity." Giving leave for Thomson to use Burns's name if it "can be of any service to [his] advertisement."