A LITERARY HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—In the review of Mr. Millar's " Literary History of Scotland " in the Spectator of September 12th the writer says : " The father of Burns spelt his name, not 'Burns' or 'Burness,' but Burnes.' " There is, I think, ample evidence to the con- trary, as appears from the following facts. When a certain Walter Campbell moved from Argyllshire to Glenbervie in the Mearns (Kincardineshire) early in the seventeenth cen- tury, be assumed the name of Burnhouse or Burness. From him the fourth in descent was William Burness, the father of the poet. The family Bible records the marriage of " William Burness and Agnes Brown" in 1757, and I myself copied the name of " William Burness " from the old gravestone in Alloway kirkyard more than forty years ago, which has since been replacd by a new one. The poet always signed himself " Robert Burness " in his letters for about two years after his father's death in 1784, the last extant letter with that signa- ture being one addressed to Mr. Aiken, April 3rd, 1786. After this date he appears to have adopted the spelling with which we are all familiar,—" Robert Burns."—I am, Sir, Ste.,
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