One of my favourite questions on the TV programme, QI is: What have Scotland, Haggis, bagpipes, tartan and whisky all

got in common? The answer will be revealed later and has much to do with the works of Burns, Scott and others. When I was asked to deliver his talk it was as someone who hadnt taken much interest in literature, Scottish or otherwise. So I am no expert on the works of these men and if you are looking for any critique of their work then look elsewhere. But the subject I was asked to speak on was their legacy and that, I have fornd is a fascinating story. Many of you here will know the background to Burns and Scott but for those who do not, I believe it is worth looking at their stories as they are pertinent to their legacy. Robert Burns was born on 25th January 1759 in Alloway, two miles south of Ayr. The Burnes family came to Alloway after losing the tenancy of their farm in Dunnotar, Kinkardineshire in the north-east of Scotland because of their Jacobite leanings in support of their landlords, the Keiths. After a spell in Edinburgh, William moved to Alloway in Ayeshire as a nurseryman, took a lease on seven and a half acres of land and built a two-bedroom cottage though probably not without the decorations. He married Agnes Broun and had a family, first Robert in 1759, followed by six siblings. They were brought up in his fathers strict Scottish Presbytarian tradition with a good dose of the Scottish Covenanter from his mothers background. Robert and his brother Gilbert received what seems like an excellent education for that time and for children of their means. They excelled at reading under the tutilage of John Murdoch. They would have to memorize hymns, scripture and poetry. Portrait of Robert Burns, This formal education was complimented by by Alexander Nasmyth, 1787 their mothers singing of traditional songs. Burns was fascinated by these and also the songs and stories from one of her older relatives, Betty Davison. They sparked his imagination; he later said that she, had, I suppose, the largest collection in the county of tales and songs concerning devils, ghosts, fairies, brownies, witches, warlocks, spunkies, kelpies, giants, inchanted towers, dragons and other trumpery. One has to remember that in Scotland up to the mid-18th century Enlightenment, there had been no great tradition of written literature in Scotland. There was however a rich tradition of storytelling possibly inherited from the saga-telling Vikings hundreds of years earlier. Families would gather around a fire after sundown, performing what tasks could be done and telling tales. Even the phrase to spin a yarn relates to this tradition. In Burns own words, these cultivated the latent seeds of Poesy. Life was hard for the family. They moved eventually to a farm called Lochlea near Tarbolton. It was here in 1779 that Robert incurred the wrath of his father by attending a village dance, an act which soured their future relationship.

My father as I said before was the sport of strong passions; from that instance of rebellion he took a kind of dislike to me, which I believe was one cause of that dissipation which marked my future years. I only say, Dissipation, comparative with the strictness and sobriety of Presbyterian country life; for though the will-o-wisp meteors of thoughtless Whim were almost the sole lights of my path, yet ingrained piety and virtue never failed to point me out the line of Innocence. Burns was a sociable man, joining the local freemasons lodge and the Talbolton Bachelors Club, a local debating society. He had been writing poetry and love songs since he was fifteen and when he moved to Irvine on the west coast, he was first encouraged to publish his work. Poverty, hard toil and illness were never far from the family and in 1784 William Burnes died. His death may have acted as a catalyst for Roberts creativity. He was now his own man and started what he called a commonplace book of Observations, Hints, Songs and Scraps of Poetry. He would write poems and songs to satirise local dignitaries and comment on social issues but also to tease the local girls and in it we see his love of Ayrshire and its beauty. To understand Burns, we have to consider the social climate of the period known as the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment spread throughout Europe and manifested itself in Scotland in the early 18th century after the 1707 Act of Union. It was an age of discovery, Tarbolton Bachelors Club. encompassing new ideas about philosophy, political economy, engineering, architecture, medicine, geology, archaeology, law, agriculture, chemistry and sociology. The 1770s saw the emergence of the Romantic movement which manifested itself in art, music and literature. Before this there were certain parts of Britain no self-respecting lady or gentleman would dare venture. No-go areas included the desolate wastelands of the north like the Lake District, Northumberland and pretty much all of Scotland including of course, the Borders. These were places of harsh landscape and weather which couldnt be farmed. Polite societys attitude was akin to their equivalent today and inner city ghettos. The locals were viewed with deep suspicion; at worst, they would rob you or murder you, and at best would be far too uncouth to socialise with. Romanticism can then be seen as a counter-enlightenment movement. German painter Caspar David Friedrich that the artists feeling is his law. To William Wordsworth, poetry should be the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings In his Commonplace Book, Burns wrote, We have never had one Scotch poet of any eminence, to make the fertile banks of Irvine, the romantic woodlands and sequestered scenes on Aire, and the healthy, mountainous source, and winding sweep of Doon emulate Tay, Forth, Ettrick, Tweed etc

And this is largely true for the rest of Scotland too. There had been early writers such as John Barbour who wrote The Brus in the 14th century and bards known as makars such as the 15th century William Dunbar. They usually wrote pieces for official occasions. Allan Ramsay who flourished in the early 18th century was admired by Burns. His poems, most famously The Gentle Shepherd, developed from the makar tradition and were often of a pastoral nature, anticipating the later Romantics. Burns published his first book, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, in 1786 and began to mix with the intelligencia in Edinburgh. He was perceived as plain but having a noble dignity and was treated as an equal. Burns radical views emerged during this time. A fierce sense of social justice and suspicion of the Act of Union, perhaps harking back to his fathers eviction from Kincardineshire because of his Jacobite sympathies. This was Portrait of Allan Ramsay a dangerous time; revolution was in the air in by William Aikman 1722 Europe following the success of the colonialists in the Americas. Burns and others were worried that the traditional Scottish way of life would be swallowed up in a greater, anglicised Britain. Burns wrote: Fareweel to all our Scottish fame Fareweel our ancient glory Fareweel even to our Scottish name Sae famed in martial story Now salt rins oer Solway sands And Tweed rins to the ocean? To mark where Englands province stands Sic a parcel of rogues in the nation! It was this sense of patriotic identity that motivated him when, in 1787 he met James Johnson and became a major contributor to his Scots Musical Museum, an anthology of Scottish folk songs. This work was published in three volumes between 1787 and 1802 with Burns supplying about a third of the 600 songs. As well as collecting old songs, Burns wrote new words to old tunes, and many of the songs now attributed to Burns have older roots; songs such as Auld Lang Syne, My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose and Scots Wha Hae. He also contributed to other antiquary works such as George Thomsons A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs, published between 1793 to 1818, which adapted Scottish folk-songs with classical arrangements. In 1786 there was a chance meeting with a fifteen year old apprentice solicitor called Walter Scott. Burns noticed a print with a poem that he had not seen. The young Scott was the only person at he social gathering able to identify the author. That would have been because at an early age, Scott had been interested in the oral traditions of the Borders, having been schooled in Kelso.

Scott was to differ from Burns. If Burns was a man of the people; Scott was part of the establishment. It has been said that if Burns was a proto-nationalist, Scott might be likened to a Scots Tory. He was in favour of the Union. But like Burns he worried about the loss of the Scottish way of life. He was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Selkirk and in the 1800s published his Minstrelsy of The Borders which includes many of his famous works including Thomas the Rhymer, a tale of prophecy and fairy folk and Flowers of The Forest, the famous lament for the Scottish loss of Flodden.

The young Walter Scott meets Robert Burns.

Portrait of Sir Walter Scott by Sir Henry Raeburn, 1822

Portrait of James Hogg by Sir John Watson Gordon c.1770

He also differed from Burns in that he merely recorded the words of songs. Whereas Burns was musically inclined and was able to sing the songs, Scott had a curious way of recording songs and poems using notches on sticks. Writing down the words was treated with suspicion by many of the older people he visited in his travels around Liddesdale, Ettrick and Teviotdale. Ironically, in trying to preserve these ballads and songs he might have detroyed them. Famously, the mother of James Hogg, The Ettrick Shepherd, who had supplied him with Auld Maitland, one of the oldest ballads, was scathing of him when she saw the published version. They were made for singin and no for readin; but ye hae broken the charm noo and theyll never be sung mair. An the worst thing is theyre naither richt spellt nor richt setten doun. This rather put me in mind of a motto on a 16th century mural rescued from a building in Bridge Street in Berwick, the origins of which lie with Socrates: Wysedome & science whiche are pure by kynde, Shulde not be wryt in bookes, but in mynde. Fortunately for us, old Mrs Hogg has been proved wrong.

Scott wrote of The Minstrelsy, This is my contribution to the history of my native country, the peculiar features of whose character are daily melting and dissolving into those of her sister and ally. Scott divided his ballads into two catagories, the Historical and the Romantic, an artificial contruction if ever there was as these stories can encompass both and so much more besides. There are ballads of battles such as the Battle of Otterburn which tell of brave deeds an almost obligatory heroic death and an equally obligatory defeat of the English. Daring deeds are the subject of Jamie Telfer of the Fair Dodheid in which a cattle raid is revenged and Auld Maitland, a story dating to 1300 in which our eponymous hero and his sons beat back the horrid English. The border reiver families are a rich source with tales of treachery such as Johnie Armstrong and The Lament of The Border Widow set in the time of James V. Another well of inspiration is the supernatural. In he Middle Ages the moors were subject to all manner of spirits, fairies and brownies. Thomas the Rhymer I have already mentioned and Young Tamlane is a story set at the confluence of the Ettrick and Yarrow, telling how Tamlane is turned into a wee, wee, man by the fairy folk. Which brings us to John Mackay Wilson. He was born in Tweedmouth in 1804 and like the poets before him grew up to love the surrounding countryside. In a poem, The Tweed Near Berwick he wrote: Midst the daydream of boyhood, ere glowing ambition Had sung the fond thrillings of beauty and love, Thy banks were my study - my only tuition The sounds of thy waters, the coo of thy dove. Boyhood was not to last long as at the age of 11 he was apprenticed to the Berwick printer William Lockhead of Marygate who specialised in producing bibles and history books. John Mackay Wilson soaked up the contents of these books.

The ballad of Young Tamlane.

John Mackay Wilson by James Sinclair, 1833

After being rejected in love, he left his apprenticeship and moved to London, no doubt fired by glowing ambition. Like Burns before him, perhaps the hardship he suffered was to influence his later writing. Wilson failed to find any success and was forced to sleep rough. Luckily he was rescued by James Sinclair, an agent for Lloyds at Berwick, who happened to be visiting London. Sinclair gave him enough money to return to Tweedmouth. It is probably this James Sinclair who painted a portrait of Wilson that is now in Berwick Museum and Art Gallery. Yet another is in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Wilson then moved to Edinburgh where he worked on the staff of the Literary Journal. In 1829 he found some success with The Gowrie Conspiracy and other stage plays. At this time he also lectured on poetry throughout the country. He returned to Berwick in 1831 and began helping to edit The Border Magazine. Many of Wilsons poems and lectures were included in the early editions, together with his story The Vacant Chair, which was later to become the first of a series of Tales of the Borders. In 1832, when in Manchester again with little money, Wilson was approached to become Editor of The Berwick Advertiser. Wilson was far from keen as he feared it would stifle his creativity. The market for his work in London was no better and Wison finally agreed to take the Editorship. The paper included national and foreign news and political pieces written by Wilson. During periods when news was scarce, Wilson would include one of his own stories, in verse or prose. In November, 1834, the first issue of Historical, Traditionary, and Imaginative Tales of the Borders, by John MacKay Wilson was published. The issue would cost three-halfpence. The Tales were to be published weekly with a monthly compilation edition. The first issue of The Tales contained two stories, The Vacant Chair and Tibby Fowler. Two thousand copies were printed, but before the week was out a second edition had to be printed to meet the unexpected demand. Two weeks later sales had reached four thousand. In common with other contemporary writers, many of Wilsons Tales were of a moralizing and didactic nature. The Tales were a phenomenal success. A year and a half into the run, Wilson wrote, There never was an instance of what is called a provincial publication meeting such a reception from the public; and it is only one or two metropolitan publications that can boast of the same circulation The Tales of the Borders were commenced at about two thousand weekly. Many then said that quantity would never sell. But they not only are now nearly two thousand every week, but of many of the earlier numbers more than seventeen thousand have been sold; and from proposals that have been made to the author by London book-sellers, to circulate the work throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, within a month the weekly circulation will not be below THIRTY THOUSAND.

Frontispiece to an edition of the Border Tales.

Wilson died aged 31 on 3rd October 1835 after a period of illness. Wilson left a widow, Sarah, but no children, and was buried in Tweedmouth Churchyard. What of the Tales? Academics are unsure about where they originate. Are they based on historic fact or legend, or are they Wilsons own concoctions? Or did he collect them in the same manner as Burns and Scott. Wilsons story The Deserted Wife begins with the sentence. The following tale was communicated to me when in Dumfriesshire, in the year 1827, by an old and respectable lady, who was herself the subject of it. But this may have been a literary device to give authenticity to the story. The Tales would appear to be an amalgum, some based on history such as The Red Hall; or, Berwick in 1296 and The Siege; a Dramatic Tale and some imagined and others not without a hint of inspiration from the likes of Scott whom Wilson is known to admire. After Wilsons death the demand for he stories remained and other writers contributed to the publication. Wilson wrote 66 of the tales but after his death the area was increased to include all Scotland and eventually over 500 tales were written by a number of contributors. These continued to be reprinted in a variety of forms until the mid 20th century a testimony to their enduring appeal.

John Mackay Wilsons grave in Tweedmouth cemetery.

Plaque commemorating the centenary of John Mackay Wilsons death. The Scotch Church was in Tweedmouth West End.

But what of the legacy of these men? Returning to the question posed at the beginning of this piece: What have Scotland, whisky, bagpipes, tartan and haggis all got in common? The answer is, somewhat surprisingly; none of them. The name Scotland is derived from the Irish tribe, the Scoti, whisky is Roman, bagpipes originate in the Middle East, tartan is English and haggis is Viking. But we think of these as being Scottish in no small part because of these writers, especially Burns and Scott. Haggis is first recorded in Lancashire in 1430 and may not have been imported into Scotland till much later. James Macsween, director of Macsweens, the Edinburgh haggis-maker, said: This is certainly a revelation to me, but haggis is now renowned as Scotlands dish largely due to Robert Burns, who made it famous. Thats not to say that prior to Burns that haggis wasnt eaten in England, but Scotland has done a better job of looking after it. I didnt hear Shakespeare writing a poem about haggis. Tartan as we know it can be attributed to the Romantic period. After the Jacobite risings it and many other parts of Highland identity were banned under the Dress Act of 1746. This was later repealed in 1782 and reinvented with individual clan association after Scott stage managed the visit to Scotland by George IV in 1822. He wore a specially designed short kilt - before then kilts were much longer - and set them off with rather fetching pink stockings rather than what is portrayed in the picture by David Wilkie. In the Borders today, arguably the greatest legacy has been the rehabilitation of the reivers - the steel bonnets of the debatable lands. Even the Scottish Borders Council promote and romanticise the noble reiver soldier and his sturdy nag in their logo.

James Macsween and a traditional Scottish dish?

A reiver as symbol of strength and trustworthyness?

King George IV by Sir David Wilkie, 1829

This celebration of history of horsemanship is continued in the various Common Ridings that happen throughout the borders. Many Ridings are merely to check the terretorial boundary markings as in Berwick and some are modern creations tapping into the spirit of the past such as the Peebles Beltane Festival. In Hawick the Riding celebrates the capture of an English flag in 1514. It is a week long festival with various races and games and the riding of the commonty of Hawick. A song, written by James Hogg in 1819 is sung during these festivities: Teribus ye teri odin Sons of heroes slain at Flodden Imitating Border bowmen Aye defend your rights and common Established in 1930 to celebrate the towns history Galashiels Riding begins with the Braw Lad receiving the Burgh Flag and leading his mounted supporters to the Raid Stane where, in 1337 Gala lads killed English raiders in a field of wild plums. Jedburgh Callants Festival was inaugurated in 1947 and lasts two weeks with ceremonial rides, the most important of which is to Redeswire, close by Carter Bar. In a battle here in 1575 the Jedburgh contingent turned up to save the day and turned an apparent defeat of the men from Liddesdale into a rout of the English. In the Borders, there is still a strong sense of place and people. In the past ones loyalty was to your family. Now there is a strong local patriotism best summarized by the phrase, Id rather be a lamp post in Hawick than a Provost in Selkirk. Outsiders are still treated with suspicion. Interlopers arent going to tell us what to do! is often to be heard. But behind the romance you find a breed of aggressive warring family units killing and stealing from each other. Many might recoil in horror at the idea of having such a person in their family tree but thanks to the popularity of genealogy a thriving business has grown up and people are keen to boast of their reiver connections. Presumably this is because a little bit of that romance with brush off on them - they will be imbued with that fighting spirit, even if in reality they have a boring office job in the middle of a city!

The excitement of Gala Common Riding

Genealogy taps into the romance of the reiver families.

Cattle rustling in the lawless Borders a possibly more accurate depictiion of the reiver families.

The Borders were a lawless no-mans land. The reivers were able to evade the law by simply crossing back over the border from whichever side they came to evade any officials. Shortly after James VI ascended the English throne he talked of my United Kingdom. Now there could be no such hiding behind invisible lines and James even tried to abolish the identity of the Borders by calling them the Middle Shires. We have seen this rehabilitation of a group of people before more recently. Irish immigrants were treated with contempt up till the 1960s certainly. I believe, it was not until some notable advertising by Guinness in the 80s Typical traditional English attitude and 90s that the idea of Irishness became towards the Irish, typical of many acceptable and even cool. Nowadays, people prejudices by many people towards are proud to flaunt their Irish connections others. whenever possible, however spurious and the same is true of those with reiver family connections. Although principally influenced by Nordic mythology, Tolkien took many sources for his inspiration and his stories are populated with the same elves and fairy folk that we find in the Tales of The Borders. It may be that the reaction we saw to the enlightenment in the form of Romanticism is now part of a wider cycle. In the latter half of the 19th cenury the Arts and Crafts movement was started by William Morris as an antidote to the mechanisation of production. Elves and fairies are kept alive in new And now, in answer to the 1960s white heat tales and popular culture. of technology and more recently because of the new wave of computerisation and other hi tech advances, coupled with a decline in popularity of traditional belief systems, we find ourselves immersed in New Age fancy in which the likes of witchcraft is given a new face. No longer are witches the stuff of superstition to be feared but are reinvented with better PR and a face lift. Created in 1956 by a civil servant, Wicca is now an recognised as an official religion. Spells and magic are peddled as alternatives to conventional medicine.

A traditional view of witches by Goya.

New view of witches!

This trend to look to the past in the late 20th century manifested itself in popular literature with the likes of Nigel Tranter. In Scotland, the folk music rivival was led by The Corries; in England by the likes of Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention. In Northumberland the call was answered by Alex Glasgow and Billy Pigg and nowadays by the likes of Katherine Tickell and The Unthanks. The Unthanks on a suitably romantic The Ballads are used in marketing. The location in Northumberland. Broughton Brewery near Biggar celebrates Borders culture with ales such as Merlin, The Reiver, Dark Dunter (a type of goblin), Exciseman (a reference to smuggling and Burns), Black Douglas and Greenmantle. Portrayed as a proud Scottish soldier, Greenmantle was actually the codename of a fictional Turkish religious leader and prophet in the novel by John Buchan, author and 1st Baron of Tweedsmuir, but let it pass. To conclude, Burns, Scott, Wilson and others created Scotland and the Borders as we know them today. Much of it is a wistful memory, a romantic ideal of what might have been in much the same way and with about as much authenticity as a Dickens Christmas. But these dreams and romantic notions are now The magic of the Border tales is kept alive. present in even the most sceptic, like me. I have found that, when in comes to history, most people would always prefer the legend to truth. Who doesnt love the idea that Berwick is still at war with Russia rather than boring old Clause 3 in the Wales and Berwick-upon-Tweed Act of 1746? Stand on a bleak Cheviot hill with the rain lashing down and the wind howling. As night falls it is easy to let the mind run riot, cunjuring up the old spirits, fairies, brownies and other supernatural beings. And who doesnt support the underdog, struggling for existence; battling for their identity against the larger forces of officialdom and nature.

Romantic landscape or desolate wasteland?