James Currie (physician) - Anthology of Robert Burns

Anthology of Robert Burns

Currie was an admirer of Burns's poetry and met him once in Dumfries. One of his wife Lucy's relatives, Mrs Dunlop, was a close friend of the poet. Burns visited Mrs Dunlop at her home on five occasions and over a period of ten years they exchanged a great number of letters, 186 of which survive to this day. After Burns's death, Currie was entrusted with the publication of an authoritative anthology. Although inexperienced in such a task, he had many advantages, including access through Mrs Dunlop to original manuscripts of poems and letters and help from Gilbert Burns, Robert's brother, and several of Burns's friends. When The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns: With Explanatory and Glossarial Notes; And a Life of the Author was published in four volumes in 1800, it met with immediate success and second, third and fourth editions were published in 1801–3 In addition to containing revised versions of Burns' songs such as "The Battle of Sherramuir", it also contained an introductory criticism and an essay on the character and condition of the Scottish peasantry.

The work remains an authoritative source, but not without criticism. It is claimed that Currie exaggerated Burns's fondness for drink and that he deliberately misdated some of Burns's letters to Mrs Dunlop. An eighth edition, published in 1820, included an additional section Some Further Particulars of the Author's Life by Gilbert Burns. However, the publishers advised Gilbert not to impugn Currie's accuracy and the legend that Burns was an incurable alcoholic remained unchallenged.