The Life and Land of Burns

by Allan Cunningham

This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: J & H.G. Langley in 1841 in 382 pages; Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / General; Literary Criticism / Poetry; Poetry / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh;

363 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1841

About the author

Allan Cunningham was a Scottish poet and author.

He was born at Keir, near Dalswinton, Dumfries and Galloway, and first worked as a stonemason's apprentice. His father was a neighbour of Robert Burns at Ellisland, and Allan with his brother James visited James Hogg, the "Ettrick Shepherd", who became a friend to both. Cunningham's other brothers were the naval surgeon Peter Miller Cunningham (1789 - 1864) and the poet, Thomas Mounsey Cunningham (1776 - 1834).

Cunningham gave his leisure to reading and writing imitations of old Scottish ballads. In 1809 he collected old ballads for Robert Hartley Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song; he sent in, however, poems of his own, which the editor inserted, even though he may have suspected their real authorship. It gained for him the friendship of Walter Scott.

In 1810 Cunningham went to London, where he worked as a parliamentary reporter and journalist until 1814, when he became clerk of the works in the studio of the sculptor, Francis Chantrey, a post he kept until Chantrey's death in 1841.