A Month of Scottish Gravestones - Clarinda

 

Agnes McLehose (Nancy) had been married and had borne 4 children, one of whom died in infancy. Shortly before the birth of her fourth child, young Nancy (as she was known) left her husband due to his cruelty and she moved back into the home of her father, surgeon Andrew Craig. After her father’s death, Nancy moved from Glasgow to Edinburgh where she lived in a flat on Pottersrow. Nancy had heard that Robert Burns was coming to Edinburgh in 1797 and she made sure that she was invited to attend. 

Burns was enchanted by Nancy and happily accepted her invitation to visit her home. However, he before he could visit, he fell from a coach. During his recovery, he began writing with Agnes. The two wrote back and forth, somewhat clandestinely. He called her Clarinda and she referred to him as Sylvander.  

Forty letters, written during his convalescence express a romantic longing and inspired Burns' poem, 'Ae fond kiss' 

"Clarinda" is buried in the kirkyard of Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh and there is a display of the letter writing in an exhibit in the Burns Museum in Alloway. As well, there is a silhouette of “Clarinda” in the museum as well.