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Agnes M'Lehose

(M'Lehose, Agnes, 1759-1841)

In 1797, during his second visit to Edinburgh, Robert Burns attended a tea party where he was introduced to an abandoned wife, Agnes McLehose. He accepted her invitation to visit, but an unlucky fall from a coach prevented him from doing so. Thus began a six-week long correspondence, the so-called 'Clarinda letters', which continued after his recovery. The 40 letters, written while he convalesced at the home of his publisher in Buccleuch Street, express romantic longings. This unconsummated 'affair' with a woman of a higher social rank inspired Burns' poem, 'Ae fond kiss' which includes the lines:
Had we never lov'd sae kindly,
Had we never lov'd sae blindly,
Never met - or never parted,
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.

Agnes Maclehose (26 April 1758 – 23 October 1841), or Agnes Craig, known to her friends as Nancy and to Robert Burns followers as Clarinda, was a Scotswoman who had an unconsummated affair with Burns during 1787–1788, on which he based the 1791 song "Ae Fond Kiss". The pseudonyms of her "Clarinda" to his "Sylvander" were adopted by the pair for confidential correspondence purposes. Maclehose, used here throughout, has been various styled, including "McLehose", "MacLehose" and "M'Lehose". (From Wikipedia)

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M'Lehose, Agnes, 1759-1841 -- Correspondence

Books about Agnes M'Lehose -- Books by Agnes M'Lehose

Books about Agnes M'Lehose:

Filed under: M'Lehose, Agnes, 1759-1841 -- Correspondence

Sylvander and Clarinda: The Love Letters of Robert Burns and Agnes M'Lehose (New York: George H. Doran Co., c1917), by Robert Burns and Agnes M'Lehose, ed. by Amelia Josephine Burr
- multiple formats at archive.org
- page images at HathiTrust

2 additional books about Agnes M'Lehose in the extended shelves:

Burns' Clarinda: brief papers concerning the poet's renowned correspondent (J. Grant, 1897), by John Dawson Ross (page images at HathiTrust)
Old Edinburgh beaux & belles : faithfully presented to the reader in coloured prints with the story of how they walked, dressed and behaved themselves told in the letterpress which is adorned with quaint cuts (William Paterson, 1886), by David Morison and John Kay (page images at HathiTrust)

Books by Agnes M'Lehose:

M'Lehose, Agnes, 1759-1841: Sylvander and Clarinda: The Love Letters of Robert Burns and Agnes M'Lehose (New York: George H. Doran Co., c1917), also by Robert Burns, ed. by Amelia Josephine Burr
- multiple formats at archive.org
- page images at HathiTrust

Additional books by Agnes M'Lehose in the extended shelves:

M'Lehose, Agnes, 1759-1841: The correspondence between Burns and Clarinda. With a memoir of Mrs. M'Lehose (Clarinda). (R. P. Bixby & Co., 1843), also by Robert Burns and W. C. M'Lehose (page images at HathiTrust)
M'Lehose, Agnes, 1759-1841: The correspondence beween Burns and Clarinda. (R. P. Bixby & co., 1843), also by Robert Burns and William Lonsdale (page images at HathiTrust)

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