Robert Burns How To Know Him

" "I have not the most distant pretence to what the pye-coated guardians of Escutcheons call a Gentleman. When at Edinburgh last winter, I got acquainted at the Herald's office ; and looking thro' the granary of honors, I there found almost every name in the kingdom ; but for me, My ancient but ignoble blood Has crept thro' scoundrels since the flood. Gules, purpure, argent, etc. , quite disowned me.
My forefathers rented land of the famous, noble Keiths of Marshal, and had the honor to share their fate. I do not use the word 'honor' with any reference to political principles : loyal and disloyal I take to be merely relative terms in that ancient and formidable court known in this country by the name of 'club- law. ' Those who dare welcome Ruin and shake hands with Infamy, forwhat they believe sincerely to be the cause of their God or their King, are-as Mark Antony in Shakspear says of Brutus and Cassius-'honorable men.
' I mention this circumstance because it threw my Father on the world at large ; where, after many years' wanderings and sojournings, he picked up a pretty large quantity of observation and experience, to which I am indebted for most of my pretensions to Wisdom. I have met with few who understood Men, their manners and their ways, equal to him ; but stubborn, ungainly Integrity, and headlong, ungovernable Irascibility, are disqualifying circumstances ; consequently, I was born, a very poor man's son.
"