Agnes Maclehose (26 April 1758Scotland's People, birth registration of Agnes Craig, Legal Daughter of Andrew Craig, surgeon and Christian McLaurin (OPR Births 644/01 0130 0105 Glasgow) – 23 October 1841Scotland's People, Death record of Agnes Craig or McIhose (OPR Deaths 685/03 0340 0368 CANONGATE)), or Agnes Craig, known to her friends as NancyM'Lehose, Agnes Craig, 'Clarinda' (1759-1841). Burns Encyclopedia. Retrieved : 2012-04-03 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".
Life and character Agnes was born in Glasgow, the third of four daughtersMackay Page 369 of a prominent surgeon, Andrew Craig. Her mother was Christian Maclaurin or McLaurin (d. 1767), daughter of John Maclaurin, a minister of the Scottish church. Her sisters were Margaret (b. 27 January 1752), Lilias (b. 25 July 1754), and Mary (b. 11 May 1764). She was sent to a boarding-school in Edinburgh for six months to improve her handwriting and grammar when she was fifteen, by which time all her siblings except Margaret were dead.Agnes Maclehose Retrieved : 2012-04-03 Agnes was a sickly child, however, from the age of five, her health improved and she developed into an exceptionally good-looking woman, being indeed the toast of Glasgow's Hodge Podge Club at the age of 15.
Several of her ancestors had been ministers, and she herself was somewhat pious, mainly due to her mother's influence. The John Miers silhouette of her shows that she had large eyes, was slim, and had an ample bosom.National Galleries Retrieved : 2012-04-03 She had blonde hair. In an age when it was not seen as necessary, or desirable, that women should receive much education, she was an exception to this rule. She had a poor formal education, but read widely and polished her conversational skills, which put her beyond the ordinary.
A young Glasgow lawyer, James Maclehose (–1812), courted her. However, he was forbidden to enter the Craig family home by Agnes's father. James found ways of meeting with her, one of which was by making himself the only other occupant of a Glasgow to Edinburgh coach in which she was booked to travel for a ten-hour journey, by the simple expedient of purchasing all the other seats. In spite of the objections of her father and her first cousin William Craig (1745–1813), later Lord Craig, a Court of Session judge. Agnes married in Glasgow at the age of eighteen on 1 July 1776.
Agnes had four children in four years, one of whom, William (b. 1777) died in infancy. Shortly before the birth of the fourth, James (b. 21 April 1781) in December 1780,Mackay, Page 370 she formally left her husband because of his mental cruelty and depression, returning to her father in Glasgow's Saltmarket, whilst James ended up at first in a debtors' prison before emigrating to Jamaica in 1782, his wife having refused to accompany him after receiving a letter in which he wrote "For my part, I am willing to forget what is past, neither do I require an apology from you."Hecht, Page 168 James Maclehose took custody of their two sons, both under three at the time; he later took custody also of their youngest child, born a few months after the separation. They were later returned to her. One of her sons, Andrew, her only child to reach adulthood, became a Writer to the Signet in Edinburgh and helped support her in her old age.
On 13 May 1782,Hunter, Page 243 her father died after a long illness that had dissipated his savings. Agnes went to Edinburgh where she took a small flat in Generals Entry Retrieved 2012-04-03 off Potterrow, living on a small annuity of £8, supplemented from time to time by gifts from her cousin, Lord Craig. She was first assisted by charitable contributions from the Writers in Glasgow (£10) and the Surgeons in Glasgow (£8), but these payments ceased when her husband was found to be financially secure. When Lord Craig died, he left her an annuity and made her son Andrew a residual legatee.
There is a plaque in her memory on a building on the corner of Potterrow and Marshall Street that reads, "Near this spot resided 'Clarinda' friend of Robert Burns 1787–1791", erected in 1937 by the Clarinda Burns Club.
In January 1791, Agnes attempted a reconciliation with her husband, sailing aboard the Roselle to Kingston, Jamaica. James was not on the quayside to meet her, and she found that her place had been taken by Ann Chalon Rivvere, his Black mistress, who had borne him a daughter, Arm Lavinia Maclehose. She returned to Scotland in April 1791 when the same ship returned home, having found the heat exhausting and the mosquito bites unbearable. Her cousin, Lord Craig, may have insisted upon her journey in order to avoid further scandal with Robert Burns. In a memoir written after her death, her grandson claimed that James Maclehose's mistreatment of his slaves – and his wife's discovery that he kept a slave mistress – were the decisive factors in her departure.
She was described as "short in stature, her form graceful, her hands and feet small and complexion fair, her cheeks ruddy, and a well-formed mouth displayed teeth beautifully white."Mackay, Page 371 Sir Walter Scott recorded having seen her at his friend Lord Craig's House, when she was "old, charmless and devout". Her friend Mrs Moodie reported that among Agnes's last words were, "I go to Jesus". The Clarinda-Sylvander letters in Mrs Moodie's possession were valued at twenty-five pounds.
In 1810 Agnes moved from Potterrow to live at 14 Calton Hill, Edinburgh where in 1825 Burns’s fourth son, Captain James Glencairn Burns, visited her. She died of old age on 23 October 1841 and was buried on 27th in the north-east corner of the tomb of her cousin William Craig, Lord Craig, in the East Ground of Canongate Kirkyard.
The plaque above her grave was not erected until 1909 and was sculpted by the Edinburgh sculptor Henry Snell Gamley.Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh by McWilliam Gifford and Walker
Association with Robert Burns
When Robert Burns came to Edinburgh, still unmarried, for the second time in 1787, Agnes was in her 29th year and separated from her husband for seven years. A competent poet,Hecht, Page 107 she was determined to meet him and finally did so on 4 December at a tea-party given by Miss Erskine Nimmo, a friend of Margaret Chalmers, at the house of Mr Nimmo, a revenue officer.Hecht, Page 106 Agnes was attracted to him and upon her return home she wrote Burns a note inviting him to drink tea with her the following Thursday at her house on General's Entry on the west side of Potterrow.Edinburgh and District: Ward Lock Guide Book 1935 He accepted the invitation. However, the actions of a coachman, probably drunk, caused the poet to fall from a coach and injure his knee, and his doctor insisted that he refrain from walking.
Sir Walter Scott referred to the resulting love letters that passed between Burns and Maclehose as "the most extraordinary mixture of sense and nonsense, and of love human and divine, that was ever exposed to the eye of the world."
On or around 8 December he wrote to her to explain his misfortune and pay her compliments, saying: "I can say with truth, Madam, that I never met with a person in my life whom I more anxiously wished to meet again than yourself... I know not how to account for it. I am strangely taken with some people; nor am I often mistaken, You are a stranger to me; but I am an odd being: some yet unnamed feelings; things, not principles, but better than whims, carry me farther than boasted reason ever did a Philosopher."
To this epistle Agnes quickly replied: "I perfectly comprehend... Perhaps instinct comes nearer their description than either "Principles" or "Whims". Think ye they have any connection with that 'heavenly light which leads astray'? One thing I know, that they have a powerful effect on me, and are delightful when under the check of reason and religion... Pardon any little freedoms I take with you."
This strange mixture of encouragement and restraint led to his response to some verses sent by Agnes: "Your lines, I maintain it, are poetry, and good poetry... Friendship... had I been so blest as to have met with you in time, might have led me — God of love only knows where." The use of the word "love" resulted in a reminder, namely "Do you remember that she whom you address is a married woman?"
At Christmas, they exchanged verse, Agnes's poem revealing her feelings about her unhappy marriage, whilst at the same time reminding Burns about the ultimate barriers which could not be crossed:
Burns matched these verses to the tune "The Borders of Spey" for the Scots Musical Museum publication.
At this point Burns agreed to Agnes's suggestion of using the Arcadian names of "Sylvander" and "Clarinder". Another mention of love brought an objection and a reproof from Burns: "I do love you if possible still better for having so fine a taste and turn for Poesy. I have again gone wrong in my usual unguarded way, but you may erase the word and put esteem, respect, or any other tame Dutch expression you please in its place."
Her guilty feelings however show in the lines: "I entreat you not to mention our corresponding to anyone on earth. Though I've conscious innocence, my situation is a delicate one." The Reverend John Kemp, of the sternly Calvinistic congregation of the Tolbooth Kirk, was her spiritual adviser and would certainly not have approved, nor would Lord Craig, whose generosity was essential to her.
On 30 December 1787, Burns wrote to a close confidant, Captain Richard BrownHecht, Page 169 at Irvine: "Almighty Love still 'reigns and revels' in my bosom; and I am at this moment ready to hang myself for a young Edinr. Widow, who has wit and beauty more murderously fatal than the assassinating stiletto of the Sicilian banditti, or the poisoned arrow of the savage African." Burns was able to visit Nancy in a sedan chair on 5 January, the first of six visits that month. The love letters and visits continued, the most telling being after they had been together again on the evening of 23 January, Agnes wrote: "I am neither well nor happy. My heart reproaches me of last night. If you wish Clarinda to regain her peace, determine against everything but what the strictest delicacy warrants." On 26 January Burns writes that: "Perhaps the 'line' you had marked was a little infringed," and Agnes replied, "but, though I disapprove, I have not been unhappy about it."
Burns's failure to achieve a physical "conquest" may have directly resulted in his sudden affair with Agnes's personal maid, Jenny Clow, resulting in the birth of a son. A rapid exchange of letters in late February, was the result of either the Reverend Kemp or, more likely, Lord Craig, having sent a "haughty dictatorial letter" about the erosion of his niece's reputation.
On Saturday, 23 February, Robert Burns arrived at Willie's Mill in Tarbolton, to see Jean Armour who had left her parents house due to her pregnancy to stay with the Muir family.Westwood, Page 21 Burns wrote to Agnes from Mossgiel, saying:
Robert married Jean Armour within six weeks of this letter, something Agnes had urged him to do, a fact however which he left his friend Robert Ainslie to tell her. He had received his commission with the Excise and his marriage may well have been a condition of this appointment.
On 6 December 1791 Robert and Agnes met in Edinburgh for the last time; she outlived him by 45 years.
Under the date, 6 December 1831, Nancy wrote in her journal: "This day I can never forget. Parted with Burns, in the year 1791, never more to meet in this world. Oh, may we meet in Heaven!"