Burns said of her, "All these charming qualities, heightened by an education much beyond anything I have ever met in any woman I ever dared to approach, have made an impression on my heart that I do not think the world can ever efface.

He does not give the first name of Mrs Brown, simply stating that the song was from "A lady residing in Glasgow, whom the bard in early life affectionately admired.

[14] Research by James Mackay suggests that 'Elison Begbie' was in fact a confused recollection of the name Elizabeth Gebbie, a surname which does appear in the Galston parish register.

Elizabeth married Hugh Brown at Newmilns on 23 November 1781, and the couple had their first two children, Helen and Agnes, whilst in Ayrshire.

'[16] She may have met Burns during his visits to collect lime with his father from the Cairnhill (later Carnell) kiln close to her home and place of work.

A proposal of marriage is made in the fourth letter: "If you will be so good and so generous as to admit me for your partner, your companion, your bosom friend through life, there is nothing on this side of eternity shall give me greater transport.

[20] In an autobiographical letter, Robert Burns stated that in his 23rd year "a bellefille whom I adored", jilted or refused him "with peculiar circumstances of mortification."

[4] Burns called this Cessnock Lass work his Song of Similes and it was set to the tune if he be a Butcher neat and trim.

Robert was sometimes very late in returning from the Cessnock Banks visiting his belle fille, and one night his father, William Burnes, sat up to let him in and administer a rebuke to his son.