MR. JOHN G ——, a merchant in Mauchline, and a contemporary, in writing to a correspondent, said of Burns that he was “a curious chiel, Robin; unco fond o’ talkin’ about the lassies – lassies were a’ his crack. he was unco fond o’ an argument about religion; but I was ower young to talk wi’ him about thae things.”
John himself was a decent old man, a Presbyterian of the strictest school, a rejoicer in long sermons and the repentance stool – in short, a stiff burgher, so that his sympathies with the broad views of the poet were probably of the slightest.