In his song, ‘Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary, And leave auld Scotia’s shore?’, Burns entices Campbell with the image of a seductive, bountiful paradise:īurns was aware of the nature of the job, describing his role as a ‘poor Negro driver’. Douglas had investments in the estate which was owned and managed by his brother Charles. Burns had been offered the job of bookkeeper on the Springbank sugar plantation in Port Antonio through his friend the doctor Patrick Douglas. The intention was that they would begin a new life together in Jamaica. Burns and Campbell apparently exchanged Bibles and made matrimonial vows. At this time Campbell was working as a nursemaid for Burns’ friend Gavin Hamilton in Mauchline and Burns was running a farm with his brother Gilbert at Mossgiel nearby. Glasgow Museums has in its collection a painting by Scottish artist Thomas Faed (1826–1900) which imagines a meeting in May 1786 between Burns and his lover Margaret (‘Mary’) Campbell (1763–1786) just before his intended voyage to the Caribbean. Presented by the Trustees of the Hamilton Bequest, 1928. Thomas Faed, Burns and Highland Mary, c.1850, oil on canvas.
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