Holy Willie's Prayer

This is a holograph manuscript of Robert Burns' poem, "Holy Willie's Prayer".  In the poem Burns attacks the hypocrisy of Willie Fisher (1737-1809), a drinking and womanising kirk elder from Mauchline in Ayrshire, who complained that Burns' friend, Gavin Hamilton, had breached God's law by having men work on the Sabbath.  It was written in 1785 and first printed anonymously in an eight page pamphlet in 1799.