Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/213

 'Horæ Entomologicæ, or Essays on Annulose Animals,' in 2 vols., 1819 and 1821, in which he propounded the circular or quinary system, a forcedly artificial attempt at a natural system of classification, which soon became a by-word among naturalists. In 1825 he published, in quarto, 'Annulosa Javanica, or an Attempt to illustrate the Natural Affinities and Analogies of the Insects collected in Java by Thomas Horsfield,' and in 1838 the Annulosa of South Africa.' Twenty-six papers by him are recorded in the 'Royal Society's Catalogue' (iv. 168), mostly dealing with insects, and contributed at first to the 'Transactions of the Linnean Society' (vols, xiv-xvi.), and afterwards to the ' Journal,' 'Transactions,' and 'Proceedings' of the Zoological Society, and to the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History.' Among these were 'Remarks on the Identity of certain General Laws, which have been lately observed to regulate the Natural Distribution of Insects and Fungi' ('Linn.Trans.' xiv. 1825); 'Anatomical Observations on the Tunicata ' (tift.); 'On Analogy and Affinity' ('Zoological Journal,' vol. iv. 1828-9); 'Anatomy of certain Birds of Cuba' ('Linn. Trans.' vol. xvi. 1833); 'On Trilobites' ('Annals of Natural History,' vol. iv. 1839); and 'The Natural Arrangement of Fishes' (ib. vol. ix. 1842). He also left numerous unpublished manuscripts, some of which, together with much of his correspondence, are in the Linnean Society's library.



MACLEHOSE,. AGNES (1759-1841), the 'Clarinda' of Robert Burns, daughter of Andrew Craig, surgeon in Glasgow, by a daughter of (1693–1754) [q. v.], was born in April 1759, the same year as the poet. She was grandniece on her mother's side of [q. v.], mathematician, and cousin-german of, lord Craig [q. v.], Scottish judge. As was customary at this period in Scotland, in the case of ladies, her education was somewhat slight, but she afterwards improved it by reading and the practice of composition, especially poetry. At an early age she was noted for her beauty, being known among her friends in Glasgow as the 'pretty Miss Nancie.' By Robert Chambers, who met her in her later years, she is described as 'of a somewhat voluptuous style of beauty, of lively and easy manners, of a poetical fabric of mind, with some wit, and not too high a degree of refinement or delicacy' (Works of Robert Burns). After a short courtship, begun on the stagecoach between Glasgow and Edinburgh, she in July 1776 married James Maclehose, a Glasgow lawyer; but on account of a disagreement originating in her husband's jealousy, a separation took place between them in December 1780. With her children she remained in her father's house in Glasgow till the death of her father in 1782, when she removed to Edinburgh, where she was supported partly by Lord Craig, and partly by a small annuity left by her father. She employed her leisure in cultivating her literary tastes, and made the acquaintance of Thomas Campbell the poet, James Grahame, author of 'The Sabbath,' and Robert Ainslie, the friend of Burns.

Mrs. Maclehose first met Burns at Edinburgh on 7 Dec. 1787, at the house of a mutual friend, Miss Nimmo. Burns accepted an invitation to take tea at Mrs. Maclehose's house on the 9th, but on the 8th met with an accident which confined him to his lodgings for six weeks. His letter of explanation and regret inaugurated a correspondence of a warm kind [see under ]. On Christmas eve she sent him the verses, 'When first you saw Clarinda's charms,' and henceforth they adopted in their correspondence the names Clarinda and Sylvander. On 3 Jan. 1788 she sent him a poem beginning 'Talk not of Love! it gives me pain.' Burns declared that the latter half of the first stanza was worthy of Sappho, and sent the verses, with some alteration and an additional stanza, for publication, in Johnson's 'Musical Museum,' where they are set to the air 'The Banks of Spey.' On 19 Jan. she sent him lines 'To a Blackbird singing on a Tree,' which, with an additional stanza by Burns, was also published in the 'Museum.' On the recovery of Burns they had numerous meetings, which led to mutual declarations of strong attachment. Their correspondence suggests a somewhat ambiguous relation, though, says Professor Nichol, it has now been made plain that 'it was no case of mere philandering.' Mrs. Maclehose's sense of the proprieties is described by Mr. Stevenson as not authoritative; but before dismissing her he makes the proviso, 'Take her for all in all, I believe she was the best woman Burns encountered' (Men and Books, p. 66). Burns left Edinburgh on 18 Feb., but returned again on a short visit in March. During his stay they met daily, and on leaving Edinburgh on the 24th he wrote to a friend, 'During these eight days I have been positively crazed.' It was therefore only natural that the news of his marriage to Jean Armour in August following should have somewhat painfully affected Mrs. Maclehose.