This poem, composed in 1785, is written partly in the Scottish dialect, partly in English. The livelier passages are in the poet's vernacular; the loftier or more solemn parts in the language of books. This distinction was doubtless made because Burns disliked to treat his higher themes in a merely colloquial manner, fearing to belittle them by so doing. The household described was probably that of the poet's own father; it was at least a typical Scotch peasant's household, with which no one was more familiar. Gilbert Burns, in a letter to Dr. Currie, says: "Although the 'Cotter' in the Saturday Night, is an exact copy of my father in his manners, his family devotions, and exhortations, yet the other parts of the description do not apply to our family. None of us ever went 'At service out amang the neibors roun'.' Instead of our depositing our 'sair-won penny-fee' with our parents, my father labored hard, and lived with the most rigid economy, that he might be able to keep his children at home." The influence of Gray and Goldsmith is very apparent in more than one passage in this poem. "Robert had frequently remarked to me," said his brother, "that there was something particularly venerable in the phrase, 'Let us worship God,' used by a decent, sober head of a family introducing family worship. To this sentiment of the author, the world is indebted for 'The Cotter's Saturday Night.' The hint of the plan and title of the poem is taken from Ferguson's 'Farmer's Ingle.'" 1. =Cotter.= "One who inhabits a cot, or cottage, dependent on a farm."--_Jamieson._ 2. =R. Aiken.= A friend with whom Burns had been brought into contact during the Old and New Light Controversy. 3. See Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard," eighth stanza. 4. =lays.= Songs; probably from the same root as the German _lied_. The word was originally applied to a form of elegiac French poetry, much imitated by the English. 5. =train.= A favorite word with the poets at this time. Goldsmith uses it no fewer than six times in the "Deserted Village." The original meaning is something drawn along; from Lat. _traho_, to draw. 6. =sugh.= Also spelled _sough_. Whistling sound, murmur. Derived from the same root as sigh, for which word it is used by Burns in his lines, "On the Battle of Sherriffmuir": "My heart for fear gae sough for sough To hear the thuds," etc. 7. Compare with Gray's "Elegy," line 3: "The ploughman homeward plods his weary way." 8. Toil was perhaps pronounced _tile_, thus properly rhyming with _beguile_. Johnson, in "London," says: "On all thy hours security shall smile, And bless thine evening walk and morning toil." 9. =bairns.= From A.-S. _bearns_, children. 10. =ca'.= Drive, follow. Probably not from the same root as our common word _call_. Kingsley uses it in this sense in the line: "Go, Mary, go, and call the cattle home."