Rankine’s sister Margaret was the first wife of John Lapraik about whom Burns also composed an Epistle. Rankine was one of the first to find out that Burns had impregnated Elizabeth Paton ...

Written on 17 September 1785, Burns once again continues his discussion of his religious attack on the Auld Lichts in this epistle, addressed to John McMath, a native of Galston, who graduated at ...