Elizabeth Scot(t) (17 July 1729 – 1789), born Elizabeth Rutherford, was an eighteenth-century Scottish poet who composed stanzas from a young age.[1]
Biography
editElizabeth was born 17 July 1729 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the daughter of Alice Watson and advocate David Rutherford. Her aunt Alison Cockburn was also a poet[1] and she was encouraged to write by the Scottish poet Allan Ramsay.[2] Elizabeth married Walter Scot in 1768. Together they lived at Wauchope House near Jedburgh, Scotland.[1]
Scot is most known for the poetic epistle titled ‘The Guidwife of Wauchope-house to Robert Burns', which she wrote for Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1787. Burns visited her on his Scottish tour.[3] Other correspondents who supported her work include Enlightenment author Allan Ramsey and author Thomas Blacklock.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Ewan, Elizabeth; Pipes, Rose; Rendall, Jane; Reynolds, Siân, eds. (2018). The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women (Second ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 379–380. ISBN 978-1-4744-3628-1. OCLC 1057237368.
- ^ Burns, Robert (2014). The Oxford Edition of the Works of Robert Burns. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-960317-6.
- ^ "Robert Burns Country: The Burns Encyclopedia: Scott, Mrs Elizabeth. nee Rutherford (1729-1789)". www.robertburns.org. Retrieved 3 February 2021.