The Holy Tulzie

Both ministers were elected by their congregations, unlike the Rev James Mackinlay whose patron at the Laigh Kirk was the Earl of Glencairn and the resulting dissatisfaction led to Burns penning "The Ordination".[7] Both were Auld Licht Calvinists.[8]

Alexander Moodie (1728-1799)

Moodie was the minister of Riccarton Church near Kilmarnock, having been educated at Glasgow University and starting his ministry at Culross in 1759.[9] He was buried in the Riccarton churchyard, but the present church wasn't built until 1823.[10]

Alexander was a Calvinist and a dedicated adherent of the Auld Licht views. He had a hyperactive and deafening preaching style.[11] Burns also references him in the Holy Fair[11] with :

This was followed by a lampooning in The Kirk's Alarm where his swarthy complexion earned him the title of Singet Sawnie.[11]

John Russel (1740-1817)

Originally from Moray, Black Jock taught at the Cromarty parish school and upon being ordained he became, in 1774, the minister of the High Church in Kilmarnock.[12][13] At his Cromarty school he was remembered by Hugh Miller in his "Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland" as a "large, robust, dark-complexioned man, imperturbably grave, and with a sullen expression seated in the deep folds of his forehead".[14] He was "more ready to thunder forth the terrors of the law than to woo the wicked from the error of their ways, by setting before them the Saviour's love, so fully and freely manifested in the soothing and soul-captivating strains of the gospel". The nickname 'Black Jock or Joke' is a punning reference to the female genitalia.[15]

John Wilson's grave, Burns's printer.

On Sabbaths between Divine service, Russell patrolled the streets of Kilmarnock and even ventured into the countryside, walking stick in hand, on the look out for children or adults actively enjoying themselves. "Such as he discovered, he would visit on the following morning, and severely rebuke for their ungodliness."[16] He set the parish in such terror that doors would close and faces would take on a serious contenance should the sound of his walking stick be heard.

Like his colleague at Riccarton he was an Auld Licht Calvinist with the same hellfire and damnation bellicose preaching style.[14] He appears in the "Holy Fair" he figures as Black Russell and as Wordy Russell in "The Twa Herds".[14] In the "Kirks Alarm" Burns highlights his Auld Licht style :

The High Kirk, Kilmarnock

He was well versed in religious knowledge and on one occasion he met Burns in a barber's in Fore Street where they became embroiled in a heated discussion on a point of religious topic, that after a while had Burns overwhelmed and he silently accepted defeat by hurriedly leaving the premises.[17]

Russel was an author with several religious pamphlets and books to his credit.[14] He moved to Stirling and was buried there in the churchyard of the Church of the Holy Rood where the memorial intimates that he was well respected by the time of his death.[10]

The High Church in Kilmarnock was greatly altered in 1868 with stained glass, an organ provided and other improvements made. Burns's first printer, John Wilson, was buried in the kirkyard. The building is no longer in use as a church however the kirkyard can still be accessed.[18]

Riccarton kirkyard, burial site of the Revd. Moodie

Riccarton parish church

Burns's autobiographical letter to John Moore written at Mauchline on 2 August 1787 gives us some insight into the origin of the poem:

"I now began to be known in the neighborhood as a maker of rhymes. The first of my poetic offspring that saw the light was a burlesque lamentation on a quarrel between two reverend Calvinists, both of them dramatis personae in my Holy Fair. I had an idea myself that the piece had some merit; but to prevent the worst, I gave a copy of it to a friend who was very fond of these things, and told him I could not guess who was the Author of it, but that I thought it pretty clever. With a certain side of both clergy and laity it met with a roar of applause. Holy Willie's Prayer next made its appearance, and alarmed the kirk-Session so much that they held three several meetings to look over their holy artillery, if any of it was pointed against profane Rhymers".[20]

Burns's comment "The first of my poetic offspring that saw the light" has often been misunderstood as meaning that this 1784 poem was his first poetic work, but it is only a reference, with a pun on the word light as in Auld licht, meaning that this was the first of his unprinted, but widely copied and circulated poems to catch the awareness of the general public, so that he was recognised as a poet for the first time. As stated, it was first printed in 1796 after his death under the title "An Unco Mournfu' Tale".[21]

1: Rev. Mr. Moodie of Riccarton[9]

2: Rev. John Russel of Kilmarnock[12][13]

3: Dr. Robert Duncan of Dundonald[22]

4: Rev. William Peebles of Newton-on-Ayr[23]

5: Rev. William Auld of Mauchline[24]

6: Rev. Dr. William Dalrymple of Ayr[25]

7: Rev. William M'Gill, colleague of Dr. Dalrymple[26]

8: Rev. Dr. William M'Quhae, Minister of St. Quivox[27]

9: Dr. Andrew Shaw of Craigie,[28] and Dr. David Shaw of Coylton[29]

10: Patrick Wodrow of Tarbolton[30] (son of Robert Wodrow, the historian of the Covenanters.)

11: Rev. John M'Math, a young assistant and successor to Wodrow[31]

12: Rev. George Smith of Galston[32]

Most of these individuals were 'Auld Licht' however the University of Glasgow-educated William Dalrymple and Robert Duncan were 'New Licht', the more liberal minded ministers, as were McGill, Patrick Wodrow, William McQuhae, David and Andrew Shaw and McMath.[33] The 'New Lichts' were are referred to as 'Arminian', meaning that they had a moderate liberal theology as developed by Jacobus Arminius, were moralistic in their preaching and served their flock with understanding and compassion.

The right of the patronage held by landowners to choose the minister, rather than the congregation, is a theme here as it was very contentious at the time and Burns even suggests that congregations should seek the right to choose their minister. The plaid reference is to the dress worn at the time as 'shepherds' to their flock or 'herd'. Burns used the term 'Brutes' to describe the ministers congregations however this ca be seen in the light of the Russel and Moodie being shepherds of their respective herds, as in "The Twa Herds".[21]