Author Robert Ainslie was born on 13 January 1766, at Berrywell, near Duns, Berwickshire. Ainslie met Robert Burns in 1787 in Edinburgh and in May of that year went on an excursion with him. Ainslie's works include "A father's gift to his children" (1818) and "Reasons for the hope that is in us" (1831). He also wrote "The life, adventures, and serious remonstrances of a Scotch guinea note," containing a defence of the Scotch system of banking in 1826, and contributed to the Edinburgh Review and other magazines. A lifelong friend of Burns, twenty of Burns letters to Ainslie are included in "The Letters of Robert Burns," edited by G. Ross Roy.
