If it were not for Robert Burns, one would hardly know the name of Robert Heron. His work as a journalist, translator, and miscellaneous writer has all but vanished, but A Memoir of the Life of the late Robert Burns (1797), which Heron published soon after the poet's death, has continued to attract attention and dispute. Nearly two hundred years later the man who wrote it remains in virtual obscurity.

Robert Heron was born in Creehead, New Galloway, Scotland, on 6 November 1764. His family was one of exceptional, if strict, piety and industry. His father, John Heron, was a weaver; Robert's maternal grandmother, Margaret Murray, was an aunt of Dr. Alexander Murray, the philologist; and there seems to have been a strong educational impetus within the family. Heron's mother tutored him at home until he was nine, when he went to the parish school. After two years of rapid progress...