The Earl of Glencairn was the main landowner within
the Kilmarnock Parish, a friend of the
disgraced Boyd family, he had bought the Dean Estate (and
ruined castle), from them to alleviate their debt. After being
introduced to Burns' work, Glencairn was so taken by it that it was
he who encouraged Burns to try for a second Edinburgh edition of
his works and helped the poet integrate himself into Edinburgh
society. He was also responsible for giving Burns a diamond tipped
pen which Burns used to scratch verse into window panes, some of
which still exist. He was so influential to Burns' career that upon
his death, Burns wrote:
"God knows what I have suffered at the loss of my best
friend, my first, my dearest Patron and benefactor; the man to whom
I owe all that I am and have!"
