Willie Fisher
"Here Holy Willie's sair worn clay Taks up it's last abode
His saul has ta'en some other way - I fear, the left-hand
road."
'Holy Willie', a local farmer from Montgarswood near Mauchline. He became an elder of the Parish at the age of thirty-five and was a confirmed 'Auld Licht' believer in 'predestination'. It was probably Fisher who persuaded the minister William Auld and the Kirk Session to accuse Gavin Hamilton, Burns' close friend, of failing to observe the Sabbath. Their action led Burns to use his considerable satirical powers to ridicule Fisher in 'Holy Willie's Prayer', 'the epistle to Willie Fisher' and 'The Kirk's Alarm'.
