Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burns, James (17th cent.)
BURNS, JAMES (17th cent.), author of the ‘Memoirs of the Civil War and during the Usurpation from 1644 to 1661,’ was born at the commencement of the seventeenth century. He was a merchant in Glasgow, and for some time bailie of that city. Little is known of his history, but he is supposed to be the son of one Robert Burns, who is mentioned in m'Ure's ‘History of Glasgow,’ and whose name appears in the ‘List of Linen and Woollen Drapers, commonly called English Merchants, since the year 1600.’ The manuscript of his ‘Memoirs’ is lost, but there is a transcript of them, which is evidently much mutilated, by George Crawford, historian of Renfrewshire. The ‘Memoirs’ are filled with detailed accounts of the incidents which befell the nobility of Scotland during the stormy period of which they treat.
[Stevenson's Historical Fragments relative to Scottish Affairs from 1635 to 1664, 1833.]