{{short description|Acquaintance of Robert Burns}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Isabella Steven | image = | caption = | birth_date = | birth_place = Scotland | death_date = | death_place = Scotland | occupation = Housewife }}

'''Isabella Steven''' or '''Tibbie Stein''' was the daughter of a tenant farmer from Littlehill or Little Hill Farm (NS467305) that adjoined the Burns's farm at Lochlea.<ref name=b>Boyle, Page 86</ref><ref name=h/> 'Stein' is an alternative form of the surname 'Steven'. Littlehill had three acres of land that are said to have been little better than peat moss.<ref name=h/> She is also said to have lived in Tarbolton.<ref name=b/>

==Life and character== Isabella or Tibbie was regarded as having been very good looking and at the age of seventeen Robert Burns was greatly attracted to her.<ref name=h/> The poet ''"deemed himself doing well in his courtship"'' until 'Tibbie' came into a legacy and dowry of £75 at which point she decided herself above a mere farmer's son. She married a more prosperous suitor soon after.<ref name=mk/>

Aged nine or ten at the time of these events, Isobel Burns, sister of the poet, is the only source of Isabella Stevens identification as being the 'Tibbie' of the song.<ref name=mk>MacKay, Page 80</ref> A Tarbolton tradition holds that 'Tibbie' lived in the village on the west side of Burns Street on the corner of Garden Street.<ref name=mk/> Her father is said to have been a wealthy farmer.<ref>[http://www.robertburns.org/encyclopedia/PatonElizabeth.705.shtml Burns Encyclopedia] Retrieved : 2012-10-10</ref>

===Association with Robert Burns=== [[File:PG 1063Burns Naysmith.jpg|thumb|Full view of the Naysmith portrait of 1787, Scottish National Portrait Gallery]] The poet is said to have visited her home one evening only to be politely informed that 'Tibbie' was not available as she was engaged with another admirer. Burns turned on his heels and never visited her again.<ref name=h>Mackay, Page 80</ref> Tibbie married her beau to become Mrs Isabella Allan and Robert turned his attention to Elizabeth Paton.<ref name=thd>Purdie, Page 300</ref>

The poet wrote the caustic song ''"O Tibbie, I Hae Seen The Day"'' with the chorus:

{{poemquote|O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, Ye would na been sae shy, For lack o' gear ye lightly me, But, trowth, I care na by.}}

The love song, one of Burn's first in this category, is set to the tune "Invercauld's Reel", appears (no. 196) in Johnson's ''The Scots Musical Museum'' in 1788:<ref name=thd/>

{{poemquote|Yestreen I met ye on the moor, Ye spak na, but gaed by like stoure; Ye geck at me because I'm poor, But fient a hair care I!}}

Tibbie however was proud enough to acknowledge that the song was about her and that she once held some affection for the poet. On an occasion when her grandson recited the song she told him that she was the heroine of the piece.<ref name=h/>

The poet scorns the heiress:

{{poemquote|There lives a lass beside yon par', I'd rather hae her in her sark Than you wi a' your thousand mark, That gars you look sae high.}}

A thousand marks or merks at the time would amount to around £56, close enough with poetic licence to £75. It is thought that the ''"lass beside yon park"'' refers to Elizabeth Paton although Burns never confirmed this.<ref name=h/>

==Micro-history== The National Trust for Scotland holds Isabella Steven's wedding spoon and spectacles at the Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway.<ref>[http://www.burnsscotland.com/items/w/wedding-spoon,-which-belonged-to-tibbie-stein-%28isabella-steven%29.aspx Wedding Spoon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306042131/http://www.burnsscotland.com/items/w/wedding-spoon,-which-belonged-to-tibbie-stein-(isabella-steven).aspx |date=6 March 2016 }} Retrieved : 2012-10-10</ref><ref>[http://www.burnsscotland.com/items/s/spectacles-worn-by-tibby-stein-%28isabella-steven-of-littlehill-by-lochlea%29.aspx Spectacles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305212022/http://www.burnsscotland.com/items/s/spectacles-worn-by-tibby-stein-(isabella-steven-of-littlehill-by-lochlea).aspx |date=5 March 2016 }} Retrieved : 2012-10-10</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Scotland}} {{refbegin|2}} *Jean Armour *Lesley Baillie *Alison Begbie *Nelly Blair *May Cameron *Mary Campbell (Highland Mary) *Jenny Clow *Kate Kemp *Nelly Kilpatrick *Jessie Lewars *Elizabeth Paton *Anne Rankine *Peggy Thompson {{refend}}

==References== ;Notes {{Refbegin}} {{Reflist|2}} {{Refend}}

;Sources {{Refbegin}} # Boyle, A.M. (1996). ''The Ayrshire Book of Burns-Lore.'' Darvel : Alloway Publishing. {{ISBN|0-907526-71-3}}. # Hill, John C. Rev. (1961). ''The Love Songs and Heroines of Robert Burns.'' London : J. M. Dent. # Mackay, James (2004). ''A Biography of Robert Burns. Edinburgh : Mainstream Publishing''. {{ISBN|1-85158-462-5}}. # Purdie, David; McCue Kirsteen and Carruthers, Gerrard. (2013). ''Maurice Lindsay's The Burns Encyclopaedia''. London : Robert Hale. {{ISBN|978-0-7090-9194-3}}. {{Refend}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Steven, Isabella}} Category:Robert Burns Category:18th-century Scottish women Category:History of South Ayrshire Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Year of death unknown