Patrick Scott Hogg is the plucky author who has published "Robert Burns: The Lost Poems." He claims the voice of the bard is unmistakable.

The mystery literary works were allegedly revealed when Mr Scott Hogg read a letter from Burns to a Patrick Miller written in March, 1794.

Mr Scott Hogg said: "He promised to send anonymous poetry and prose to a radical newspaper - The London Morning Chronicle"

Burns apparently asked for a channel and an address so he could send material to London without it being intercepted by spies. It was this information that led Mr Scott Hogg to the previously unseen material.

Critical: Dr James MacKay

But the collection has drawn sweeping criticism from Burns scholars. They accuse him of being historically na�ve and committing sacrilege. Burns Biographer Dr James Mackay has severely questioned the lost poems' authenticity.

"The fact that they are in print destroys 50% of the possibility that they're his, because anything in print has been well gone over for the last 200 years," said Dr Mackay.

But the works are not without their supporters. Dr Andrew Noble, from the University of Strathclyde, is excited by the finding and sees it as an assett to Scottish Nationalism.