PAGE 124, NOTE 66.-The parlour of the farm-house of Mossgiel, namely, the only apartment besides the kitchen. This little apartment still exists in the state in which it was when the poet described it as the scene of his vision of Coila. "Though in every respect humble, and partly occupied by fixed beds, it does not appear uncomfortable. Every consideration, however, sinks beneath the one intense feeling, that here, within these four walls, warmed at this little fireplace, and lighted by this little window (it has but one), lived one of the most extraordinary men; here wrote some of the most celebrated poems of modern times.". Chambers's Journal, No. 93.

that question to you, for I am at hame and ye're no.' 'Why,' said Robin, 'I cam doun to see Kate Hemp.' 'I was just gaun the same gate,' said the miller. Then ye need gang nae farther,' said Burns, for baith she and the cow's lost, and the auld man is perfectly wud at the want o' them. But come, we'll tak a turn | or two in the holm till we see if she cast up.' They accordingly went into the holm, and during the first two rounds they made, the poet chatted freely, but subsequently got more and more taciturn, and, during the last two rounds, spoke not a word. spoke not a word. On reaching the stile that led from the place, he abruptly bade the miller good night, and walked rapidly towards Mauchline. Next time the miller and he met, he said, 'Miller, I owe you an apology for my silence during oui last walk together, and for leaving you so abruptly.' 'Oh, oh!' said he, 'Robin, there is no occasion, for I supposed some PAGE 125, NOTE 69.-Alluding to the subject had occurred to you, and that you great William Wallace, the hero of Scottish were thinking, and perhaps composing some-independence. thing on it.' 'You were quite right, miller,' PAGE 125, NOTE 70.—Adam Wallace, of said Burns, and I will now read you what | was chiefly the work of that evening.'

The composition he read was Man was made to Mourn!

PAGE 125, NOTE 67.-The charter of the borough of Ayr bears date as early as the beginning of the thirteenth century.

PAGE 125, NOTE 68.-The illustrious family of Wallace.

Richardton, cousin to William Wallace.

Douglas, Earl of Ormond, and Wallace, Laird of Craigie; and in which the desperate valour, and masterly skill of the latter, were chiefly instrumental in securing the victory. The Laird of Craigie was mortally wounded in the engagement.

PAGE 125, NOTE 71.-The Laird of Craigie, also, of the family of Wallace, who held the second command at the battle PAGE 124, NOTE 63.-This exquisite fought in 1448, on the banks of Sark, and poem was actually composed at the plough-gained by the Scottish troops, under tail, and suggested by an incident which occurred to the poet whilst at work. Burns was handling the plough, and John Blane, one of the farm servants (who many years since remembered the incident), was driving, at the same time holding in his hand the pattle or pettle (a small wooden spud with which the ploughshare was scraped at the commencement of every fresh furrow), when suddenly a mouse started from the furrow, and was running across the field, closely pursued by Blane, pattle in hand, who had started in chase. Burns, however, called his driver back, and very calmly asked him "What hurt the mouse had done him, that he should wish to kill it." From that moment Burns remained moody and silent during the rest of the day, and woke Blane at night (for they were bed-fellows), to repeat to him the lines which the incident of the day had suggested.

PAGE 124, NOTE 64.-Duan is the term (analogous to strophe, fytte, &c.) applied by Ossian to the divisions of rambling poems.

PAGE 124, NOTE 65.-Curling is a very boisterous game, played upon the ice, when sufficiently strong, and which consists in the trundling of flattened, smoothed round stones. The players are divided into sides.

PAGE 125, NOTE 72.-The shade of the supposed Coilus, King of the Picts, who, according to tradition, was buried close to the seat of Montgomeries, of Coilsfield, beneath a small mound crowned with trees. On the 29th of May, 1837, this mound was excavated in search of remains, and two urns were found, which so far corroborated the tradition, that the mound was ascertained to have actually held the remains of some illustrious chiefs.

PAGE 125, NOTE 73.-Alluding to Barskimming, the seat of Sir Thomas Millar, at that time Lord Justice Clerk, and since President of the Court of Session.

PAGE 125, NOTE 74.-This stanza refers to Catrine, the seat of Dugald Stewart (and formerly of his father, the Rev. Dr. Matthew Stewart), and which is situated on the banks of the river Ayr.

PAGE 125, NOTE 75.-Alluding to the two successive possessors of Catrine, Dr. ! Matthew, and his son, Dugald Stewart; the

first eminent for his mathematical attain- in 1790, after having sat in five succeeding ment, the second for his elegant philosophical parliaments. Every patriotic and liberal writings. scheme had the support of this excellent PAGE 125, NOTE 76.—Colonel Fullarton. | man, who died in 1818, at the age of PAGE 126, NOTE 77.-Coila (the muse of | eighty-two. Burns) had been suggested to the promoter of her fabulous existence, by the equally visionary personage, who figures under the name of Scota in Mr. A. Ross's poem, The Fortunate Shepherdess.

PAGE 126, NOTE 78.-Mossgiel, which has since become the property of Mr. Alexander, of Ballochmyle, was then amongst the possessions of the Earls of Loudon, that is, of the Loudon branch of the race of Campbell.

PAGE 127, NOTE 84.-Sir Adam Fergusson, of Kilkerran, Bart. He had several times represented Ayrshire, but at present was member for the city of Edinburgh.

PAGE 127, NOTE 85.-The Marquis of Graham, eldest son of the Duke of MontHe afterwards became the third Duke of Montrose, and died in 1836.

rose.

PAGE 127, NOTE 86.-The Right Hon. Henry Dundas, Treasurer of the Navy, and M.P.for Edinburghshire, afterwards Viscount Melville.

PAGE 128, NOTE 87.-Probably Thomas Erskine, afterwards Lord Erskine; but he was not then in Parliament.

PAGE 128, NOTE 88.-Lord Frederick Campbell, second brother of the Duke of Argyle, Lord Registrar of Scotland, and M.P. for the county of Argyle in this, and the one preceding, and the two subsequent Parliaments.

PAGE 127, NoTE 79.—Towards the close of the year 1785, loud complaints were made by the Scottish distillers respecting the vexatious and oppressive manner in which the Excise laws were enforced at their establishments-such rigour, they said, being exercised at the instigation of the London | distillers, who looked with jealousy on the success of their northern brethren. So great was the severity of the Excise, that many distillers were obliged to abandon the trade, and the price of barley was beginning to be affected. Illicit distillation was also found to be alarmingly on the increase. In consequence of the earnest remonstrances of the distillers, backed by the county gentlemen, an Act was passed in the session of 1786, (alluded to by the author), whereby the PAGE 128, NOTE 90.-This stanza was duties on low wines, spirits, &c., were dis-suppressed in all the editions which Burns continued, and an annual tax imposed on himself superintended whilst in press, out of stills, according to their capacity. This act respect for the Montgomery, whose clumsy gave general satisfaction. It seems to have oratory he could not help ridiculing. been during the general outcry against fiscal oppression at the end of 1785, or beginning of 1786, that the poem was composed.

PAGE 127, NOTE 80.-William Pitt, who in his twenty-second year was at the head of an administration, and controlling the Exchequer.

PAGE 127, NOTE 81.-Hugh Montgomery, of Coilsfield, afterwards twelfth Earl of Eglinton, at that time M.P. for Ayrshire, and who had served in the army during the American war.

PAGE 127, NOTE 82.-James Boswell, well known to the party politicians of Ayrshire, as one of the orators of their meetings, but better known to the world at large as the shadow and biographer of Dr. Johnson.

PAGE 127, NOTE 83.-George Dempster, of Dunnichen, in the county of Forfar, an eminent Scottish Whig representative, of the age of Fox and Pitt. He commenced his parliamentary career in 1762, and closed it

PAGE 128, NOTE 89.-Ilay Campbell, Lord Advocate of Scotland, who afterwards became President of the Court of Session, and survived to an advanced age. He was at this period M.P. for the burghs comprehended within the limits of Glasgow. He died in 1823.

PAGE 128, NOTE 91.-Mr. Pitt's father, the Earl of Chatham, was the second son of Robert Pitt, of Boconnock, in the county of Cornwall.

PAGE 128, NOTE 92.-"Scones made from a mixture of oats, peas, or beans, with wheat or barley, ground fine, and denomiuated mashlum, are in general use, and form a wholesome and palatable food."--New Statistical Account of Scotland, parish of Dalry, Ayrshire.

PAGE 128, NOTE 93.-A worthy old hostess of the author's in Mauchline, where he sometimes studies politics over a glass of guid auld Scotch drink. Nanse's story was different. On seeing the poem, she declared that the poet had never been but once or twice in her house.

PAGE 128, NOTE 94.-The young Chancellor of the Exchequer had gained some credit by a measure introduced in 1784 for preventing smuggling of tea by reducing the

duty, the revenue being compensated by a much admired by the people generally, but tax on windows.

the muse of Burns. Like the lines to a mouse, it is elicited by the simplest and most trivial occurrence, and, nevertheless, is wrought up to a profound degree of thought and sentiment, which the utmost sublimity of scenery could barely have excelled.

them before the Presbytery, is to be found in Holy Willie's Prayer. Partly from antipathy to the high orthodox party, but more from friendship for Mr. Hamilton, whom he regarded as a worthy and enlightened man, persecuted by narrow-witted bigots, Burns threw his partisan muse into the quarrel, and produced several poems, that just mentioned amongst the rest, in which it is but too apparent that religion itself suffers in common with those whom he holds up as

PAGE 135, NOTE 108.-The friend to whom this poem is addressed, was Mr. Andrew Aiken, the son of Mr. Aiken, of Ayr, to whom the Cotter's Saturday Night is dedicated, and who had been taught by his father to venerate the genius and charac-abusing it. ter of his lowly but illustrious fellow-countryman, Mr. Andrew Aiken survived fifty years after Burns, and died at St. Petersburgh, after a very successful mercantile career into which he had early embarked at Liverpool.

PAGE 136, NOTE 109.-The first person of respectable rank and good education who took any notice of Burns, was Mr. Gavin | Hamilton, writer in Mauchline, from whom he took his farm of Mossgiel on a sub-lease. Mr. Hamilton lived in what is still called the Castle of Mauchline, a half-fortified old mansion near the church, forming the only remains of the ancient priory. He was the son of a gentleman who had practised the same profession in the same place, and was in every respect a most estimable member of society-generous, affable, and humane. Unfortunately his religious practice did not square with the notions of the then minister of Mauchline, the Daddy Auld of Burns, who, in 1785, is found in the session records to have summoned him for rebuke, on the four following charges :-1. Unnecessary absence from church, for five consecutive Sundays (apparently the result of some dispute about a poor's rate); 2. Setting out on a journey to Carrick on a Sunday; 3. Habitual, if not total neglect of family worship; 4. Writing an abusive letter to the session, in reference to some of their former proceedings respecting him. Strange though this prosecution may seem, it was strictly accordant with the right assumed by the Scottish clergy at that period, to inquire into the private habits of parishioners; and as it is universally allowed that Mr. Auld's designs in the matter were purely religious, it is impossible to speak of it disrespectfully. It was unfortunately, however, mixed up with some personal motives in the members of the session, which were so apparent to the Presbytery, to which Mr. Hamilton appealed, that that reverend body ordered the proceedings to be stopped, and all notice of them expunged from the records. A description of the sufferings of the Mauchline Session, while orator Aiken was exposing

PAGE 137, NOTE 110.-On reading in the public papers the Laureate's Ode, with the other parade of June 4th, 1786, the author was no sooner dropt asleep, than he imagined himself transported to the birthday levee; and in his dreaming fancy, made the address conveyed in these lines.-R. B. [The Poet Laureate of the time being was Thomas Warton, and the subjoined are the opening lines of the ode of which Burns became the quaint commentator in the dream:

"When Freedom nursed her native fire
In ancient Greece, and ruled the lyre,
Her bards disdainful, from the tyrant's brow
The tinsel gifts of flattery tore;
But paid to guiltless power their willing vow;
And to the throne of virtuous kings, &c.,&c."
Vapid enough, it must be confessed.]

PAGE 138, NOTE 111-Gait, gett, or gyte, a homely substitute for the word child in Scotland.

PAGE 138, NOTE 112.-When the vote of naval supplies was under discussion in the session of 1786, several modifications of the management of our naval armaments were hotly agitated by a Captain Mc Bride and his adherents. Amongst other projects, the abandonment of 64-gun ships was proposed by him.

PAGE 138, NOTE 113.-Charles James Fox.

PAGE 138, NOTE 114.-In this respect Burns has followed the account of the chronicles, adopted as it had subsequently been by Shakespeare, in speaking of Henry V., as mingling in the wildest frolics of his companions; Prince Hal was clearly of such habits in his younger days, if we may trust the anecdotes in which his just punishment, by authority, reflected credit on a worthy and impartial judge. judge. But, according to the memoirist Tyler, these were nothing better than a tissue of ingenious fables. However this may be, Burns only adopted a degree of licence, which the greatest British Poet had considered him.

self free to use when the traditions were yet | nothing but ruin seemed before him—our more positive on the subject.