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Page 86.

"The fairy glen of Inverkip."

The glen of Inverkip is a romantic and delightful walk west from Greenock, passing through the estate of Sir Michael Shaw Stewart. Inverkip is a lovely village, situated at its extremity, on the banks of the Clyde, about six miles from Greenock. As for the shore between that village and Greenock, it far surpasses anything my mortal eyes ever yet beheld, and infinitely deserves the attention of any tourist, especially of him who is an admirer of the sublime and beautiful in nature, or who possesses, even in the slightest degree, the poetic vein-that power which invests with a double charm every scene and object around us, is the source and mainspring of perpetual enjoyment, and which, above all other secular endowments, preserves the heart from the hardening influences and debasing vices of the world,

Page 86.

"What town in Scotia can compare
With thee, delightful lovely Ayr?”

Ayr, as is well-known to many, is a sea-port of great antiquity, situated about seventy-seven miles west by

south of Edinburgh, and thirty-four miles south-west from Glasgow. At one time it contained the antique mansions of many noble families; but these, with their wooden balconies and turnpike stairs, have given place to more commodious tenements. Several of the poems of Burns abound with allusions to its old localities, but the appearance of the town is now completely altered. Instead of being, as in the beginning of the present century, irregularly built, with narrow ill-paved streets and dismal-looking alleys, it now presents a uniform appearance, and possesses one of the finest squares to be seen in any provincial town in Scotland; while its principal streets are lighted with gas, and well paved, and many of the shops are as elegant as those in Edinburgh or Glasgow. The "Auld Brig" is supposed to have been built by two maiden sisters, in the reign of Alexander II. Their effigies are still pointed out upon a stone on the eastern parapet. The New Bridge is a few hundred yards below the Old one; is an elegant structure, and in some of the niches are placed the statues of heathen deities. The trade of Ayr is considerable: about three hundred coasting vessels arrive from all quarters of the kingdom during the year. Two miles south is the cottage in which Burns was born, now an object of great curiosity to visitors. In the immediate vicinity, and on the banks of the Doon, stands the venerable ruins of Kirk Alloway, entirely roofless, immortalised in his poem of "Tam o' Shanter;" while an elegant monument has

been erected to his memory between this building and the "Auld Brig." There are four annual fairs held in Ayr, and two weekly markets on Tuesdays and Fridays. The population of the parish in 1841 amounted to 8264.

Page 87.

"The Inn where, every market night,
'Fast by the ingle bleezin' bright,'
Sat Tam o' Shanter, and his cronie,
His drouthy brother, Souter Johnnie.”

The inn above mentioned is situated near the southern extremity of Ayr, as you pass along to Burns' Cottage and Monument. It was frequently affirmed to me to have been the identical rendezvous of Tam o' Shanter and Souter Johnnie on the market nights, also a favourite house of call for Burns. I remember when we entered it on our way to the birth-place of the Bard, the loquacious landlady gave us a very satisfactory history of a small wooden vessel standing on the table, known about that part of Scotland as a "quaich," which she honestly deponed to have been the very article used in drinking by Tam o' Shanter, Souter Johnnie, and Burns himself; and that it was an heirloom of the house, transmitted by the proprietor from tenant to tenant. I had very little doubt of the authenticity of what she related,

as the quaich bore all the indications both of old age and much service. The brim of it seemed greatly worn, apparently from nothing but use; while its timedecayed hoops and moth-eaten staves more and more confirmed her assertions. She told us that it had been used exclusively for drinking ale; but, instead of the nappy brown, we baptised this antique relic of evanescent sociality and merriment with a liberal quantum of Campbeltown.

Page 89.

"And oh! the 'bonnie banks o' Doon.""

So in reality they are-every way corresponding with the description given of them by Burns. It was a most delightful day when we paced them; and the many hallowed and endearing associations that magically crowded into my mind when perambulating their enchanting scenes and shades, I never can forget. As for the river itself, I recollect I took a drink of it with as much religious veneration as it had been nectar designed for the gods only, or imaginatively deemed it as sacred as the Arabs the water which had washed the sapphics written by Mungo Park. The celebrated river, in my opinion, with its scenery, strongly resembles both the Esk and our own Till, except that Till runs rather slower and deeper.

Page 89.

"Thrice hail thee, famous Mungo's Well."

This noted well in "Tam o' Shanter" is situated on the banks of Doon, near Auld Kirk Alloway, and about a stonecast from the new bridge across the river. The thorn mentioned by Burns as growing above it is gone. The well is of a circular form, composed of mason-work, with a fine gravel bottom, constructed and kept up by Mr Fraser, the landlord of the inn near by. A jug stands at it also for the accommodation of visitors. Its water is exceedingly fine and refreshing, at least I know it was so to us, the day being so warm.

Page 89.

"The ivied bridge which 'Tammy' crossed."

This is the old Bridge of Doon, but a very short distance from the new one. It is a very antiquatedlike structure, consisting of but one arch, very narrow and high in the centre. A great part of it is richly mantled with ivy, especially the famous "key-stane," as before Tam, on that awful, that ill-starred night, had reached which, poor Maggie, alas!"the fient a tail she had to shake." When I lay and leaned over it, ruminating over "Tam o' Shanter," what strange sensations did I not experience? Heaven knows and myself. Did I not feel as if in the immediate pre

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