perhaps Sillars' was as good as any, and better than most, of it. Somehow we feel it difficult to account for the "Ace o' Hearts." The two men may have been alike at the beginning, but there comes to be a tremendously long moral stride between the poet who died in 1796 and the magistrate who lived till 1830. They seem scarcely possible developments from like germs. The first "Epistle" gives the impression that "Davie" is forgotten in the making of poetry, and in the weaving into verse the good thinking and feeling it contains. The second " Epistle" is a kind of disquisition in the philosophy of life from the poet's point of view, and on the accompanying charms of poesy. While, in the letter of August, 1789, is there not a kind of forced expression of continued interest? The interest is there, no doubt, practical enough in Burns, who helps to get subscribers for the book; the form of friendship, too; but somehow the men are apart by more than the distance of from Ellisland to Irvine. They came together in 1780 by some community of taste, and, perhaps, scarcity of companionship; and the warm impulse of poetic youth may account for the "Ace o' Hearts;" but years, and tastes, and character separated them.

Dr John Mackenzie, of Mauchline, and later of Irvine, is another whom "Burns and Irvine brings before us. From being the doctor not much impressed by the poet at their first meeting, he became his firm and valued friend. To him, among others-Gavin Hamilton, James Smith, and Robert Aiken, e.g.— the poems written at Mossgiel were submitted, and encouragement and criticism were sought and given. He is, perhaps, the "Common Sense" who, where

And he got the first copy, after the original, with two verses added, of "The Calf," that famous epitome, or travesty, of

sermon, the outcome of a challenge by Mr Hamilton, that the poet should bring him, confined that day to the house, a note of the sermon in verse. Dr Mackenzie came to Irvine in the end of the 18th century, and he seems to have taken some interest in affairs municipal, for we find him Treasurer and Dean of Guild,

and more than once a Bailie. About 1831 he removed to Edinburgh, where he died in 1837. He was married to Helen Miller, daughter of John Miller, of the Sun Inn, Mauchline. She was one of the "Belles of Mauchline," celebrated by Burns. It is there conceded that "Miss Miller is fine," though, of course,

"Armour's the jewel for me o' them a'.”

Dr Mackenzie puts us in debt to him in connection with Burns; he gives a discerning man's first impression of the poet; and he brings Burns and Dugald Stewart together-the Scottish poetry and philosophy of the time. Here is the first impression : -"The poet seemed distant, suspicious, and without any wish to interest or please. He kept himself very silent in a dark corner of the room; and, before he took any part in the conversation, I frequently detected him scrutinising me during my conversation with his father and brother. When the conversation, which was on a medical subject, had taken the turn he wished, he began to engage in it, displaying a dexterity of reasoning, an ingenuity of reflection, and a familiarity with topics apparently beyond his reach, by which his visitor was no less pleased than astonished."

In the autumn of 1786, Professor Dugald Stewart was living at Catrine Bank, on the Ayr, near Mossgiel. Dr Mackenzie had made him acquainted with Burns's poetry, and the result was a desire on the Professor's part that the Poet should dine with him, which he did on 23rd October. There he met Lord Daer, son of the Earl of Selkirk. It evidently was a great day for Burns. With a touch of humour he speaks of it as the ne'er-to-be-forgotten day, when

"Sae far I sprauchled up the brae,

I dinnered wi' a lord."

He "marked nought uncommon,”

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Except good sense and social glee,
An' (what surprised me) modesty."

The fient o' pride, nae pride had he,
Nor sauce, nor state, that I could see,
Mair than an honest ploughman."

The poet's sense of himself as well as rank is heightened :

"Then from his lordship I shall learn
Henceforth to meet with unconcern
One rank as weel's another.

Nae honest worthy man need care
To meet with noble youthful Daer,
For he but meets a brother."

and is as much pleased with the Professor, for he writes to Dr Mackenzie :-"I never spent an afternoon among great folks with half that pleasure as when, in company with you, I had the honour of paying my devoirs to that plain, honest, worthy man, the Professor. I would be delighted to see him perform acts of kindness and friendship, though I were not the object; he does it with such a grace. I think his character, divided into ten parts, stands thus: Four parts Socrates, four parts Nathaniel, and two parts Shakespeare's Brutus."

And we cannot part with Dr Mackenzie without quoting Dugald Stewart's opinion of Burns--the meeting had been plainly a success all round :— "His manners were then, as they continued ever afterwards, simple, manly, and independent; strongly expressive of conscious genius and worth, but without anything that indicated forwardness, arrogance, or vanity. He took his share in the conversation, but not more than belonged to him ; and listened with apparent attention and deference on subjects where his want of education deprived him of the means of information. If there had been more of gentleness and accommodation in his temper, he would, I think, have been still more interesting; but he had been accustomed to give law in the circle of his ordinary acquaintance, and his dread of anything approaching meanness or servility rendered his manner somewhat decided and hard. Nothing, perhaps, was more remarkable among his various attainments than the fluency, and precision, and originality of his language when he spoke in company; more particularly as he aimed at purity in his turn of expression, and avoided, more successfully than most Scotchmen, the peculiarities of Scottish phraseology."

Mr Charles Hamilton of Craighlaw, distinguished by ex-Provost Paterson in his private notes as "the first in the district, except the family of Eglinton, to drive a close carriage," lived in the house at the corner of the High Street and Glasgow Vennel, now the Porthead Tavern, some fifty yards from Burns's lodging. He was Collector of Customs and Provost of Irvine during Burns's stay in the town, and was one of the few who took

notice of the budding genius, sometime heckler. Burns visited at his house, and there became acquainted with his son, Dr Hamilton, of Kilmarnock, who became, along with others, security for the printing of the Kilmarnock edition.

It would be wrong to leave personages in Irvine who were connected with Burns without mention of Betty Smith, an Irvine girl, who could tell about the removal to Ellisland. She took

her part in the quaint ceremonial of the time.

"Burns made her

take the Family Bible and a bowl of salt, and, placing the one upon the other, carry them to the new house, and walk into it before anyone else. This was the old freit appropriate to the taking possession of a new house, the object being to secure good-luck for all who should tenant it. He himself, with his good wife on his arm, followed the bearer of the Bible and the salt, and so entered on the possession of his home."

It is fitting that a town so intimately connected with Burns's