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II., in a charter, designated "his beloved and faithful cousin "). When she died it was found that she had bequeathed the sword and helmet to the then Earl of Elgin also a Bruce-and they are still preserved at the family seat at Broomhall, Dunfermline.

Ere they returned to Edinburgh the two travellers, Burns and Adair, visited the city of Malcolm and Margaret. They travelled via Kinross, where it has been conjectured

Burns wanted to see once again the island fortress which had been the prison of Queen Mary.

"At Dunfermline," says Dr Adair, "we visited the ruined Abbey and the Abbey Church, now consecrated to Presbyterian worship. Here I mounted the cutty stool, or stool of repentance, assuming the character of a penitent for fornication, while Burns from the pulpit addressed to me a ludicrous reproof and exhortation, parodied from that which had been delivered to himself in Ayrshire, where he had, as he assured me, been one of seven (the Mauchline Session Records say five) who had mounted the seat of

shame together.

In the churchyard two broad flag-stones mark the grave of Robert Bruce, for whose memory Burns had more than common veneration. He knelt and kissed the stone with sacred fervour, and heartily (suus ut mos erat) execrated the worse than Gothic neglect of the first of Scottish heroes. The portion of the Abbey Church then in use was that now known as the Old Abbey. It was originally the Parish Church of Dunfermline, and continued to be so until the opening of the new church in 1821. The new portion covers the site of the former Abbey Church, for it has to be remembered that in pre-Reformation times there were two churches here, though both were under the one roof. The Parish Church formed the nave, and the Conventual or Abbey Church formed the choir of the building. After the Reformation there was no need for the Abbey Church, as the monks had all gone; and as the lands which provided the funds for its upkeep were seized by neighbouring landlords, it soon fell into ruins, though had there been a Carnegie one hundred years ago it might have been restored. The last portions of the Abbey Church (with the exception of St. Margaret's Shrine, which is still in existence) were removed in 1818 to make room for the present church. The pulpit from which Burns addressed his friend has disappeared, though I have heard that it was still to the fore comparatively recently. The seats, &c., in the older building were disposed of by auction in 1822. The Royal Gallery, which was in the church when Burns visited it, is still preserved in the new portion. The remains of King Robert were re-interred with considerable ceremony during the rebuilding of the edifice, and the grave is now marked with a handsome brass of mediæval style bearing the figure and arms of the Bruce. Above the grave stands the arched pulpit, one of the finest in Scotland. Burns returned to Edinburgh on 20th October, travelling by the road which is associated with memories of Queen Margaret, to Queensferry.

In Burns's Common-place Book there are two references to the "Kingdom." The first is given thus in Currie :

"Ah, Chloris! Sir Robert Halket, of Pitferran, the author. Note. He married her, the heiress of Pitferran." Apparently the reference is to a song, but so far I have not been able to trace it, and though there are several references to Sir Peter in local histories, The Scottish Nation, &c., no mention is made of his being a poet. Another of the family, Lady Elizabeth Halket, who married Sir Henry Wardlaw, of Pitreavie, in 1696, is the reputed authoress

of the ballad, "Hardy Knute." Pitferran is an estate lying to the south-west of Dunfermline, and the Sir Peter who married the heiress was Sir Peter Wedderburn, who took as his wife Janet Halket, sister of Elizabeth mentioned above. In consequence of this marriage he and his descendants were obliged to take the name and arms of Halket. Another Halket, who was not, however, of the same family, was the author of the popular song, "Logie o' Buchan," and the Jacobite ballad, "Wherry Whigs awa man."

The other reference is given thus:

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'Fife and a' the

land about it.-R. Fergusson.'

This probably refers to some poem of Robert Fergusson's, but in my copy of that poet's works, edited by Robert Aiken, there is no poem of that name, though, as has been already said, there are several references to the "Kingdom" in his works. It is possible, of course, that some other Fergusson is meant. There was a family of Fergussons, of Raith, Fifeshire, who were of some note in Burns's day. Perhaps the note may refer to one of these.

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In Johnson's Museum (1792) there appears a song, The Carls o' Dysart," which owes its present form to the National Bard, though its basis was an old Fifeshire boat-song:

"Up wi' the carls o' Dysart,

And the lads o' Buckhaven,

And the kimmers o' Largo,

And the lasses o' Leven."

In Cromek's Reliques (1808) there is given an epitaph on one William Michie, "Schoolmaster of Cleish Parish, Fifeshire," which runs as follows:

"Here lie Willie Michie's banes;

O Satan! when ye tak' him,
Gie him the schulin' o' your weans,
For clever deils he'll mak' them."

According to Allan Cunningham, Michie was introduced to Burns in Edinburgh. Scott Douglas states that no further information has been vouchsafed to us regarding this clever dominie, but in Wallace's edition of Chambers's Life we are told that Michie, whose name is given as Ebenezer, was introduced by Nicol to Burns while they were taking an evening stroll together in Edinburgh. Michie was dominie " first at Kettle, in the centre of Fife, and afterwards at Cleish. The latter place, it may be mentioned, is not in Fifeshire but in Kinross-shire. There is some reason to believe, however, that this epitaph is not genuine Burns.

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A number of the friends of the Bard had a connection with the "Kingdom." William Creech, who published the first Edinburgh editions of his poems, was the grandson of a farmer in the county. Peter Hill, bookseller, who was on very intimate terms with the Poet, and who supplied him with many of his books, was a Fifeshire man. He was the son of James Hill, collector of shore dues at Dysart, by his wife, Margaret Russell, who was a native of Dunfermline. Peter was himself a Fifer, having been born

at Dysart in 1754.

George Thomson, who was on very intimate terms with Burns, and to whose book on the melodies of Scotland the Poet contributed so much, was a native of Limekilns, near Dunfermline. His father, Mr Robert Thomson (as he is styled in the Register of Baptisms), was schoolmaster there for a few years, and it was there that George his eldest son, was born in 1757.

When Burns resided in Dumfries he sometimes attended the Secession Church there (now Loreburn U.F. Church). The minister in his day was the Rev. William Inglis, who was a native of the Fifeshire village of Freuchie.

WM. M'MILLAN.

Dunfermline.