should rivet itself on his country, its ancient story, and its many beauties. He writes to Mrs Dunlop :

"Scottish scenes and Scottish story are the themes I could wish to sing. I have no dearer aim than to have it in my power, unplagued with the routine of business-for which, Heaven knows, I am unfit enough—to make leisurely pilgrimages through Caledonia; to sit on the fields of her battles; to wander on the romantic banks of her rivers; and to rest by the stately towers or venerable ruins, once the honoured abodes of her heroes."

He wrote to Doctor Moore that he was

"to make pilgrimages over some of the classic grounds of Caledonia, Cowden Knowes, Banks of Yarrow, Tweed, &c."; and that wish he repeats in his letter to the Earl of Buchan :

"I wish for nothing more than to make a leisurely pilgrimage through my native country; to sit and rest on those once hardcontended fields, where Caledonia, rejoicing, saw her bloody lion borne through broken ranks to victory and fame; and, catching the inspiration, to pour the deathless names in song."

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In such few pilgrimages as he was able to carry out he shows, throughout the small notes he took of his Highland and Lowland tours, that he had the true Antiquarian's eye for ancient and beautiful objects, and that he could choicely describe and appraise them almost in a word. Even the prehistoric does not escape him. Lyon River-Druid's Temple: Three circles of stone, the outermost sunk; the second has thirteen stones remaining; the innermost has eight; two large detached ones, like a gate, to the south-east.' "Camelon- the ancient Metropolis of the Picts." Bochester the scene of an old encampment (Roman)." Never does he pass Scottish historical remains without mention. "Roxburgh Castle, and the small old religious ruins"; "Thomas à Rhymer's ruined castle"; "Linlithgow-tolerably fine castle"; "Cawdorwhere Macbeth murdered King Duncan: saw the bed in which King Duncan was stabbed " ; "Broughty's Castle -a finely situated ruin, jutting into the Tay." For

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Ecclesiastical Edifices he has a discerning eye.

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Melrose -that far-famed glorious ruin; Dryburgh—a fine old ruined Abbey; Jedburgh-fine old ruins, a once magnificent cathedral, and strong castle; Elgin Abbey-a grander effect at first glance than Melrose, but not near so beautiful; stately ruin of Arbroath Abbey; Dundee's old Steeple.' These are all apposite and discriminating. Dunfermline Abbey he does not mention, but we know that he went into a fine fervour as he knelt at the Tomb of the Bruce. Later, when his limited wanderings were ended, he loved to pass from the boundary of his farm and sit and meditate and compose in the quaint, ancient little building known as the Hermitage at Friars' Carse, where the sculptured effigy of some old Scottish Knight formed his seat. At Dumfries, many a time on Sunday, or at eventide, he made his way to Cluden's silent towers, the beautiful little ruins of a Nunnery at Lincluden, which is beyond the town, across the winding Nith. Lower down that well-loved streamon the east bank the stately ruins of Caerlaverock Castle; on the west the beautiful Church which Devorgilla Baliol raised to the memory of her husband, the Abbey of the Sweetheart. In both of these, if you search, you will find the sign" R.B." boldly engraved on the stones. Thus, in this wonderful short and busy life, the antiquarian spirit reveals itself again and again in these ways, as an addition to his determined effort to preserve in its purity and force the language of the countryside, the auld Scots tongue, and to retrieve and preserve the songs and airs which otherwise might have been lost to the nation.

Looking at the time that has elapsed since Burns's death, it cannot be wondered at that in his actual writings there is some part that has in itself passed into the domain of antiquity. If you wish a picture of old-time farming you will find it in his poems and his pastoral letters-how the people lived, were housed and dressed. You shall also find as well, many notes of customs that have now passed away, expressed in terms and words no longer in common Thanks to him, these words are decidedly limited

use.

in number.

To-day we do not come across placks, bodles and testers. Tippeny and Antiqua are not our drinks, and barley has taken the place of bere. As mentioned, a large collection of farming terms have passed with the old and poor system of agriculture; and the same applies to the lives and homes of the peasantry, far removed from the poverty, hardships, and meagre fare of his day. That so much has survived and is still in use is one of the finest and most enduring of memorials; and other writers in later days who have eschewed "High English" in favour of the Doric, are best remembered, and have a chance of surviving in the honoured literature of the country.

PHILIP SULLEY.

AT BROW AND AFTER.

And so he came- -to Brow by Solway's Firth,
And eident was his quest.

But love's most earnest wish was unfulfilled,
Day unto day a-numbering out its tale;

For neither shady neuk, a-fragrant with the scent
Of milk-white thorn, so redolent of charm,
Nor healing water from the spring near-by,
Nor rushing wave could bear the spirit up.

Oh! could that shady bower but speak,
It, too, might tell the story of the ending of a life
That struggled with the things that tell-
Those eternal things, which the great Father of us all
Has but to few, and that in measure small, revealed

In life's great garden, sometimes rudely kept

By those whose work is but to keep and tend.

Love's labour lost. . . . He homeward bent his way

Sad thoughts enveloping his soul;

One ray of hope alone enlightening his path—

The ray, that in the radiance of his home

All darkness might dissolve, and in the gleam
Of love for wife and weans, a better day begin.

His work was done.... He died

Died in that madness which ofttimes comes
To those who, after their own order, see things,
And hear and utter, sounds yont ordinary ken.

So thus it was, and so it aye shall be :

The gifted sons of men-the Poet, Prophet, and the Seer--
RESOLVING TO RESOLVE.

Go forth.....

Mauchline.

J. T. G.

REMOVAL OF THE HIGHLAND MARY

MEMORIAL.

IN

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N the last issue of the Chronicle, we laid before our readers a full report of the development of the proposal to remove the Monument and remains of Highland Mary from the West Churchyard of Greenock, and also of the discussion which took place at the Annual Meeting of the Federation in connection with the three alternatives offered by Messrs Harland & Wolff to meet the views of the Federation. The alternatives were (1) to remove the remains and the Monument to such a place of sepulture as might be selected by the Executive of the Federation; (2) to leave the remains interred as at present, and to reverse the existing Monument so as to face the street; (3) to remove the existing Monument, and to place and maintain a mural tablet in lieu thereof, the remains not being disturbed. After full discussion of these proposals, the finding of the Federation was that the whole matter be remitted to the Executive along with representatives of the Greenock Burns Club, with full powers to deal with it in the interests of the Federation." Thereafter, acting on instructions, the President and Secretary of the Federation interviewed Mr Kempster, Managing Director in Greenock for Messrs Harland & Wolff, and laid before him the prevailing opinion of the Federation that the remains should not be disturbed, and the Monument interfered with only so far as was necessary to suit the altered circumstances. Mr Kempster received them with the utmost courtesy, and expressed the earnest desire of his firm to meet the wishes of the Federation, even to the extent of bearing the expense of another Monument on any site selected by the Federation, should the alternatives offered be considered out of unison with the sentiment which actuated the opposition to the scheme.