scraped and repainted. The old headstone, which had sunk into the ground so that only part of the lettering could be read, was raised and built on a new foundation. This stone has been cleaned and repainted, and it is just in front of Highland Mary's monument. The following is the inscription on the old stone: This Burying Place Belongs to PETER M'PHERSON, His Spouse, and Their Children. 1787. Where this inscription is cut the stone is at least a quarter of an inch thinner than the top piece. This is evidence that the name of the first purchaser of the ground had been hewn off. On the thick part of the stone are the carpenters' insignia—a mallet, compass, caulking-iron, etc. As the first purchaser and M'Pherson were both ship carpenters, the coat-of-arms had been allowed to remain. The railings have been repainted, the tops tipped with gold. There is a wirenetting inside the railing to prevent persons from attempting to remove the broken stones that are set in the cement. As it was well known that Highland Mary was the first that was interred in the ground, and that her uncle only purchased it a few months before Mary's death, it was often a cause of astonishment what the figures 1760 on the upper part of the stone meant. On referring to the Lair Holders' Book, we found the following entry :—“ January 14th, 1760. -Purchased by Duncan Robertson, carpenter, six feet for 9s." On October 12, 1780, there is an entry showing that the ground was purchased by Peter M'Pherson, Highland 66 Mary's uncle, from Robertson. There is also evidence that the stone has borne a different inscription from what it now does, and it is supposed that while it was in Robertson's possession the lettering was his, but when purchased by Peter M'Pherson the lettering had been hewn out. The very tasteful manner in which the grave has been dressed and decorated reflects credit on the Club and also the community. The grave immediately to the north of Highland Mary's belongs to Mr. Colin Rae-Brown, now of London. He is a great admirer of Burns, and was the moving spirit in getting up the Burns centenary in 1859, and was Secretary of the Glasgow Committee. He designed the medal that was worn that night in commemoration of Burns, and a few years ago presented a medal and the original die to the Greenock Club. HIGHLAND MARY. By JOHN H. INGRAM. THE most romantic episode in the chequered career of the Ayrshire bard is that connected with Mary Campbell, the heroine of several of his most impassioned lyrics. Many of Burns's biographers have exercised their ingenuity in endeavours to either clear up or further mystify the facts of this interesting interlude in his life. Dr. Currie, in his attempt to render his history of the poet acceptable to his surviving relatives, readily availed himself of Burns's own words, and placed the "Highland Mary" epoch in the very early years" of his hero's career. Lockhart, unable or unwilling to contradict his predecessor, did his best to confirm his story. Succeeding biographers either followed blindly in the footsteps of their forerunners, or arrived at the comforting conclusion that "Highland Mary" was a myth-nothing more than a poetic fiction. 66 The discovery in 1840 of the two-volumed Bible mentioned by Cromek, in his account of the plighted troth on the banks of Ayr, re-opened the whole question of the "Highland Mary" episode, and caused its incidents to be investigated anew. Mr. W. Scott Douglas took the affair in hand, and after much research arrived at the doubtless correct conclusion that the solemn betrothal and final parting of Burns and Mary, instead of having happened in the poet's earlier years, must have taken place in 1786, just at that terrible period in his life when, half-maddened by the treatment he was receiving from Jean Armour and her father, he determined to emigrate to the West Indies. Mary Campbell, daughter of a sailor from the vicinity of Dunoon, was a nursemaid in the household of Gavin Hamilton, that friend of Burns of whom so much is heard in the poet's history. In his edition of 1851, Chambers says of Mary Campbell, that it may be assumed "the young woman was somewhat superior in cast of mind, manners, and intelligence in her situation, as it is ascertained that she had spent some of her youthful years in the family of the Rev. David Campbell, of Loch Ranza, in Arran, a relation of her mother." 66 Burns, it will be seen, refers to Mary, to " my Highland Lassie," as a warm-hearted, charming young creature as ever blessed a man with a generous love," and in another letter says, "When I was thinking of going to the West Indies I took this farewell-'Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary?'-of a dear girl." The parting of Burns and Mary on the banks of the Ayr must have taken place on the 14th May, 1786, and her death at Greenock on or about the 20th October following. The enduring nature of the poet's affection for Mary Campbell is proved, not only by various circumstances in his life and passages in his letters, but notably by the fact that his memorial verses to "My Mary, dear departed shade,” were not composed until three years after her death, and his latter tribute to "Highland Mary" was not produced until the 14th November, 1792, six years later; proofs of his fidelity to his promise to her in the lines : "She has my heart, she has my hand, By sweet truth (troth ?) and honour's band, I'm thine, my Highland lassie, O!" In 1842 a handsome monument was erected upon the place of Mary's interment in the West Churchyard, Greenock. The history of the two-volumed Bible already referred to is quite romantic. The Bible, we are informed, was found in the possession of a family in Montreal, Canada. The owners, relatives apparently of Mary Campbell, to whose surviving sister at Ardrossan the Bible came, being in straitened circumstances, were anxious to dispose of the valuable heirloom. The manner in which this memento of the bard came into the hands of the family having been satisfactorily explained, a certain number of Scotchmen in Montreal purchased it for transmission to their native land. Mr. Robert Weir, junior, of Montreal, in a letter to his father at Glasgow, said, "By the Mohawk, I will send to your care the identical Bibles presented by Burns to his Highland Mary, along with a lock of her hair, to be by you safely transmitted to the Provost of Ayr, for the purpose of being deposited in Burns's monument, on the banks of the bonnie Doon." This offering to the fatherland from her far-away children has been safely placed in the proposed resting place at Alloway. The Bible, which is only 24mo in size, was printed in 1782, by the " assigns of Alexander Kincaid." The two volumes, upon their receipt at Alloway, were found to be in a good state of preservation, although much worn. They were originally plainly bound in calf and gilt. On the first leaf of the first volume was written, in the handwriting of Burns," And ye shall not swear by my name falsely-I am the Lord. Levit., 16th chap., 12th verse. On the opposite leaf was drawn the mason mark of secrecy, and a name inscribed, but it has become so worn that it is difficult to say whether it is intended for "Robert Burns" or "Mary |