the church are the property of John Schaw and his heirs, and of the Crawfords of Cartsburn. The builder of the church and several of the Schaw family are buried there.

"In the kirkyard itself there is much that should interest Greenock folk. There are tombs of three ministers who died in office, a monument to William Scott, shipbuilder, and his family, many well-known Greenock family names, a tombstone to John Wilson, author of the poem on 'The Clyde,' afterwards master of the Academy at Greenock, and one of the three oldest stones is dated 1675, a year after the death of John Milton. One monument is justly famous because of all that it stands for in Scottish sentiment, literature, and history-the monument commemorating Burns's Highland Mary. There is another memorial enshrined by the old kirkyard which is most intimately associated with Greenock, the gravestone over the tombs of the father and grandfather of James Watt. The old kirk had stood during these centuries, and was still standing when this week the seventh most populous town of Scotland, recognised as a place of power and value in the necessities of the greatest war in human history, was visited by the royal head of this great Empire, and the Provost of Greennock welcomed the King to the town which the Glasgow Herald spoke of the other day as the cradle and gateway of Clyde industry.'

The Greenock Telegraph states that Lord Pirie has been approached direct on behalf of those who wish to preserve the Old West Kirk and burial-ground intact, and has been pressed to reconsider his plans with a view to saving the church and churchyard with their valuable associations.

This suggests that it may be possible to so alter the plans as to save the old church and ground without spoiling the extension scheme. If that can be arranged it would be a settlement of the vexed question which would be satisfactory to all parties.

We believe interdict has recently been craved on behalf of certain of the lairholders and others interested.

The following is our latest information on the subject :

"An action has been called at the instance of Margaret Brown or Johnstone, 12 Hutton Drive, Linthouse, Govan, widow of William Johnstone, tobacco spinner, Glasgow, and others, against the heritors of the West Parish Church of Greenock, and against William M'Clure, solicitor, Mansion House, Greenock, clerk to and as representing the heritors. It is understood that the pursuers sue for declarator and interdict against the defenders from selling the old burying-ground of the West Parish of Greenock, which contains the grave of Burns's Highland Mary. The pursuers allege that they have a patrimonial interest in the ground, and object to its sale."-Scotsman, 20th October, 1917.

"A meeting of the heritors of the West Parish of Greenock was held in the West Parish Church this afternoon to decide what action should be taken with reference to a summons which had been served on the clerk of the heritors to prevent them from selling or disposing of the site of the Old West Kirk and burying-ground. Mr W. M'Clure, clerk, stated that he had already intimated to the agents for the pursuers that the heritors had not been negotiating in any way to do as they suggested. His view was that the heritors have no power to sell or dispose of the ground and site, and he advised the meeting accordingly. Mr R. S. Walker moved that the meeting agree to take no action, which was seconded by Mr A. S. Mories. Mr John Cameron thought a committee should be appointed to consider the whole situation. Bailie Orr seconded. After some discussion, the meeting decided by a large majority to adopt Mr Walker's motion."-Greenock Telegraph, 29th October, 1917.

"We understand that the proposed extension of Messrs Caird's shipbuilding yard at Greenock, at least so far as it involved the removal of the Old West Kirk and included the kirkyard and Highland Mary's grave, is temporarily hung up. It was announced some time ago that an action at the instance of lairholders had been raised in the Court of Session to have the heritors interdicted from selling the old burying-ground of the West Parish of Greenock, and as it now appears that the heritors do not propose to defend the action, decree in absence will pass against them."-Glasgow Herald, 6th November, 1917.

"Audeo Alteram Partem."-[EDITOR.]

MARY CAMPBELL SPEAKS.

(An Argument in favour of the acceptance of Messrs Caird & Co.'s handsome offer to remove and rebuild the Old West Kirk and Graveyard Memorials in better surroundings, and thus make room for a large Shipbuilding enterprise.)

The kindly Greenock folk who fain would save
From discomposure Highland Mary's grave,
I thank, and more I thank the fervent few,
Like Morison and other cronies true,
Who, fired by love for Scotland's Bard, set me
This monument, that cherishes his memory;
For humble Mary, through her passing night,
Shines, a pale moon, by his reflected light.
But, good folk, hearken what I here present,
Before ye stay your burgh's betterment :

"Twas in a hallowed corner by the Clyde
They laid my bones when I untimely died,
The kirk, the glebe, the graveyard's sacred land
Lay close and quiet by the pebbled strand;
The place retired, the atmosphere serene,
And gentle Peace sat brooding o'er the scene.

But came a change! The age of Giant Steam,
The clang of hammers and the sirens' scream;
And, shadowing o'er, great ships rose day by day,
Driving romance and reverence away,
Till, wrung by all the noise and clamour rude,
My bones cry out for rest and quietude;
So, if you love me, let me have surcease,
And change them to some nook of silent peace;
Take up my little dust and lay it where
No sound of hammer jangles all the air.
Take me away from the unkindly slum
And lay me where the silences may come
To mind me of the quiet banks of Ayr,
And all the dear delight that met me there!

The wheels of progress move, and whirling on
Pass o'er the dust of generations gone,

And why should they be stopped a single day
For sake of Mary Campbell's mortal clay,
That now, through wormy rottenness and must,
Has mingled long with earth's primeval dust ?

Can one in ten of ye, I prithee, say

Ye often viewed the spot where long I lay ?
Then why should ye make moan or grieve, for I
Will sleep as soundly in some place near by,
Removed from all the clamour and the din
Where busy men strive hard their bread to win ?
Should tenderness for mortal dust eclipse
The need that Britain has for ships and ships?
Why trouble o'er the dust of humble maid
Who cannot point where God's own Son was laid ?
Why let grey stones, sour earth, a time-worn kirk,
Stand in the way of living men and work?

The ploughman with his share afield to-day

Recks not, nor should he, whose the furrowed clay;
Sufficient that at harvest time be spread

Seed for the sower, for the children bread !

And if, along with these poor dust and bones,

Ye should transfer "The Old West," sticks and stones,

So be it! for remember, sacred fanes

May fall, but ever still the Truth remains !
The Temple passed away from Sion's hill,
Like many since, but lives Religion still;
Steeples may fall, but grander spires will rise,
Pointing the worshippers to clearer skies!
These costly windows with their coloured grace
Will shine as warmly in another place,

And dear memorials of the long-since dead

Be reared elsewhere, and their quaint lessons read.
Let not, I pray you, thoughtless sentiment
Stand 'tween the toilers and their real content.

Rab questioned " Where my place of blissful rest ?
Where but in heart that loved me first and best !
Mary that was, like " lingering star
" set high,

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Will share the raptures of the morning sky;
And though my dust you move, I deem you shriven :
Burns wrote "To Mary" not in earth but "Heaven."

JAS. BROWN (in Greenock Telegraph).

CROMEK AND STOTHARD'S 1809

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BURNS TOUR.

From an article in The Bookman" (September, 1917), on a hitherto unknown series of drawings of notable " Burns People."

(ABRIDGED BY THE AUTHOR.)

TH

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HROUGH the kindness of one of R. H. Cromek's descendants, the writer has had access to an unpublished manuscript Life of the Editor of The Reliques, written by his son, Thomas H. Cromek, and dated “ Wakefield, December 23rd, 1864." The first tour in Scotland of the Burns-manuscript hunter is dealt with, but "paper restrictions compel us to pass on to his lesser-known tour of 1809, when he was accompanied by Thomas Stothard, R.A. References to this tour in Burns literature are very meagre, and almost the only known results are a series of twelve scenes engraved by Cromek from Stothard's drawings, and published in 1814. However, this resurrected manuscript throws new light on the obscurities of the Cromek-Stothard tour, and shows that it was much more important than has ever been suspected. Here is the first letter, which begins to dispel some of the murkiness of a hundred years' oblivion :

(To Thomas Bewick, Esq.)

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London, 64 Newman Street,
June 25th, 1809.

DEAR SIR,-Had I not expected to have been in Scotland long ago, I certainly should have written to you before this: I thank you kindly for your exertions relative to my publication, The Grave; and if I could serve you here tenfold, be assured I should feel most happy to do it. I have now. the pleasure to state that Mr Stothard and myself will leave London for Scotland on Thursday next. He most anxiously hopes, as I do also, that we shall make Newcastle on our way back, as he is very anxious to spend a day with so celebrated a genius as a certain gentleman I cannot just now name. I do not believe we can get our business