Highland Mary must have inspired the production, though it is well known that she had no connection by residence or otherwise with the district. Allan Cunningham's opinion was that the heroine was "either Nannie, who dwelt near the Lugar, or Highland Mary-most likely the former, for he (Burns) always spoke out when he alluded to Mary Campbell." Dr Wallace says that the song "may refer to one of Burns's mysterious excursions to Lanarkshire in 1787 "; and Henley and Henderson, taking their cue from Chambers, remark that "Burns occasionally visited a peasant girl near Covington." All this specu 66 lation has been provoked by the silence of Burns on the subject. His note in the interleaved copy of Johnson's Museum is, This song alludes to a part of my private history which it is of no consequence to the world to know." What Burns refused to reveal will, it is safe to say at this date, never be known. The only comment the present writer would make is that the lines, 66 Not Gowrie's rich valley, nor Forth's sunny shores, suggest that the song was not composed until after the Highland tour, which made Burns familiar with the Carse of Gowrie and the Firth of Forth. It was, probably, while on his second call at Covington that Burns passed through Biggar, an incident which all his biographers have, curiously, overlooked. Mention of the fact was made in Biggar and the House of Fleming by William Hunter, who disposed of it in a single sentence: "Robert Forsyth, the bellman, used to state that Robert Burns, the Poet, to whom he showed the church, reverentially took off his hat on entering, and, evidently impressed with devotional feelings, remained uncovered all the time he examined the sacred edifice." The Rev. W. S. Crockett, Tweedsmuir, in his Biggar: Historical, Traditional and Descriptive, gives 1787 as the date of the visit of Burns to the town, and adds that "he is said to have been much impressed with the stately solemnity of the parish kirk.” The only other association of Burns with Upper Clydesdale is the following epigram, known to every reader of the poems, said to have been written by him in the kirk at Lamington :- The lines were first printed in 1828 by Lockhart, who, without quoting any authority, attributes them to Burns. The only information which Lockhart offers is that on one occasion Burns, being storm-stayed at Lamington, went to church, and after the congregation had dispersed, the indignant beadle invited the attention of the clergyman to the stanza, which had been inscribed with a diamond on the window by which a noticeable stranger had been sitting. Assuming the epigram to be the work of Burnsand Scott Douglas observes that it is too characteristic to be doubted as his production-the minister must have been unfortunate enough to be in bad form on the day he had such a critical listener. Messrs Henley and Henderson inform us that the minister was the Rev. Thomas Mitchell, who was described as "an accomplished scholar." "He was presented (1772) to Kinglassie by the Earl of Rothes; but as the parishioners were unanimously against him, it was arranged that he should exchange with the original presentee to Lamington." These few incidents complete the story of Burns and Upper Clydesdale. They form but a short part of his short life, and they had little influence on his career either as a man or as a Poet. But whatever opinion may be entertained as to their value, their interest will not be disputed, and their presentation as a complete narrative may be acceptable as a further contribution to what is apparently the inexhaustible by-way literature of Burns. ANDREW M'CALLUM. MAUCHLINE IN BURNS'S TIME. TH HERE is no record of Burns's first visit to Mauchline, though it is highly probable that he may have attended a Mauchline Fair from Lochlea, to which he had removed with his father in 1777, and which was only a matter of three miles distant. We are told that at a Mason's meeting at Tarbolton he had met with Gavin Hamilton (his worthy friend and patron), Dr Dugald Stewart, and other Mauchline men, before the removal to Mossgiel. What like Mauchline was at that time we cannot exactly say. But from what we have learned from the old people, with whom we have been for long in touch, and from our own personal observation, the town was not by any means so extensive as it presently is. The accompanying sketch map may perhaps give some idea, if compared with the map which will be found in the opening page of my brochure, Mauchline Town and District, published in 1911. It should be noted that in Burns's day there was no New or Kilmarnock Road, and no Earl Grey Street, these having taken the place of the Backcauseway and the Cowgate, then the principal streets leading north and south. There were no houses.then on what is now called the Barskimming Road, and below the Loudoun Street entrance to Netherplace (along what is sometimes called the New Street or Ayr Road) perhaps not more than one or two dwellings. The Auld Kirk was then standing, as also the Auld Manse ("Daddy Auld's "). The former was supplanted by the present building about ninety years ago, at which time the Kirkyaird must have been greatly curtailed, though the houses built on it to the north were at that time pulled down, their site being added to the burying-ground. As for the old Manse, it stood in its own grounds, and was approached by a road leading off the Cowgate, and also, |