the Bible given by Burns to Highland Mary; and a lock of Mary's hair; besides several other relics associated with the Poet. From the top of the staircase excellent views of the surrounding country are obtained. (Cut, No. 3.) At the Monument gate is the inn, which well merits a visit. Along the banks of the Doon--as well as between the town of Ayr and the Monument-there are numerous villas, inhabited principally by the wealthy. They are rapidly increasing in number; so that every year is adding to the attractions of a district which has already so many charms, both of scenery and association, to recommend it. To "win the key-stane o' the brig" of Doon, was the successful effort of Tam o' Shanter on his homeward ride. (Cut, No. 4.) THE BANKS OF AYR. Proceeding on our pilgrimage we follow the course of the Ayr, and rather to the north of that river arrive at the town of Tarbolton. In the immediate neighbourhood, we encounter-amidst scenery of a very beautiful description- the fine seat of Sir William Miller, Barskimming, to the northward of which lie Mauchline, and the humble farm-steading of Mossgiel. Still pursuing our way, we view with delight the enchanting Braes of Ballochmyle.' Here 'auld Hermit Ayr' bends eastward; and a walk of a mile or two leads us to the Vale of Catrine, with its pretty little village,its woods, of which Burns has sung so pensively; and a mansion, consecrated by having been the residence of no less a man than Dugald Stewart. Tarbolton itself is a small town, remarkable for-exactly nothing; unless a very miserable-looking remnant of Faile Abbey, about a mile off, has claim to any consideration. By the way, the habits of the former occupants of the Abbey in question gave rise to the assertion that "The Friars of Faile ne'er wanted ale, As lang as their neebors' lasted.” The Farm of Lochlea, which was occupied by the father of Robert Burns, from 1774 to 1784, is in this neighbourhood. Here the young poet spent from his seventeenth to his twenty-fourth year, working vigorously on the farm with his aged father, who was rapidly sinking under his prolonged misfortunes. Burns produced many of his poems while remaining here; and, consequently, became a famous character in the neighbouring clachan of Tarbolton, where, after the labours of the day, he was accustomed to resort for intellectual or convivial relaxation-or the two united. The Farm of Spittleside-the birthplace of David Sillar is about one mile from Tarbolton. Sillar, notwithstanding the tincture of poetry which he possessed, is best known in connection with Burns; first as his bosom crony,' and afterwards as his poetical correspondent. It was in these scenes that the pair were accustomed to wander, discussing perhaps poetry, perhaps intrigue: indeed, the last was a frequent occu pation; for to Burns and his friend were committed the management of nearly all the love affairs of the neighbourhood. 'HIGHLAND MARY' AND THE POET. That substantial and elegant structure situated in a secluded valley, about a mile to the south-west of Tarbolton, is Coilsfield House. It was formerly the seat of the Montgomeries. It has been renewed since the time of Burns; who, in several of his poems, has borne testimony to the bravery of the then representatives of the family. The mystic Faile here winds its way towards the Ayr, surrounded on all sides by splendid woodlands. But it is not its scenery, beautiful as it is-nor its history, interesting though it be that lends to the locality so magical a charm, and an attraction so irresistible. As the meeting-place of a pair of rustic lovers, some sixty years ago, the place has gained more renown than the boldest scenery and the most martial deeds could have attached to it: How sweetly bloom'd the gay green birk, Was my sweet Highland Mary." So sang Burns of the woman for whom, of all others, he seems to have formed the most enduring attachment. Mary Campbell-better known by her poetic name of Highland Mary-was in no elevated sphere of life. In fact, it must be owned-it is of no use to disguise matters-that she followed the occupation of a dairymaid at Coilsfield. Originally she had come from Campbelltown, in Argyleshire. She appears to have been a person of considerable, though not extraordinary, beauty. Her mental powers were great; and to her pre-eminently amiable disposition, and the natural accomplishments of her mind, may be attributed, to a great extent, the impression which she made on the mind of the young poet. According to the statement of the poet himself, the two lovers met on the lovely banks of the Ayr, on the second Sabbath of May, to take a mutual farewell; for Mary was about to make a journey into Argyleshire, to make some arrangements for her marriage with Burns. But this meeting was destined to be their last on earth. The impression— lasting as it was--which her death made on the poet, is yet more lastingly recorded in the lyrics in which he refers to the occasion. It seems probable that the wanderings of these lovers were not confined to the immediate banks of the Ayr; but they extended to the picturesque park of Coilsfield, (Cut, No. 5,) as we find in the poetical description of the famous day in question that the poet opens with the following apostrophe: "Ye banks, and braes, and streams around Green be your woods, and fair your flowers, There simmer first unfauld her robes, For there I took my last fareweel O' my sweet Highland Mary." At their parting, the lovers stood on the separate sides of a little streamlet, and holding a Bible between fulfilled, and she had reached Greenock on her way back to Ayrshire, where her betrothed awaited her; when poor Mary was attacked by a disease, to which she speedily fell a victim. Over her remains, in the churchyard of Greenock, a handsome monument has been erected. The depth of Burns's sorrow is nowhere better shown than in his noble poem, 'To Mary in Heaven,'-written at Ellisland, in 1789, on the anniversary of the Septhem, while they laved their hands in the purling brook, this ballad we may appropriately conclude this brief tember day on which he had heard of her death. With fondly vowed to be faithful to each other: "Wi' mony a vow, and lock'd embrace, Our parting was fu' tender; And, pledging aft to meet again, We tore oursels asunder; But oh! fell Death's untimely frost, That nipt my flower sae early! Now green 's the sod, and cauld's the clay, That wraps my Highland Mary. Oh pale, pale now, those rosy lips, Her mission to Argyleshire had been satisfactorily sketch of these melancholy and romantic loves: "Thou ling'ring star, with less'ning ray, That lov'st to greet the early morn, Again thou usher'st in the day My Mary from my soul was torn. Oh Mary! dear departed shade! Where is thy place of blissful rest? See'st thou thy lover lowly laid? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? That sacred hour can I forget, Can I forget the hallowed grove, When by the winding Ayr we met, To live one day of parting love? Eternity will not efface Those records dear of transports past; Thy image at our last embrace; Ah! little thought we 't was our last! Ayr, gurgling, kiss'd his pebbled shore, O'erhung with wild woods, thick'ning green; The fragrant birch, and hawthorn hoar, Twin'd amorous round the raptur'd scene; The flowers sprang wanton to be prest, The birds sang love on ev'ry spray— Till too, too soon, the glowing west Proclaim'd the speed of winged day. Still o'er these scenes my mem'ry wakes, Where is thy place of blissful rest? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? KYLE, AND ITS NOTABILITIES. The name of Kyle is supposed to have been derived from Coyle, King of the Britons, who is said to have been killed in a battle with the Picts and Scots, about three hundred years before Christ. The name of the district of Ayrshire in which the battle took place has evidently been altered to suit the vulgar pronunciation of the word 'Coil.' The truth of the tradition seems to be attested by several facts: that a small brook which empties itself into the Faile, is known as 'The Bloody Burn'-that a flat alluvial space of ground on the opposite side of the same stream receives the appellation of the Dead Men's Holm' - that the locality is called Coilsfield, i.e., the field of Coil-and that the dust of King Coyll, or Coilus, was supposed to have been deposited beneath two large masses of basalt, situated on a circular mound enclosed by a tall hedge, in the immediate vicinity of the farm-offices of Coilsfield. This tomb was opened on the 29th of May, 1837, in the presence of several gentlemen; when an urn was discovered, covered over at the mouth with a horizontal flag stone. This urn was filled with white coloured burnt bones. On further search two or three other urns were brought to light, some of which crumbled to dust immediately on the air being admitted. They all contained bones. These facts combine to attach a very high degree of probability to the traditions regarding King Coil. After visiting the grave of Coil, we now proceed along the road leading to Mauchline. A gentleman's seat of great beauty attracts our attention: it is Barskimming, in Burns's time the residence of Lord Justice Clerk Miller, who is thus alluded to by the poet in his 'Vision :' N and streams around the Castle of Montgomery," the 6 | At the latter end of the twelfth century, William the Lion founded the Castle of Ayr, on an eminence near to the Church of St. John the Baptist, which stood close upon the seashore, a little northward of the site now occupied by the county buildings. Here stood one of the four forts which Cromwell erected in Scotland. He changed the church into an armoury, and enclosed it within the ramparts; making, however, a grant to the town sufficient to enable them to erect another building. A tall, gaunt, and exceedingly plain tower, is the only vestige of St. John's Church now remaining. A short distance from this, the foundations of the Castle of Ayr may be traced. Many of the scenes and buildings in the town are associated with the name and the fame of Wallace. It is situated on the south bank, and at the mouth of the river Ayr. Its general appearance is shown in the engraving. Its name must have been derived from that circumstance: but its origin is lost in obscurity. Notwithstanding this fact, however, we have | Wallace's Tower, which we have already mentioned, not heard its foundation ascribed either to Charlemagne, is a handsome Gothic structure, 113 feet in height; or the devil-the two common recipients of such un- and is outwardly ornamented by a statue of the Patriot, claimed honours. Attended with various and unequal executed by Mr. James Thom, a self-taught Ayrshire fortunes, it seems to have existed for several centuries sculptor. Previous to the year 1830, there stood on prior to 1202, when William the Lion created it a the site of this building a tower of great antiquity, of Royal burgh. At that period, and for several succeed- which nothing positive was known. It has been supposed ing centuries, it appears to have been a place of import- by some to have been the town-residence of Wallace ance and considerable trade; and although Daniel of Craigie; by others, to have been the prison of Ayr Defoe, in his Tour through Great Britain,' represented -over the walls of which Wallace was thrown by his it as in a declining condition, it afterwards re-attained friends, to save him from the grasp of the Southrons; its importance. Its merchants imported wines from when, as related by Harry the Minstrel, he was rescued France extensively; and exported corn, salmon, and by his old nurse, who conveyed him to her home. other native productions. The rising importance of Glasgow was no little drawback to the advance of Ayr; but in more recent times the affairs of the latter place have become more animated by the establishment of a railway to Glasgow, and the opening of various parts of the county by means of branch lines. The shipping of Ayr is very inconsiderable. The little business done consists chiefly in the importation of agricultural produce, linen, and slates, from Ireland, and the exportation of coal, pig-iron, &c. But though the seat of considerable carpet, leather, and shoe-manufactures, Ayr, unlike its neighbour, Kilmarnock, is decidedly not a place of trade. It stands, indeed, in the same relation to Kilmarnock as Edinburgh to Glasgow; and its inhabitants are wealthy and refined, many of them being attached to the profession of the law. On the opposite bank of the river Ayr is situated Newton-upon-Ayr, a burgh of barony, under a totally distinct municipal government. It is of comparatively recent origin, and contains scarcely a feature of any interest. It is connected with the parent town by the 'auld' and the 'new' Brigs o' Ayr. During the last quarter of a century, the appearance of the town of Ayr-which had previously been far from prepossessing-has been materially improved. The High Street, which passes nearly through the centre of the town, is adorned by Wallace's Tower; and many of the chief places of business are situated there. The antiquarian will find considerable food for speculation in many of the old and grotesque tenements which may be met with, interspersed with more modern buildings. At the corner of a thoroughfare diverging southward from the High Street, there stood, in former times, the Court-House of Ayr, supposed to be the building in which the noblemen and gentlemen of the westincluding Wallace's uncle, Sir Reginald Crawfordwere treacherously murdered by the English governor. A dwelling-house occupies the site of the building: it is adorned with a statue of Wallace, who, in revenge for the act of treachery referred to, immediately fired the military encampment of the English, reducing it and its occupants to ashes. It is, by the way, to be regretted, that neither of the two statues of Wallace in the town have any claims to admiration. The first conveys only half an idea of the Patriot, and the other none at all. The old parish Church,-built in the time of the Protector, in lieu of that appropriated by him, as already stated,-stands on the site of a Dominican monastery; remarkable as the place where Robert Bruce held the Parliament which settled the succession of his brother Edward on the throne. It is a remarkably plain building: it partakes of the unadorned character of the time. A small fountain, running through the churchyard into the river, is yet popularly known as the 'Friar's Well." In a by lane, behind the Fish Cross, there is a tenement, said to have been the birthplace of the brilliant and accomplished Anthony Hamilton, author of the 'Memoirs of the Comte de Grammont;' and in the main street, opposite the Fish Cross, there is a huge and ancient house, once the town residence of the Chalmers' of Cadgirth. It has in front a small |