turret, containing a small apartment, in which Mair, the celebrated arithmetician, who was for some time a teacher in the Academy of Ayr, executed his 'System of Book-keeping.' Near the remaining portion of St. John's Church there stood, not many years ago, a small plain stone, marking the spot where lay the remains of Maggie Osborne, the last victim in Scotland who suffered death for the imputed crime of witchcraft. poration obtained. A bequest of £1,000 to the public teachers of Ayr, left by Mr. Ferguson of Dunholm, laid the foundation of the necessary funds. A considerable sum in addition was raised by subscription, and the present handsome building and successful system of management is the result. The Academy has proved of great benefit to the town, and maintains a high reputation. The other schools in the neighbourhood are numerous. There is an extensive town library and also circuThere are two weekly news The gaol of Ayr was built at the same time as the County Buildings. It stands on an open space by the sea beach. It is well conducted, upon the separate system. At the foot of the High Street, the 'auld brig' crosses the Ayr. It consists of four lofty and sub-lating libraries in Ayr. stantial arches; and is said to have been constructed papers published. by two maiden sisters, in the reign of Alexander III. It is extremely narrow, like most old bridges; and now serves only as a footpath. The new brig' is an exceedingly graceful structure, lying between one and two hundred yards nearer the harbour. It consists of five arches, the abutments of which are adorned with finely-executed allegorical figures, and was constructed in 1788, from a design by Robert Adam chiefly through the exertions of James Ballantyne, then provost of the burgh. (Cut, No. 2.) The imposing structure situated at the junction of the High Street and Sandgate Street, composed of an union of the Grecian and Tuscan orders of architecture, and surmounted by a tall and beautiful spire, is the Towns Buildings. Besides affording to the industrious officials ample accommodation for the enjoyment of their business (to adopt the foreigners' sarcasm upon our national habits), the building also contains an assembly-room, devoted to the transaction of pleasure. Passing along Wellington Square-itself a very fine object-the visitor is attracted by a large building at the western angle. It is built in imitation of an ancient Temple of Isis, at Rome. The front entrance is supported by massive pillars; and the building is surmounted by a very beautiful dome. The effect of the whole is extremely grand; and the County Buildings are very justly considered to be the most magnificent in the locality. Some creditable churches, both of the establishment and for dissenters; several public institutions, of which the principal is a Mechanics' Institution, with a museum attached to it; and a Railway-station, in the Elizabethan style, are among the other notabilities of the place. Any of these will repay a visit, and should not be passed over by the intelligent tourist. A Sheriffs' Court and a Small Debts' Court are held in the town; also a Commissary Court, a Burgh Criminal Court, and a Justice of the Peace Court. There are several banks; and among the institutions we may notice a Mechanics' Institution, the Sailors' Society,' instituted in 1581, for the benefit of decayed mariners, their widows and children; the Merchants' Company,' and Writers' Society,'-both benefit societies; a Horticultural and Agricultural Society, a Medical Association, and Dis pensary. Ayr is peculiarly well provided with the means of education. The parochial schools of the burgh were formed into an academy in 1798, and a charter of incor Almost every Scotsman who visits the town will view it in one aspect-as the birthplace, and for many years the residence, of Burns. But this interest is not confined to the spot itself it extends to the surrounding scenes-so alive with associations, and so eloquent in the memories they arouse. In this spirit, then, having briefly glanced through the town, we will take a stroll in the neighbourhood. BURNS; HIS BIRTHPLACE, AND FAVOURITE HAUNTS. Of course, Leaving the town by the Maybole toll-gate, a view of the Clyde, stretching away to the right, and the gently-receding hills of Carrick, are the only objects that arrest the attention. If the traveller is in a goodhumour, and disposed to gossip and receive information, he will do well to fraternise, as the phrase goes, with one of the natives,' who will talk to him with a fifty Murray's Handbook' power of the wonders of the place; which he believes in his heart to be the most important on the face of the earth. the most minute object connected in any way with the Poet or his compositions, will form a prominent feature of the 'gude man's' discourse. More especially will he descant on the adventures of the hero of the neighbourhood, Tam o' Shanter, "as he frae Ayr, ae nicht did canter." The traveller will probably be favoured, too, with a glance at a modest little cottage by the wayside, inhabited by Mrs. Begg, a sister of the Poet's. A gentle turn in the road here introduces us to finer scenes than we have hitherto passed through. A fertile and undulating country, dotted with white villas and wooded knolls; the pathway shaded by tall trees, and the fields glowing with rich grain,—these are among the attractions of the scene, which, on a Sunday or holiday, are further enhanced by a merry assemblage of the peasantry. About two miles, or rather more, from Ayr, a little cottage by the roadside arrests the attention-that is to say, the attention of those who know its history. It consists only of two rooms,-one of which is a kitchen; roofed with wooden rafters, thatched with straw, and in all respects an humble, if not entirely comfortless dwelling. What is the interest attached "Through many a wild romantic grove, An aged Judge, I saw him rove, In passing through the romantic park of Barskimming, the appearance of the Ayr is strikingly beautiful. Pursuing its devious course at the foot of large chasms formed in the solid rock, the name of the 'Auld Hermit Ayr' is here especially deserved. MAUCHLINE AND ITS CASTLE. Leaving the river, to pursue ourselves a more northerly course, we soon arrive at Mauchline; a neat and cleanly little town, situated on a level plain. The capital, so to speak, of a considerable agricultural section of the county, it is the seat of considerable business. It is a station on the Glasgow, Ayr, Kilmarnock, and Muirkirk railway. The church was opened for public worship in 1829, -the old church, which was proved to be inconvenient, and suspected of being unsafe, having been taken down two years before. It is built of the red freestone which abounds in the neighbourhood, chiefly in the Gothic style. It stands in the centre of the town, surrounded by a churchyard. It has a tower on its east end, ninety feet in height, and crowned with small turrets. The interior is plain enough. It is fitted up in the usual manner, with enclosed pews. The pulpit is effectively ornamented. This church has a considerable reputation for elegance, to which it is not without some claim. The name of the town was formerly spelt Macklin-Magh signifying a field, or meadow, and Lin, or Linne, a pool or lake. The local character of the place corresponds with this description. The fields around the town abound in springs, and must have been anciently a marsh or meadow. The principal object of antiquity in the place is an ancient tower, of no very large dimensions, formerly known as Mauchline Castle. It is said to have been in the possession of the Loudoun family, to whom it gave a second title. In 1789, when Grose, who noticed the tower in his Antiquities,' made his drawing of it, it was possessed by Gavin Hamilton, whose name is so widely known in connection with Burns; and it continued for a time to be the residence of one of Mr. Hamilton's sons. Not far from the Castle stands the new Educational Institute, a neat new building, where fifty poor children are educated free of charge. The school is conducted on the normal system; and the course of instruction includes many advanced branches of knowledge. In a little narrow street at the back of the burialplace adjoining the Church, stands a two-storied house, bearing date 1744, formerly possessed by the alewife, Nanse Tinnock. The dame in question-long since passed away-has found no successor in that calling of which she was such an ornament. An old industrious spoon-maker now shows the scene of his labours to visitors as the veritable alehouse, the witness of so many bacchanalian festivals in the days when those absurd attributes of the Scottish Church-the 'Holy Fairs' had not passed away. The merit belongs to Burns of having made one of the first attempts (and it was a successful one) to found a Book Society in this town. At the latter end of 1780, while residing in the neighbourhood of Tarbolton, Burns, in conjunction with his two brothers, and five peasants of about the same age, founded a Mutual Instruction Society, called the Bachelors' Club.' This association, the members of which met monthly in one of the village alehouses for the purpose of conversation and debate, existed for several years, having materially increased in numbers. By one of its regulations, all fines were expended in liquor. When Burns removed to Mossgiel, a club of a similar nature was established in Mauchline, but with one material difference-the fines, instead of being dispensed in the shape of scanty potations of small beer, were appropriated to the purchase of books; so that many valuable and important works were placed within the reach of the humble members of the society, works which were to them otherwise unattainable. The name of the society will be found in the list of subscribers to the Kilmarnock edition of his poems. Burns, it will be remembered, afterwards established a club of the same kind at Monkland. BURNS'S FARM AT MOSSGIEL. Proceeding a mile on the Kilmarnock road, and turning up a by-lane to the right, we reach the farmsteading of Mossgiel, where Burns dwelt from the twenty-fourth to the twenty-eighth year of his age. The steading in appearance is not distinguished from any other farm-house in the county; consisting of three detached one-storied buildings, roofed with straw, and surrounded with trees. But how interesting does the spot become when the traveller remembers that it was in one of the adjacent fields that the poet turned up the mountain daisy, which, embalmed in the poet's verse, bids fair to bloom for ever; and that in one of those humble attics, at an hour when churchyards are said to yawn, and all respectable persons are in bed, sitting by a small deal table, would he commit to paper those lyrics which he had composed during the manual labours of the day! It was at Mossgiel, during a Sabbath evening's walk, that Burns first read the Cotter's Saturday Night' to his brother, the good gentle-hearted Gilbert, whom mingled surprise and admiration caused to weep. And it was to Mossgiel that he returned after his triumphant reception in Edinburgh, when his mother, overpowered by her feelings, could only welcome him by exclaiming " O Robert, Robert!" 66 The farm was far from prosperous; the end of the fourth year found the Burns' family poorer than when they first entered upon it; and to crown the misfortunes of our poet he had then formed his luckless liaison with Jean Armour; and denied by a harsh father the privilege of doing justice to her whom he loved as deeply as he had wronged, with nothing but ruin before him, he resolved to quit the country. To obtain the means he endeavoured to find a publisher for his poems, but for some time without success. He eventually accomplished this object with the aid of an acquaintance-John Goudie, a worthy citizen of Kilmarnock who introduced him to some valuable connections. By the sale of his book he realized sufficient for his purpose-a passage to Jamaica; and his chest was on the road to Greenock, when he went to take a last farewell of some of the scenes which had so frequently inspired him. The result was the following beautiful lines, the last he said that he should ever measure in Caledonia : "The gloomy night is gath'ring fast, Loud roars the wild inconstant blast; Yon murky cloud is foul with rain, I see it driving o'er the plain; And scatter'd coveys meet secure ; The Autumn mourns her rip'ning corn, Chill runs my blood to hear it rave- Farewell my friends! Farewell my foes! Fortunately for himself-for his friends-for his BALLOCHMYLE AND BURNS. Further up the river we arrive at the railway-bridge |