The Complete Works of Robert Burns Part 292

_Friday._--Ride to Berwick--An idle town, rudely picturesque.--Meet Lord Errol in walking round the walls.--His lords.h.i.+p's flattering notice of me.--Dine with Mr. Clunzie, merchant--nothing particular in company or conversation--Come up a bold sh.o.r.e, and over a wild country to Eyemouth--sup and sleep at Mr. Grieve's.

_Sat.u.r.day._--Spend the day at Mr. Grieve's--made a royal arch mason of St. Abb's Lodge,[297]--Mr. William Grieve, the oldest brother, a joyous, warm-hearted, jolly, clever fellow--takes a hearty gla.s.s, and sings a good song.--Mr. Robert, his brother, and partner in trade, a good fellow, but says little. Take a sail after dinner. Fis.h.i.+ng of all kinds pays t.i.thes at Eyemouth.

_Sunday._--A Mr. Robinson, brewer at Ednam, sets out with us to Dunbar.

The Miss Grieves very good girls.--My bards.h.i.+p's heart got a brush from Miss Betsey.

Mr. William Grieve's attachment to the family-circle, so fond, that when he is out, which by the bye is often the case, he cannot go to bed till he see if all his sisters are sleeping well ---- Pa.s.s the famous Abbey of Coldingham, and Pease-bridge.--Call at Mr. Sheriff's where Mr. A. and I dine.--Mr. S. talkative and conceited. I talk of love to Nancy the whole evening, while her brother escorts home some companions like himself.--Sir James Hall of Dungla.s.s, having heard of my being in the neighbourhood, comes to Mr. Sheriff's to breakfast--takes me to see his fine scenery on the stream of Dungla.s.s--Dungla.s.s the most romantic, sweet place I over saw--Sir James and his lady a pleasant happy couple.--He points out a walk for which he has an uncommon respect, as it was made by an aunt of his, to whom he owes much.

Miss ---- will accompany me to Dunbar, by way of making a parade of me as a sweetheart of hers, among her relations. She mounts an old cart-horse, as huge and as lean as a house; a rusty old side-saddle without girth, or stirrup, but fastened on with an old pillion-girth--herself as fine as hands could make her, in cream-coloured riding clothes, hat and feather, &c.--I, ashamed of my situation, ride like the devil, and almost shake her to pieces on old Jolly--get rid of her by refusing to call at her uncle's with her.

Past through the most glorious corn-country I ever saw, till I reach Dunbar, a neat little town.--Dine with Provost Fall, an eminent merchant, and most respectable character, but undescribable, as he exhibits no marked traits. Mrs. Fall, a genius in painting; fully more clever in the fine arts and sciences than my friend Lady Wauchope, without her consummate a.s.surance of her own abilities.--Call with Mr.

Robinson (who, by the bye, I find to be a worthy, much respected man, very modest; warm, social heart, which with less good sense than his would be perhaps with the children of prim precision and pride, rather inimical to that respect which is man's due from man) with him I call on Miss Clarke, a maiden in the Scotch phrase, "_Guid enough, but no brent new_:" a clever woman, with tolerable pretensions to remark and wit; while time had blown the blus.h.i.+ng bud of bashful modesty into the flower of easy confidence. She wanted to see what sort of _raree show_ an author was; and to let him know, that though Dunbar was but a little town, yet it was not dest.i.tute of people of parts.

Breakfast next morning at Skateraw, at Mr. Lee's, a farmer of great note.--Mr. Lee, an excellent, hospitable, social fellow, rather oldish; warm-hearted and chatty--a most judicious, sensible farmer.

Mr. Lee detains me till next morning.--Company at dinner.--My Rev.

acquaintance Dr. Bowmaker, a reverend, rattling old fellow.--Two sea lieutenants; a cousin of the landlord's, a fellow whose looks are of that kind which deceived me in a gentleman at Kelso, and has often deceived me: a goodly handsome figure and face, which incline one to give them credit for parts which they have not. Mr. Clarke, a much cleverer fellow, but whose looks a little cloudy, and his appearance rather ungainly, with an every-day observer may prejudice the opinion against him.--Dr. Brown, a medical young gentleman from Dunbar, a fellow whose face and manners are open and engaging.--Leave Skateraw for Dunse next day, along with collector ----, a lad of slender abilities and bashfully diffident to an extreme.

Found Miss Ainslie, the amiable, the sensible, the good-humoured, the sweet Miss Ainslie, all alone at Berrywell.--Heavenly powers, who know the weakness of human hearts, support mine! What happiness must I see only to remind me that I cannot enjoy it!

Lammer-muir Hills, from East Lothian to Dunse, very wild.--Dine with the farmer's club at Kelso. Sir John Hume and Mr. Lumsden there, but nothing worth remembrance when the following circ.u.mstance is considered--I walk into Dunse before dinner, and out to Berrywell in the evening with Miss Ainslie--how well-bred, how frank, how good she is! Charming Rachael! may thy bosom never be wrung by the evils of this life of sorrows, or by the villany of this world's sons!

_Thursday._--Mr. Ker and I set out to dine at Mr. Hood's on our way to England.

I am taken extremely ill with strong feverish symptoms, and take a servant of Mr. Hood's to watch me all night--embittering remorse scares my fancy at the gloomy forebodings of death.--I am determined to live for the future in such a manner as not to be scared at the approach of death--I am sure I could meet him with indifference, but for "The something beyond the grave."--Mr. Hood agrees to accompany us to England if we will wait till Sunday.

_Friday._--I go with Mr. Hood to see a roup of an unfortunate farmer's stock--rigid economy, and decent industry, do you preserve me from being the princ.i.p.al _dramatis persona_ in such a scene of horror.

Meet my good old friend Mr. Ainslie, who calls on Mr. Hood in the evening to take farewell of my bards.h.i.+p. This day I feel myself warm with sentiments of grat.i.tude to the Great Preserver of men, who has kindly restored me to health and strength once more.

A pleasant walk with my young friend Douglas Ainslie, a sweet, modest, clever young fellow.

_Sunday_, 27_th May._--Cross Tweed, and traverse the moors through a wild country till I reach Alnwick--Alnwick Castle a seat of the Duke of Northumberland, furnished in a most princely manner.--A Mr. Wilkin, agent of His Grace's, shows us the house and policies. Mr. Wilkin, a discreet, sensible, ingenious man.

_Monday._--Come, still through by-ways, to Warkworth, where we dine.--Hermitage and old castle. Warkworth situated very picturesque, with Coquet Island, a small rocky spot, the seat of an old monastery, facing it a little in the sea; and the small but romantic river Coquet, running through it.--Sleep at Morpeth, a pleasant enough little town, and on next day to Newcastle.--Meet with a very agreeable, sensible fellow, a Mr. Chattox, who shows us a great many civilities, and who dines and sups with us.

_Wednesday._--Left Newcastle early in the morning, and rode over a fine country to Hexham to breakfast--from Hexham to Wardrue, the celebrated Spa, where we slept.

_Thursday_--Reach Longtown to dine, and part there with my good friends Messrs. Hood and Ker--A hiring day in Longtown--I am uncommonly happy to see so many young folks enjoying life.--I come to Carlisle.--(Meet a strange enough romantic adventure by the way, in falling in with a girl and her married sister--the girl, after some overtures of gallantry on my side, sees me a little cut with the bottle, and offers to take me in for a Gretna-Green affair.--I, not being such a gull, as she imagines, make an appointment with her, by way of _vive la bagatelle_, to hold a conference on it when we reach town.--I meet her in town and give her a brush of caressing, and a bottle of cider; but finding herself _un peu trompe_ in her man she sheers off.) Next day I meet my good friend, Mr. Mitch.e.l.l, and walk with him round the town and its environs, and through his printing-works, &c.--four or five hundred people employed, many of them women and children.--Dine with Mr. Mitch.e.l.l, and leave Carlisle.--Come by the coast to Annan.--Overtaken on the way by a curious old fish of a shoemaker, and miner, from c.u.mberland mines.

[_Here the ma.n.u.script abruptly terminates._]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 294: The author of that fine song, "The Maid that tends the Goats."]

[Footnote 295: "During the discourse Burns produced a neat impromptu, conveying an elegant compliment to Miss Ainslie. Dr. B. had selected a text of Scripture that contained a heavy denunciation against obstinate sinners. In the course of the sermon Burns observed the young lady turning over the leaves of her Bible, with much earnestness, in search of the text. He took out a slip of paper, and with a pencil wrote the following lines on it, which he immediately presented to her.

"Fair maid, you need not take the hint, Nor idle texts pursue:-- 'Twas _guilty sinners_ that he meant,-- Not _angels_ such as you."

Cromek.]

[Footnote 296: "This extraordinary woman then moved in a very humble walk of life:--the wife of a common working gardener. She is still living, and, if I am rightly informed, her time is princ.i.p.ally occupied in her attentions to a little day-school, which not being sufficient for her subsistence, she is obliged to solicit the charily of her benevolent neighbours. 'Ah, who would love the lyre!'"--CROMEK.]

[Footnote 297: The entry made on this occasion in the Lodge-books of St Abb's is honorable to

"The brethren of the mystic level."

"_Eyemouth_, 19_th May_, 1787.

"At a general encampment held this day, the following brethren were made royal arch masons, viz. Robert Burns, from the Lodge of St.

James's, Tarbolton, Ayrs.h.i.+re, and Robert Ainslie, from the Lodge of St. Luke's, Edinburgh by James Carmichael, Wm. Grieve, Daniel Dow, John Clay, Robert Grieve, &c. &c. Robert Ainslie paid one guinea admission dues; but on account of R. Burns's remarkable poetical genius, the encampment unanimously agreed to admit him gratis, and considered themselves honoured by having a man of such s.h.i.+ning abilities for one of their companions."

Extracted from the Minute Book of the Lodge by THOMAS BOWBILL]

THE HIGHLAND TOUR.

25_th August_, 1787.

I leave Edinburgh for a northern tour, in company with my good friend Mr. Nicol, whose originality of humour promises me much entertainment.--Linlithgow--a fertile improved country--West Lothian.

The more elegance and luxury among the farmers, I always observe in equal proportion, the rudeness and stupidity of the peasantry. This remark I have made all over the Lothians, Merse, Roxburgh, &c. For this, among other reasons, I think that a man of romantic taste, a "Man of Feeling," will be better pleased with the poverty, but intelligent minds of the peasantry in Ayrs.h.i.+re (peasantry they are all below the justice of peace) than the opulence of a club of Merse farmers, when at the same time, he considers the vandalism of their plough-folks, &c. I carry this idea so far, that an unenclosed, half improven country is to me actually more agreeable, and gives me more pleasure as a prospect, than a country cultivated like a garden.--Soil about Linlithgow light and thin.--The town carries the appearance of rude, decayed grandeur--charmingly rural, retired situation. The old royal palace a tolerably fine, but melancholy ruin--sweetly situated on a small elevation, by the brink of a loch. Shown the room where the beautiful, injured Mary Queen of Scots was born--a pretty good old Gothic church. The infamous stool of repentance standing, in the old Romish way, on a lofty situation.

What a poor pimping business is a Presbyterian place of wors.h.i.+p; dirty, narrow, and squalid; stuck in a corner of old popish grandeur such as Linlithgow, and much more, Melrose! Ceremony and show, if judiciously thrown in, absolutely necessary for the bulk of mankind, both in religious and civil matters.--Dine.--Go to my friend Smith's at Avon printfield--find n.o.body but Mrs. Miller, an agreeable, sensible, modest, good body; as useful, but not so ornamental as Fielding's Miss Western--not rigidly polite _a la Francais_, but easy, hospitable, and housewifely.

An old lady from Paisley, a Mrs. Lawson, whom I promised to call for in Paisley--like old lady W----, and still more like Mrs. C----, her conversation is pregnant with strong sense and just remark, but like them, a certain air of self-importance and a _duresse_ in the eye, seem to indicate, as the Ayrs.h.i.+re wife observed of her cow, that "she had a mind o' her ain."

Pleasant view of Dunfermline and the rest of the fertile coast of Fife, as we go down to that dirty, ugly place, Borrowstones--see a horse-race and call on a friend of Mr. Nicol's, a Bailie Cowan, of whom I know too little to attempt his portrait--Come through the rich ca.r.s.e of Falkirk to pa.s.s the night. Falkirk nothing remarkable except the tomb of Sir John the Graham, over which, in the succession of time, four stones have been placed.--Camelon, the ancient metropolis of the Picts, now a small village in the neighbourhood of Falkirk.--Cross the grand ca.n.a.l to Carron.--Come past Larbert and admire a fine monument of cast-iron erected by Mr. Bruce, the African traveller, to his wife.

Pa.s.s Dunipace, a place laid out with fine taste--a charming amphitheatre bounded by Denny village, and pleasant seats down the way to Dunnipace.--The Carron running down the bosom of the whole makes it one of the most charming little prospects I have seen.

Dine at Auchinbowie--Mr. Monro an excellent, worthy old man--Miss Monro an amiable, sensible, sweet young woman, much resembling Mrs.

Grierson. Come to Bannockburn--Shown the old house where James III.

finished so tragically his unfortunate life. The field of Bannockburn--the hole where glorious Bruce set his standard. Here no Scot can pa.s.s uninterested.--I fancy to myself that I see my gallant, heroic countrymen coming o'er the hill and down upon the plunderers of their country, the murderers of their fathers; n.o.ble revenge, and just hate, glowing in every vein, striding more and more eagerly as they approach the oppressive, insulting, blood-thirsty foe! I see them meet in gloriously triumphant congratulation on the victorious field, exulting in their heroic royal leader, and rescued liberty and independence! Come to Stirling.--_Monday_ go to Harvieston. Go to see Caudron linn, and Rumbling brig, and Diel's mill. Return in the evening. Supper--Messrs. Doig, the schoolmaster; Bell; and Captain Forrester of the castle--Doig a queerish figure, and something of a pedant--Bell a joyous fellow, who sings a good song.--Forrester a merry, swearing kind of man, with a dash of the sodger.

_Tuesday Morning._--Breakfast with Captain Forrester--Ochel Hills--Devon River--Forth and Tieth--Allan River--Strathallan, a fine country, but little improved--Cross Earn to Crieff--Dine and go to Arbruchil--cold reception at Arbruchil--a most romantically pleasant ride up Earn, by Auchtertyre and Comrie to Arbruchil--Sup at Crieff.

_Wednesday Morning._--Leave Crieff--Glen Amond--Amond river--Ossian's grave--Loch Fruoch--Glenquaich--Landlord and landlady remarkable characters--Taymouth described in rhyme--Meet the Hon. Charles Townshend.

_Thursday._--Come down Tay to Dunkeld--Glenlyon House--Lyon River--Druid's Temple--three circles of stones--the outer-most sunk--the second has thirteen stones remaining--the innermost has eight--two large detached ones like a gate, to the south-east--Say prayers in it--Pa.s.s Taybridge--Aberfeldy--described in rhyme--Castle Menzies--Inver--Dr. Stewart--sup.

_Friday._--Walk with Mrs. Stewart and Beard to Birnam top--fine prospect down Tay--Craigieburn hills--Hermitage on the Branwater, with a picture of Ossian--Breakfast with Dr. Stewart--Neil Gow[298] plays--a short, stout-built, honest Highland figure, with his grayish hair shed on his honest social brow--an interesting face, marking strong sense, kind openheartedness, mixed with unmistrusting simplicity--visit his house--Marget Gow.

Ride up Tummel River to Blair--Fascally a beautiful romantic nest--wild grandeur of the pa.s.s of Gilliecrankie--visit the gallant Lord Dundee's stone.