satirical pieces were originated at the tables of those gentlemen, some of them altogether composed in their houses; and, through their assistance and countenance [mainly], his poems were, in 1786, first printed in a house at the cross here, by Mr John Wilson, whom the poet has immortalised under the title of Wee Johnnie, some difference having arisen betwixt them, probably regarding the 'consideration' for his work, a matter about which Mr Wilson was known to be very particular."

The Fenwick water, on the banks of which Kilmarnock is situated, joins the Irvine about a mile below. Near the spot of their junction, and on the south side of the Irvine, lies the parish village of Riccarton, the church of which makes a conspicuous appearance for many miles around. Riccarton is understood to derive its name from Sir Richard Wallace, brother to the father of the immortal saviour of Scottish independence, whose property lay in this neighbourhood. The castle of Craigie, the chief seat of the Wallaces, still stands, a gaunt ruin, amidst the moorish high grounds between Kilmarnock and Ayr. Another house of the family, close beside the village of Riccarton, has disappeared, and the site is understood to be now occupied by the farm-steading of Yardsides. In the accompanying engraving, Yardsides is placed in the foreground, to the left, and the green is appropriately occupied by a set of boys engaged in the game of the Scots and the English. According to Blind Harry, William Wallace was sent to reside quietly here with his uncle, Sir Richard, in order to elude the vengeance of the English for his first outrage, the killing of Selby at Dundee, when the following adventure took place, being the second in which he proved his remarkable bodily prowess. We somewhat modernise the spelling of the blind minstrel.

"So on a time he desired to p'ay,

In April the three and twentieth day.
To Irvine water, fish to take, he went,

Sic fantasy fell in his intent.

To lead his net a child forth with him gaed;
But he, ere noon, was in a fellon dread.
His sword he left-so did he never again-

It did him gude, suppose he suffered pain.

Of that labour as then he was not slie,
Happy he was, took fish abundantlie.
Ere of the day ten houris could pass,
Riding there came near by where Wallace was,
The lord Percy was captain then of Ayr,
Fra hyme he turned, and could to Glasgow fa r.
Part of the court had Wallace' labour seen
Till him rade five, clad into ganand green.

'You sal have leave to fish, and take you mae;
All these forsooth sall in our flitting gae.
We serve a lord; this fish sal till him gang.
Wallace answered, You are in the wrang.'

Wham does you, Scot? in faith you 'serves a blaw.'*
Till him he ran, and out a sword did draw.
William was wae he had nae wappins there,
But the pout-staff, the whilk in hand he bare.
Wallace with it fast on the cheek him took
With sae gude will, while off his feet he shook.
The sword flew frae him, a fur-breid on the land.
Wallace was glad, and hynt it soon in hand,

And with the sword an awkward straik him gave,

Under the hat, the craig,† in sunder drave.

By that, the lave‡ lichtit about Wallace;
He had no help, but only Goddis grace.
On aither side full fast on him they dang.
Great peril was git they had lasted lang.
Up on the head in great ire he strake ane;
The shearing sword glade to the collar bane.

Another on th' arm he hit so hardily,

While hand and sword-baith on the field did lie.

The other twa fled to their horse again;

He stickit him was last upon the plain.

Three slew he there, twa fled, with all their might,

After their lord, but he was out of sight."

The scene of this gallant encounter is pointed out by tradition on the Monksholm, by Irvine water, about half a mile to the west of Yardsides.

SCENE ON THE LUGAR.

THE Lament for James, Earl of Glencairn, it will be recollected, opens thus:

"The wind blew hollow from the hills;

By fits the sun's departing beam

Look'd on the yellow fading woods

That waved o'er Lugar's winding stream:

"Beneath a craigy steep, a bard,

Laden with years and meikle pain,

In loud lament bewail'd his lord,

Whom death had all untimely ta'en.

"He lean'd him to an ancient aik,

Whose trunk was mould'ring down with years;
His locks were bleached white wi' time!

His hoary cheek was wet wi' tears!" &c.

As the nobleman here alluded to was not particularly connected with the district pervaded by the Lugar, and as, at the time of his death (January, 1792), the poet was residing in Dumfriesshire, we are to consider the scene of the poem as probably adopted under the influence of whim-or that as many of the Ayrshire streams as possible might be sung in verse, according to the wish expressed in the Epistle to William Simpson, of Ochiltree:—

"Ramsay an' famous Ferguson,

Gied Forth and Tay a lift aboon;
Yarrow an' Tweed to monie a tune,

Owre Scotland rings,

While Irwin, Lugar, Ayr, an' Doon,
Naebody sings.

"Th' Illissus, Tiber, Thames, an' Seine,
Glide sweet in monie a tunefu' line!
But, Willie, set your fit to mine,

An' cock your crest,

We'll gar our streams and burnies shine
Up wi' the best."

The artist has nevertheless judged it proper, and rightly so, to bring before the world a beautiful and striking scene on the Lugar, which must have been familiar to Burns, and which he probably had in his mental eye when he composed the fine poem, so honourable to his own, as well as his patron's character.

The Lugar is a tributary of the Ayr, which, as elsewhere mentioned, it joins a little above old Barskimming bridge. Like its principal, it pursues its way for some miles through a deep chasm in the red sandstone which forms the basis of the district. The ⚫ scene selected is in the grounds connected with the mansion of Auchinleck, the seat of a family whose name has become familiar in our literature. The ruin on a pinnacle near the centre of the picture is that of the original and very ancient castle of the Auchinlecks, and afterwards of the Boswells of Auchinleck, which Johnson describes in his Journey to the Western Islands. "I was," says he, "less delighted with the elegance of the modern mansion, than with the sullen dignity of the old castle. I clambered with Mr Boswell among the ruins, which afford striking images of ancient life. It is, like other castles, built on a point of rock, and was, I believe, anciently surrounded with a moat. There is another rock near it, to which the draw-bridge, when it was let down, is said to have reached." On the opposite bank, not above two hundred yards from this castle, there was another fortalice, denominated Ochiltree castle, of which it is now just barely possible to trace a few mound-like remains amongst the brush-wood. It was of the proprietor of this castle-Sir Richard Colville-that Johnson tells the story following upon the above passage of his work. A quarrel having taken place between these near neighbours, Colville was at last provoked (anno 1448) to attack and kill Auchinleck in his castle; whereupon the famous William Earl of Douglas, whose dependant Auchinleck was, stormed Ochiltree castle, took it, and put to death all whom he found in it above the age of puberty. This transaction, being of some importance from its connection with other events, is fully related in Buchanan's history.

The banks of the Lugar are beautifully ornamented by wood, the planting of which, as we are informed by Johnson, was begun by Lord Auchinleck, the father of James Boswell. A few hundred yards below the site of Ochiltree castle, there is a remarkable natural curiosity, which aids in the picturesque character of the scenery—namely, a tall detached mass of sandstone, which springs from the bed of the river, and is partly clothed with shrubs. Bearing some resemblance to a piece of ruined masonry, it is recognised by the country people under the name of Kemp's castle,-Kemp, we believe, meaning giant.