evidence, and to the statements of the early Scottish historians, in regard to Coil [except with respect to the date], a degree of probability higher than they formerly possessed."

MILL MONACH.

ON THE COYL.

To the beautiful ballad, entitled the Soldier's Return, which Burns wrote at a comparatively late period of his life, in consequence of seeing a poor discharged soldier trudging wearily along the road near Brownhill, in Dumfriesshire, he has, with his usual piety towards his native district, given an Ayrshire locality:

"A leal light heart was in my breast,

My hand unstained wi' plunder;
And for fair Scotia hame again,

I cheery on did wander.

I thought upon the banks o' Coy!,

I thought upon my Nancy,

I thought upon the witching smile,
That caught my youthful fancy.

"At length I reached the bonnie glen,
Where early life I sported;

I passed the mill and trysting thorn,
Where Nancy aft I courted:

Wha spied I but my ain dear maid,
Down by her mother's dwelling!
And turned me round to hide the flood
That in my een was swelling."

The scene here depicted was in all respects real, though the incidents associated with it by the poet were imaginary. At a point on the road from Ayr to Ochiltree, four or five miles from the former place, the traveller has only to turn off about a mile along a parish road to the right, in order to find himself at the spot where the soldier is described as meeting his still faithful mistress. Coylton kirk and Kirkton are first passed, and then, about half a mile further up the little vale, we reach the trysting thorn and mill, as delineated in the accompanying engraving,—a scene of simple and by no means striking elements, yet pleasing, and a type to recall many other Scottish burnsides and mill sites,— "fit scenes," as Wordsworth has it,

"for childhood's opening bloom,
For sportive youth to stray in ;
For manhood to enjoy his strength,
And age to wear away in."

A verdant, gowan-besprent holm, through which the burn finds a crooked way over its channelly bed,—“twa verdant braes," as Ramsay has it, forming the basin of the glen,the old accustomed mill under the shoulder of one of these braes, a few elms and hedgerows, a few scattered cots, and the heathy mountains behind, from which the stream descends,-such are the component parts of this and a thousand other such spots in Lowland Scotland,—

how dearly treasured in the remembrance of many a manly heart all over the world! The mill, in the present case, bears the title of Mill Monach, or Mill Mannoch,-the Monk's Mill, a circumstance which shows not only its being of at least as old date as the Reformation, but that it has existed since the early days when Gaelic was the language of the district. It is creditable to the honest swains who reside on the spot that, as yet, the tale of the Soldier's Return has not assumed the character of an actual circumstantial fact amongst them.

FALLS OF THE BRUAR.

THE greater number of Scottish waterfalls take place in hollows formed by the descent of streams along the sides of steep and lofty mountains. Of this class, the falls of the Bruar form a distinguished example. This rivulet is poured through a chasm in the hills which bound the vale of the Garry on the north, about three and a half miles to the west of Blair, and near the line of the road between Perth and Inverness. In its descent, it makes two falls, or rather sets of falls, of which that delineated in the engraving is the upper. The whole scene, as it existed in the days of Burns, is thus described by Dr Garnett:

"Before we reached Blair, we passed the small village of Bruar, which takes its name from a turbulent stream, called Bruar-water, that rolls along its rocky bed under a bridge. We went up the left bank of this river, whose channel is the most rugged that can be conceived; the rocks which form it have been worn into the most grotesque shapes by the fury of the water. A foot-path has lately been made by the Duke of Athol, which conducts the stranger in safety along the side of the chasm, where he has an opportunity of seeing, in a very short time, several very fine cascades; one over which a bridge is thrown, forms a very picturesque object. This is called the lower fall of Bruar. The water here rushes under a bridge, and falls in a full broad sheet over the rocky steep, and descends impetuously through a natural arch, into a dark black pool, as if to take breath, before it resumes its course, and rushes down to the Garry.

"Proceeding up the same side of the river, along the footpath, we came in sight of another rustic bridge, and a noble cascade, consisting of three falls or breaks, one immediately above another; but the lowest is equal in height to both the others taken together. This is called the upper fall of the Bruar. Crossing the bridge over this tremendous cataract, with trembling steps, we walked down the other bank of the river, to a point from whence we enjoyed the view of this fine fall to great advantage. The shelving rocks on each side of the bridge, with the water precipitating itself from rock to rock, and at