own was convulsed with grief; and that there his
funeral was attended by some ten or twelve thousand of the people whose
hearts he had touched, and who loved him, in spite of his errors, to the
end. "Dumfries," wrote Allan Cunningham, "was like a besieged place. It
was known he was dying, and the anxiety, not of the rich and learned, but
of the mechanics and peasants, exceeded all belief. Wherever two or
three people stood together, their talk was of Burns, and him alone.
They spoke of his history, of his person, of his works, of his family,
and of his untimely and approaching fate, with a warmth and enthusiasm
which will ever endear Dumfries to my remembrance." Thinking of Burns,
the time passed pleasantly, as I mused, half awake and half dreaming,
that early summer morning, till I reached Greenock, where sleeps that
Highland Mary, who died during their courtship, and of whom Burns wrote,
in lines that will last as long as love, and woman, and the grave--

"Ah! pale--pale now those rosy lips
I aft hae kissed sae fondly;
And closed for aye the sparkling glance
That dwelt on me sae kindly.
And mouldering now in silent dust
That heart that loved me dearly;
But still within my bosom's core
Shall live my Highland Mary."

CHAPTER II.
FROM GREENOCK TO ARDROSSAN.

I shall never forget my first view of the Clyde from the heights above
Greenock. It is true I had seen the Clyde before, but it was at Glasgow
years ago, and it had left on my mind but a poor impression of its
extent, or utility, or grandeur. What a sight you have of dockyards,
where thousands of men are ship-building! and what a fleet of vessels
laden with the produce of every country under heaven! As I take up a
Scotch paper, I read:--"The cargoes imported during the month included 64
of grain, &c., 65 of sugar, 22 of timber, 5 of wine, 2 of fruits, 1 of
brandy, 1 of ice, 3 of esparto grass and iron ore, 3 of rosin, 2 of oil,
1 of tar, 1 of guano, 1 of nitrate of soda, and 4 with minerals." And
then how grand is the prospect beyond--of distant watering-places,
crammed during the summer season, not alone with Glasgow and Edinburgh
citizens, but with English tourists, who find in these picturesque spots
a charm they can discover nowhere else. Almost all the way--at any rate,
since I left Leeds--I have had my carriage almost entirely to myself; and
now I am in a crowd greater and busier than of Cheapside