the bank is covered
with broom, through which winds a greensward path, whither Burns used
to retire to meditate his songs. The farm extends to upwards of a
hundred acres, part holm, part croft-land, of which the former yielded
good wheat, the latter oats and potatoes. The lease was for nineteen
years, and the rent fifty pounds for the first three years, seventy
for the rest of the tack. The laird of Dalswinton, while Burns leased
Ellisland, was Mr. Patrick Millar, not an ordinary laird, but one well
known in his day for his scientific discoveries. There was no proper
farm-house or offices on the farm--it was part of the bargain that
Burns should build these for himself. The want of a house made it
impossible for him to settle at once on his farm. His bargain for it
had been concluded early in March (1788); but it was not till the 13th
of June that he went to reside at Ellisland. In the interval between
these two dates he went to Ayrshire, and completed privately, as we
have seen, the marriage, the long postponement of which had caused him
so much disquiet. With however great disappointment and chagrin he may
have left Edinburgh, the sense that he had now done the thing that was
right, and had the prospect of a settled life before him, gave him for
a time a peace and even gladness of heart, to which he had for long
been a stranger. We can, therefore, well believe what he tells us,
that, when he had left Edinburgh, he journeyed towards Mauchline with
as much gaiety of heart, 'as a May-frog, leaping across the
newly-harrowed ridge, enjoying the fragrance of the refreshed earth
after the long-expected shower.' Of what may be called the poet's
marriage settlement, we have the following details from Allan
Cunningham:--

"His marriage reconciled the poet to his wife's kindred: there was (p. 096)
no wedding portion. Armour was a respectable man, but not opulent. He
gave his daughter some small store of plenishing; and, exerting his
skill as a mason, wrought his already eminent son-in-law a handsome
punch-bowl in Inverary marble, which Burns lived to fill often, to the
great pleasure both of himself and his friends.... Mrs. Dunlop bethought
herself of Ellisland, and gave a beautiful heifer; another friend
contributed a plough. The young couple from love to their native
county ordered their furniture from a wright in Mauchline; the
farm-servants, male and female, were hired in Ayrshire, a matter of
questionable prudence, for th