guished as a seat of archery, a company of archers having been organised here in 1488. They have a custom of shooting annually for a prize at the popinjay or papingo, a sport described in the tale of Old Mortality.

About a mile from Kilwinning is Eglintoun Castle, the splendid mansion of the Earl of Eglintoun and Wintoun. The castle was built about forty years ago, and is surrounded by extensive pleasure-grounds. The family of Montgomery is of Norman origin, and the first of the name that settled in Scotland was Robert de Montgomerie, who obtained from Walter, the High Steward of Scotland, a grant of the barony of Eaglesham, in the county of Renfrew. In the fourteenth century, Alexander de Montgomerie acquired the baronies of Eglintoun and Ardrossan, by marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Hugh de Eglintoun. At the famous battle of Otterbourne, fought in 1387, Henry Percy, the renowned Hotspur, was taken prisoner by Sir Hugh Montgomery, and, for his ransom, built the Castle of Penoon or Polnoon, in Renfrewshire, which is still the property of the Eglintoun family. In 1488, the representative of the family was raised to the peerage, by the title of Lord Montgomery; and in 1507-8, Hugh, the third baron, was created Earl of Eglintoun. In 1582, Robert, the first Earl of Wintoun, married Lady Margaret Montgomery, eldest daughter of Hugh, third Earl of Eglintoun; and the third son of that marriage, Sir Alexander Seton of Foulstruther, was adopted into the family, and became sixth Earl of Eglintoun. The direct line of the Wintoun family having failed, the present Earl of Eglintoun was, in January 1841, served heir to the title of Earl of Wintoun. (See p. 109.)

Proceeding onward, the tourist will obtain on the right,a view of the Island of Arran, with its lofty and precipitous mountains. The line next crosses the Garnoch, which here forms the boundary betwixt the parishes of Kilwinning and Irvine, and, a little further on, the river Irvine by an elegant bridge of six arches. The town of Irvine carries on one of the largest trades in Scotland in the exportation of coal. [Inns: The King's Arms; The Wheat Sheaf. 10 miles from Ayr, and 29 from Glasgow. Pop. 7534.] It was the temporary residence of Burns, and the birth-place of James Montgomery the poet, and John Galt the novelist. After leaving Irvine a view is obtained, on the left, of the remains of the ancient castle of Dundonald, standing on an elevated position, about two miles distant, and which gives the title of Earl to the family of Cochrane. It was the property of Robert Stewart, who, in right of his mother, Marjory Bruce, succeeded to the Scottish throne under the title of Robert II. Here he wooed and married his first wife, the beautiful Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan, and here he died in 1390. The estate passed into the hands of the Earl of Eglintoun in the beginning of last century; but the castle, along with the hill on which it stands, and five roods of adjoining land, still belong to the Earl of Dundonald. In its vicinity are the remains of

an ancient church dedicated to the Virgin, called our Lady's Kirk, where James IV. uniformly made an offering, generally giving fourteen shillings at a time.

Proceeding southwards from this we observe on a tongue of land the village of Troon, of which the Duke of Portland is superior. It is frequented as a watering place. [Inns: Portland; Commercial.]-6 miles from Ayr, and 4 from Irvine. The line now passes very near the sea; and in the course of a short time we observe, on the left, Fullarton House, a seat of the Duke of Portland, situate on a spacious lawn. Two miles onward is MONCKTON STATION and village, and a mile further, the small burgh of Prestwick; a little beyond it are the ruins of Kingscase, a charitable institution, endowed by King Robert Bruce; and, at the distance of forty miles from Glasgow, at the mouth of the river of the same name, the county town and royal burgh of

AYR.

:

[Hotels The King's Arms; The Ayr Arms; The Commercial. Population, 17,624.] 40 miles from Glasgow, 403 miles from London.

Trains leave the South Side Station, Glasgow, several times daily. Time occupied by the trains about two hours.

A steamer plies regularly between Glasgow and Ayr. See Time Tables.

The town of Ayr occupies an agreeable situation on the sea coast, and contains a number of handsome public buildings, and many of its shops and dwelling-houses may vie in elegance with those of the metropolis. The river Ayr, which divides Ayr proper from Newton and Wallacetown, rises on the border of the county, at the eastern extremity of the parish of Muirkirk, and has a course of about thirty miles. It is crossed at Ayr by two bridges, termed respectively the Auld and New Brigs, and noticed under these denominations by Burns, in his poem of "The Twa Brigs." The Auld Brig is said to have been built in the reign of Alexander III. (1249-1285) by two maiden sisters of the name of Lowe, whose effigies were consequently carved upon a stone in the eastern parapet, near the south end of the fabric. It is stated by tradition, that before the erection of this bridge, a ford, about two hundred yards further up, called the Doocote Stream, afforded the best passage which is to be had across the river in this quarter. The new bridge was erected in 1788, chiefly through the exertions of Provost Ballantyne, the gentleman to whom Burns dedicated the poem of "The Twa Brigs." The

"Dungeon Clock," alluded to in the poem, was placed at the top of an old steeple in the Sandgate, but was taken down in 1826. The "Wallace Tower" was a rude old building, which stood in the eastern part of the High Street, at the head of a lane named the Mill Vennel. It was in this tower, according to tradition, that Wallace was confined. Having become ruinous, it was taken down in 1835, and a Gothic structure erected on its site, containing at the top the clock and bells of the dungeon steeple, and ornamented in front by a statue of Wallace executed by Mr. Thom, the well-known self-taught sculptor. Another statue of this hero was placed by a citizen of Ayr, on the front of a dwelling-house, which occupies the site of the ancient court-house of Ayr, supposed to have been that in which, according to Blind Harry, the Scottish Lords were treacherously hanged.

The fort of Ayr was built by Oliver Cromwell, in 1652, upon a level piece of ground between the town and the sea. A few fragments of the ramparts still remain, together with an old tower, which formed part of St. John's Church, founded in the twelfth century, and has been recently modernized and fitted up as a residence for the present proprietor. Cromwell inclosed this church within the walls of his citadel, and turned it into an armoury, but, as a compensation to the inhabitants, he gave £150 towards the erection of the present Old Church of Ayr, on the site of a Dominican monastery, remarkable in history as the place where Robert Bruce held the Parliament which settled his succession. The only memorial now existing of this monastery is in the name of a spring called the Friar's Well, which runs through the churchyard into the river. The Old Church still contains the same seats and galleries with which it was originally fitted up. At the north-eastern angle of the fort, close upon the harbour, is supposed to have stood the ancient Castle of Ayr, built by William the Lion, who erected Ayr into a royal burgh.

The Cross of Ayr, an elegant structure in the form of a hexagon, which stood where Sandgate Street meets High Street, was removed when the New Bridge was built in 1788.

EXCURSION TO BURNS' BIRTH-PLACE, ALLOWAY KIRK, ETC.

Following the road from Ayr, a short distance from the town, there is a hill called Barnweil, which is said to have derived its name from the circumstance that Wallace, on leaving Ayr, after having, in revenge for the treacherous slaughter of his friend, set on fire the barns in which the English soldiery were inclosed, paused on this spot to look back upon the conflagration, and remarked, "The Barns o' Ayr burn well." There is good reason, however, to doubt the accuracy of this traditionary etymology, and it is more likely that the name is of Celtic origin, and is descriptive of the nature of the ground. In the neighbourhood of Alloway Kirk are the various localities mentioned in "Tam o'Shanter's" route. At the distance of about one hundred and fifty yards from a bridge, called Slaphouse Bridge, is

"The Ford,

Where in the snaw the chapman smoored."

About one hundred yards from the "Ford," and about twenty from the road, in the plot of ground behind the house occupied by the Roselle gamekeeper, is

"The meikle stane,

Where drunken Charlie brak's neck bane."

Passing on the left the beautiful mansion of Roselle (Lady Jane Hamilton), the tourist, at the distance of about two miles from Ayr, reaches the cottage where Burns was born on the 25th of January 1759. The original erection was a clay bigging, consisting of two apartments, the kitchen and the spence, or sitting room. The cottage was built on part of seven acres of ground, of which Burns' father took a perpetual lease from Dr. Campbell, physician in Ayr, with the view of commencing business as nurseryman and gardener. Having built this house with his own hands, he married, in December 1757, Agnes Brown, the mother of the poet; and having been engaged by Mr. Ferguson of Doonholm as his gardener and overseer, he abandoned his design of forming a nursery, but continued to reside in the cottage till 1766. On removing to Lochlee, he sold his leasehold to the Corporation of Shoe