DUMFRIES. ^burns' MAUSOLEUM. 193 



twice honoured with the pi-esence of Queen Mary, who, on the first occasion, 

 repaired hither in order to ratify a peace with England ; and, in the latter, to 

 reduce to obedience the disaffected lords of Argyll, Murray, and Kothes, who 

 headed a strong force in the neighbourhood, but, at the queen's approach, 

 escaped to England, and left Dumfries and its castle at her disposal. Seven 

 years after this, the town and fortress were again taken and plundered by 

 the English, under the earl of Essex and Lord Scrope. James VI., on his 

 return to London from a royal progress through Scotland, was received at 

 Dumfries with every demonstration of loyal attachment. In acknowledgment 

 of this cordial reception, he presented the incorporated trades of the burgh with 

 a miniature gun, in silver, to be awarded from time to time as a prize to the 

 best marksman. This has given rise to the well-known poem of " The Siller 

 Gun," by the late Mr. John Maine, in which the competition is described with 

 characteristic humour, talent, and vivacity. 



These, however, are mostly points in which the general reader may feel little 

 interest. But there is one object — one amongst the many which here solicit atten- 

 tion — that never fails to draw the traveller aside, to rouse his sympathy, and direct 

 his steps to the mausoleum* of Burns—" high chief of Scottish song." This is the 

 commanding feature in the church-yard of St. Michael's. Daily, nay, hourly, 

 the pilgrim may be seen on his way to this shrine of departed genius — there to 

 present his offering of mingled sorrow and admiration. No provincial cemetery 

 in the kingdom presents such a number and variety of elegant sepulchral monu- 

 ments as this.f Here the legislators of their country, the martyrs J of religious 

 persecution, the undaunted patriot, the virtuous citizen, the representatives of 

 the wealth, and power, and talent of past generations, are" all mingled together. 

 Here the sculptured memorials of their lives and pedigrees — the classic tablet 

 and the skilful panegyric — the record of their services and sufferings — all 

 combine to engage, for the dust they consecrate, the stranger's sympathy, their 

 country's gratitude, the respect and veneration of posterity. But while even these 

 are passed unnoticed, " while simple virtue, splendid rank, and even respectable 

 learning and glorious achievement are forgotten like nine-days' wonders, Burns's 



• This monument is chiefly remarkable for a piece of sculpture by Turnerelli, representing the genius 

 nf Scotland finding the poet, as " Elijah found Elisha," at the plough, and throwing " her inspiring mantle 

 over him." The cost of the monument is stated at £1450. — Stal. Ace. 



f- Mr. Macdiarmid, the talented Editor of the Dumfries and Galloway Courier, calculates in his 

 " Sketches from Nature," that the value of the monuments in the church-yard is little short of one hundred 

 thousand pounds sterling, 



X Their graves are marked by plain slabs of freestone, with rude inscriptions : but a more suitable 

 monument is about to be erected on the spot, in proof of the respect in which the memory of these 

 martyrs — " witnesses to the truth" — is held by their grateful countrymen. 



VOL. I. 3d 



