164 BuRNS AND MOFFAT. 
for the first time, as it was very unlikely that he would quote 
himself.’? Miss Davies’ epigram has not the poet’s initials. 
The diarist gives a list of “company at Moffat,’’ presumably 
staying at Rae’s Inn, but he does not state so. These are Lady 
Lockhart Ross; Mr Irvin, West Indian; Mr Dalziel of Glenae; 
Mr Ogilvy of Chesters; Mr Hume of Bassington (Bassingdean) ; 
Captain Lockhart, Royal Navy, son of the late Lord Covington, 
one of the Lords of Session; Mr Paisley, banker ; Mr Carruthers 
of Howmains, etc. Mr MacRitchie only rested a few hours at 
Moffat, as he went on to Dumfries the same day, but he had 
stayed at Moffat the previous year for a short while. 
To endeavour to locate Rae’s Inn I have consulted the old 
minute book of the Justices of the Peace for the county, who were 
the licensing authorities for granting licenses for retailing ale, 
beer, and other exciseable liquors, and I find that James Rae, 
vintner, was granted a license in 1786, and that this license was 
continued annually till and including 1795. The full list of 
licenses granted for Moffat in 1795 were as follows:—James 
Brand, in Auldhousehill ; James Rae, vintner; S. M‘Millan, mer- 
chant; Alex. Craig, merchant; James Proudfoot, innkeeper ; 
William Harkness; Thomas Greive, innkeeper; John Dickson, 
innkeeper; Archibald Johnstone, innkeeper; Robt. Russell, 
watchmaker; James Kirkpatrick, innkeeper; John Bell, flesher ; 
Andrew Rutherford; Robert Murray, constable; John Murray, 
shoemaker; John Lowe, gardener; Wm. Lithhead; James 
Balchild, vintner ; Margaret Bell in Newbigging ; Archibald Smith 
at Annan Bridge-end. In the above list there are two parties 
described as vintners. At that time this description would apply 
to persons who kept a superior establishment for the entertain- 
ment of man and beast, to that of the ordinary inn or “ yill 
hoose.’’ In these days tea was a luxury, enjoyed by common 
folks on New-Year’s Day or some other “ red letter day ’’ in their 
calendar, their regular beverage being ale, mostly home brewed, 
while the gentry and upper classes consumed sack, Canary, and 
other wines. It is most unfortunate that the licensing minutes 
quoted do not give the names of the inns for which the licenses 
were granted, but there can be no doubt that the vintners’ 
establishments would be the King’s Arms (now the Annandale 
Arms) and Rae’s Inn, James Balchild being in the King’s Arms 
and James Rae in his own establishment. Corroboration of the 
