168 BurNs AND MOFFAT. 
boys’ held “their joyous meeting ’’ and preed the “ barley 
bree ’’ till “wha last beside his chair shall fa’, he is the king 
among us three,’’ in the inn beside the kirkyard gate. 
There is another tradition regarding a verse-making competi- 
tion between Burns and three Englishmen, which occurred on one 
of his visits, but as the same story is claimed as having occurred 
at several other places I do not guarantee the tale. It refers to 
the tale of Burns opening the room door of an inn and drawing 
back when he saw the room was occupied by three strangers, one 
of whom observing Burns before he got the door closed shouted, 
“Come in, Johnny Peep.’’ Burns joined the company, who 
proved to be all good fellows, and a merry meeting resulted. In 
the course of the sitting one of the strangers proposed that each 
should write a verse of poetry and put it with half-a-crown under 
the candlestick, the one producing the best verse to have his 
stake returned, while the balance was to be spent in liquor to 
prolong the evening’s enjoyment. The lines produced by Burns 
were :— 
‘* Here am I, Johnny Peep; 
I saw three sheep, 
And these three sheep saw me; 
Half-a-crown a-piece 
Will pay for their fleece, 
And so Johnny Peep gets free.”’ 
Burns was acclaimed the victor, one of the strangers exclaiming 
that he must either be Bobby Burns or the Devil, the happy party 
not separating till the early hours of morning. 
The place where this is said to have occurred at Moffat was 
in an ale-house which would occupy the site of what is now the 
Buccleuch Hotel bar; at that time it was the house adjoining 
Rae’s Inn. It was firmly believed in by the late Miss Cranstoun, 
of the Annandale and Buccleuch Hotels. This family came to 
Moffat in 1820, and occupied the Spur Inn till 1838, when they 
removed to the Annandale. And in 1820 the traditions regarding 
these matters would be much fresher and stronger than they are 
now, and also more reliable. 
These are all the associations of Burns with Moffat of which 
I am aware, and I am sorry that in discussing them there is so 
little evidence to rely on, and so much which is circumstantial. 
In concluding I must express my thanks to Mr M‘Kerrow, our 
treasurer, in borrowing for me the Justices’ Minute Book, and to 
