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There are numberless stories told of his wonderful ready wit, 

 displayed when in festive company in the bar parlour. A visit to 

 the "Globe," a small licensed house in the town of Dumfries, is 

 interesting to all admirers of the bard of Scotland. It is a very 

 old-fashioned house, scarcely altered in appearance since the poet 

 lived in that town, and who, alas! too frequently sat by the "ingle 

 nook" in its little back parlour, surrounded by an admiring company 

 with "foaming tankards" before them. Some articles of furniture 

 then in use are still doing service in that interesting old room. 

 You may take snuff from the same snuff-box, drink from the same 

 tankard, and sit in the very same arm-chair as did the immortal 

 bard. Several rhymes in Burns' handwriting are scratched on the 

 window panes ; and it is easy to imagine from the surroundings, 

 that his spirit still lingers about the place. I give one of the 

 verses, said to have been written in admiration of the barmaid : — 



Oh ! lovely Polly Stuart, 

 Oh ! charming Polly Stuart, 

 There's not a flower that blooms in May, 

 That's half sae fair as thou art. 



The guests of an inn in the old time were sometimes in the 

 habit of leaving specimens of their wit behind in rhyme, the same 

 as tourists and other travellers do in the "visitors' book" of the 

 hotels at the present day ; many of these are on record, and a 

 collection could not fail to be amusing. One or two specimens of 

 this kind of humour may be interesting. I select one said to have 

 been written by a commercial traveller on an inside window-shutter 

 of the "Golden Lion," Brecon, kept by Mr. Tom Longfellow, and 

 here it is : — 



Tom Longfellow's name is most justly his due : 

 Long his neck, long his bill — which is very long too ; 

 Long the time ere your horse to the stable is led, 

 Long before he's rubbed down, and much longer till fed ; 

 Long indeed you may sit in a comfortless room, 

 Till from kitchen long dirty your dinner shall come ; 

 Long the often told tale that your host will relate, 

 Long his face while complaining how long people eat ; 

 Long may Longfellow long, ere he see me again, 

 Long 'twill be ere I long for Tom Longfellow's inn. 



