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TRANSACTIONS. 131 
by which they were suspended. Many fine specimens could at 
present be picked up, but in a short time they will disappear and 
find their way to the stone magazines and be converted into road 
metal. 
Of Pot Querns I possess a large number. They are to be 
found on almost every farm in the two parishes. Some are very 
small and neat, while others are very capacious, and indicate that 
they may have been used for brewing or even dyeing purposes. I 
recently saw one in a wood at Langholm, parish of Auchinleck, in 
use as a dye-pot, and covered with a flat stone‘above of the same 
diameter as the pot below. Often you will find them used as pig 
troughs, and the late Mr Stitt of Ryehill, an experienced valuator, 
on seeing my collection in my garden, remarked that he had on one 
occasion valued over six as good as mine to the new tenant of 
Orchard. He knew their original use well, and informed me of one 
made of granite, which he had seen when a boy lying at Townhead 
of Auchenbainzie. I told Mr Hewetson of his remark, and he 
found the Quern referred to, and removed it for safe keeping to 
Auchenbainzie. I may mention that I have one which was re- 
moved from Queensberry Square, and I heard long after “ that 
Wilson stole old M‘Cririck’s grandfather’s sow trough.” This 
proves the late use of such articles, but there can be no doubt they 
were originally used for removing the husks from grain or for 
converting it into meal by aid of a wooden or stone pestle. 
Il. <A Relic of Burns—Original Miniature Portrait of Clarinda. 
By Mr James Bargour, Architect. 
Another Burns anniversary having just been celebrated, it may 
be appropriate, while his name is uppermost, to bring under notice 
a small but most interesting memento closely touching the cele- 
brated correspondence between the poet, as Sylvander, and Mrs 
M‘Lehose of Edinburgh as Clarinda. It is a miniature silhouette 
portrait of that lady. The history of it is thoroughly authentic. 
It was one of the articles given by the poet’s widow to Mary 
M‘Lachlan, her servant, on the occasion of leaving her situation 
to be married to Andrew Nicholson. Mr Nicholson, his son, 
inherited the relic, and his widow is now the possessor of it. The 
portrait is a black profile bust, delicately executed on ivory. The 
outline of the ivory plate is a pointed ellipse, one inch and a 
quarter high, and three-quarter inch in breadth. The picture itself 
is less than three-quarters of an inch high. It shows a prominent 
