ST. MARY'S LOCH TIBBIE SHIELS. Ill 



Father Izaak rested and sang his simple songs in the 

 honest alehouses on the banks of the Lea, ever meet 

 with more kindly care than he will receive in Tibbie's 

 homely hostelry. Tibbie, or Mrs. Kichardson, for to 

 that name she is entitled, only anglers have got the 

 more familiar one into their mouths is now seventy- 

 six years of age, but she is still active and attentive, 

 and most motherly in her ways to her visitors. Under 

 her roof all the best fishers and many of the finest wits 

 of Scotland have at times disported themselves, and in 

 the mouths of the collocutors of the Noctes Ambrosiance 

 her name was a frequent one. And, if you ask her, 

 Tibbie will tell you stories of James Hogg and Pro- 

 fessor Wilson, and others of her favourites. " For I ser't 

 wi' Mr. Hogg, ye ken, fifty years syne, owre-by at 

 Ettrick House ; and whan he leeved at Altreeve he 

 was often often up here, sittin' on that very sait there, 

 carryin' on his fun wi' the Professor. An' oh but the 

 Professor and a' the family has been kind till us, and 

 brocht us intil muckle public notice, an' puttin' us 

 forrit in a way that we couldna weel hae expeckit."* 

 Long may she live to welcome her guests from all the 

 points of the compass ! for she is a part of the scene, 

 and the removal of Tibbie would be almost like the 

 drying up of the Loch o' the Lowes. 



* The scene of one of the Noctes is laid at Tibbie's, and the 

 Shepherd, North, and Tickler, in turn compare her cottage to 

 a wren's nest, an ant-hill, and a bee-hive : 



" Shepherd. A wren's nest 's round and theekit wi' moss 

 sae is Tibbie's ; a wren's nest has a wee bit canny hole in the 

 side o 't for the birdies to hap in and out o', aiblins wi' a bit 

 hangin' leaf to hide and fend by way o' door and sae has 

 Tibbie's ; a wren's nest 's ay dry on the inside, though drappin' 



