93 



These are better tributaries than the other two first 

 mentioned. We have seen fine trout, and in consi- 

 derable numbers, taken in the Lugar, particularly 

 with the minnow, during the summer months. 



The entire valley of the Ayr is extremely interest- 

 ing, both from its rural features and from the poeti- 

 cal associations connected with it, from its having 

 been the birth-place of Burns, and where he spent 

 the first twenty-five years of his life. Some of the 

 most humorous and pathetic pieces were written on 

 or near to the banks of the Ayr, and are descriptive of 

 some of its well-known localities, even at this hour. 

 It was at Mauchline, near the river, that he saw his 

 " Highland Mary," his first love, of whom he sang, 



" Ye banks, and braes, and streams around 



The Castle o* Montgomerie, 

 Green be your woods and fair your flowers, 



Your waters never drumlie. 

 There summer first unfaulds her robes, 



And there they langest tarry, 

 For there I took my last farewell 



Of my sweet Highland Mary. 



" How sweetly bloom'd the gay green birk, 



How rich the hawthorn's blossom, 

 As underneath the fragrant shade 



I clasp* d her to my bosom." 

 ***** 



The poet's biographers tell us that he and this 

 object of his ardent affection " stood on each side of 

 a small brook they laved their hands in the limpid 

 stream and, holding a Bible between them, pro- 

 nounced their vows to be faithful to each other." 



