are in comfortable Quarters. The Rain we feared held up bravely and it has been "fu fine this day."-Tomorrow we sh[all be] at Ayr.'

[11 July 1818.]

'Tis now the 11th of July and we have come 8 Miles to Breakfast to Kirkoswald. I hope the next Kirk will be Kirk Alloway. I have nothing of consequence to say now concerning our journey-so I will speak as far as I can judge on the Irish and Scotch-I know nothing of the higher Classes—yet I have a persuasion that there the Irish are victorious. As to the "profanum vulgus " I must incline to the Scotch. They never laugh--but they are always comparatively neat and clean. Their constitutions are not so remote and puzzling as the Irish. The Scotchman will never give a decision on any point -he will never commit himself in a sentence which may be refer[r]ed to as a meridian in his notion of things— so that you do not know him—and yet you may come in nigher neighbourhood to him than to the Irishman who commits himself in so many places that it dazes your head. A Scotchman's motive is more easily discovered than an Irishman's. A Scotchman will go wisely about to deceive you, an Irishman cunningly. An Irishman would bluster out of any discovery to his disadvantage. A Scotchman would retire perhaps without much desire for revenge. An Irishman likes to be thought a gallous fellow. A Scotchman is contented. with himself. It seems to me they are both sensible of

1 Here follows the Sonnet to Ailsa Rock, with the remark "This is the only Sonnet of any worth I have of late written-I hope you will like it." I presume from the opening of the paragraph that the 10th of July was the date on which the sonnet, given at pages 295-6 of Volume II, was written "in the inn at Girvan."

the Character they hold in England and act accordingly to Englishmen. Thus the Scotchman will become over grave and over decent and the Irishman over-impetuous. I like a Scotchman best because he is less of a bore-I like the Irishman best because he ought to be more comfortable.-The Scotchman has made up his Mind within himself in a sort of snail shell wisdom. The Irishman is full of strongheaded instinct. The Scotchman is farther in Humanity than the Irishman—there he will stick perhaps when the Irishman will be refined beyond him-for the former thinks he cannot be improved—the latter would grasp at it for ever, place but the good plain before him.

Maybole. Since breakfast we have come only four Miles to dinner, not merely, for we have examined in the way t[wo] Ruins, one of them very fine, called Crossraguel Abbey-there is a winding Staircase to the top of a little Watch Tower.

July 13 [1818]. Kingswells. I have been writing to Reynolds-therefore any particulars since Kirkoswald have escaped me-from said Kirk we went to Maybole to dinner-then we set forward to Burness'' town Ayrthe approach to it is extremely fine-quite outwent my expectations-richly meadowed, wooded, heathed and rivuleted—with a grand Sea view terminated by the black Mountains of the isle of Annan. As soon as I saw them so nearly I said to myself "How is it they did not beckon Burns to some grand attempt at Epic."

The bonny Doon is the sweetest river I ever saw overhung with fine trees as far as we could see-We stood some time on the Brig across it, over which Tam o' Shanter

The patronymic was variously spelt Burns, Burnes, and Burness by various members of the family.

fled-we took a pinch of snuff on the Key stone-then we proceeded to the "auld Kirk Alloway." As we were looking at it a Farmer pointed the spots where Mungo's Mither hang'd hersel' and "drunken Charlie brake's neck's bane." Then we proceeded to the Cottage he was born in-there was a board to that effect by the door side-it had the same effect as the same sort of memorial at Stratford on Avon. We drank some Toddy to Burns's Memory with an old Man who knew Burnsdamn him and damn his anecdotes-he was a great bore -it was impossible for a Southron to understand above 5 words in a hundred.-There was something good in his description of Burns's melancholy the last time he saw him. I was determined to write a sonnet in the Cottage —I did—but it was so bad I cannot venture it here.2

Next we walked into Ayr Town and before we went to Tea saw the new Brig and the Auld Brig and Wallace tower. Yesterday we dined with a Traveller. We were

1

By this time he was cross the ford,

Whare in the snaw the chapman smoor'd;

And past the birks and meikle stane,

Whare drunken Charlie brak's neck-bane ;
And thro' the whins, and by the cairn,

Whare hunters fand the murder'd bairn ;

And near the thorn, aboon the well,

Whare Mungo's mither hang'd hersel.-Tam O'Shanter.

2 Lord Houghton gives this paragraph omitting the references to "drunken Charlie" and "Mungo's mither", as an extract from a letter to Haydon; and I have referred to it as such in Volume II, pages 297-8; but when that Volume passed through the press I had not seen this letter to Tom Keats in Haydon's journal, or I should have suspected, as I now do, that the extract, having been furnished by Haydon, was assumed to be from a letter to himself. Keats might of course have written the identical paragraph twice to different correspondents; but it will, I think, be rash to expect another letter to Haydon containing it to come to the surface.

talking about Kean. He said he had seen him at Glasgow "in Othello in the Jew, I mean er, er, er, the Jew in Shylock." He got bother'd completely in vague ideas of the Jew in Othello, Shylock in the Jew, Shylock in Othello, Othello in Shylock, the Jew in Othello, &c. &c. &c.-he left himself in a mess at last.-Still satisfied with himself he went to the Window and gave an abortive whistle of some tune or other-it might have been Handel. There is no end to these Mistakes-he'll go and tell people how he has seen "Malvolio in the Countess

"Twelfth night in Midsummer night's dream" Bottom in much ado about Nothing-Viola in Barrymore -Antony in Cleopatra-Falstaff in the mouse Trap'.

July 14 [1818]. We enter'd Glasgow last Evening under the most oppressive Stare a body could feel. When we had crossed the Bridge Brown look'd back and said its whole pop[ulation] had turned [out] to wonder at us--we came on till a drunken Man came up to me-I put him off with my Arm-he returned all up in Arms saying aloud that, "he had seen all foreigners bu - uut he never saw the like o' me." I was obliged to mention the word Officer and Police before he would desist. The City of Glasgow I take to be a very fine one-I was astonished to hear it was twice the size of Edinburgh. It is built of Stone and has a much more solid appearance than London. We shall see the Cathedral this morning-they have devilled it into "High Kirk." I want very much to know the name of the ship George is g[one] in-also what port he will land in-I know nothing a[bout] it. I hope you are leading a quiet Life and gradually improving. Make a long lounge of

the whole Summer-by the time the Leaves fall I shall be near you with plenty of confab-there are a thousand things I cannot write. Take care of yourself—I mean in not being vexed or bothered at any thing.

Here's Brown going on so that I cannot bring to mind how the two last days have vanished-for example he says The Lady of the Lake went to Rock herself to sleep on Arthur's seat and the Lord of the Isles coming to Press a Piece *** remembered their last meeting at Corrystone Water so touching her with one hand ***1. I told you last how we were stared at in Glasgow-we are not out of the Crowd yet. Steam Boats on Loch Lomond and Barouches on its sides take a little from the Pleasure of such romantic chaps as Brown and I. The Banks of the Clyde are extremely beautiful-the north end of Loch Lomond grand in excess-the entrance at the lower end to the narrow part from a little distance is precious good-the Evening was beautiful nothing could surpass our fortune in the weather-yet was I worldly enough to wish for a fleet of chivalry Barges with Trumpets and Banners just to die

1 The passages omitted consist of somewhat incoherent strings of place-names arranged apparently with an ulterior view to puns; but the intention is not quite clear, and the sentence ends abruptly without any construction as far as I can make out.