The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 184?-1851, 1845-09-10

the evening. "The subject" continued he, "wlll
be the thoughts and exercises of Jonah in the
whales belly"
In returning to my hotel, passed by another
new church, with an uncommon beautiful stee-
pie with elaborate carvings. inquired its name; /;
it was the new ST. Johns, and was another of the
buildings of the free church.
On Monday we made an axcursion to the birth
place of Burns. The railway between Glasgow
and Ayr took US through Paislie, worthy of note,
as having produced an emiuent onthoogist, AL
exander Wilson; and close to the banks of Castle
Sample Loch, full of swans, beautiful sheet of
water, sleeping among green fields which shelVe
gently to its edge. We passed by Irvine, where
Burns learnt the art of dressing flax, and traver-
sing sandy tract, close TO the sea,were set down
at Ayr, near the new bridge. You recollect
Burns's dialogue between the ''aud brig" Of
Ayr and the new, in which the former predicted
that vain as her rival might be of her new and
fresh appearance, the time would shortly come
when she would be as much dilapidated as her.
SELF The prediction is fulfilled; the bridge has
begun TO give way, and workmen are busy IN re-
Iparng lis arches.
We followed pleasant road, sometimes agree
ably shaded by trees, to Aoway. As we went
out of Ayr we heard great hammering and
cnking of chisels, and looking to the right we
saw workmen busy in building another of the
free churches, with considerable elaboratcness
of architecture in the early Norman style. The
day was very fine, the sun bright, and the sky
above us perfectly clear; but as is generally the
case in this country with an east wind, the at
mosphere was thick with kind Of dry haze
which exclude distant objects from sight. The
sea was to our right, but we could not discern
where it ended and the horizon began, and the
mountains of the island of Arran and the lone
and lofty rock of Asia Craig, looked at first like
faint shadows in the thick air, and were soon al
together undlstinguishable. We came at length
to the little old painted kirk of Aloway, in the
midst of burying ground, roof1ess, but with ga
bic ends still standing, and lis interior occupied
by tombs. A solid upright marble slab, before
the church, marks the place where William
Burns, the father of the poet, lies buried A lit
tie distance beyond flows the Doom under the
old bridge crossed by Tom O'Shanter on the
night of his adventure with the witches.
This little stream we'll deserves the name of
"bonne," which Burns has given it. Its clear
but dark current, flows rapidly between banks,
often shaded with ashes, alders and other trees,
and sometimes overhung by precpces of a red
dish colored rock. A little below the bridge it
falls into the sea. but the tide comes not up TO
embter its waters. From the west bank of the
stream the land rises to hills of considerable
height, with healthy summit, and wooded slopes
called Brown Carrick Hill Two high cliffs near
it mpend over the sea,which are commonly call
ed the Heads OF Ayr, and not far from these
stand fragment Of an ancient castle. | have
sometimes wondered that born as Burns was in
the neighborhood of the sea, which was told is
often swelledinto prodigious waves by the strong
est west winds which beat on this coast,h should
yet have taken little if any of his poetic imagery
from the ocean, either in its wilder or IFS gentler
moods. But his occupations were amorg the
fields, and his thoughts were Of those who dwelt
among them, and his Imagination never wander
ed where his feelings went not.
The monument erected to Burns near the
bridge, is an osentatous thng,with gilt tripod
on its summit. Twas only interested to see some
of the relics of Burns which it contains, among
which is the Bible given by him to his Highland
Mary. A road leads from the monument along
the stream among the trees to mill, a little dis
lance above the bridge, where the water passes
under steep rocks, and followed 1t. The wild
rose and the woodbine were in full bloom in the
hedges, and these TO me were better memorial
of Burns than anything the chsel could execute.
A barefoot lassie came down the grassy bank
among the trees, with pail, and after washing
hei feet i'll the swift current, filled the pail and
bore it again over the bank.
We saw many vsiters sauntering about the
bridge or entering the monument; many of them
seemed TO be country people, young men with
their sisters and sweethearts, and others in white
cravats with certain sickness of appearance
took TO be of the profession of divinity. AT the
inn beside the Doom, young woman with face
and head so round as almost ia form perfect
globe, gave us dish of excellent strawberries
and cream, and we set off for the house in which
Burns was born
1t is a clav-built cottage of the humhlest class
and now serves, with the addition of two new
rooms of better architecture, for an ale-house.
Mrs. Hastings, the landlady, showed us the re-
gister, in which we remarked that very great
number of the visiters had taken the pains to
write themselves down as shoemakers. Major
Burns, one of the sons Of the poet, had lately Vi
sited the place with his two daughters and
younger brother, and they had inscribed their
names in the book.
We returned to Ayr by different road from
that which we went to Alloway. The hay-mak-
ers were at work in the fields, and the vegetation
was every where in its highest luxuriance. You
may smile at the idea, butiI affirm that pOtatoe
field in Great Britain, at this season, is prott-
er sight than vineyard in Italy. In this eli
mate the plant throws out number of blossoms,
pink and white, and Just now the potatoc fields
are as fine as SO many flower gardens.
We crossed the old bridge of Ayr, which is
yel in good preservation, though carriages are
not allowed 10 pass over it. Looking up the
stream we saw solitary slopes and groves on its
left bank, and fanccd that had in my eye the
sequestered spot on the banks of the Ayr, where
Burns and his Highland Mary had the meeting