s, rich
in colour and deftly drawn though they be, are always the mere
backgrounds of his pictures. They are impressionistic sketches, the
setting and the complement of something of human interest in incident or
feeling.

The poet and his companion set out in a postchaise, journeying by
Linlithgow and Falkirk to Stirling. They visited 'a dirty, ugly place
called Borrowstounness,' where he turned from the town to look across
the Forth to Dunfermline and the fertile coast of Fife; Carron Iron
Works, and the field of Bannockburn. They were shown the hole where
Bruce set his standard, and the sight fired the patriotic ardour of the
poet till he saw in imagination the two armies again in the thick of
battle. After visiting the castle at Stirling, he left Nicol for a day,
and paid a visit to Mrs. Chalmers of Harvieston. 'Go to see Caudron Linn
and Rumbling Brig and Deil's Mill.' That is all he has to say of the
scenery; but in a letter to Gavin Hamilton he has much more to tell of
Grace Chalmers and Charlotte, 'who is not only beautiful but lovely.'

From Stirling the tourists proceeded northwards by Crieff and Glenalmond
to Taymouth; thence, keeping by the banks of the river, to Aberfeldy,
whose birks he immortalised in song. Here he had the good fortune to
meet Niel Gow and to hear him playing. 'A short, stout-built, honest,
Highland figure,' the poet describes him, 'with his greyish hair shed on
his honest, social brow--an interesting face, marking strong sense, kind
open-heartedness mixed with unmistaking simplicity.'

By the Tummel they rode to Blair, going by Fascally and visiting--both
those sentimental Jacobites--'the gallant Lord Dundee's stone,' in the
Pass of Killiecrankie. At Blair he met his friend Mr. Walker, who has
left an account of the poet's visit; while the two days which Burns
spent here, he has declared, were among the happiest days of his life.

'My curiosity,' Walker wrote, 'was great to see how he would conduct
himself in company so different from what he had been accustomed to. His
manner was unembarrassed, plain, and firm. He appeared to have complete
reliance on his own native good sense for directing his behaviour. He
seemed at once to perceive and appreciate what was due to the company
and to himself, and never to forget a proper respect for the separate
species of dignity belonging to each. He did not arrogate conversation,
but when led into it he spoke with ease, propriety, and manliness. He