ooks, gestures, and voice were then terrible. Clark
slunk out of the way, and when he returned, his master was quite calm
again. When there was extra work to be done, he would give his
servants a dram, but he was by no means _over-flush_ in this way.
During the six months of his service, Clark never once saw Burns
intoxicated or incapable of managing his business. The poet, when at
home, used to wear a broad blue bonnet, a long-tailed coat, drab or
blue, corduroy breeches, dark blue stockings, with _cootikens_ or
gaiters. In cold weather he would have a plaid of black and white
check wrapped round his shoulders. The same old man described Mrs.
Burns as a good and prudent housewife, keeping everything neat and
tidy, well liked by her servants, for whom she provided good and
abundant fare. When they parted, Burns paid Clark his wages in full,
gave him a written character, and a shilling for a _fairing_.

In the summer or autumn of the same year, the scholarly Ramsay of (p. 119)
Ochtertyre in the course of a tour looked in on Burns, and here is the
record of his visit which Ramsay gave in a letter to Currie. "Seeing
him pass quickly near Closeburn, I said to my companion, 'That is
Burns.' On coming to the inn the hostler told us he would be back in a
few hours to grant permits; that where he met with anything seizable,
he was no better than any other gauger; in everything else that he was
perfectly a gentleman. After leaving a note to be delivered to him on
his return, I proceeded to his house, being curious to see his Jean. I
was much pleased with his 'uxor Sabina qualis,' and the poet's modest
mansion, so unlike the habitation of ordinary rustics. In the evening
he suddenly bounced in upon us, and said, as he entered, 'I come, to
use the words of Shakespeare, _stewed in haste_.' In fact, he had
ridden incredibly fast after receiving my note. We fell into
conversation directly, and soon got into the _mare magnum_ of poetry.
He told me he had now gotten a subject for a drama, which he was to
call _Rob McQuechan's Elshin_, from a popular story of Robert Bruce
being defeated on the water of Cairn, when the heel of his boot having
loosened in his flight, he applied to Robert MacQuechan to fit it,
who, to make sure, ran his awl nine inches up the king's heel. We were
now going on at a great rate, when Mr. Stewart popped in his head,
which put a stop to our discourse, which had become very interesting.
Yet in a little while it