_Thursday_--Reach
Longtown
to dine, and part there with my good
friends Messrs.
friends Messrs.
Robert Burns
_Sunday_, 27_th May. _--Cross Tweed, and traverse the moors through a
wild country till I reach Alnwick--Alnwick Castle a seat of the Duke
of Northumberland, furnished in a most princely manner. --A Mr. Wilkin,
agent of His Grace's, shows us the house and policies. Mr. Wilkin, a
discreet, sensible, ingenious man.
_Monday. _--Come, still through by-ways, to Warkworth, where we
dine. --Hermitage and old castle. Warkworth situated very picturesque,
with Coquet Island, a small rocky spot, the seat of an old monastery,
facing it a little in the sea; and the small but romantic river
Coquet, running through it. --Sleep at Morpeth, a pleasant enough
little town, and on next day to Newcastle. --Meet with a very
agreeable, sensible fellow, a Mr. Chattox, who shows us a great many
civilities, and who dines and sups with us.
_Wednesday. _--Left Newcastle early in the morning, and rode over a
fine country to Hexham to breakfast--from Hexham to Wardrue, the
celebrated Spa, where we slept.
_Thursday_--Reach Longtown to dine, and part there with my good
friends Messrs. Hood and Ker--A hiring day in Longtown--I am
uncommonly happy to see so many young folks enjoying life. --I come to
Carlisle. --(Meet a strange enough romantic adventure by the way, in
falling in with a girl and her married sister--the girl, after some
overtures of gallantry on my side, sees me a little cut with the
bottle, and offers to take me in for a Gretna-Green affair. --I, not
being such a gull, as she imagines, make an appointment with her, by
way of _vive la bagatelle_, to hold a conference on it when we reach
town. --I meet her in town and give her a brush of caressing, and a
bottle of cider; but finding herself _un peu trompe_ in her man she
sheers off. ) Next day I meet my good friend, Mr. Mitchell, and walk
with him round the town and its environs, and through his
printing-works, &c. --four or five hundred people employed, many of
them women and children. --Dine with Mr. Mitchell, and leave
Carlisle. --Come by the coast to Annan. --Overtaken on the way by a
curious old fish of a shoemaker, and miner, from Cumberland mines.
[_Here the manuscript abruptly terminates. _]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 294: The author of that fine song, "The Maid that tends the
Goats. "]
[Footnote 295: "During the discourse Burns produced a neat impromptu,
conveying an elegant compliment to Miss Ainslie.