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What visionary castles fair,

The muse-rid bard builds in the air!
I thought to see the light-heeled fawns,
Gay, sporting o'er green flowery lawns,
'Mong fragrant birks, where zephyrs fissle;
Pan playing on his oaten whissle;
An' wi' the nine celestial lasses,

Dancing a' round, come frae Parnassus.

How was I cheated! whan I saw The elritch place! Preserve us a' !!!

Nought's there, t'inspire the poet's lays, Or fire his breast wi' nature's praise: Nae smiling flowers o' spring, nor simmer; Nor bush, nor tree, o' growand timmer, Save twae sma' row'n-twigs, on the rocks Whar the rough-throated corbie croaks ! The hills a' round, baith brown, and bare, Will scarce afford to feed a hare!!!

Beside a wee bit dub, for room,
Whar twa wild goslins coudna' swoom;
In sik a place, it gied me pain
To see a bungled, leeand, Stane,

Brought this same year, for the first time,
An' a' stuck round wi' ill-spelled rhyme,
To try to gar fo'k think they see

The wark o' some doiled 'prentice callan,
Set up In Memory o' ALLAN *.

In addition to these popular proofs, it may be mentioned, that New Hall was, during this summer, 1807, visited by a well-dressed elderly man, accompanied by his son. He was, seemingly, about sixty years of age; and after introducing, and naming himself, he said he was born on the estate: That his father was one of Sir David and Mr Forbes's tenants, and his house was in a field which still goes by his name: That he had, often, heard his father say, that Allan Ramsay used to come every summer to New-Hall House, where he, frequently, continued a month, and six weeks at a time: That he always travelled on foot; and often took a walk down the Esk from thence to visit Baron Sir John Clerk, and returned again: That the houses of Glaud, and Symon, were

*This Stone being lately placed there; the erecting of it is thought to have been occasioned by the inquiries of some strangers, not long since, at the rustics of Glencross water for the site of Habbie's How upon it; when they were unfortunately told, by the very people on the spot, that they knew of no such place. See BEAUTIES OF SCOTLAND, MID-LOTHIAN.-It is a curious fact, that this spot is in the same parish with New Hall, on the nearest extremity of the adjoining estate, and is not so far from it as it is from Fulford or New Woodhouselee, in a different parish, and on the other side of both the intervening estates of Logan House, and Castlelaw, with their mansions, and farmsteads !

taken from the Marfield, and Harlaw Moor farms: That he himself, when a boy, was almost drowned in Peggy's Pool, at Habbie's How And that Sir William Worthy's seat was copied from New-Hall House, and its appendages; the situations, and appearances, of many of which he pointed out, and de

scribed.

The first intimation, to the writer of this article, that the original scenes of The Gentle Shepherd were to be found at New Hall, was communicated in the year 1783, by a lady, then, considerably advanced in life, in the most friendly intimacy, and almost daily company, with Allan Ramsay's youngest daughter.

in

A piece of the "BLASTED TREE" near the site of Mause's Cottage at the Carlaps, has lately been shown in London, as a precious relic, and great curiosity.

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At ains, or At anes, at once, at Barkened, when mire, blood,

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