and of course we alighted, and entered its little sittingroom, which, as we at present see it, is a neat apartment, with the modern improvement of a ceiling. The walls are much scribbled with the names of visitors, and the wooden door of a cupboard in the wainscot, as well as all the other wood-work of the room, is cut and carved with initial letters. So, likewise, are two tables, which, having received a coat of varnish over the inscriptions, form really

curious and interesting articles of furniture. On a panel, let into the wall in a corner of the room, is a portrait of Burns, copied from the original picture by Nasmyth. The floor of the apartment is of boards, which are probably a recent substitute for the ordinary flag-stones of a peasant's cottage. There is but one room pertaining to the genuine birthplace of Robert Burns-it is the kitchen

into which we now went. It has a floor of flag-stones, even ruder than those of Shakespeare's house, though perhaps not so strangely cracked and broken as the latter, over which the hoof of Satan himself might seem to have trampled. A new window has been opened through the wall, toward the road; but on the opposite side is the little original window of only four panes, through which came the first daylight that shone upon the Scottish poet. In that humble nook, of all places in the world, Providence was pleased to deposit the germ of the richest human life. which mankind then had within its circumference."

And now, dear reader, we must part, at the door of Burns's homely cottage. If you have enjoyed this brief excursion in the field of English literature half as much as your garrulous cicerone, we may take another ramble together some bright day in the future.