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The Life and Works of Robert Burns, Ed. by R. Chambers. Libr. Ed
The Life and Works of Robert Burns Ed by R Chambers Libr Ed Author:Robert Burns General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1856 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: L 0 C H L E A. mr-im. William Birrncss lingered out twelve years in the ungenial glebe of Mount Oliphant, and at Whitsunday 1777, removed to a somewhat more promising farm called Lochlea -- pronounced LoclJy -- in the parish of Torbolton. The country is here composed of an 'undulating upland, rising from the right or north bank of the river Ayr, generally from three to five hundred feet above the level of the sea, and of bare and unattractive aspect. The views, however, which arc obtained from some of the braes, arc at once extensive and beautiful, comprehending the hills of Carrick in front, and the Firth of Clyde, with its romantic islands, on the right hand. The farm seems to have obtained its name from a small lake in its neighbourhood, one of a number of such pieces of water which once interspersed this district of Ayrshire, but are now for the most part drained, or reduced to marshes. William Burness took this farm of 130 acres at twenty shillings an acre, which seems a high rent for ground so situated seventy years ago. For some time the life of the family seems "to have been more tolerable at Lochlea than it had been at any previous period, probably in the main because the young people were now able to render their parents such assistance as to save them some outlay for labour. They all worked to the extent of their ability, and none more heartily or efficiently than the poet. It was at this time, according to the recollection of his sister, that he went for a short time to learn dancing. Now also occurred a short episode in his life, of which he has given a brief account iu his letter to Dr...« less