The Brig of Ayr. By James A. Morris. (Stephen and
Pollock, Ayr.)—The town of Ayr is known to have had a bridge in 1236, when provision is made in a charter granted to the town by Alexander IL ad ristentationens pontis. It is mentioned after this date from time to time, and a view of the town in 1693 shows it. How far the seventeenth-century bridge represented that of the thirteenth no one knows. Anyhow, in the second half of the nineteenth century Ayr had an old bridge which had been celebrated by Robert Burns, and the question was,—what was to be done with it This question was complicated by the fact that in 1879 one Robert Templeton, a watchmaker and jeweller of the town, left his whole estate (210,000) to the Provost and Town Council in trust for the "rebuilding of the Old Bridge." What did " rebuilding " mean ? The matter was referred to engineers, and, as sentiment could not be measured by rule or weighed against gold, they said: "Pull the old thing down and build a new one." Lovers of the past, with special aid from the Burns enthusiasts, maintained that the right course was to keep the old -structure standing and renew or repair where renovation or reparation was wanted. The next-of-kin to Robert Templeton stood by ready to claim the bequest for themselves if the trust was not properly carried out. The public feeling was appealed to ; Lord Rosebery intervened; others helped ; the shade of Burns was invoked ; Mr. Morris, who declares that the pulling down scheme would have been hateful to the testator. worked steadily for the cause, and in the end it triumphed. He has done well to tell the story.
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