MAUCHLINE  , a

town in the division of Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotland . Pop . (Igor), 1767 . It lies 8 m . E.S.E. of Kilmarnock and I I m . E. by N. of Ayr by the Glasgow and South-Western railway . It is situated on a gentle slope about r m. from the river Ayr, which flows through the south of the parish of Mauch-line . It is noted for its manufacture of snuff-boxes and knickknacks in wood, and of curling-stones . There is also some cabinet-making, besides spinning and weaving, and its horse fairs and cattle markets have more than local celebrity . The parish church, dating from 1829, stands in the middle of the village, and on the green a monument, erected in 183o, marks the spot where five Covenanters were killed in 1685 . Robert Burns lived with his brother Gilbert on the farm of Mossgiel, about a mile to the north, from 1784 to 1788 . Mauchline kirkyard was the scene of the " Holy Fair "; at " Poosie Nansie's" (Agnes Gibson's)—still, though much altered, a popular inn—the " Jolly Beggars " held their high jinks; near the church (in the poet's day an old, barn-like structure) was the Whiteford Arms inn, where on a pane of glass Burns wrote the epitaph on John Dove, the landlord; " auld Nanse Tinnock's " house, with the date of 1744 above the door, nearly faces the entrance to the churchyard; the Rev .

William Auld was minister of Mauchline, and " Holy Willie," whom the poet scourged in the celebrated " Prayer," was one of " Daddy Auld's " elders; behind the kirkyard stands the house of Gavin Hamilton, the lawyer and firm friend of Burns, in which the poet was married . The braes of Ballochmyle, where he met the heroine of his song, " The Lass o' Ballochmyle," lie about a mile to the south-east . Adjoining them is the considerable manufacturing town of CATRINE (pop . 2340), with cotton factories, bleach fields and brewery, where Dr Matthew Stewart (1717–1785), the father of Dugald Stewart—had a mansion, and where there is a big water-wheel said to be inferior in size only to that of Laxey in the Isle of Man . Barskimming House, 2 M. south by west of Mauch-line, the seat of Lord-President Miller (1717-1789), was burned down in 1882 . Near the confluence of the Fail and the Ayr was the scene of Burns's parting with Highland Mary .