[A composite volume : containing The ballads and songs of Ayrshire ...

WHEN I UPON THY BOSOM LEAN.
daughter of William Rankin of Lochhead, and sister to John, the
well known "rough, rude, ready-witted Rankin." From a document
(the contract of marriage*) in our possession, it appears that he received
with his bride a dowery of one hundred pounds sterling; and
that, in case of his demise, under certain contingences, she was to
obtain an annuity of two hundred merks Scots. His property, at this
period, consisted, in the words of the document, of " All and haill that
eight shilling ninepenny land of old extent of Dalquhram, alias
Nether Dalquhram; and all and haill the eight shilling ninepenny
land of old extent of Upper Dalquhram, commonly called Laigh
Hall ; as also all and haill the eight shilling ninepenny land of old
extent of Dalquhram, called Douglass Dalquhram, with the respective
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houses, biggings, yeards, parts, and pendicles, and haill pertinents of
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the said several lands and teinds, parsonage and vinerage of the same, ;
all lying within the parish of Muirkirk, lordship and late regality,
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now barony of Kylesmuir, and sheriffdom of Ayr, together with the \
fishing of salmond and other fishing in the water of Ayr." Besides 5
the lands enumerated, which appear to have been considerable, La^
praik held in lease the ground and mill of Muirsmill, distant from <
Dalfram about half a mile ; and for some years subsequent to his s
marriage he enjoyed with his " wedded wife" that degree of happi- ;
ness which competence and affection were so well calculated to afford.
Possessed of a cheerful, kind disposition, few men were more beloved ^
in his sphere, or better fitted for the reciprocal interchange of social I
life. Fond of poetry and song, he essayed the rustic lyre ; and happy t
in his household, its strings were alone attuned for the domestic
hearth. Little did he dream that the muse thus wooed in prospex-ity,
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Among the earliest of the poet's griefs was the death of his wife, [
soon after the birth of her fifth child. | This was indeed a severe
stroke, and not less keenly felt.
The blank in the domestic circle was
supplied, however, a few years afterwards (1766), in the person of
* To this document, in addition to the signatures of the contracting parties }
(viz. John Lapraik, William Rankin, and Margaret Rankin), is also appended
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that of John Rankin, as one of the witnesses. In respect to penmanship, i
, Lapraik's is decidedly the best.
•,
\ t The Contemporaries of Burns.
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1; ^ Three of the five children reached the years of maturity. One of the sons
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\ died abroad, the other, William, at Woolwich.