IN Kilmarnock Burns first saw Nannie, the subject of one of his most popular ballads. She captivated him as well by the charms of her person as by the melody of her voice. As he devoted much of his spare time to the society of Nannie, and listened to her singing with the most religious attention, her sister, who had a vein of pleasantry, observed to him that he paid more attention to Nannie’s singing than he would do to a preaching – he retorted with an oath, “Madam, there’s no comparison.”