EPITAPH ON MY OWN FRIEND, AND MY FATHER'S FRIEND, WILLIAM MUIR IN TARBOLTON

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William Muir, the owner of Tarbolton mill, was a long-standing friend of the Burness family. He and his wife took in Jean Armour when her parents banished her following discovery of her second pregnancy to Robert Burns. This epitaph was composed by the poet some years before Muir’s death.

"An honest man here lies at rest, As e’er God with His image blest:

The friend of man, the friend of truth; The friend of age, and guide of youth:

Few hearts like his, with virtue warm’d, Few heads with knowledge so inform’d:

If there’s another world, he lives in bliss; If there is none, he made the best of this."