GIMP Handwritten Text Help

[macy]

I have a digital scan of an old sketch ( a colourful flower with a background). It has a border around it that has yellowed because it's quite old and at the bottom of the border is the title of the painting, in handwritten cursive font (it looks like it was done with a pencil). My problem is that the title is quite faint and I am having trouble clearing it up without affecting the rest of the picture. I attempted to use the burn tool to go over the handwriting but this was incredibly time consuming and not quite effective. I also found that the burn tool slightly change the yellowed colour around the writing as well. I tried to play with levels and achieved a great, clear title but it severely darkened the rest of the picture to the point where it was almost black. Is there a was to do this by isolating the handwriting in some way? I'm new at this, please be gentle!