THE JAMES D. PHELAN 
 CELTIC COLLECTION 
 
PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE VISIONS OF TUNDALE, together with 
 Moralizations and Fragments of Ancient Poetry, 
 from a MS. of the 15th Century, in the Advocates 
 Library, Edinburgh. 
 
 II. 
 
 PRIVATE DIARY OF SIR DAVID HUME 
 
 of Crossrigg, one of the Senators of the College of 
 Justice, from 1697 to 1707. 
 
 III. 
 MONASTICON SCOTI^E MINUS, 
 
 BY 
 
 A DELVER IN ANTIQUITY. 
 
 IV. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF A SENA- 
 TOR OF THE COLLEGE OF JUSTICE, 1718. 
 
SCOTISH 
 
 ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 M.DC.XXIX. M.DCC.XXIX. 
 
 WITH NOTES 
 
 AN APPENDIX OF ILLUSTRATIVE PAPERS. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 THOMAS G. STEVENSON, 
 
 87, PRINCES STREET. 
 
 M.DCCC.XLII. 
 
mutf 
 
 IMPRESSION. 
 
 NINETY COPIES ON SMALL PAPER. 
 
 TWENTY-FOUR COPIES ON LARGE PAPER. 
 
 ONE COPY ON VELLUM. 
 
 ALEX. LAURIE & CO. PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX. 
 
 1. In Obitum Viri Nobilis Joannis Crafordii, D. 
 
 Kilburnii, Epicedium Niniani Campbelli, 1 
 
 Item,, Patris et Matris, qui uno eodenaque 
 mense obierant Epitaphium, :i . , j .,Q 3 
 
 2. In Obitum viri colendissimi Jacob! Legii, Glas. 
 
 cuensis Archiepischopi, de civitate, Academia, 
 
 et ecclesia, ibidem meritissimi, {f f - . 3 
 
 3. Ad Academiam Glascuensem, et doctos qui ad 
 
 funus exornandum eo confluxerant, .^ 4 
 
 4. In Obitum viri integerrimi Gulielmi Blari, Pas- 
 
 toris vigil antissimi fidissimique apud Britan- 
 nodunenses, ... <,, . ,' , ^ 
 
 5. Tayis Teares. Ane Elegie on the death of the 
 
 Right Honourable George Earl of Kinnoul, 
 the late Lord Chancelor, ., . , 7 
 
 6. On the death and horrid murder of the Most 
 
 Reverend Father in God, James Archbishop 
 of Saint Andrews, Lord Primate of Scotland, 10 
 7- Upon the arrival of the corps of Sir Alexander 
 Fraser of Doores, Baronet, Chief Physician 
 in Ordinary to the King's Majesty, . 13 
 
 832879 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 29. On the death of Sir William Sharp of Stonnie- 
 
 hill, .... 77 
 
 30. On the death of the learn'd and Honourable 
 
 Sir George M'Kenzie of Rosehaugfy Knight, 
 &c. late King's Advocate, . . . 78 
 
 31. Upon the much to be lamented death of the 
 
 Right Honourable Lady Elizabeth Areskine, 
 Lady Napier, & c. . . . 81 
 
 32. In Obitum laudatissimi spectatissimique viri, 
 
 D. Joannis Lauderi, ab aula Fontaria equitis 
 Baroneti, .... 84 
 
 33. On the much to be lamented death of the 
 
 worthy Umphrey Milne, Watchmaker, Bur- 
 gess of the Metropolitan City of Scotland, who 
 departed this life, November the 18th, 1695, 87 
 
 34. On the much to be lamented death of Alexan- 
 
 der Lord Reath, one of his Majestie's most 
 Honourable Privy Council, and Exchequer, 
 &c., departed this life March 21, 1698, 90 
 
 35. In Egregium, et Admodum Reverendum in 
 
 Christo Patrem, D. Andream Brussiura, 
 S. T. D. Episcopum Orcadensem : qui diem 
 obiit 15 Cal. April, M.DC.XCIX. Epicedium, 93 
 
 36. In Obitum nunquam satis deplorandum viri 
 
 admodum Reverendi Magistri Jacobi Kir- 
 toni ex Pastoribus Edinensibus unius Ogdo- 
 astichon, . .95 
 
 37. An Elegy on the much to be lamented death of 
 
 Francis Masterton, Apothecary, 97 
 
 38. On the much to be lamented death and loss of 
 
 the Right Honourable William Earl of Craw- 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 PAGE 
 ford, Lord Lindsay, c. and one of his Ma- 
 
 jestie's most Honourable Privy Council, who 
 departed this life, March 6, 1698, . 99 
 
 39. On the universally lamented death of the Ho- 
 
 noured Captain George Melvil, of Crescents, 
 hall, who departed this life, 19th September 
 1699. . $3 . -.: . 103 
 
 40. In Praematurum et deplorandum Obitum Ho- 
 
 lioratissimi ac ornatissimi juvenis Jacobi Lun- 
 din, 'ab Eodem, &c. . ; ; v: . 105 
 
 41 . On the death of the much honoured Sir Rodger 
 
 Hog of Harcarse, sometime a Senator of the 
 College of Justice, : . . ; . 107 
 
 42. On the death of Mr. William Dunlop, Princi- 
 
 pal of the University of Glasgow, >.*.. 110 
 
 43. On the universally lamented death of the Right 
 
 Honourable Lady Ann Elcho, ir. si fi r.f i 112 
 
 44. Panegyrick upon the death of Lieut. Thomas 
 
 Haddow, who deceased 4th of April 1700, in 
 the 27th year of his age, having been ten 
 years an Officer in King William's Service, 114 
 
 45. On the universally lamented death of Mr. 
 
 Alexander Scheills, an eminent Minister of 
 the Gospell, who departed this life at Jamaica, 
 in his return from Caledonia, 1700, . 115 
 
 46. Truth's Champion j or an Elegie on the much 
 
 to be lamented death of that pious and godly 
 Minister of the Gospel, Mr. Alexander Shields, 118 
 
 47. On the universally lamented death of Duncan 
 
 Ronald, Director- Depute of the Chancelary, 
 and Writer to his Majesties Signet, who died 
 at Edinburgh, August 1700, . . 120 
 
c CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 48. On the deplorable death of the Right Honour- 
 
 able Margaret Countess of Rothes, who de- 
 parted this life the 22d August 1700, . 124 
 
 49. Upon the untimely death of that noble young 
 
 Lady the Countesse of Buccleugh, . 126 
 
 50. On the death of Mr. Gilbert Rule, Principal 
 
 of the College of Edinburgh, who departed 
 this life, June 7, 1701, aged 72 years, . 127 
 
 5 1 . On the very much lamented death of the truly 
 
 noble, and universally respected, Lord Basil 
 Hamiltoun, son to the deceast William Duke 
 of Hamiltoun, grandchild to James Duke of 
 Hamiltoun, and William Marques of Dow- < 
 glass ; who was unfortunately drowned Au- 
 gust 27, 1701, aetat, 29, by endeavouring to 
 rescue his servant, . 1 29 
 
 52. On the universally lamented death of the Right 
 
 Honourable Lord Basil Hamilton, Brother- 
 German to his Grace the Duke of Hamilton, 
 (being a short hint of his heroick life, and 
 fatal death,) who dyed August 27, 1701, 
 set. 27, ... . J3i 
 
 53. The Mournful Muse, or a Poem upon the very 
 
 much and universally, tho' never enough 
 lamented death, and to the Pious Memory of 
 that truly excellent and worthy Patriot, 
 Lord Basil Hamilton, fifth lawful son to the 
 deceased William Duke of Hamilton, &c. 133 
 
 54. On the much lamented death of Anne, Countess 
 
 of Leven, who departed this life in the Castle 
 of Edinburgh upon the ninth day of January 
 1702, ... ]36 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 55. On the very much lamented death of that 
 
 truly roble and pious lady, the Countess of 
 Leven, daughter of the Right Honourable the 
 Lord Bruntisland and Margaret Countess of 
 Weems, snatch'd away by a sudden death, 
 January 9, 1702, . ;.-; i vf .f 138 
 
 56. A mournful Poem on the never enough to be 
 
 lamented death of his Sacred and Sovereign 
 Majesty, King William of ever blessed and 
 glorious memory, .!>.?-'" ('.--.? . 141 
 
 57. On the much to be lamented death of the Right 
 
 Honourable Sir John Shaw of Greenock, Kt. 
 one of his Majesty's Principal Tacksmen for 
 the Customs and Excise of Scotland, who de- 
 parted this life the 17th of April 1702, 144 
 
 58. On the death of the Right Honourable and 
 
 truely pious George Earl of Southerland, who 
 departed this life the 4th of March 1703, and 
 of his age the 70th year, '..'" :>.:"' 146 
 
 59. On the death of his Grace Archibald Duke of 
 
 Argyle, who departed this life the 28th day 
 of September 1 703, in the flower and strength 
 of his age, to the great grief of his countrey- 
 men, ... . 148 
 
 60. On the death of the Right Honourable Sir 
 
 James Falconer of Phesdo, one of the Lords 
 of the College of Justice, who died the 9th of 
 June 1705, 151 
 
 61. On the much to be lamented death of the Right 
 
 Honourable John Earl of Stairs, who de- 
 parted this life upon Wednesday the 8th of 
 January, Anno 1707, V ; . . . 152 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 62. Upon the much lamented death of the Right 
 
 Honourable John Earl of Stairs, 154 
 
 63. Upon the much lamented death of her Grace 
 
 the Dutchess of Athole, who departed this 
 life January 9, J707, . 158 
 
 64. Upon the much to be lamented death of the 
 
 Right Honourable Sir David Hume of Cross- 
 rig, one of the Senators of the College of Jus- 
 tice, who departed this life April 13, 1707, 160 
 
 65. On the much lamented death of John Hamil- 
 
 ton, Lord Belhaven, &c. &c. who departed 
 this life at London, June 21, 1708, 162 
 
 66. On the much to be lamented death of Lord 
 
 John Hamilton of Balhaven, . 1 64 
 
 67. On the never enough to be lamented death of 
 
 Lord John Hamilton of Balhaven, who de- 
 parted this life at London, 21st June 1708, 166 
 
 68. Upon the much to be lamented death of her 
 
 Grace the Duchess of Queensberry and Dover, 
 &c., who departed this life, October 2d, 1709, 168 
 
 69. On the much lamented death of the good and 
 
 great Mr. George Meldrum, Professor of Di- 
 vinity ; and one of the Ministers of the Gos- 
 pel in Edinburgh, . . .170 
 
 70. On the much lamented death of the most noble 
 
 Lady Christian Marchioness of Montrose; 
 who departed this life, the 21st of April 1710, 
 about the flower of her age, . . 1 73 
 
 71- On the much to be lamented death of the Right 
 Honourable Sir William Anstruther, of that 
 Ilk, one of the Lords of Session, and Mem. 
 ber of Justiciary, who departed this life the 
 22d day of January 1711, . . 175 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 72. Upon the never enough to be lamented death 
 
 of the Illustrious and Noble John, Marquis 
 of Tullibardine, who departed this life at the 
 Battle near Mons, the first of September 
 1709, . 178 
 
 73. In Obitum Desideratissimi V. D. M. Edin- 
 
 burgensis, D. Gul. Crechton, \i vl 180 
 
 74. The same Paraphrased in English, . . , 182 
 
 75. On the much lamented death of the Reverend 
 
 Mr. Thomas Wilkie, Minister of the Gospel 
 in the Canongate Church of Edinburgh, who 
 departed this life 19th of March 1711, 183 
 
 76. On the death of the incomparable Thomas 
 
 Fisher, merchant in Edinburgh, and Trea- 
 surer of George Heriot's Hospital, who de- 
 ceased 26th March 1711, tail 185 
 77- On the much lamented death of Mr. John 
 Hamilton, Minister of the Gospel in the Grey- 
 friars Parish of Edinburgh, and sometime 
 formerly of Ireland, . 1 87 
 
 78. In Obitum Piae ac Generosissimae Dominae D. 
 
 A. Fountainhall, Elegidium ad usum et 
 captum Adolescentuli Ejusdem Alexandri 
 Lauder, ex industria accommodatum. April 
 18, 1713, . . . . : . ; 188 
 
 79. The Same Englished, . |p| 190 
 
 80. To the memory of Sir James Stewart, Elder, 
 
 Her Majestie's Advocate, Aet. Ixxviii. May 
 
 1, 1713, v <rfll . 192 
 
 81. Upon the most lamentable death of the Right 
 
 Honourable Sir James Steuart of Goodtrees, 
 Her Majesty's Advocate, who departed this 
 life May 1, 1713, in the 78th year of his age, 194 
 
xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 82. On the much lamented death of Sir James 
 
 Stewart of Goodtrees, her Majesty's Advo- 
 cat, who departed this life May I, 1713, in 
 the 78th year of his age, . . 196 
 
 83. On the never enough to be lamented death of 
 
 the much honored Doctor Archibald Pitcarne, 
 who departed this life the 23d of October 
 1713, . . 197 
 
 84. Georgius Davidsonus, de morte Archibaldi PiU 
 
 carnii, Scoti, .... 200 
 
 85. Upon the much to be lamented death of Com- 
 
 missioner Kello, who departed this life the 
 
 2d of October 1716, . . 202 
 
 86. On the much to be lamented death of the much 
 
 honoured Sir John Riddel of that Ilk, Knight- 
 Baronet, . . .204 
 87- On the death of the Right Honourable George 
 Earl of Cromarty, Lord Tarbat, &c. who 
 departed this life 27th August 1714, about 
 the 90th year of his age, . . 206 
 
 88. On the never enough lamented death of the 
 
 Right Honourable John Murray, Lord Bow- 
 hill, one of the Senators of the College of 
 Justice, who departed this life upon the 24th 
 March 171 4, ... 208 
 
 89. On the much to be lamented death of the 
 
 Reverend Doctor Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of 
 Salisbury, who departed this life March 1 7th 
 1715, in the 73d year of his age, . 210 
 
 90. On the never enough to be lamented death of 
 
 the Earl of Forquhar, who departed this life 
 December the 7th ; 1715 ; the twenty-one year 
 of his age, .... 212 
 
CONTENTS. xv 
 
 PAGE 
 91 . Upon the exceeding much to be lamented death 
 
 of the Illustrious Princess, Anne, Dutchess 
 of Hamilton, who departed this life the 16th 
 of October 1716, in the 86th year of her age, 214 
 92 On the much to be lamented death of Mr. 
 Charles Dunbreck, Captain of the City Guard 
 of Edinburgh, &c, who died the 31st of 
 October 1717, - . j ^ 216 
 
 93. On the death of Mr. Brand, Student of Philo- 
 
 sophy in the University of Edinburgh, who 
 departed this life on the 10th December 1 717, 
 in the 17th year of his age, ; jjt>;i 218 
 
 94. Elias and Enoch. A Dialogue on the death 
 
 of the Right Reverend Alexander, late Lord 
 Bishop of Edinburgh, -,;' . * ' 220 
 
 95. On the Right Honourable William Lord 
 
 Strathnaver, who died 13th July 1720, aged 
 32, if>m y i t vn : <C'j; . 5 # 223 
 
 96. On the never enough to be lamented death of 
 
 that vertuous and worthy gentleman Captain 
 George Drummond, who dyed at Edinburgh 
 September 26, 1720, i'W .1 \ '-. 225 
 
 97. On the never enough to be lamented death of 
 
 the Reverend Mr. William Delape, Preacher 
 of the Gospel, who departed this life October 
 30, 1720, aged 28 years, ~: > V 227 
 
 98. On the deplorable death of the Right Honour- 
 
 able John, Lord Belhaven, who was lost at 
 sea, on the 10th of November 1721, ft . r; - 228 
 
 99. On the death of Sir David Dalrymple of Hailes, 
 
 Bart. . . . li?n . > 'W*' . 231 
 100. The Shepherd's Tears, a Pastoral sacred to the 
 
xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 memory of that excellent gentleman, William 
 Nisbit of Dirleton, Esq. who dyed 10th of 
 October, 1722, ... .236 
 
 101. The Melancholy Muse, an Elegy, occasioned 
 
 by the death of that learned Divine^and emi- 
 nent Poet, Mr. Robert Calder, late Preacher 
 of the Gospel at Nenhorn, who died 28th 
 May, 1723, ... .239 
 
 102. An Epitaph for my dear friend, John Mitchell, 241 
 
 103. On the much to be lamented death of Mr. 
 
 James Webster, &c 242 
 
 104. Mushett revived, or ane Elegie on the deplorable 
 
 death of Mrs. Elizabeth Murray, sister to Sir 
 William Murray of Newtoun, barbarously 
 murdered by her husband, Thomas Kincaid 
 of Gogarmains, 29th March, 1 723, . 247 
 
 105. The Cryes of the Clan, occasioned by the death 
 
 of the high and potent Prince, his Grace John 
 Duke of Athole, sometime Commissioner to 
 the Parliament and Church of Scotland, 
 Principal Secretary of State, and Knight of 
 the most Noble Order of the Thistle, who 
 dyed 12th November 1724, . . 251 
 
 106, The Faithfull Shepherd, a funeral poem to the 
 memory of that pious and learn'd pastor, the 
 Reverend Mr. Thomas Paterson, Minister of 
 the Gospel at St. Cuthbert's, who dropt mor- 
 tality, Sabath 22d May, 1726, . 253 
 
 ]07- On the much to be lamented death of the 
 Right Honourable the Lord Pancaitland, one 
 of tl\e Senators of the College of Justice, who 
 departed this life, May 30, 1729, 255 
 
CONTENTS. xvii 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 PAGE 
 I. Some Account of the Life of Sir Alexander 
 
 Fraser of Doores, Knight and Baronet, 257 
 
 II. Remarks on the Sacra Poemata Ramsaei, 261 
 
 III. Baillie Thomas Robertson, fl ,'\ () dgiH 263 
 
 IV. Gilbert Ramsay, ^-3 < n ;. a ,, ^ ml 265 
 V. Epitaph on the Duke of Argyle, mni': 267 
 
 VI. Inscription for John Earl of Stairs, his burial 
 
 place at Kirkliston Church, *a*TA 1 *o 268 
 
 VII. Letter to James Anderson, Esq. containing a 
 singular charge of Judicial Corruption against 
 Lord Fountainhall, . . . 269 
 
 VIII. Murder of Commissioner Cayley, . 270 
 
 1. Sir Walter Scott's Account, . '* 271 
 
 2. A copy of the Precognition taken in pre- 
 
 sence of Sir James Stewart, his Majes- 
 ty's Solicitor, and Archibald Macaulay, 
 one of the present Baillies of Edinburgh, 
 in the case of Mrs. Mackfarlain, and the 
 deceast Mr. Cayley. With some Obser- 
 vations in Mrs. Murray's vindication, 
 humbly offered to the consideration of 
 the publick. Printed in the year 1716, 272 
 
 3. Extract from Mercurius Politicus ; being 
 
 monthly Observations on the affairs of 
 Great Britain, with the most material 
 occurrences in Europe, for the month of 
 October 1716, by a lover of Old Eng- 
 land j 8vo. London, . . 278 
 
 b 
 
xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 4. Letter to Col. Patrick Vans of Barnbar- 
 
 roch, from William M'Dowall, brother 
 
 of the Laird of French, . . 283 
 
 5. Verses on the Murder of Mr. Cayley, 
 
 from MSS. formerly belonging to George 
 Chalmers, Esq. . . 284 
 
 IX. Some Account of Alexander Rose, late Lord 
 
 Bishop of Edinburgh, . . 286 
 
 X. Inscriptions in the Family Aisle in Abercorn 
 Church, upon Thomas Dal yell of Binns, and 
 his Lady, Janet Bruce, . 290 
 
 INDEX OP NAMES, . . 293 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 HE funereal poems collected in this volume, 
 although deficient in poetical merit, de- 
 serve preservation, as adding some, by 
 no means unimportant, additions to our 
 store of historical and biographical information. 
 They have been printed from copies, many of which 
 are unique, preserved either in the Library of the 
 Faculty of Advocates, or obligingly communicated 
 by private individuals. 
 
 Old Robert Mylne, the indefatigable collector of 
 the last century, had amassed a most extraordinary 
 collection of single leaves, usually denominated broad- 
 sides, principally of a poetical description, and very 
 rich in Epithalamia and Funeral Verses. These, 
 after the dispersion of his valuable library, fell into 
 the hands of George Paton, and at his sale were 
 bought by the late Mr. William Blackwood, in whose 
 book catalogue for 1812, they were offered for sale, 
 but without any price being affixed. The well known 
 bookseller and publisher, Mr. Archibald Constable, 
 became the purchaser, and doubtless the price given 
 
xx PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 was in due proportion to the rarity of the article sold. 
 Subsequently Mr. David Constable acquired the en- 
 tire collection, when he catalogued each broadside 
 separately, and offered them to the public in the 
 catalogue of tracts* published by him for that pur- 
 pose. As the sale by private bargain did not answer 
 the expectation formed, the unsold portion of the 
 catalogue was disposed of in lots by Mr. John Car- 
 frae, and the collection of poetical broadsides broken 
 up. The Elegies and Epithalamia were bought by 
 C. K. Sharpe, Esq., who has kindly given the Editor 
 access to them, and the rest, consisting of ballads, 
 laudatory verses, &c. &c. were acquired by the Editor 
 and David Laing, Esq., Librarian to the Society of 
 Writers to the Signet. It is a subject of regret 
 that so singular a collection should have been di- 
 vided, and it affords one proof, amongst many, of 
 the inexcusable neglect of those who at the time had 
 charge of the interests of the Advocates 1 Library, 
 as the entire mass, many articles of which were 
 unique, might have been deposited in that national 
 establishment at the expenditure of a few pounds. 
 
 A few elegies and funeral verses of a more recent 
 date, but not on that account the less interesting, 
 were obligingly furnished by Mr. David Haig of the 
 Advocates 1 Library. The originals, for the most 
 part, are in a very fragile state, owing to their 
 having been exposed to damp previous to their com- 
 ing into his possession. They have all been included 
 in this volume. The Editor is also indebted to Mr. 
 
 * Printed for John Stevenson, Edinburgh, 1827, 8vo. 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. xxi 
 
 Laing for access to such elegies as were in his col- 
 lection. 
 
 The Scotish muse never excelled in elegiac strains, 
 and those persons who have written verses of this de- 
 scription are for the most part lamentably prosaic. 
 A brief notice of productions of this kind, after 1600 
 until the commencement of this collection, may not 
 be unacceptable. Alexander Gardyne, the author of 
 a " Garden of Godlie and Gothic Flowers, Sonets, 
 Elegies, and Epitaphs," which he tells the reader 
 was " planted, polished, and perfected," by him, has 
 several elegies chiefly on persons connected with 
 Aberdeen. The rarity of the volume may be an ex- 
 cuse for giving a specimen.* 
 
 UPON THE VERTEOUS AND WORTHIE VIRGIN 
 HELEN CHEIN. 
 
 Injurious death, thy rage is but regard, 
 No reason reuls where once thou gets a rest : 
 With reprobats the right reaps like rewarde, 
 The godles, good, the mean, and mightiest, 
 Thy dart to dust does reddie bring the best ; 
 
 * Only one copy is known to exist. It was printed at Edinburgh by 
 Thomas Finlason 1609. Garden or Gardyne, was the author of a Poem 
 entitled the Theatre of the Scotish Kings, which, after remaining 
 long in manuscript, was published by Watson in 1709. The following 
 advertisement, relative to its publication, appears in the Scots Post- 
 man, No. 223 " This day (June 30th) is publish'd, the Theatre of 
 Scotish Kings; giving the just character of each of these Princes: 
 written in an old, but very significant dialect, in the year 1625, by 
 Alexander Garden, P. P. at Aberdeen. Done from the original 
 manuscript, and never before published. Printed by James Watson, 
 and sold at his shop, next door to the Red Lyon, opposite to the 
 Luckenbooths. Price one shilling." 
 
xxii PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 And ay, thou wretch, the worthiest inwyes, 
 
 As on this maid thou hes made manifest, 
 
 That here inter'd into this temple lyes, 
 
 The wisest wight that nature could devyse, 
 
 Whose fame thy force and furie shall confound. 
 
 When from each pen her praise ;>roceid thou spies, 
 
 Then death to all shall to thy disgrace dedound, 
 
 And where she rests shall he enrold thy rage, 
 For marring her in morning of her age. 
 
 In another rare volume, entitled, " The Poetical 
 Recreations of Mr. Alexander Craig of Rosecraig,"* 
 there is the following Epitaph, " To his dear friend 
 Mr. Al. Dickson, Master of the Art of Memorie, 
 who dyed at Winchester in England/" 
 
 That Thracian forme at birth of friends to weepe, 
 
 And to be glad when as againe they dye : 
 
 My sigh-swolne heart can not consent to keepe, 
 
 Since I deare friend must sigh and murne for thee. 
 
 Now have I los'd my second selfe I see, 
 
 To whom shall I (since thou art dead) bemoue : 
 
 Most rich of all (the Scythians say) is hee, 
 
 That hath true friends, now I, alas, have none. 
 
 No other death of ould the Hircans choos'd, 
 
 But to be kild by these same dogs they fed : 
 
 Displeasure so to be ingratlie vs'd, 
 
 Hath broght brave Dickson to his cognat bed. 
 
 Thou taught the art of memorie to those 
 
 That seem'd thy friends, yet prou'd in end thy foes. 
 
 If the fame of William Drummond rested upon 
 his elegiac poems, it would not stand very high : his 
 
 * At Edinburgh, Printed by Thomas Finlason, 1609, with Licence, 
 Small 4to. Dedicated to George Earl Dunbar. The editor is in 
 possession of a copy ; but there is not one in the Library of the Faculty 
 of Advocates. His other poems the Editor has not seen. 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. xxiii 
 
 tears on the death of Prince Henry have but little 
 to recommend them, and his elegy on Sir Anthony 
 Alexander is common place. Neither do his minor 
 elegiac verses possess much vigour or originality.* 
 
 In 1622, John Lyon published his " Teares " upon 
 the death of the Earl of Dumfermline, and but for 
 the extremely beautiful lines at the end, upon the 
 uncertainty of life, he could never have been mis- 
 taken for a poet. 
 
 * ' : , v^Mr/'fc-; <?."'fri9y r_urii noa idi not 1 
 
 The following verses in Scotch and Latin on " M. 
 Johne. Skene.-f- of. his. guid. Renowne," are now for 
 the first time printed from the original MS. 
 
 Ane godlie man he was heir intill the warld, 
 
 His run, his race, heirefter surlie will be tauld, 
 
 Trew, faithfull, honest, he was heir in all degrie, 
 
 Helpit the pure intill thair grit neid and po\ertie, 
 
 His name is callit among Cristeans Maister John Skene, 
 
 His Saveour sueit did him meit, he saw him with his eine, 
 
 The bell did knell, lamenting was sair for his deid, 
 
 The Holie Gost he hes not lost to be for to suplie his neid 
 
 Ane milk quhyt dow did allow his saull to be gloreouslie, 
 
 For Chryst his resin in fyve slopes to hevin for him to testifie 
 
 Thrie in degrie now perfytlie had him rin out his race, 
 
 Faith, love, and hope, to hevin to lope to his duelling place, 
 
 His name and fame I have endit with his good renowne 
 
 For Chryst his saveour hes crownit him wt ane glorious crowne. 
 
 * See Elegy on the death of John Earl of Lauderdale, Verses on 
 the death of a Young Lady, &c. Drummond's Poems, Maitland Club 
 Edition. 
 
 f He was Clerk Register in 1593, and was designed Sir John Skeen 
 of Curriehill, was President of the Session in 1626, and died 15th Oc- 
 tober 1633, ' betwixt 5 and 6 in the afternoon, at his lodging beside 
 the gramer school of Edinr." (Book of Sederunt.) 
 
xxiv PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 Sguan nem Christi habet sic me placet cum angelis in sempiterna 
 Alba columba Signum est sub mea umbra vt regnat in ccelo. 
 Comparator composuit. 
 R. D. 
 
 In excessum Clarissimi viri Domini 
 
 Joannis Skinaei, Regi quondam 
 
 dum per setatem licuit, 
 
 et lubuit, ab Archi- 
 
 vis et Consiliis. 
 
 Non sibi sed regi genitus, patriaeque, et amicis, 
 
 Arcanae Themidis cui patuere fores. 
 Skinseus florente sevo, venerabile nomen 
 
 Promeritus, Regi profuit, et patriae. 
 Regis enim Daniam jussus paranymphus adviret 
 
 Sedula legati munia gnarus obit. 
 Scita dedit patriae, corpus coalescere in unum 
 
 Quse sparsa innummeris ante voluminibus 
 Et modo supremi fuerat pars magna Senatus 
 
 Cui cura Archivis invigilasse fuit. 
 Nunc cathedras liquit et pulpita pragmaticorum 
 
 Muniaque undantis irrerequieta togas. 
 Invidia Nemesis vivo datraxerat, hoc sed 
 
 Post obitum triplici foenore reddet Honos. 
 Jo. Ray. 
 
 The death of Patrick Forbes, Bishop of Aber- 
 deen, and Baron of Corse and O'Neil,* called forth 
 
 * Patrick Forbes, 5th laird of Corse, was elected Bishop of Aber- 
 been in 1618, and died in 1635. His son, Dr. John Forbes of Corse, 
 a man of great learning and abilities, filled the Chair of Divinity 
 at King's College, Aberdeen, till he was expelled by the Cove- 
 nanters. Of three younger brothers of the Bishop, one, having ac- 
 quired a large fortune at Dantzig, purchased the lands of Craigievar 
 and Fintray, and was ancestor of the present Sir William Forbes of 
 Craigievar ; another died minister of Delft in Holland, and was father 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. xxv 
 
 various funeral poems both in Latin and English.* 
 The most curious, and not the least poetical in the 
 list, are the verses termed " Rabans Regrate," which 
 being the production of Edward Raban, " Master 
 Printer, the first in Aberdene," are worthy of inser- 
 tion here. *? - 
 
 Behold ! Alace ! Here lyeth one 
 
 Who on this earth compare hath none ; 
 
 A learned patron, wyse and grave, 
 
 A consull good. What would you have ? 
 
 Chiefe Orator of Scotland's north. 
 
 The world cannot afford his worth. 
 
 A Prelate and a Pastor good, 
 
 Who in due time, gaue heavenlie food, 
 
 At morne, at noone, and evening tyde, 
 
 Unto his flocke, sweet JESUS bryde, 
 
 The poore, with meat, hee fed also 
 
 None hungrie from his bouse did goe, 
 A crosse into his badge hee bore, 
 
 And follow'd CHRIST, who went before 
 
 But halfe a day, for to prepare 
 
 For Corse with HIM, an heavenlie share. 
 
 Then death ! where is thy sting ? let see. 
 
 And grave ? where is thy victory ? 
 
 Your honour in the dust is spred, 
 
 PATRICKS now reygnes with CHRIST his head. 
 
 Deaths best a passage to convoy 
 
 Such Sayncts unto their Master's joy. 
 
 The Lord prepare us, lesse and more, 
 To follow him, hee's gone before, 
 
 of Patrick Forbes, Bishop of Aberdeen ; and a third, having made a 
 considerable fortune in Ireland, was progenitor of the Earls of Granard, 
 in that kingdom. 
 
 * ' Funerals of a Right Reverend Father in God, Patrick Forbes of 
 Corse.*' Aberdene, 1635. Copies of this work, with the portrait of 
 the Bishop, are rare. 
 
xxvi PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 Good Sirs I am behind the rest 
 I doe confess for want of skill ; 
 But not a whit behind the best 
 To shew th' affection of good will. 
 
 Edward Raban, Master Printer, the 
 first in Aberdene, 
 
 Henry A damson's Muses Threnodie, or mirthfull 
 mournings on the death of Walter Gall,* cannot pro- 
 perly be designated as a funeral poem. It is a dia- 
 logue between the Author and Mr. James Gall, in 
 which a very interesting account of many remarkable 
 antiquities of Scotland, and especially of the city of 
 Perth is introduced. The Poet Drummond, whose 
 recommendatory letter is prefixed, very justly says: 
 " These papers of your mournings on Master Gall 
 appeare unto me as Alcibiadis Sileni^ which ridicu- 
 lously look, with the faces of Sphinxes, Chimerae, 
 Centaures on their outsides, but invarablie containe 
 rare artifice, and rich jewels of al sorts, for the de- 
 lights and well of Man." 
 
 About this period the verses which have been in- 
 cluded in this volume commence. Probably other 
 elegies, at least between this time and the Restora- 
 tion, have escaped the editor's notice. Indeed the 
 great rarity of early Scotish poetry of every descrip- 
 tion, makes extreme accuracy almost impossible, as 
 now and then some new volume turns up, the exis- 
 tence of which was previously unknown. Besides, 
 when circulated in the humble guise of broadsides, 
 
 * Printed at Edinburgh, in King James College, by George Ander- 
 son, 1638. 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. xxvii 
 
 verses of every description usually experience the 
 fate attendant upon such ephemeral productions. 
 
 After the Restoration, a monopoly of funeral elegies 
 seems to have existed amongst a set of rhymers, who 
 traded on their very small stock of poetical talent. 
 From an entry in the very minute and curious note- 
 books of Sir John Fowlis of Ravelston, Bart., it is in- 
 structed that he paid "Mungo Murray," some of whose 
 lucubrations are in the present volume, the sum of 
 four pounds sixteen shillings Scots, for an elegy on his 
 son Primrose,* who had died, and was buried abroad. 
 The class of writers was then different : In the olden 
 days the eulogists were men of superior cast, both 
 as regarded status and fortune ; whereas, towards 
 the end of the seventeenth century, the votaries of 
 Apollo were, for the most part, of an inferior grade, 
 who earned a miserable livelihood, by putting to- 
 gether lines on such private events as might induce 
 a reasonable belief of remuneration. 
 
 The death of any person of the least reputation 
 naturally presented itself as an admirable occasion 
 for extracting a trifle from the pockets of the sur- 
 viving relatives ; and as a funeral was, in ordinary 
 circumstances, never overlooked, as affording a fit- 
 ting opportunity of display, the poetaster was pro- 
 verbially considered a person almost as necessary as 
 the undertaker. 
 
 The Scots had perhaps still have a violent pas- 
 sion for ostentatious exhibition. This was in olden 
 
 * He took the name of Primrose for the estate of Dunipace. 
 
xxviii PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 times displayed on such occasions as offered, and 
 especially at marriages, baptisms, and funerals ; the 
 expenses incurred at all of which became so burden- 
 some, that the Legislature interfered, and an Act 
 was passed, in the third Parliament of Charles the II, 
 (Sept. 13, 1681), cap. 14, for " restraining the exorbi- 
 tant expense of marriages, baptisms, and burials." 
 
 It is strange that Parliament should have been com- 
 pelled to meddle with such domestic matters ;"_a better 
 proof of the extent of the evil can hardly be conceived. 
 
 The provisions of the act relative to burials are 
 curious ; it is enacted, " That there shall not be in- 
 vited to burials any greater number of persons then 
 these following, viz. to the burial of Noblemen and 
 Bishops and their wives, not above one hundred No- 
 blemen and Gentlemen : To the burial of a Baron of 
 quality not above sixty ; and other landed gentlemen 
 not above thirty. And that the mourners at the 
 burials of Noblemen and Bishops, and their ladies, 
 doe not exceed thirty, and at the burials of Privy- 
 Counsellors, Lords of Session, Barons, Provosts of 
 Burghs, and their wives, the number of mourners do 
 not exceed twenty-four, and to the burials of all other 
 landed Gentlemen and Citizens within Burghs, they 
 doe not exceed the number of twelve : and prohibits 
 and dischargis the using or carrying of any pensils, 
 banners, and other penouns, at burials, except only 
 the eight branches to be upon the pall ; or upon the 
 coffin, where there is no pall." The use of mourn- 
 ing cloaks was also prohibited. 
 
 In the ensiling reign, the attention of Parliament 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. xxix 
 
 was directed to the mode of interment, and it was 
 enacted that, (1, James VII, Sess. 2, Cap. 35 V), 
 all persons were to be buried in plain Scots linen, 
 noblemen under the penalty of ^300 Scots, and 
 other individuals under a penalty of 200 Scots, 
 half of which was to go to the informer, and half to 
 the poor. The minister of the parish was ordered to 
 keep a register of burials within his parish, and that 
 one or more of the near relations of the deceased, or 
 some other credible persons, (tenants in the county 
 and cottars being excepted), should, within eight 
 days after such interment, bring a certificate, on 
 oath, in writing, witnessed by two " famous " wit- 
 nesses, declaring that the body of the defunct had 
 been " wound and wrapt 11 in the linen, as required by 
 the act ; which certificate was to be recorded gratui- 
 tously by the clergyman. The penalty for failing to 
 comply with this injunction was forfeiture of the goods 
 of the defunct, or of his parents, with whom he might 
 have resided infamilia, for payment of the fine. 
 
 If the clergyman should prove negligent in obey- 
 ing the order of the act, he was to be made person- 
 ally liable for the fine, one half of which was to be 
 given to the first informer against him, and the 
 other to the poor of the parish. The mode of en- 
 forcing the statute was before " any judge com- 
 petent, 11 which meant, it is presumed, the judge- 
 ordinary or sheriff of the bounds. Having thus set- 
 tled the costume of the deceased, Parliament next 
 proceeded to fix the price of the coffin, which, what- 
 ever might be the rank of the party, was not to ex- 
 
xxx PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 ceed a hundred merks Scots as the highest rate, to 
 be proportionally less for persons of meaner quality, 
 under penalty of the like sum of a hundred merks. 
 
 In the reign of William and Mary, 1st Par. Sess. 
 3, Cap. 35, the attention of Parliament was still 
 directed to the subject of interment, and an act 
 passed, which limited the price of the Scots linen to 
 be used to twenty shillings Scots per ell, and which 
 required, to prevent any evasion of the preceding 
 statute, the presence of the nearest elder or deacon 
 of the parish, with one neighbour, or two, as requir- 
 ed, when the corpse was placed in the coffin, who 
 were to sign the certificate, &c. No person was to 
 be allowed to make new " dead linen," contrary to 
 the act, under the pain of forfeiting " forty merks 
 to his toties for the use of the poor." 
 
 Inconvenient as these regulations may have been, 
 and inquisitorial as they may now appear, there can- 
 not be much doubt that at the period of their enact- 
 ment, they were both expedient and justifiable ; still 
 repeated statutes were insufficient to repress the 
 indomitable pride of the Scots, and gradually the old 
 abuses were renewed, and the ancient profuse expen- 
 diture resumed.* 
 
 * " The burials,'* says Miss Mure, in her interesting View of the 
 Changes of Manners in Scotland, were " always on foot. The Magi- 
 strates and Town-Council were always invited to that of every person 
 of any consideration. 1500 burial-letters were wrote, says Mr. Bar- 
 cley, at my father's death : the General Assembly was sitting at the 
 time, and all the Clergy were asked, and so great was this crowd, that 
 the Magistrates were at the grave in the Greyfriars Church-yard be- 
 fore the corpse was taken out of the house in the foot of the Advocates 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. xxxi 
 
 It is odd that when the Scots Parliament was 
 legislating on this subject, that no regulation was 
 made as to the extent of treating the visitors, or 
 any limitation of the consumption of viands and 
 drink, which from all accounts appear to have been 
 very profuse, and must have been a sad tax upon 
 the unfortunate heir. In the New Scots Magazine 
 for December 1818, there is a curious document, 
 giving an account of the expenditure of one Alex- 
 ander M of L- during his attendance on the 
 
 obsequies of the late Sir John of "twixt 
 
 himself and company." Why the names are con- 
 cealed is difficult to conceive, as no sufficient reason 
 can at the present period be assigned for such sup- 
 pression. It is prefaced by .the ensuing memoran- 
 dum : 
 
 [The following account of funeral expences in the year 
 1 722, will form a suitable accompaniment to the " Ac- 
 compt of Mrs. Smyth's Wedding Cloaths," printed in our 
 Magazine for October 1817, (Vol. I. p. 224.) We have 
 carefully copied it from the original, obligingly transmit- 
 ted to us by the lineal descendant of the knightly person- 
 age to whose last earthly concerns it relates. For the 
 sake of our southern readers, we have added a supple- 
 Close. A few years before this it had ceased to be the fashion for 
 ladies to walk behind the corpse in full dress, with coloured clothes ; 
 but formerly the chesting was at the same time, and all the females 
 asked, which made part of the procession." The Advocates' Close is 
 one of those long narrow passages running down from the Lawnmarket 
 on the north, and was then inhabited by the very first classes of society 
 in Edinburgh so that as the procession probably took its route by 
 the West Bow, the number of those attending must have been immense. 
 
xxxn 
 
 PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 mentary column,, in which the several sums are reduced 
 into Sterling money. It is somewhat odd, that, in one 
 item, guineas should be mentioned, while the whole is 
 stated in Scots money, as the receipt bears.] 
 
 Account of Contingencies in Alexr. Baillie's house in . Alexr. 
 
 M of L , duieing his stay and attendance upon the ob- 
 sequies of the late Sir John of 
 
 and Company. 
 
 Scots. 
 
 'twixt himself 
 Sterling. 
 
 Mundays Night, 5th March 1722. 
 Incident spendings then, two chappens sack, 
 
 two drams brandy, one bottle of ale att 
 
 supper, . . . . 2 3 6 3 7 
 
 Tuesday Morning. 
 
 Two drams brandy, and two bottles of ale, 090 009 
 
 To furnisht to the square wright, half hunder 
 
 double plensine nails, 6s. as many single, 
 
 4s. as many door nails, 2s. 6d. . 12 6 1 
 
 Att dinner, four battles ale, and on dram, 090 9 
 
 More in company, sex bottles ale, and a mutch- 
 kin brandy, . . . 110019 
 Att night, ten chappens claret, . 7 10 0126 
 Att supper, two drams, and on bottle ale, 076 7 
 Ordered to ladds one gallon ale, . 0160 014 
 To ordered more to runners and others, nine 
 
 bottles ale, and other incidents, . 0156 1 3 
 
 To 1 quire and half paper, . 10 6 10 
 
 Wednesday Morning. 
 
 To two drams, and on bottle ale, . 076 7 
 
 To att dinner, three drams, and eleven bottles 
 
 ale, . . . . 1 5 6 2 1 
 
 Afternoon. 
 To nine bottles ale, two drams brandy, and one 
 
 chappen wine, . . . 1 14 6 2 10 
 
 At Night. 
 To ladds, two bottles ale, . . 030003 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 Thursday Morning. The Burial Day. 
 Three bottles a!e, two bottles wine, one bottle 
 
 and half mutchkin brandy, " . 
 
 To the cook, one mutchkin vinegar, 
 To sent to your chamber of stores, fourteen 
 
 bottles ale, | , f ; , iVj ..^ >jjjy/ 
 To twenty-four bottles claret, , . 
 
 To twelve bottles sack, ' ' '.'/ " . . 
 To three pints brandy, ' ; . iji (! l ni 
 To sent to the house of entertainment at 
 
 R twelve bottles ale, ,,., .,. 
 
 To sex bottles sack, 
 
 At Night. 
 
 To twenty-four bottles claret, . 
 
 To sex bottles ale, "^W. ! s .' ' ' ; ' 7 . ; 
 To 9 bottles ale, [I-yjo, - . 
 To deterioration of new napry, attendance, 
 dyet, and lodgeing, two guineas, 
 
 1UU. xxxiii 
 
 Scots. 
 
 Sterling. 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 41 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Hft 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 W 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 utifi 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 25 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 109 7 9 2 3 
 
 Returned of the within liquids unconsumed. 
 Thirteen bottles sack at the rate within 
 
 charged, ;>.. ^ i,;V- 
 
 Thirteen of claret, 
 Two pints of brandy, J *j- ' ; 
 
 11 14 19 6 
 9 15 16 3 
 4 16 080 
 
 Summ of rebateables, 
 Remains ballance, 
 
 26 5 2 3 9 
 83 2 6 18 6 
 
 Nynth of March M. vijc & twenty-two. The above ballance, ex- 
 tending to eighty-three pounds, two shillings, Scots money, payed by 
 
 Alex. M of L to, and discharged by 
 
 ALEX. BAJLLIE. 
 
 The amount of liquid consumed upon the melan- 
 choly occasion, which called for the presence of Mr. 
 Alexander, was truly considerable, and must have 
 made him and his friends very comfortable. The 
 
 c 
 
xxxiv PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 morning commenced with a dram ; while ale, sack, 
 and claret, with the occasional adjunct of brandy, 
 mellowed them during the remainder of the day. It 
 is singular, that there is no entry of the provision of 
 whisky ; an omission which seems tp imply that the 
 national liquor was not then deemed worthy of 
 being put in competition with Cogniac. 
 
 After this digression as to the passion of the 
 Scots for funeral expense, it may be proper to give 
 some particulars relative to two of the principal con- 
 tributors to this Volume. 
 
 Of the individuals whose rhymes are here preserv- 
 ed, the best known, are the Reverend Ninian Pater- 
 son and Alexander Pennicuik. In point of poetical 
 talent the former is infinitely inferior to the latter : 
 for while Pennicuik possesses a considerable fund of 
 humour, although not of the most refined description, 
 his fellow-rhymster has no pretensions of the kind ; 
 as even his Latin Epigrams, out of which his claims 
 to distinction chiefly arise, are, at least in the humble 
 opinion of the writer, miserably deficient in point. 
 His English poem entitled " The Fanatick Indul- 
 gence,"* which is dedicated to James VII, is coarse 
 without even the qualification of wit. As a specimen, 
 the following passage selected at random may suffice. 
 
 " Muse burn thy bayes, gold and the laurel now 
 Is only given to the thick brained crew. 
 Empiricks let alone, your market falls, 
 The revenues of close-stools and urinals. 
 We need no potions to our pencil and purse, 
 Traitors indulg'd, will gratis murder us," &c. &c. 
 
 * Edinburgh, 1683, small 4to. 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. xxxv 
 
 As the reverend author was not inclined to spare 
 the Presbyterians, as little were they disposed to 
 spare him ; and in the answer to the Scotish Pres- 
 byterian Eloquence,* are certain anecdotes of Mr. 
 Ninian, which infer any thing but purity of morals. 
 But the statements are too improbable to merit 
 belief, as it is impossible to suppose that the Epis- 
 copal Church would have permitted herself to be 
 disgraced by the services of a man whose habits 
 and practices were so openly profligate and aban- 
 doned. George Redpath was the author of the work 
 alluded to a circumstance not adding to its authen- 
 ticity : in truth, the virulence and malicious nature 
 of the charges are sufficiently indicative of their 
 falsity.-)- Had Mr. Redpath imitated the author of 
 the book he intended to answer, by extracts from the 
 works of his opponents, and quotations from their 
 discourses, some credence might be attached to his 
 assertions.! 
 
 Alexander Pennecuik was nephew of Dr. Alex- 
 ander Pennecuik of Newhall and Romanno, an 
 
 London, 1693. See pages 64-65. 
 
 f Perhaps we may be entitled to admit the verity of two of Red- 
 path's averments, 1st, That Ninian Paterson was a little man ; and, 2dly, 
 That he had been married. There appears no sufficient reason to tell 
 an untruth on these two points, as the falsity of what must have been 
 matter of notoriety, would have thrown discredit on the calumnious 
 stories to which he was anxious to give currency. 
 
 J Redpath, from the recent publication of the Jerviswood Papers, 
 the contribution of the Earl of Minto to the Bannatyne Club, is proved 
 to have been a paid agent of the Squad rone. 
 
 See the verses addressed to " my Honoured Uncle, Alexander 
 Pennecuik of Romanno, M.D., upon the publication of his Miscel- 
 
xxxvi PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 author of considerable merit. We are told in the 
 Memoir prefixed to the recent edition of the Doctor's 
 works,* that he had a brother, James Pennecuik, a 
 " practising lawyer " in Edinburgh ; but whether he 
 was the father of Alexander Pennecuik the younger, 
 is uncertain. As the uncle left two daughters, to 
 whom he respectively devised his two estates, it is 
 probable that the nephew inherited nothing from 
 him. Indeed he lived in straitened circumstances 
 all his life, and was no doubt very glad when an op- 
 portunity was afforded him of earning a little money 
 by a funeral elegy. 
 
 In the year 1713, Pennecuik published " Britan- 
 nia Triumphans," in Four Parts. Part I. Pan, a 
 Pastoral : Part II. Magnalia : Part III. Panegyrick 
 on the Royal Family : Part IV. Genethliacons ; or 
 the Saphick Muse. Edin. 1718. 8vo. This pro- 
 duction is exceedingly rare. 
 
 Streams from Helicon, or Poems on various sub- 
 jects, in Three Parts, appeared in 1720. Some of 
 the pieces in this volume were probably separately 
 printed. Pennecuik did not confine his pen to verse, 
 for, in 1720, he printed in 12mo. " An Historical 
 Account of the Blue Blanket, or Craftsmen Banner ; 
 containing the fundamental principles of the Good 
 Town, with the Powers and Prerogatives of the 
 Crafts of Edinburgh. 11 It has been twice reprinted. 
 
 The ensuing year appeared " Cochran and Coch- 
 
 lany Poems," in the second of the MS. collection of Pennicuik's 
 Works, in the Faculty Library, (Vol. II.) 
 
 * Leith, 1815, 8vo. The Doctor died in 1727. P. 30. 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. xxxvii 
 
 rania, a Pastoral on the Nuptials of the High and 
 Potent Prince, His Grace James Duke of Hamil- 
 toun, Chatelherault, and Brandon, &c. with the Lady 
 Anne Cochran, eldest daughter of the Right Hon. 
 John Earl of Dundonald, Sec. Solemnized February 
 14, 1723." Edin. Printed by William Adams, jun. 
 1723. Price 2d. 
 
 Pennecuik, in 1726, commenced his " Entertain- 
 ments for the Curious," of which six numbers appeared. 
 This is probably the work referred to in the note.* 
 A copy of this exceedingly rare work was in Black- 
 wood's Catalogue for 1812, and was subsequently 
 purchased at Mr. Blackwood's sale by Mr. John 
 Stevenson for Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 The Editor has previously alluded to a MS. 
 volume belonging to the Faculty of Advocates, 
 forming the second volume of Pennecuik's works : 
 when it was acquired, or what was the fate of the 
 first volume, has not been ascertained. It com- 
 mences at page 215 with the complimentary verses to 
 
 * " List of the persons who are furnished with my Weekly Papers. 
 9th June 1726: 
 
 1 Mr. Smith, in King's Park. 9 James Reoch. 
 
 2 Mr. Noble, vintner, for a gen- 10 George Gibb. 
 
 tleman in Newcastle. 11 Mr. Greg. 
 
 3 Baillie Thomson. 12 Mr. Fullerton, vintner. 
 
 4 Clerk Grierson. 13 Mr. Stewart, vintner. 
 
 5 Lodowick Black. 14 Mr. Campbell, plumber. 
 
 6 Mr. Baillie. 15 Capt. Williamson. 
 
 7 David M'Millen. 16 Baillie Lyle. 
 
 8 Mr. Sim, painter. 17 James Murray." 
 MS. Advocates Library. 
 
xxxviii PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 his uncle, which are printed in the Streams from Heli- 
 con,* but in place of uncle, as the MS. has it, he is de- 
 signed, " honoured Friend." The MS. copy has some 
 notes which are omitted in the printed one. The next 
 article is the " Character of a Gaudger," opposite 
 to which is placed, " Edin : July 2d, 1759."f 
 
 Then follows this " Description of the Cave of 
 Hathornden," where the famous " poet poured forth 
 his lucubrations," which has some merit, 
 
 Here mighty Damon often sat, 
 
 Whilst he in heavenly numbers wrote, 
 
 The place was pointed out by fate 
 
 For such a muse so vastly great. 
 The cypress grove and easy poems shew 
 What shades like these and souls like his could do ; 
 But Damon's gone, whose Muse did often grace 
 The murmuring Esk. May Roses shade the place ! 
 
 A somewhat long poem comes next, entitled 
 " The Mock Magistrates, a Dutch tale, written ori- 
 ginally in High Dutch by the exquisite pen of 
 Hermanus Van Huff, now faithfully rendered into 
 English." It is a clever satire directed against 
 " Robert Wightman, Dean of Guild, John Wight- 
 man, Provost," " George Drummond, senior, Pro- 
 vost," and " James Nimmo, Thesaurer," of Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 Various additions to the MS. have been made in a 
 different hand, on separate sheets, which have been 
 
 * P. 41. 
 
 f This is inserted, with variations not for the better, in " a collec- 
 tion of Scots Poems on several occasions by the late Mr. Alexander 
 Pennicuik, Gent, and others." Glasgow 1787. 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. xxxix 
 
 stitched in. The last article is in prose, and is en- 
 titled " A Publict and Secret History of the Malt 
 Tax, with the conduct of the Brewers of Edinburgh." 
 At the end are notes apparently of poems by Penni- 
 cuik, prefixed to which is the following memorandum : 
 " A. P.'s poems on the great quarrel that begun 
 with the Tryalls of the Scots Peers at Liverpool 
 and London, in great gray paper." 
 
 In the MS. is the following " Satyre on Sir 
 William Bennet of Grubbet, who after long attend- 
 ance, told Mr. Pennicuik that he should speak to 
 him at another tyme." 
 
 The man whome all men love, I must rebuke 
 For rudeness to our poet Pennecuik, 
 Who's unmatcht modesty all men admyre, 
 Altho' his pen is brimston dipt in fyre, 
 Humbly to you he made his first address 
 To patronize his works rype for the press. 
 Cold was your salutation on the street, 
 As if he'd been the dust beneth your feet: 
 It's true ye've gott on hyer ground, what then ? 
 The Prince of Poets to the Prince of men, 
 He shall record it to your lasting shame ; 
 May never poet eternize your name. 
 Quhen you invoke Appollo to your ryme, 
 His answer be like yours, " Another tyme." 
 
 The following has too much pith in it to be omit- 
 ted, it is entitled " A curse on the Clan M'Phersone, 
 occasioned by the news of Glenbucket his being 
 murdered by them." 
 
 " May that curs'd clan up by the roots be plucked 
 Who's impious hands have kill'd the good Glenbucket ; 
 
xl PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 Villainy far worse than Infidel or Turk, 
 
 To hack his body with your bloody durk, 
 
 A fatal way to make his phisick work. 
 
 Rob Roy* aud you fight 'gainst the noblest names, 
 
 The generous Gordons and the gallant Grahames. 
 
 Perpetual clouds thro' your black clan shall ring; 
 
 Traitors 'gainst God, and Rebells 'gainst your King, 
 
 Until you feel the law's severest rigour, 
 
 And be extinguished like the base McGregor. 
 
 Pennicuik was also the Author of the " Mourn- 
 full Shepherds, a Pastoral sacred to the memory of 
 Sir Francis Grant of Cullen, one of the Senators of 
 the College of Justice, who died 23d March 1726." 
 In this, which is written in broad Scotch, three speak- 
 ers, Gibby, Archie, and Willie, are introduced. Wil- 
 lie and Gibby are proceeding home from tending their 
 flock, anticipating some dire result from the gloomi- 
 ness around them, when they hear a shout, and 
 Archie enters and announces the death of " Francie." 
 This, of course, is the subject of general lament. f 
 
 Probably many of the articles in the MS. appear- 
 ed in the " Entertainment for the Curious ;" but as 
 no copy of this weekly collection can be procured, 
 the Editor has been unable to ascertain how the fact 
 really stands. 
 
 When Pennicuik died is not known. In 1787, a 
 collection of Scots poems, ' by the late Mr. Alex- 
 
 * Rob Roy at this period seems to have been somewhat quiet. He is 
 in the list of Subscribers to Keith's Church History. Strange that a 
 Highland cateran should commence studying Church history in his 
 old age. 
 
 + The only copy of the Pastoral that the writer has seen, is one 
 purchased by him in 1837 from the publisher of this volume. 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. xli 
 
 ander Pennicuik, Gent, and others," was published 
 at Glasgow, from which it might be inferred that he 
 had not then been dead a very long time, and if the 
 character of a Gauger was only written, or finally 
 corrected in " July 2d 1759,"* he must have sur- 
 vived for many years after the date of his printed 
 works. 
 
 An elegy occurs at p. 178, on the Marquis of Tulli- 
 bardine, with the initials R. S. These are intended, 
 the Editor has subsequently ascertained, to indicate 
 Robert Smith, Schoolmaster at Glenshee, who print- 
 ed, in 1714, 12mo. a volume entitled " Smith's poems 
 of controversy betwixt Episcopacy and Presbytery, 
 being the substance of what passed 'twixt him and 
 several other poets ; as also several poems and merry 
 songs on other subjects, with some funeral Elegies 
 on several noblemen and gentlemen ; in two parts." 
 It is a very odd Miscellany, in which one or two poems 
 of no inconsiderable merit may be found. His de- 
 scription of the Highlanders at Braemar is hu- 
 morous. 
 
 " Behold and see their prettie feet 
 
 Adorn'd with upland shoes, 
 
 Yet he is never a man compleat 
 
 Till he get tartan trews : 
 
 With a bullet bag upon his belt 
 
 To hing upon his thigh, 
 
 With a rusty dirk and iron hilt 
 
 To come beneath his knee. 
 
 O happy's he who can command 
 
 A horn for his powder, 
 
 * See No. 2 of the second volume of his works. 
 
xlii PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 With a sooty gun into his hand 
 
 Or else upon his shoulder ; 
 
 There on the Kirk he's fit to go 
 
 For to hear a preachment ; 
 
 But he must have a sword also, 
 
 For its a great impeachment. 
 
 Upon his honour who hath not 
 
 A measure for his powder, 
 
 That he aright may measure his shot, 
 
 And it hings over his shoulder, &c. &c. 
 
 All of them doth robbery know 
 
 Since JAMES the Seventh's reign, 
 
 But they have suffer'd meikle woe 
 
 Since ANN became their Queene. 
 
 Here honesty was much cry'd doun, 
 
 Even in the days of old, 
 
 But law hath forc'd every clown 
 
 To take him to some hold. 
 
 Sore is their hearts that they must gain 
 
 Their bread by sweat of brows ; 
 
 If 't had remain'd as it began 
 
 They'd liv'd on stoll'n cows. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 With slashing and souching 
 Each one his cutty seeks, 
 They care not, nor spare not, 
 The cold, for want of breeks. * 
 
 The Elegy on Tullibardine is reprinted in the vo- 
 lume-f- in which also are funeral verses to the memory 
 of Mr. Alexander Campbell, sometime a preacher, 
 of Patrick Lord Glammis, who died in 1709, of 
 Lachlan M'Pherson, who died in 1708, of Alex- 
 ander Ferguson or Farquharson of Bruchderger, 
 
 * Page 82. t Page 106. 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. xliii 
 
 who departed this life the 15th of February 1710, 
 of James Hog of Remore, of Mr. Hary Forbes, 
 son of Mr. John Forbes, Parson of Kincardine- 
 O'Neil, and of Margaret Rattray Lady of Bleaton, 
 who died on the 7th of January 1710. 
 
 As to the other individuals who figure as Authors 
 in the ensuing pages, such information as has been 
 obtained is generally added in a note to the elegy, or 
 embodied in the introductory notice.* 
 
 As a few Latin verses have been inserted, the 
 general title of " Scotish Elegiac Verses" may 
 admit of cavil ; yet as they are written by Scotch- 
 men on Scotchmen, it is, perhaps, not so inappro- 
 priate as at first sight it might appear to be. 
 
 It remains for the Editor only to mention that the 
 Impression is limited to NINETY copies on Small, 
 TWENTY-FOUR on Large Paper, and ONE ON VELLUM. 
 
 3, LONDON STREET, 
 December 1842. 
 
 * In the first part of the third volume of the Miscellany of the 
 Maitland Club, just circulated among the Members, there is a curious 
 list of pensions and fees in Scotland, commencing with Charles II, 
 and ending with William III. In that for the year 1667, there is an 
 entry of 200, whether Scots or Sterling, is not mentioned, but 
 probably the former, as paid to '* Mungo Moray, Lieutenant of the 
 Guard." Was this the poetaster ? The name does not appear in the 
 subsequent lists. 
 

CHKONOLOGICAL INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 1629 Crawford, Sir John, of Kilbirny, 1 
 
 1632 Blair, William, Minister of Dumbarton, . 6 
 
 Law, James, Archbishop of Glasgow, . 3 
 
 1634 Kinnoul, George, Earl of, . . . 7 
 
 1661 Buccleugh, Mary, Countess of, . 126 
 
 Fraser, Sir Alexander, of Doores, . . 1 3, 1 6 
 
 1675 Perth, James, Earl of, . . . . 51 
 
 1679 Sharpe, James, Archbishop of St. Andrews, 10 
 
 Wemyes, David, Earl of, js.4 v 1.^*1 ^d.>|^ 21 
 
 1681 Rothes, John, Duke of, -Ur>' < .-< \W' 28 
 
 1682 Austruther, Sir James, of Airdrie, Y 31 
 
 1683 Cockburn, Major William, . ' '. ' ' 'j 32 
 Young, Alexander, Lord Bishop of Rosse, 43 
 
 1684 Montrose, James, Lord Marquess of, : --.' 24 
 Napier, Lady Elizabeth Areskine, Lady, 81 
 
 1685 Charles the Second, . . . . 54 
 Dalziel, General Thomas, of Binns,, 38 
 Falconer, Sir David, Lord President, . 42 
 Monteith, George, Merchant in Edinburgh, 36 
 
 1686 Lee, Lady Lockhart, of, ! . 48 
 Napier, Thomas, Lord, 56 
 Robertson, Thomas, Baillie of Edinburgh, 60 
 
 1688 Ramsay, Sir Andrew, of Abbotshall, 63 
 Wedderburn, John, of Gosford, . 67, 69 
 
xlvi CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX. 
 
 1689 Haly burton, David, Laird of Pitcur, . 71 
 Ramsay, Gilbert, ... 72 
 
 1690 M'Kenzie, Sir George, of Rosehaugh, . 78 
 Pringle, George, of Torwoodlee, . 74 
 
 1692 Lauder, Sir John, of Fountainhall, Bart, 84 
 
 1693 Sharp, Sir William, of Stonriiehili, . 77 
 1695 Milne, Umphrey, . . 87 
 
 1698 Crawford, William, Earl of, . . 99 
 Lundin, James, of that Ilk, . 105 
 Masterton, Francis, Apothecary, . 97 
 Reath, Alexander, Lord, . . 90 
 
 1699 Bruce, Andrew, Bishop of Orkney, 93 
 Kirkton. James, one of the Ministers of Edin- 
 burgh, ... 95 
 
 Melvil, Captain George, of Crescents-hall, 103 
 
 1700 Dunlop, William, Principal of Glasgow Uni- 
 
 versity, . 110 
 
 Elcho, Lady Ann, . . . 112 
 
 Haddow, Lieut. Thomas, . . 114 
 
 Hog, Sir Rodger, of Harcarse, 107 
 Ronald, Duncan, Director- Depute of Chancery, 120 
 
 Rothes, Margaret, Countess of, . 124 
 
 Scheills, Rev. Alexander, . 115,118 
 
 1701 Hamiltoun, Lord Basil, . 129, 131, 133 
 Rule, Gilbert, Principal of Edinburgh College, 127 
 
 1702 Leven, Anne, Countess of, . 136, 138, 
 Shaw, Sir John, of Greenock, . 144 
 William the Third, . . .141 
 
 1703 Argyle, Archibald, Duke of, . 148 
 Southerland, George, Earl of, . 146 
 
 1705 Falconer, Sir James, of Phesdo, . 151 
 
 1707 Athole, Catherine, Dutchess of, . 158 
 
 Hume, Sir David, of Crossrig, . 160 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX. xlvii 
 
 1707 Stairs, John, Earl of, mi I ,2; t 152, 154 
 
 1708 Belhaven, John Hamilton, Lord, ".fJN 162 
 Hamilton, Lord John, of Balhaven, 164, 166 
 
 1709 Crechton, Rev. William, /a*? . ^kiV 180 
 Meldrum, George, Professor of Divinity, 170 
 Queensberry and Dover, The Dutchess of, 168 
 Tullibardine, John, Marquis of, [ . ! -l*' 178 
 
 1710 Montrose, Lady Christian, Marchioness of, 173 
 
 1711 Anstruther, Sir William, of that Ilk, . 175 
 Fisher, Thomas, Merchant in Edinburgh, 185 
 Hamilton, John, Minister of the Grey-friars 
 
 Parish, Edinburgh, .... 187 
 Wilkie, Thomas, Minister of the Canongate 
 Parish, Edinburgh, . . . 183 
 
 1713 Lauder, Lady, of Fountainhall, . . 188 
 Pitcairne, Doctor Archibald, . 197, 200 
 Riddel, Sir John, of that Ilk, . . 204 
 Stewart, Sir James, her Majestie's Advocate, 
 
 192, 194, 196 
 
 1714 Cromarty, George, Earl of, . . . 206 
 Bowhill, John Murray, Lord, . . 208 
 
 1715 Burnet, Doctor Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Salis- 
 
 bury, . . . . . . 210 
 
 Forquhar (Forfar), Earl of, ... 212 
 
 1716 Hamilton, Anne, Dutchess of, . 214 
 Kello (Cayley), Commissioner,- . 202 
 
 1717 Brand, Mr., Student of Philosophy, . 218 
 Dunbreck, Charles, Captain of the City Guard, 216 
 
 1719 Mitchell, John, ... 241 
 
 1720 Delape, Rev. William, . . 227 
 Drummond, Capt. Geo. . . 225 
 Rose, Alexander, Lord Bishop of Edinburgh, 220 
 Strathnaver, William, Lord, . . 223 
 
xlviii 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX. 
 
 1720 Webster, Rev. James, 242 
 
 1721 Belhaven, John, Lord, . . 228 
 Dalrymple, Sir David, Bart, of Hailes, 231 
 
 1722 Nisbet, William, of Dirleton, . 236 
 
 1723 Calder, Rev. Robert, . , .239 
 Murray, Mrs. Elizabeth, . . , 247 
 
 1724 Athole, John, Duke of, . .251 
 1726 Paterson, Rev. Thomas, . . 253 
 1729 Pancaitland. Robert Hamilton, Lord, . 255 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 i. 
 
 $o6(lt!3 Sfoamus Cratorlrtt, 
 ItflBmrnft, &tern& tnemorue 
 
 Campirfltts* 
 
 This and the three following Latin Funeral Poems are appended to 
 the Sermon preached by Ninian Campbell at the funeral of John 
 Crawford of Kilbirny and his Lady, of which an imperfect copy 
 occurs in a volume of Pamphlets collected by the well-known Robert 
 Mylne, now in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, and marked 
 DDD. 6-26. Ninian Campbell, in his Preface, commences thus, 
 " Ye are all here conveened this day to per forme the last Christian 
 duties to a respected and worthy Baron, with his honourable Lady, 
 who both have lived amongst you in this land, and whose embalmed 
 corps, both yee now honour, and your mourning presence and happy 
 farewell to their grave." The Sermon itself, which is really, as the 
 head title runs, " a Treatise upon Death," gives very little informa- 
 tion relative to the persons upon whose demise it was preached. We 
 are told, however, " that Honourable Baron, whose corps lyeth 
 there in the flower of his yeares, in the strength of his youth, in 
 
 A 
 
2 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 the prime of his designes, even when young men use to take up 
 themselves, is fallen, and mowne downe from amongst us, like a 
 May flower in a green meadow." 
 
 " His vertuous lady, who having languished a little after him, howbeit 
 tender in body, yet strong in minde, and full of courage, took 
 her dear husband's death in so good part, thaflshee did not give the 
 least token of hopelesse and helplesse sorrow. Yet wearying to 
 stay after her love, she posted after him, and slept peacebly in 
 the Lord, $s Mer husband before her.'' 
 
 " This noblemen, gentlemen, and men of account amongst us, 
 have assured mee. So then, as neither the husband's ancient 
 
 house, nor his honourable birth, nor his noble allye, nor 
 
 his able and strong body, nor his kinde, stout, liberall minde, 
 nor the rest of the ornaments which were in him alive, and 
 which recommend brave gentlemen to the view of this gazing 
 world, could keepe him from a preceding death. So neither the 
 spouse's noble race of generous and religious progenitours, nor a 
 wise carriage in a well led life, nor the rest of her womanish perfec- 
 tions, could free her from a subsequent death, both due to them 
 and us for our sins." 
 
 John Crawford married Lady Mary Cunninghame, a daughter of the 
 Earl of Glencairn, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. 
 The husband and wife died in 1629. 
 
 SICCINB Kilburni, florentis stamina vitse, 
 
 Ante diem rupit Parca severa tuae ? 
 Attamen exultas, quoniam mens inscia fati, 
 
 Prsepetibus pennis caelica., templa subit. 
 Haurit ubi puros latices, et nectaris uvas, 
 
 Coelestis diu vivit et Ambrosia. 
 Ponite lactificos gestamina tristia cultus, 
 
 Ponite funereas vos pia turba faces. 
 Vivit quern fletis, votum super omne vigetque 
 
 Despectant occulis inferiora suis. 
 Non est mortalis, (quantum mutatur ab illo ?) 
 
 Qui colit setherei culmina celsa poli : 
 Atque Dei vitam degit felicibus ausis, 
 
 Humano major nomine, voce, vice. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 3 
 
 IDEM HOC NATI,PATRIS, ET MATRIS ; QUI UNO EODEMQUE 
 
 MENSE OBIERANTV, EPITAPHIUM. 
 
 Post natum Genitor, post hunc dulcissima Mater, 
 Hoc guadent tumulo corpora trina simul. 
 
 Natus prsecessit Genitorem, funera Mater ; 
 Tertia subsequitur, Mensis et unus erat. 
 
 Felices animae ! quibus his excedere terris, 
 Sic datur, et vita jam potiore frui. 
 
 II. 
 
 fin tJitum fam tolcn&tggfmi 
 
 (Bflasttttusfe 
 
 cfjopt, trc cttntatc , acairnma 
 
 rt mfcsia fi&ttew 
 
 wmtissiwi 
 
 James Law, the son of a small feuar in Fifeshire, by Agnes Strang, 
 who is said by Keith (Bishops, 268, 8vo. ed.) to be descended of 
 the house of Balcasky, was Minister of Kirkliston 1582 Bishop 
 of Orkney 1610 and Archbishop of Glasgow 1615 ; which See he 
 held until his death in November 1632. He was twice married; 
 1st, to a daughter of Dundas of Newlislon ; and 2d, to Marion Boyle, 
 a daughter of Boyle of Kelburn, who survived him, and erected a mo- 
 nument to his memory in the High Church of Glasgow, the Latin 
 inscription on which will be found in Monteith's Theatre of Mor- 
 tality, part 2d. Edin. 1713. P. 134,) with a translation. 
 
 The Archbishop, according to Wood, (Life of John Law of Laurjw- 
 ton, p. 2.) was the immediate ancestor of the celebrated financier, 
 and of the late Marquis de Lauriston, Marshal of France 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Ad civitatem Glascuensem. 
 
 Alma quid incedis funesto Glascua cultu, 
 
 Et faedata modis tristibus ora geris ? 
 An quod vester amor vita jactatus acerba, 
 
 Prsesul post longse taedia dura mori 
 Suspiret potiore frui ? qui gaudia laeta 
 
 Carpat, et innocuis concelebrata jocis. 
 Sentiat ac purum divini numinis haustum, 
 
 Atque nova mill turn luce trumphet ovans, 
 Non quae sublimis transcendit culmina mundi 
 
 Celsa triumpbatrix mens modo plena deo 
 Tangitur immodico luctu. Quid inania vota 
 
 Fundis ? divino vivitur arbitrio. 
 Ilium flere nefas, cujus pars optima vitse 
 
 Nil aliud docuit quam didicisse mori. 
 Si mors dicenda est, per quam prope numen amicum 
 
 Inque serenati degitur arce poli. 
 
 III. 
 
 ft 
 
 trortos flut air funtts 
 8ttw to tonfluxetant. 
 
 Ah prima co3li cura, virtutum parens, 
 
 Lumen juventae vividum, 
 Phoabi suppellex, dia nutrix artium 
 
 Sedes honorum splendida. 
 Quid nunc jaces afllicta curis acribus 
 
 Et mersa patris funere, 
 Praeluxit olim qui tibi ? nunc additus 
 
 Cselo jubar fulget novum. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES 
 
 Lugesne ademptum coetibus mortalium, 
 
 Qui gaudet aula caelica ? 
 Nee non beatus, tot us et plenus Deo, 
 
 Portum salutis appulit ? 
 Ast heu miselli volvimur nos fluctibus, 
 
 A patria nostra procul. 
 Non hie querelis mollibus, non planctibus 
 
 Vrgendus heros amplius 
 Tradux olympi nam soluta ergastulo, 
 
 Mens fessa terrae ponderis, 
 Miscetur albo coelitum, qui concinunt 
 
 Laudes dicatas numini. 
 Quod gloriosa luce perfusi vident, 
 
 Mirantur, et fixi stupent. 
 Non est quod ergo prosequaics Nenia, 
 
 Manes quietos praesulis, 
 O turba vatum,, quse pia in fletum fluis, 
 
 Mcerente lessu personans. 
 Cunctis terrenda est haec semel lethi via, 
 
 Nos proximi fato sumus : 
 Quos continenter distrabunt moeror, pavor, 
 
 Et mortis atrae vulnera, 
 Donee peracta, fata quam cement, vice 
 
 Clemens Deus nos uniat ; 
 Qui gestiamus libero et vero bono, 
 
 Per tota laeti secula. 
 
 Anno 1632. Nonas Novembris. 
 
! SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 IV. 
 
 En <Sft(tttw TFivi Ent*gwr(wt 
 
 lanti 
 f^ttan- 
 
 William Blair, Minister of the Gospel at Dumbarton, was the son of 
 John Blair, a merchant adventurer at sea, and grandson of Alex- 
 ander Blair of Windyedge, a cadet of the family of Blair of Blair. 
 His mother was Beatrix Muir, of the ancient family of Rowallan. 
 He had three brothers, John, James, and Robert. The latter is well 
 known as an eminent champion of the kirk. Memoirs of his life, 
 the first part written by himself, and a second part by Mr. William 
 Row, Minister of the Gospel at Ceres, were printed by Andrew 
 Stevenson, at Edinburgh, 1 754, 1 2mo. The Reverend Robert Blair 
 was the grandfather of the Author of the Grave, and great-grand- 
 father of the late Lord President Blair, and of Hugh Blair, D.D. 
 
 Postquam pastores divos tot lumina mundi, 
 
 Condidit obscuro mors inimica peplo, 
 Tune etiam, pie Blare, jaces ereptus amicis, 
 
 Et comitem tantis nox dedit atra viris ? 
 Heu rerum ingenium, probitas, doctrina, pudorque ; 
 
 Vnius hac plaga funeris icta cadunt. 
 Nee non pullato squalens ecclesia cultu 
 
 Luget, et hoc feretro triste levavit onus, 
 En nos, quos sophiae junxit tibi sacra cupido 
 
 Coelestis, lessu tangimur usque tuo. 
 Sed desiderium, lachrymse, gemitusque dolorque 
 
 Nil prosunt, nusquam conspiciendus abes. 
 Hinc nos deflendi non tu, qui laeta capessis 
 
 Gaudia, justitiae sole nitente micant. 
 Nam certe in tenebris vitae, vitiique stupore 
 
 Degimus hoc aevi turba misella hominum. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 V. 
 
 on tljt Oratlj of tfje &(gl)t 
 torg* Karl of Ittnnoul, 
 late Hor& <2H)antrtor, 
 
 Printed from a MS. Volume of Sir Robert Sibbald, entitled " Elogia 
 et Judicia Doctorum de Scotis, qui ab anno Christi 1500, clarue- 
 runt scriptis aut gestis suis." Advocates' Library. George Hay 
 was the second son of Peter Hay of Megginch, in the county of 
 Perth, and finding favour in the eyes of " King Jamie the sapient 
 and Sext," was enabled to emerge from a comparatively obscure 
 station. He became one of the Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber, 
 and obtained a grant of the Priory of the Charter- House of Perth. 
 In 1616, he obtained the situation of Lord Clerk-Register, and in 
 1622, upon the death of the Earl of Dunfermling, he was raised to 
 the dignity of Lord Chancellor. On the 4th of May 1627, he was 
 created Viscount Dupplin, and Lord Hay of Kinfawns, and on 25th 
 May 1633, was advanced, on occasion of the Coronation of Charles 
 I, to the Earldom of Kinnoul. He died at London on the 16th 
 December 1634. His body was conveyed to Scotland on the 19th 
 of August 1634, and interred in the Church of Kinnoul. He mar- 
 ried Margaret, daughter of Sir James Halyburion of Pitcur, who 
 died on the 4th April 1633, and was buried at Kinnoul 7th May 
 following. Of this marriage there were two sons, Peter, who pre- 
 deceased his father in 1611, and George, who became second Earl 
 of Kinnoul. 
 
 According to Crawford, (Officers of State, p. 160,) Johnston was the 
 author of the following Poem. An anecdote has been preserved by 
 the historiographer, which, as extremely characteristic, may not be 
 out of place here. On the morning of the Coronation, the King 
 sent the Lord Lyon, Sir James Balfour, with a message to the Lord 
 Chancellor, intimating that his Majesty wished the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews should precede the Chancellor on that occasion. His 
 
8 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Lordship was by no means pleased with this communication, and he 
 answered, " that since his Majesty had been pleased to continue 
 him in that office, which, by his means, his worthy father, of happy 
 memory, had conferred on him, he was ready, in all humility, to lay 
 it at his Majesty's feet. But since it was his royal will he should 
 enjoy it with the known privileges pertaining to the office, never 
 
 a St d priest in Scotland should set a foot before him as long 
 
 as his blood was hot." The answer was received by Charles with 
 more temper than could be expected, as he good naturedly remark- 
 ed, '* Well, then, Lyon, let us go to business, I will meddle no 
 farther with that oM cankered goutish man, at whose hands there 
 is nothing to be gained but soure words." 
 
 The present Earl of Kinnoul is not descended from this spirited old 
 nobleman. William, the fifth Earl, having resigned the honours in 
 the hands of Queen Anne, he obtained a new charter 29th February 
 1704, and the destination was extended to the heir-male of the 
 body of Peter, the Chancellor's younger brother, who consequently 
 succeeded to the title in 1709. 
 
 Whence come those murmuring cryis, those sable feares, 
 
 This sudden change, which on my banks appeares ? 
 What noysome noise is this my Nayades make ? 
 
 And why is fairest Pertha all in blacke ? 
 Hei me ! it is because of this sad day, 
 
 Which blastes the glorie, cloudes the poinpe of Tay. 
 Gone is the wise Lycurgus of oure tyme, 
 
 The great and grave dictator of our clyme ; 
 To whose desert the sacred sisters owe 
 
 Als much as e'er of old they did bestow 
 Of their Pireaii treasure, to give fame 
 
 To painful Curius or grave Cato's name. 
 Had thow, brave judge, lived in such golden dayes, 
 
 Thy head had long e're now been crown 'd with bayes ; 
 But wisdome now is richly pryzed of none, 
 
 Nor vertue guerdon finds, till she be gone. 
 Five hundreth yeeres agoe, how happie I 
 
SCOTJSH ELEGIAC VERSES. 9 
 
 That day when thy brave ancestors did dye 
 My face with Danish blood, and did bequeath 
 
 Lyfe to their country, at the dores of death. 
 Yett this brave act was clos'd with one fair day, 
 
 But thow did still for many yeers display 
 The ensigns of thy virtue, and fierce jarrs, 
 
 Intestine broills, wors then the worst of wars, 
 Did fell combustions quell, keep safe frome harme 
 
 Chast pietie, and rageing wrathe disarme. 
 I sie a tyme fast comming, which appeares 
 
 Charactred in the volume of the spheres, 
 When to this lower world thow shalt againe 
 
 Returne, and on fame's golden wings remaine, 
 Shall sie the smoaking alters of thy praise, 
 . Which wronged justice to thy name shall raise. 
 Shall hero the orphan e weip, the widow plaine, 
 
 The oppressed pierce with cryis, the Christaline, 
 Who when their stormie winters they beholde, 
 
 Shall count thy tyme to have been the age of gold. 
 That rapine hes of late began to roam, 
 
 That the poor swain is doubtfull of his home, 
 That Tramontane wolfes infest the way, 
 
 That vultures on the harmlesse dove doe prey, 
 That burned robries seeme againe to breath ; 
 
 Are blazing comets which presag'd thy death. 
 Scarce was thow gone, when Thames our sister kind, 
 
 Thames in whose armes thou dyed, seem'd all confyn'd 
 Within her dampish bowers ; and as cold feares 
 
 Surprised her heavie tread, grief billowing teares 
 Congeil'd upon her cheiks, her armes, her head, 
 
 Turn'd all in ice, and she lookt pale and dead. 
 The gray hoard Grampians hard these sad, sad newes, 
 
 And hie his hoarie head with tears bedewes, 
 
10 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Which as they tumbling to his foot do fall, 
 
 Augment our mourning on my face devall, 
 The word itself, me thinks, must suffer change ; 
 Such alterations round about me range. 
 
 With suoord and scales gone is thej virgin judge. 
 And each is threatned with a new deluge. 
 
 VI. 
 
 On tyt Ute aty antf Jjorria iHuttrcr of 
 iitost JfUfomna ;fFatf)et in 
 
 &rtpfe$o]> of Saint 
 
 of Scotland 
 
 Taken from the Original Broadside in the Advocates' Library. 
 
 The murder of James Sharpe, Archbishop of St. Andrew, on the 3d 
 of May 1679, on Magus, or Magask Muir, is one of those atrocious 
 acts of which the history of the Kirk of Scotland furnishes, un- 
 happily, so many instances. This victim of religious fanaticism has 
 been described as a saint or a sinner, according to the political creed 
 of the writer ; and there are few persons who make any figure in the 
 pages of Scotish history, of whose real character we know less. 
 
 That the Presbyterians should mortally detest a deserter from their 
 ranks one especially whose talent would make his loss the more 
 deeply felt is not at all to be wondered at : hence the abuse, which 
 has been lavished on Sharpe, is just what might be expected ; and 
 as " enormous lying" was one of the most ordinary, as well as effec- 
 tive weapons of the political party opposed to him, the greater 
 proportion of the charges brought against him may be dismissed as 
 unworthy of notice- 
 
 The only one that has the appearance of relevancy, is his abandonment 
 of the form of religion he had previously professed, at the exact 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 11 
 
 time he did so, and the instant promotion that followed this change. 
 Had he not accepted the primacy, his alteration of opinion would not 
 have exposed him to the suspicion of corrupt motive, and it is a pity, 
 that the reward should have instantly followed the conversion. It is but 
 justice to Sharpe to state, that anterior to the Restoration, he had 
 been long intimate with the works of the Episcopalian divines ; 
 and Wodrow, in his gossiping Analecta, tells a story of his losing a 
 rich wife during his residence at Crail as Presbyterian Clergyman, 
 in consequence of her discovering not only the sermons of an 
 eminent English Divine in his library, but that he had actually 
 preached one of the discourses a Sunday or two before. If there- 
 fore and what better testimony can there be than the admission 
 of an enemy at a time when the return of the Stewarts was so 
 little anticipated, the Archbishop had become familiar with the 
 able productions of the Episcopalians, his subsequent repudiation of 
 Calvinism ought not to occasion much surprise. 
 
 Tis none but bleeding sacred tears that are 
 
 Admitted in our sorrows to have share, 
 
 On learn'd Saint Andrew's urne, none must have place, 
 
 But from Divines, right consecrate with grace ; 
 
 The Primate, and the High- Priest, of our land, 
 
 Murther'd and martyr'd by Hell's cruel band ; 
 
 Assassinate, kill'd, in such horrid way, 
 
 As may move Heavn's in Night to turn our Day ; 
 
 The like, Martyrologick wits, knew ne're, 
 
 Turks, Pagans, Heths, Jews, sham'd such act to hear, 
 
 With pitty makes rocks weep, and earth to shake, 
 
 Fearing of dooms-daye's earthquake to partake, 
 
 Bad omen, that God's latter judgement shall, 
 
 To Albion's sphere, before full time befall. 
 
 Her infamy, disgrace, and endless staine, 
 
 So nigh the temple, Aron should be slane. 
 
 Grave Patriarch, true Prophet, and grave Father, 
 
 Apostle just, martyr'd in one together. 
 
12 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES 
 
 The breast-plate, who of righteousness did bear, 
 
 Ag*d, reverend, the badge of peace did wear. 
 
 Methinks it sad, thy snowy head did not, 
 
 Those villains stop from butchering swords and shot ; 
 
 Inhumane fact, prodigious ! 'bove all deeds, 
 
 Can be compar'd to none but regicids ; 
 
 From whose profession, (if that I were one), 
 
 That act would bring me, had I heart of stone. 
 
 A Jesuitick trick, no church maintains, 
 
 Save Independant Presbyterians. 
 
 Who has with Romes, this year, wrong'd Britons more 
 
 By plots and murders, than ere heretofore. 
 
 Oh ! brave Saint Andrew's, massacred, thus dies, 
 
 For others sins becomes a sacrifice. 
 
 Great Charles' grief, to him such loss should be, 
 
 In church and state prop'd his authoritie. 
 
 At Restoration, was chief instrument, 
 
 Restor'd Religion to her government, 
 
 From Babel's tongues, divinity has fred, 
 
 A verdant garland has the mitre bred. 
 
 Philosophy, Theology, in whom 
 
 And all their virtues strove betimes for room ; 
 
 Humble, most courtly, ne'er deny'd address, 
 
 To orphans, widows, and the fatherless, 
 
 The mirrour of all piety and good, 
 
 In a grand churchman, ever understood, 
 
 Was with sage council, justice, mercy load, 
 
 Obeyed king, lov'd country, feared God. 
 
 Thy guiltless blood, shed by hell's fiends most strange, 
 
 As Abel's did, calls from the Heaven's, revenge ; 
 
 Undoubtedly, if in their pow'r it were, 
 
 Heaven's Heirarchie would likeway massacre : 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 13 
 
 In soul, a seraphim,* plac'd there as due 
 
 'Mongst martyrs, whiles God's wrath do them pursue. 
 
 The first Protestant Bishop, heard or read 
 In Scotland, for Religion murdered ! 
 
 MQURRAY]. 
 
 VII. 
 
 tyt ^tribal of tije CEorps of 
 
 Sir 
 
 Baronet, Cljief 
 
 in ririnarg to tfje 
 Uting's 
 
 This and the following Poem are appended to a sermon preached at 
 the funeral " of Sir Alexander Fraser of Doors, Knight and Baronet, 
 Principal Physician to the King of Great Britain, &c. who died at 
 Whitehall, April 28, 1661, in the seventyeth and fifth year of his 
 age, and was solemnly interr'd among his ancestors at Doores, the 
 20th of July following. By John Menzies, Professor of Divinity in 
 Aberdene." Edin. 1661, 4to. 
 
 In Evelyn and Pepys a few notices occur relative to this eminent Phy- 
 sician. Lord Clarendon gives testimony to his professional talents, 
 but seems otherwise to have thought slightingly of him ; for he says, 
 " no doubt he is good at his business, otherwise the maddest fool 
 alive." State Papers, III, p. 119. The funeral sermon derives his 
 decent from the ' great Thane of Cowy and Doors," and informs 
 us, that his lady was of the honourable name of Gary in England. 
 The biographical portion of the discourse, which is exceedingly in- 
 teresting, will be found in the Appendix. 
 
 The celebrated Earl of Peterborough married Gary, Sir Alexander's 
 daughter, and through her, on the extinction of the Doctor's male 
 
 * James Sharp Anagram A Seraphim. 
 
14 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 issue, the Barony of Doors came into that family. By the marriage 
 of their daughter, Lady Henrietta Mordaunt, to the Duke of Gordon, 
 the estate ultimately devolved on their descendant, the last Duke, 
 who, by an act of Parliament, was enabled to sell Doors or Durris, 
 and to invest the price in the purchase of lands contiguous to the 
 Ducal estates. 1 
 
 John Menzies, besides this funeral sermon, published at Aberdene, 1660, 
 " Brittannia Rediviva," a discourse upon the restoration of Charles 
 the II. He was the author of a book entitled " Papismus Luci- 
 fugus, or a copy of the papers betwixt him and Dempster, a Jesuit." 
 Aberdeen, 1668, 4to. and another in 8vo. London, 1657, in de- 
 fence of it. See Charters' Catalogue of Scotish Writers, p. 45, 
 8vo. Edin. Stevenson, 1833. He died about the year 1685. 
 
 The initials J. B. probably indicates John Barclay, Parson of the 
 Church of Cruden, in the Lordship of Slains, who was for several 
 years one of the Ushers of the Grammar School in Aberdeen, and 
 the author of a dull Anti-Catholic poem, entitled " A Description 
 of the Roman Catholick Church. 1689. 4to. 
 
 Whats wafted over in this Royal Yaucht ? 
 A Lifeless Loading, and a Ghostly fraught : 
 How soon we view the burthen which it bears, 
 It damps our comfort, and provokes our tears. 
 
 Since nought but sp'riteless bones are hither come, 
 And breathless dust, to grace thy native home : 
 To say thou'rt come, some comfort doth afford, 
 But that thou'rt dead, this is the grating word. 
 
 Thou should'st have welcom'd been, with joyful cries ; 
 And not with grievous looks and watery eyes ; 
 But such sad welcome from thy friends who live, 
 Best suits the visits which thou now do'st give : 
 
 Yet since we're of thy better part bereft, 
 And all is here, which now on earth is left, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. ]5 
 
 Thy grateful Country-men do here combine, 
 To welcome home this dust, because it's thine. 
 
 This dust, which once a brave soul did inspire, 
 A soul all vigour and all noble fire. 
 Our earth shall hug this relique, and thy name 
 Shall live with us, and thy praise be our Theme. 
 
 Thy birth, above the vulgar dregs thee set, 
 To thee, thy worth more honour did beget, 
 Which though from fate it could not set thee free, 
 Yet serves to eternize thy memory. 
 
 What could be cur'd of malady or ill, 
 
 By mortals hand, did not exceed thy skill ; 
 
 Nor unto bodies was thine art confin'd, 
 
 Thy converse was good Physick for the mind. 
 
 Substantious learning in thine head did rest, 
 Thine heart was with substantious love possest, 
 Whate'r is base, thou generously didst hate, 
 The rules of friendship kept inviolate. 
 
 Thou wast unstained in thy Loyalty, 
 Dear to thy Country, and it dear to thee, 
 And as the last pledge of thy love, at death 
 To it thou didst this dust, these bones bequeath. 
 
 All this, is short of what thou wast j for he 
 Who knows how much thy Sovereign loved thee, 
 May be assured that thy real worth 
 Was more than some blur'd lines can e'r set forth. 
 
16 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES 
 
 No flatteries, his princelie eyes could blind, 
 
 No painted virtues fascinate his mind, 
 
 He's as an Angel wise, and can discern 
 
 On whom to smile and on whom to look stern- 
 
 1 
 
 No Subject more could of his favour boast, 
 No favour he bestow'd on thee was lost, 
 And as his favour thou alive didst have, 
 So doth his kindness waft thee to thy grave. 
 
 I. B. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 tfje J&eworg of Sir 
 jfraser of Uoorrs, Baronet, 
 
 in rtrinarg to tt)e 
 Sting's 
 
 Let other Nations boast of Golden Mines, 
 Of Fragrant Spices, and of Noble Vines, 
 Of Flowry Meadows, and of Silver Springs, 
 Of Fields, and Folds, and all delightful things, 
 We look not on them with envious eyes, 
 Since Caledon, in MeH) them all outvies. 
 
 Let them with barren Mountains us upbraid, 
 And say, our Summer heats require no Shade, 
 And that the Sun with us makes little stay, 
 Views us afar, and hastens soon away : 
 They tell us things we cannot help, but then 
 We tell them, we for other things, have Men : 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 17 
 
 Men fam'd for virtue, and for noble hearts, 
 Who have adorn'd the fields, and polish't arts, 
 Who have travers'd the earth, and then have come 
 Fraught with its learning, skill, and breeding, home : 
 These are the products of our Northern Soil, 
 These are the gains, which best requite our toil. 
 
 We do not value all the Indian fruits, 
 Nor care to ruffle in the Asian suites, 
 Nor sport with African baboons and apes, 
 Nor yet to press French and Canary grapes : 
 Our Countrey in its Heroes doth delight, 
 Who are its fame abroad, at home its light, 
 
 Is that a barren Country, which affords 
 
 Men glorious by their pen, and by their swords, 
 
 Where Cicero's matched in his golden tongue, 
 
 And Poets sing, as sweet as Virgil sung 
 
 And such brave souls have therein had abodes, 
 
 As duller Ancients would have called gods. 
 
 Lo one of them to us doth here return, 
 
 But ah ! he's wafted hither in his Urne, 
 
 Yet even his dust doth kind acceptance claim, 
 
 Our hearts are elevated by his name, 
 
 Two Princes darling (yea, and Heaven's that's more) 
 
 Aboard this Vessel comes unto our Shore. 
 
 I know it's not great matter, of what kind 
 A man is come, if of a generous mind j 
 Yet since the world makes some reck'ning here, 
 They cannot for a mean birth at him jeer j 
 
18 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 An Horauld may, unblushing, say aloud, 
 He's come of ancient honourable blood. 
 
 These lands, which he by industry hath won. 
 And which he hath bequeathed to his Son, 
 His Ancestors, (once rank'd among the best) 
 Hundred's of years, (entit'led Thanes) possest : 
 Though they were as struck trees, yet from their race 
 Heaven watered this branch to fill their place. 
 
 Oftimes, to virtue, riches are a clog, 
 
 Necessity, some, sprightly souls doth jog, 
 
 So was't with him, he had no other tools 
 
 To make his fortune, but what came from schools ; 
 
 With these he wrought, and in's capacious mind., 
 
 The treasures of all learning seem'd confin'd. 
 
 His skill acquir'd in Physick, first did tend 
 
 To best of Princes him to recommend : 
 
 No man e'r serv'd a Prince more true and just, 
 
 No Prince, e'r did a truer servant trust. 
 
 In peace, and war, he did his master serve, 
 
 No hope, no fear, could ever make him swerve. 
 
 When 'gainst our selves we did our hands imploy, 
 And British swords, poor Britain did destroy, 
 Britain which never fear'd a forreign power, 
 Which no teeth but its own could e'r devour, 
 When Britain lost its King, and lost its glory, 
 And all its actions were a tragick story : 
 
 With the succeeding Prince, this Heroe went 
 Into a willing, glorious Banishment : 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 19 
 
 Like as to clasp, the kindly Ivie's seen 
 About the tree when withered as when green,, 
 So did this loyal soul, most firmly cling 
 Unto his native, though exiled, King. 
 
 And as into his troubles he did share, 
 So Heaven to see his comforts did him spare, 
 Britains sad dayes he saw o'rpast and gone, 
 Its King he saw establisht on his Throne, 
 He heard those acclamations, which did shew 
 What thanks to heaven was for that favour due. 
 
 When others, at the highest price might be, 
 
 Did rate their sufferings and their loyalty, 
 
 Claim'd great rewards, thought, all they could desire 
 
 Was for their service but too mean a hire : 
 
 He who both did and suflfer'd more than many, 
 
 Was yet as modest in his suits as any. 
 
 To him it was enough, when he did see 
 His King and Country happy both to be, 
 It pleased him much more than any wealth 
 To see his Princes face, and tend his health, 
 This comfort he enjoyed, and providence 
 Did unsought riches unto him dispense. 
 
 He was not thirsty for a big Estate, 
 Nor yet too fond to make his children great, 
 He would not gather where he did not straw, 
 By rough oppression, or smooth tricks of law, 
 He knew that fortunes purchas'd at this rate, 
 Are too dear bought, and have an hasty fate. 
 
20 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 All useful 1 Learning he did deeply taste, 
 That food, his vigorous mind did well digest, 
 What it conceived, did find an easy vent, 
 Ev'n nature taught him to be eloquent : 
 These lovely gifts he had, caus'd him to be 
 By For reign Nations priz'd exceedingly. 
 
 From his Religion, he no step declin'd, 
 No forreign airs could thus enchant his mind, 
 As he set forth, so did he keep his path, 
 So he return'd, unbrangled in his faith : 
 Whate'r he was at home, he was abroad, 
 Unto his King, his Country, and his God. 
 
 His Countries glorious fame he did not blot, 
 His Countries dearest name he ne'r forgot, 
 His Country, which did birth to him impart, 
 Its name seemed written on his very heart, 
 Nothing did on his patience so incroach, 
 As when his Countrey suffered reproach. 
 
 Thus did he act his part upon the stage, 
 In youth industrious, un-craz'd in old age, 
 His body with no tedious sickness pin'd, 
 Undull'd in senses, and of active mind ; 
 He dy'd belov'd of all, with none at strife, 
 Out lived not the comforts of his life. 
 
 His children, he as lovely plants did see, 
 To hopes and honours growen up to be, 
 They have the comfort to hear all bemoan, 
 And praise their Father now when he is gone : 
 To seas his body he will'd to betrust, 
 To be convey'd and joyn'd to's Countrie's dust. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 21 
 
 'Mongst his Ancestors tombs, his tomb's prepar'd, 
 They shined in him, he nought for them impair'd : 
 These Worthies reliques, in their lowly Cell 
 Do at the foot of Grampian Mountains dwell : 
 They while they liv'd, oft serv'd their Princes there, 
 He who comes last, his Prince serv'd every- where. 
 
 Descend ye famous hills and levelled be, 
 And borrow tears now from your neighbouring Dee, 
 Or heave you upward, and draw from the clouds, 
 And then his grave bedew with brinish flouds ; 
 This is but just, for now his dust is here, 
 Who was to Heaven, his Prince, and Countrey dear. 
 
 I. B. 
 
 IX. 
 
 tljc Oratlj of tt)t HUustrious -DatuO, 
 IBarle of ffiSKewgss, one of tyt most 
 
 Hovtrs of l)is 
 Jftajestie's 
 Council. 
 
 David Second Earl of Wemyss, according to Wood, (Vol. II, p. 
 622), died in June 1679. His daughter Margaret became 
 Countess in her own right, and married Sir James Wemyss, created 
 for life Lord Burntisland, and who died 15th December 1682.* 
 They had one son, who afterwards became Earl of Wemyss, from 
 whom the present noble Lord is lineally descended. The Countess 
 Margaret having thought proper, after the death of Lord Burnt- 
 island, to bestow her hand on the old Earl of Cromarty, be- 
 
 * Fountainhall's Historical Observes, Bannatyne Club Edition, p. 85. 
 
22 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 came the subject of no little scandal. For a very severe satire on 
 her Ladyship, see Banquet of Dainties, 18mo. 
 
 The Countess died in 1705. Her body was, on the 30th of May, 
 " carried from the house of Roystoun (where she had lain in state 
 " for some days), by water, to the town of Burntisland, being at- 
 " tended by a great many noblemen and gentleman in several boats, at 
 "12 o'clock at night, with a great many flambeaus, and all the time 
 '* firing guns ; and being laid in the church of Burntisland, was on 
 " Friday last carried to her burial place at Easter Weems, and in- 
 " terr'd very splendidly.'' Edin. Courant. 
 
 As great men do their vassals charge and call, 
 
 Them to attend another's funerall ; 
 
 Neptune bids Triton warn each christal spring, 
 
 A flood of tears into Forth 's Firth to bring, 
 
 To wait his murmuring tydes upon Wemyss shore, 
 
 That Noble Earles death still to deplore, 
 
 Whose hollow rockie caves, with echoes may 
 
 Teach swans to weep, in an unwonted way, 
 
 And rampant-lyons, hence to roar with grief, 
 
 Their lord and master is bereav'd of life : 
 
 Each Navigator sails Fife's pleasant coast, 
 
 To moan the Anchor of their hopes is lost ; 
 
 For whom built peer and harbour safe and sure, 
 
 No raging storm can shipping there injure. 
 
 But all this nothing to those sorrows, that 
 
 Of which this Kingdom must participat ; 
 
 King, Nobles, Gentry, Clergy, most concern'd, 
 
 A braver subject Monarch ne'er govern'd ; 
 
 Wish'd that his Soveraign's Crowns in concord nourish, 
 
 And Heaven's good success all his projects cherish, 
 
 Whose, and the publique^s safety did desire, 
 
 Free from all plots rebellion can conspire ; 
 
 Straight loyal rule to statesmen of the land, 
 
 How to obey,, and likewise to command : 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 23 
 
 From passion free., unto sound council prone, 
 
 Rich'd with the wisdom of a Solomon : 
 
 Promotion and seditious wayes did hate, 
 
 Endeavour'd rather to be good than great ; 
 
 Court parasitick flatterers did scorn, 
 
 By whom truth and integrity were born : 
 
 To law and gospel zealous constant friend, 
 
 Religious worship in the Church maintain'd ; 
 
 Faith justify'd with unfeigned charity, 
 
 The luckie hand to liberality. 
 
 In virtuous actions all the age excell'd, 
 
 At work a thousand souls daily upheld ; 
 
 Gave Colleges, Schools, Artists, and each Muse 
 
 Incouragement their genius to use ; 
 
 Augustian Spirit, yet of meek humble mind, 
 
 The world's best breeding by thee was refin'd ; 
 Renowned fame of whom can well report, 
 More hospitable ne'er kept princely court, 
 
 Fraughted with courage and mag'nimity, 
 
 Honour'd all Orders of Nobility ; 
 
 In converse, mirthful, jovial, and sweet, 
 
 With clemency made mercy justice meet ; 
 
 With coal and salt, enrich'd thy countrey more, 
 
 Than all the Traffiquers for Indian ore : 
 
 As Boas did, his family o'resee, 
 
 The beasts were fatned by the Master's eye : 
 
 In whose affairs were nothing wrong that went, 
 
 Whom Tenants, Servants, ever may lament. 
 
 Brag'd not of blood, as many now-a-days, 
 
 Though from Macduff (Fife's Thane) thine did arise. 
 
 In matching, and alliance did digress 
 
 Ne're from the splendour of his worthiness : 
 
24 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Sad pryzless loss to name, (it's ancient chief,) 
 
 Thereto shew friendship beyond all belief ; 
 
 As Scripture tells, Joseph of husbands best, 
 
 And Isaac the most loving do attest, 
 
 Of noble Wemyss, may future times recojrd, 
 
 The best of husbands, and most loving lord : 
 
 Thy deathless praise spread through the Univers, 
 
 (As is thy merit) can no pen express ; 
 
 Full sixty-nine years lustre lent this clyme, 
 
 In all whose days, most peaceful, free of cryme ; 
 
 Hence call'd to Heav'n, to have eternal rule, 
 
 Now where thou reigns, safe, wise, admired soul !* 
 
 M[URRAY~]. 
 
 X. 
 
 of t!)* most sat% rf>*r to 
 fa ttqpiordr, iWost Illustrious, 
 , $ antes Horlr 
 of Jftontrose, 
 
 James Graham, 3d Marquis of Montrose, was the grandson of the 
 illustrious Marquis, and father of the first Duke of Montrose. He 
 married Lady Christian, daughter of the Duke of Rothes, and died 
 at Edinburgh, " to the regrate of all good men,"f in the prime of 
 life, in the end of the month of April 1684. He was " buried at 
 " their buriall place of Aberuthven, a chapell in Perthshire : he 
 " had much of his grandfather and father's good parts. "J 
 
 * David Earl of Wemyss. Anagram. Safe, wise, admired soul. 
 f Fountainhall, Ban. Club Edit. 122. J Fountainhall, ib. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES 25 
 
 Mungo Murray, author of this funeral elegy, as he terms it, did not 
 confine his muse to mournful subjects, as there are in the Advocates' 
 Library laudatory addresses, bearing his initials, to the great men of 
 his day. Thus he offers " The Congratulory Welcome of an obliged 
 " Quill," to James Earl of Perth, Lord High Chancellor. 
 
 My Lord, when dieving in your soaring praise, 
 
 Sees you the dazling glory of our skies ; 
 
 Truth telling of your welcome, all may say 
 
 'Tis as sun is, to an eclipsed day : 
 
 This you may judge, in grandour for to see 
 
 Your convoy and reception so to be 
 
 Comfort and bliss, will prove unto this sphere, 
 Of which you'll have sure a paternal care. 
 
 Another poetical lucubration is addressed " to the most illustrious 
 " John Earle of Lauderdale, &c. his Maiesties High Comjnissioner 
 '* for the Kingdom of Scotland," (1670). It is really wretched stuff, 
 containing more than an ordinary doze of adulation. 
 
 Behold ! behold, comes th' Atlas of our Crown, 
 
 Its good, and Kingdom's shield foes to pull doun : 
 
 His Prince's thoughts, wishes, desires, exprest, 
 
 Seal'd's in a loyal Secretaries brest ; 
 
 Nay, more, his Royal heart He doth present 
 
 To signifie his love to Parliament, &c. 
 
 In the note book of Sir Foulis Foul is of Ravelston, there is the fol- 
 lowing entry of a payment to Murray for a funeral elegy on his son 
 Archibald Primrose : 
 
 1684, 22 June. To Mungo Murray for lynes on my son's death, 
 
 5 : 14 (Scots money.) 
 
 Although five pounds fourteen shillings Scots seem no very liberal re- 
 muneration, yet, judging from the other productions of the Poet 
 it was probably greatly more than the elegy was worth. 
 
 Together Rendevouz, you Watery Clouds, 
 Distill yourselves into Tears bitter Flouds ; 
 
26 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 A new Deluge, whereby you may compose 
 
 To weep the Death of th' Marquess of Montrose : 
 
 Death, Death, I'll not dyve in Thy Origine, 
 Let Divines judge, how Thou at first came in : 
 Vagrant, Ubiquiter, through th'world doejs roam ; 
 Yet in each House, still present is at Home : 
 Though Uncreated, Lifeless, yet to Thee, 
 The Lord of Life, on Cross did yielder be ; 
 Though Thou the Wages be of Sin, 'tis strange 
 On the innocent Thy Wrath should bear revenge ; 
 In Sickness-Bed, has stoll'n upon that Heart, 
 In field with Sword could have out-dar'd Thy Dart : 
 The Mount has Levell'd, where the hose did grow, 
 From Foes Wound- wrinkles kept old Albions Brow, 
 Which brings all Flow'rs within our Paradise 
 Into a mourning withered sad disguise ; 
 A dismal loss unto the Age does bring 
 Long before Summer, plucked in the Spring ; 
 The Royal-Thistle causing to be sad 
 To see His Darling Rose so soon to fade, 
 Whose fragrancy did please the Lyons Scent, 
 His Guardian, for whom life would have spent ; 
 For whom our lower Ranks of Subjects Groans, 
 The highers ears fills with unwonted Moans ; 
 Princes and Peers together seem to strive 
 For Thee, the deepest sorrow to contrive : 
 A general grief does all the Land ov'rspread, 
 It's Love and Joy, with Death's dark Vail is clade, 
 By Albany ought never be forgot, 
 Crowns-Loyal-Line endeavour'd to promote : 
 When that in War ingaged was 'gainst France, 
 In England did a Scottish-Troop advance: 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 27 
 
 Most quick Ingine, with Arms arid Arts acquaint, 
 To Camp and Colledge was an Ornament ; 
 In Van led Royal- Guard with such a Grace, 
 Rais'd Courage in each Guarders Breast and Face ; 
 In Cathredal desir'd the Mitre shine 
 As well as Wars, observ'd Church- Discipline : 
 Natures choice Jewel of Nobilitie, 
 Enliv'd, and honour'd Magnanimitie. 
 
 On State- Stage early flourishing aspir'd, 
 Young Matchivilian, by the old admir'd, 
 In Council known, a perfect sober Wit, 
 Betimes call'd thereto, CHARLES thought requisite : 
 Keep'd secrecie as Clam-shells Gloss Entire. 
 Councils designs to know, defied the Air: 
 Both Prudence and true Gallantrie maintain'd, 
 The ways of Emulation much disdain'd, 
 Th' Elixar of all high-born Eminence, 
 Fraught with both Heaven and Earths Intelligence, 
 In either, no thing is but Thou did know ; 
 The Centre of all Worthiness did show, 
 This in a quiet way, did make appear ; 
 Scorn'd of a victims Sacrifice to hear. 
 On Self-opinators could not look, 
 Resolv'd with Reason what Thou undertook. 
 For Countreys publick Safety, ever stood ; 
 Did before Greatness, study to be Good : 
 Plots and Conspiracies abhorred so, 
 Was to Rebellion a most severe Foe. 
 
 As thy Grandsire this Character did Merit, 
 A Loyal-subject of Csesarean Spirit : 
 His Valour had, that razed Adrians Wall, 
 Broke Abercorns, Severns Pride made fall. 
 
28 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Chief of Grames Naihe, who always have been great, 
 Has seventy-one Kings Serv'd in War and State 
 Has Thirteen hundred twenty-seven years stood ; 
 With whom King Fergus- Second, Match'd in Blood : 
 To Royaltie may say,, Truth to discover, i 
 To King Eugenius-Second Bred Queen-Mother* 
 Thy Jovial House, turns now the House of Woe, 
 No heart of Stone unbroke, can therein go : 
 Alace to see thy Lady Marquess state, 
 Heartless become, by this sad Stroke of Fate, 
 With her young Marquess sits, whose doleful crys, 
 With Her to Joyn, moves all our Sphears and Skies ; 
 Bereav'd of Her dear Lord, t'wixt whom was Love, 
 That Imitate Heavens Hierarchic above. 
 Ah ! ah ! young Marquess in Thy Bud, to see 
 Of Thy Paternal-root, Robed to be ; 
 By which Thy Name and House Enervat are, 
 Of Chief and Master, of both who had Care. 
 
 Chronologizers Theam t'inlarge long Story, 
 The Soul of Virtue now is gone to Glory. 
 
 M[UNGO] M[URRAY]. 
 
 XL 
 
 n fyt IBtatl) of i)is raccjfotjn 33ulu of 
 orO $tg!j <2S)ancrtlor of 
 Scotland, 
 
 Of the first and last Duke of Rothes, Kirkton gives the following 
 character: " Rothes is now Governour of Scotland, a man of 
 " mylder Temper than Middleton, never so cruel as in the High 
 " Commission. Hade his morals been as pure as his addresse was 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 29 
 
 rude, his character had been more perfect ; but his infamous con- 
 verse with Lady Ann Gordon highly disparaged his reputation, 
 and, as it was confidently reported, touched his own conscience 
 so much, that one day being under the dint of his own convic- 
 tion, and reflecting upon his misbehaviour toward his worthy 
 Lady (whom he could not but admire), he threw all the wretched 
 tokens his Miss hade given him into the fire, upon suspicion and 
 fear he was detained her captive by the power of witchcraft, as very 
 many said he was." P. 212. 
 
 His Grace died on the 27th July 1681, and having no issue-male, the 
 dukedom became extinct. By his Lady, Anne, daughter of John 
 Lindsay, 14th Earl of Crawford, he had Margaret, who became 
 Countess of Rothes, and married Charles, 4th of Hadington ; and 
 Christian, who married James, 3d Marquis of Montrose. 
 
 Israel for Moses fourty days did mourn, 
 Our joy to grief, twice fourty days may turn ; 
 Scotland's conductor, ROTHES, wise and brave, 
 Ah ! now himself conducted is to grave : 
 
 ROTHES did rule over helm in storms, and grace 
 The halcyon calmness of our ocean's peace : 
 Dread comet, ah ! too dreadful not in vain. 
 Fatal to Albion's pole ; and Charles his train ; 
 Judicious DUKE, able to quench all jarrs, 
 On which may rise uncivil, civil warrs ; 
 Most prudent statesman, sage to reconceal, 
 Knowing thy King's will, was the kingdom well, 
 In court, in camp, in city, field, or town ; 
 Worthy to bear a batton or a gown. 
 
 No fate could make thy royalty relent : 
 Nor bondage of thy long imprisonment ; 
 Give thou then griev'd, it was that then the while 
 Thou coultf not serve thy master in exyle ; 
 Yet there thy thoughts, and correspondence too, 
 Acted the most a prisoner could do ; 
 
30 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Yet never winter made of summer, more 
 Joyful to thee, when heavens did him restore, 
 And made thyself after a long restraint : 
 A vig'rous, and most active instrument, 
 For which, thou didst thy Monarch's lovd inherit, 
 The due reward of thy desert and merit j 
 A love most firm, and great, to be admir'd, 
 But chang'd to sorrow, since thy breath expyr'd. 
 
 Great DUKE, Lord Chancellour, Gen'ral, Thesaurer, 
 His Majestie's most high Commissioner. 
 What greatness could thou want, thy King could give, 
 Who only in thy destiny did grieve 
 He could not also give thee long to live. 
 
 Yet since Heaven's doom, no flesh from death reprives ; 
 Thou'rt mourned by Scotland's Representatives : 
 Thy death makes YORK, our high Commissioner sad : 
 He, even more high, than e'er our nation had. 
 
 To pen thy praise, exceeds all poets skill : 
 And does require Appollo's choicest quill ; 
 Sure then thy name great honour does obtain, 
 To whom the highest praises are but mean. 
 Then blest are you celestial minds that move, 
 Uncessantly the spacious orbs above ; 
 For if your toyl prove irksome, you may rest, 
 And trust your work to this new heavenly guest. 
 
 M[UNGO] M[URRAY]. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 31 
 
 XII. ,>. 
 
 Ocatf) of ttjc most ac- 
 , bortttotts, antr 
 
 of ^trtrw, Itt ^trfcocat, anlr 
 to ISttls. 
 
 From a broadside in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, printed 
 at Edinburgh by John Van Solingen, 1682. Sir James Anstruther 
 was the second son of Sir Philip Anstruther of that ilk, Baronet. 
 For Philip was the brother of Sir Robert Anstruther of Balcaskie, 
 Baronet, of Sir Philip Anstruther of Spencesfield, Knight, and of 
 Sir Alexander, also a Knight, who married Jean, styling herself 
 Baroness of Newark, and was the father of William titular Lord 
 Newark. The assumption of this peerage was rather a bold step, 
 as the patent of creation limited the title to heirs-male. 
 
 Sir James married a daughter of Skene of Hallyards, in the county of 
 Fife, and by her had a son, who betaking himself to a military life, 
 rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General. Dying unmarried, he be- 
 queathed his fortune, which was considerable, to his cousin Sir 
 John Anstruther of that ilk. 
 
 Is Anster dead ? then fairwell Courtesie, 
 
 Sobrietie, and Wit,, and Modestie. 
 
 I never hope to see them all in one 
 
 So joyn'd, but at the Resurrection, 
 
 In him the learned Plato's wish we saw 
 
 Imbodied vertue, mortal breath to draw. 
 
 He from his latest gasp, unto his birth, 
 
 Was fitted more for Heaven than for earth. 
 
 Of him the world, the age, his friends may vaunt, 
 
 Here lyes a lawyer : liv'd, and died a saint. 
 
32 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 I'le say no more, lest I the times offend ; 
 We'el meet again in Heaven, and ther's an end. 
 
 Mors Portus est, ad quern in his mundi calamitatibus 
 Miseri navigamus omnes : Ad quern quo pitius perveneri- 
 mus, eo celerius liberabimur. IDIOTA de comtemplatione 
 mortis. 
 
 'Ov yu.^ tyiXit 6lo$ a.vroSvnffX'ti Nsaj. 
 
 MENANDER. 
 
 Pange toros, pete vina, rosas cape, tingere Nardo, 
 
 Ipse jubet mortis te meminisse Deus. 
 Saepe bonis brevis est aetas, et rara senectus, 
 
 Quicquid Amas, Cupias non placuisse nimis. 
 
 MARTIAL. 
 
 XIIT. 
 
 t^e wart) lamwtefc H5*ati) of faaltant 
 
 SJStlltam 
 Otetr at Stonte-fle^ 
 
 1683. 
 
 From an original broadside in the Librar)' of the Faculty of Advo- 
 cates. Of this hero, who united the courage of Hector with the 
 wisdom of Ulysses, and who, " to the pale beholder's wonder, durst. 
 encounter " the amazing thunder," we have been unable to afford 
 any other information than has been given by his panegyrist, Mr. 
 Ninian Paterson, the epigramatist. From that useful work, the 
 Abridgment of the Retours, it appears, that on the 7th January 1692, 
 William Cockburn of Standanflatt was served heir of his father, 
 Lieutenant- Colonel William Cockburn, in four oxgates of the land 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 33 
 
 of Milnerig of Dolphingtoun, Lanarkshire, and in the lands of Stand- 
 anflalt and Peilflat, with an acre of land pertaining thereto, within 
 the parish of Newbottle, and regality of Dalkeith. When the Cock- 
 burns acquired the lands of Standanflatt does not appear ; but it 
 must have been subsequent to 1636, as upon the 10th of June that 
 year, Mr. Thomas Bannatyne, Minister of the Gospel at Douglas, 
 was served heir to his nephew, James Bannatyne, in these lands. 
 Standanflet is evidently Stonie-flet. 
 
 This world's a boyling gulph of greefs and fears, 
 
 The Rendezvous of anxious sighs and tears 
 
 This worm of five feet long, this moving span, 
 
 Compos'd of sin, and dirt, we call a man, 
 
 Is the tost passenger ; what tho' the gale 
 
 Be strong, or weak, the ship is still a sail ; 
 
 Whither the passengers do stand, or lie, 
 
 She keeps a straight course to eternitie. 
 
 And who so can the longest passage boast, 
 
 At last th' eternal haven salute he must. 
 
 A pregnant, (tho' a pensive), proofe is here 
 
 To make this truth, as with sunbeams appear. 
 
 Here the undantoun'd COCKBURN full of years 
 That ne'er gave place to ignominious fears, 
 Who like the Roman Scevola had stood 
 Bathing in flamm's his hands, his feet in blood, 
 Who in the storms of warr, by day and night, 
 Could never flee from any thing but flight, 
 (Till now unconquer'd) yet at last he must 
 Lay down his valour in a bed of dust : 
 But with a deathless and renowned name, 
 Happy in Fortune, Familie, and Fame : 
 He was no carking dunghill miser, yet 
 God blest him with a plentifull estate ; 
 
 c 
 
34 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 From which, as from an overflowing store, 
 
 He blest the backes and bellies of the poor, 
 
 And with an active, and sagacious care, 
 
 He knew both when to spend, and when to spare, 
 
 By prayer, and praise, at morning and jt even 
 
 With pious fervancie addressd to heaven. 
 
 His house a sacred temple did become : 
 
 He souldier in the camp, a priest at home. 
 
 So one may, be (tho' rare) as Scriptures note, 
 
 At once a Centurion, and devote. 
 
 A souldier and devote, with loyalty, 
 
 Conformist too, and each in high degree, 
 
 Will in this age, when its consider'd well, 
 
 Appear at least next to a miracle. 
 
 A father, and an husband past compare, 
 
 Non knew, which greatest was his love or care. 
 
 Only as I hear'd friends and strangers tell 
 
 His spouse and children made the parallel : 
 
 Of whom he hes left five unspotted plants, 
 
 To fill the nation with such blessed saints, 
 
 The pledges of his fruitful love, and bed ; 
 
 Happy be he that might such darlings wed. 
 
 To him that brings not an unworthy flamm ; 
 
 Kind may they be, as heaven has been to them, 
 
 In them he lives, to them he did bequeath 
 
 His vertues as a legacie at death. 
 
 And every one but some fantastick snake 
 
 Will love the off-spring for their father's sake. 
 
 HIS EPITAPH. 
 
 Here lyes an honest heart, a valiant hand, 
 Knew botli how to obey, and to command, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 35 
 
 A loving father, and an husband kind, 
 
 A souldier both in body and in mind ; 
 
 So stout, that to the pale beholder's wonder, 
 
 He durst encounter the amazing thunder. 
 
 And did the honour of the Scots advance ; 
 
 By Prowess both through Germany and France ; 
 
 His valour and his loyalty was seen, 
 
 Against the rebels at the Rullzion Green. 
 
 He Hector and Ulysses both in one, 
 
 Knew to match valour with discretion. 
 
 In point of honour when his spleen did rise, 
 
 He quell'd his foes by lightning from his eyes. 
 
 His martial frown it could at once controul, 
 
 And cure the lethargic of a coward's soul. 
 
 Nor did his worth alone consist in warrs, 
 
 In him Minerva joyned was with Mars, 
 
 He owed a breast to which it did appeare, 
 
 Valour and Vertue native tenants were ; 
 
 Yea vertue sway'd her sceptre there, for both 
 
 He fear, and baseness equally did loath. 
 
 And in his heart, which was a sign of grace, 
 
 God, and the Church, and King, had chiefest place. 
 
 As King and Church did gratefully regard him ; 
 
 So God hath call'd him home now to reward him. 
 
 Therefore let's modestly bewail our crosse 
 
 Heaven's gain, and his can never be our losse. 
 
 Optima quseque dies, miseris mortalibus sevi 
 Prima fugit ; subeunt morbi, tristisque senectus 
 Et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis. 
 
 VIRGIL. 
 MR. N. PATBRSON. 
 
30 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 tfiat Utefcottt, an* Enlmstrious 
 tlwan, 5*orge $ftontnfl), ifftertfjant 
 in <2Btrutfwrst), to*)* tegartelr tt)is 
 life tyt 2lr aag of $twij 1685. 
 
 From the Retours it appears that" this devout and industrious gentle- 
 man" had a son also named George, who upon the 12th of October 
 1685, was served heir to his father. 
 
 " Monteith of Kerse," observes Nisbet (413), " carried quarterly 
 first and fourth Or, a Bend Checque, sable and argent ; second 
 and third .Azure, three buckles Or." 
 
 " The first of the family was Sir John Monteith, third son to Sir 
 Andrew Monteith of Ruskie, in the Stewartry of Monteith, de- 
 scended of the ancient Earls of Monteith of the same sirnarae, 
 who carried only the bend checque. Sir John married Marion 
 Stirling, daughter and co-heir to Sir John Stirling of Calder in 
 Cliddisdale, and with her got the lands of Kerse and Alva, for 
 which the family carried the buckles for the name of Stirling, and 
 flourished for many years." 
 
 " George Monteith merchant in Edinburgh, by the Lyon Register is 
 said to be the representer of the family, who carried the above arms ; 
 he left behind him a son, George.'' 
 
 The assertion of the " Lyon" does not appear altogether satisfactory 
 to Nisbet, and the investing an Edinburgh shopkeeper with the male 
 representation of the old Earls of Monteith, may have startled the 
 genealogist. Probably any opinion emanating from the Lyon Court 
 in 1722 was as valueless then, as competent judges conceive it to be 
 now.* 
 
 The " Lyons" are certainly very liberal in their certificates of descent, 
 for " John Hooke Campbell of Bangeston, Lion King of Arms, 
 certifies and declares," that Sir Robert Dalzell of Binns, Bart, is 
 " the heir 'male and representative of the families of Monteith of 
 
 * See Mr. Riddell's valuable remarks on the Lyon office. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 37 
 
 Auldcathy, Milhall. Kerse, Husky, and of the ancient family of 
 Menteith, Earls of Monteith.'* Thus by the exceeding liberality 
 of the King of Heralds, the Earls of Monteith have the singular 
 good fortune of having two heirs-male and representatives. 
 
 Devout and precious soul should I in verse, 
 
 Attempt thy glorious virtues to reherse, 
 
 It were a contradiction to expresse, 
 
 And bring to numbers what is numberless : 
 
 Verses must loss their feet, and Elegies 
 
 Give up their running to our melting eyes ; 
 
 Yet reason sayes, that it can be no crime 
 
 What we may speak in prose to writ in rime. 
 
 Witness the Sacrid Scriptures, its no wrong 
 
 To vent a lamentation in a song. 
 
 So rational a grief who utters it, 
 
 At once both show's his sorrow, and his witt. 
 
 I'l not imploy my muse to chide stern death, 
 
 That with blood thirsty haste did cut thy breath, 
 
 When thou thyself did chide the fates delay, 
 
 Gasping from those sad times to be away. 
 
 Nor with fantistick nights implore the sphears, 
 
 To bath thy memory with us in tears. 
 
 While we believe that new Jerusalem 
 
 Where now thou art, surmounts both us and them. 
 
 Thou now art infranchised, and at large, 
 
 And from our warrs death seals thee a discharge. 
 
 Where clad in robes of immortality 
 
 Thou'st levi'd with the glorious Hierarchy. 
 
 For here below thou wer't in each estate 
 
 Humble, active, prudent, just, and temperat, 
 
 And with both actions and thy thoughts expence, 
 
 Did keep thy conscience still without offence, 
 
38 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Who knew thy vertues well, they understood 
 Thou wert an angel cloath'd with flesh and blood. 
 Thy birth above the common levell was, 
 Thy nuptial tyes in honour did surpasse. 
 Thou was not troubled with mad Midas jitch, 
 Yet God did bliss thy store, and made thee rich- 
 Thou was a man of business, and yet, 
 To serve thy maker was thy chief delight. 
 Wherefore God takes thee home, where now thou sings 
 Grave, wher's thy conquest ? Death where are thy stings. 
 Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori. 
 
 N. PATERSON. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Itoatf) of l)is iExttllmts ffitnetal 
 of Bums, one of tlje |ew- 
 of life Jftajestte's 
 
 CottnrtL 
 
 General Thomas Dalyell of Binns died in the year 1685, somewhere 
 about Michaelmas, according to Chambers. Of one whose history 
 must be familiar to every person conversant with Scotish History 
 it seems unnecessary to offer any account. He wore, as is well 
 known, his beard, which is described as " white aYid curly," and 
 reaching down to his girdle. See Creichton's Memoirs by Swift. 
 This beard was never shaved after the decapitation of King Charles 
 the First. Mr. Chambers informs his readers, that his comb is 
 still preserved at Binns, it is twelve inches broad, while the teeth 
 are at least six inches deep. It must be a very striking and wonder- 
 ful production of art, as it gives " a vast idea of the extent of the 
 beard, and of the majestic character of Dalyell ! ! !"(P. 59.) 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 39 
 
 Fountainhall* mentions, that the General died very suddenly, and that 
 he " got a very splendid buriall, after the military forme, being at- 
 tended by the standing forces, horse and foot, present at Edinburgh, 
 and six peices of canon drawen before his.herse, with his led horse 
 and generall's batton, &c. Some ware observing that few of our 
 generall persons in Scotland had come to their grave without some 
 tach or note of disgrace, which Dalzell had not incurred, and in- 
 stanced in Lesly Earle of Leven, Lesly Lord Newwark, Generall 
 Hamilton, Houburne, Montgomerie, Monro, Monmouth,'' &c. 
 
 The General left a son, named Thomas, who was created a baronet, 
 with remainder to his heirs-male and of tailzie. By his wife, 
 Catherine, daughter of Sir William Drummone of Riccarton, he had 
 a son, who became the second baronet, and two daughters, Magda- 
 len, who married in 1688, James Monteith of Auldcathly, and Janet, 
 married to Colonel Walter Sharp, a son of Sharp of Houston. 
 
 Upon the death of the second baronet, unmarried, and without issue, 
 the estate of Binns devolved on James Monteith, the eldest son of 
 the marriage between Magdalen Dalyell and his father, and from 
 him, the present learned Vice-President of the Society of Scotish 
 Antiquaries is directly descended. 
 
 Thou child of sin and fate, who only can 
 Measure the true dimensions of a man. 
 Who with impartial and triumphant wings 
 O'ertakes the poor man's flight as well as kings, 
 And with thy martial all controuling drum, 
 Beats a cold march to the eternal home, 
 Tyrant o'er tyrants, who, with fatal force, 
 Betwixt the soul and body makes divorce. 
 No more thy trophies boast, thou here must yield, 
 Here's one thou could not conquer in the field, 
 Who, spite of all the forces him withstood, 
 Has div'd for honour in a sea of blood. 
 Who, wheresoever he fought, or seige did lay, 
 Honour and conquest did their wings display. 
 
 * P. 215. 
 
40 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Whose heart by night nor day did ever feel 
 
 A cowards damp, oft sleept in sheets of steel. 
 
 That soul of chivalrie, which no delight 
 
 Could weaken, or the face of death affright, 
 
 The great DALZIEL who with undazled yes, 
 
 Affronted all the flames from steel could rise. , 
 
 Just like the generous eagle dare oppose,, 
 
 The proudest light that ever in heaven arose. 
 
 His actions all were generous, and free, 
 
 And did no interest own, but loyaltie. 
 
 He lov'd not wars for wars, nor strife for strife, 
 
 Not prodigal, nor nigard of his life, 
 
 He did not softly spare himself, but then 
 
 He did exact the like of other men. 
 
 For of his generous, and martial heart, 
 
 Courage and judgement had their equal part, 
 
 He was the genius of the camp, yet knew, 
 
 When to retire, and when his foes pursue, 
 
 He knew all order of tumultuous war, 
 
 Ranks, files, march, countermarch, to make a square, 
 
 And form a square, to raise a diamond, 
 
 And all Battalias ever yet were found. 
 
 How to encamp, entrench, and any part 
 
 Where nature fails, to fortifie by art : 
 
 How to defend, or to assault a town, 
 
 And comtings, bulwarks, plat-forms to beat down. 
 
 He knew no treacherous arts, nor cheating charms, 
 
 But masculin courage, and the laws of arms, 
 
 With these he made his souldiers well train'd men, 
 
 With these he brought them on, and off again. 
 
 It was by those, he to his latest breath, 
 
 In every war, conquest, propound, or death. 
 
 Like a majestick general, by those, 
 
 He sold his souldiers lives dear to his foes. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 41 
 
 By his example every minor band 
 Did take new force from his heroick hand ; 
 Souldier inspired souldier j foot, the horse ; 
 But he them both, so great's a general's force 
 Who by his valour, made it understood, 
 An ounce of honour's worth a pound of blood, 
 His never daunted courage undervalu't 
 The iron salutation of a bullet. 
 Therefore some grovling coward's low pitcht eye 
 ^That could not reach triumphant honours skie, 
 What their affrighted sense could not behold, 
 Without being dazled, yet to carp were bold. 
 But he at home, abroad, and in all parts, 
 His blade imbrued in rivers sprung from hearts. 
 Yet with such moderation that he made 
 It clear ; war was for physick, not for trade. 
 In Ireland, and at Musco, and at home, 
 Like Hercules he monsters overcome. 
 In all which enterprizes we might see 
 His counsel, courage, generositie. 
 He knew when to be harsh, when to be mild, 
 And did esteem each souldier as his child. 
 And train'd them so, which care was not in vain, 
 They as their father reverenc'd him again, 
 And with the Prophet did him thus bewail. 
 Horse-men and chariots of our Israel. 
 But now being enfranchised, and at large 
 From all our wars, death seals him a discharge- 
 He with the souls above and Hierarchic, 
 Has valour turned into extasie, 
 Where till the earth and all its trophies lie 
 A scattered heap, and time itself shall die, 
 He shall live unallarm'd with the blast 
 Of any other trumpet but the last. 
 
42 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 INVICTISSIMI DUCTS THOM,E DALZELLI 
 EPITAPHIUM. 
 
 Non potes exiguo claude Dalzelle sepulchre, 
 Tarn brevis ingentem non capit urna viriim. 
 
 Te Duce Monstra jacent patria teterrima, cum nil 
 Restaret, super! scandis in astra poli- 
 
 N. P. 
 
 NINIANI PATERSONI AD AMICOS PAR^ENENSIS. 
 
 Ille ego lugcntem expertus solatur, acerbis 
 Heu premor ipse malis ! luctu ! atque labore ! ruina ! 
 Omnibus exhaustus jam casibus, omnium egenus 
 Deficio ; Medicasque maims fomentaque quaero 
 Vulneribus (sed summa) meis. Nunc tempus amici 
 Reddere opem, immeritis vatemque exolvere curis. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 n t$e Statf) of Sit Sabitr falconer of 
 lietoton, Hotir ^resiirtnt of 
 antr Session. 
 
 Sir David Falconer was the second son of one of the Commissaries of 
 Edinburgh. He entered advocate 3d July 1661, was appointed a 
 Lord of Session 24th May 1676, and having undergone the usual 
 trials, took his seat 22d June following. He was admitted a Justi- 
 ciary Judge 2d March 1678, and appointed Lord President 5th 
 June 1682. His Lordship died at Edinburgh after four days ill- 
 ness, 15th December 1685. He was succeeded by Sir George 
 Lockhart, who was afterwards murdered by Chiesly of Dairy. On 
 the 23d of February 1693, his son David was served heir to his 
 father in the Barony of Newton, in the shires of Forfar and 
 Kincardine. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES 43 
 
 Not to disparage other hero's praise, 
 
 Whose temples have been wreathed with Thamis bayes : 
 
 In this our age we truly may averr, 
 
 None lived more loved then worthy Falconer. 
 
 The Barr declar'd him learn'd and eloquent, 
 
 The Bench a grave judicious President. 
 
 His parents, children, and good lady, prove 
 
 His great obedience, piety, and love : 
 
 His life, (ah short), was from his tender youth, 
 
 Al diligence, integrity, and truth : 
 
 Nothing could him from equity withdraw ; 
 
 Law's a dumb Judge, he was a speaking law, 
 
 And could no more from that just rule decline, 
 
 Than Sol can stray from the ecliptick line. 
 
 R. D. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 to tlje fflttmvm of tfjat 
 tomntr, iUavntir, antr l^bottt prelate, 
 , late Hottr Bishop of 
 
 Alexander Young, Bishop of Edinburgh, was translated to the See 
 of Ross 29th March 1679- He had this Bishoprick till his death, 
 which took place in 1683 in France, where he had gone to be cut 
 for the stone. The operation he only survived about a week. 
 
 To THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY LORD MARQUESS OF 
 
 QUEENSBERRY, LORD HlGH THESAURER OF 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
44 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Oaths of alledgeance and supremacie 
 
 Show that our Church, and State, in one agree. 
 
 Then who dare blame me, if I dedicate, 
 
 The Churches Pearle, to a Peer of the State ? 
 
 May heavens protect the noble Douglas blood, 
 
 Than which no race was ever al so good. * ] 
 
 Man's life's a flying vapour, which doth rise 
 
 Like a small spot, 'twixt two eternities : 
 
 An empty shadow of a lying dream, 
 
 Where we delusions, for delights esteem ; 
 
 Which in our best and prosperous state doth show 
 
 Like drops of frailty plung'd in seas of wo. 
 
 Behold this Reverend Prelate, who to save 
 
 His life, did only travel for a grave, 
 
 Not disregarded, tho' abroad, and from 
 
 Both family and friends, God takes him home. 
 
 One, to this earth, of purpose sent by fate, 
 
 This age might have a saint to imitate, 
 
 And that deservedly ; he is a theam, 
 
 Will naked truth make masqued flattery seem. 
 
 For in the Firmament of Fame, he'll shine 
 
 To all posterity, a grand Divine, 
 
 A Prelate wise, devout in words and deeds, 
 
 An ornament to all the mitred heads. 
 
 The draught, and mirrour, of a spotless life : 
 
 The Preacher's wonder, and the hearer's strife. 
 
 Crown'd with wisdom's rayes ; he bore a mind 
 
 From earth, and ignorance alike refin'd. 
 
 * An old Anagram of the name of Douglas. 
 Dowglas. 
 Al so gwd. 
 
 No name, no race, no pedigree, no blood, 
 In Albion's Isle, were ever all so good. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 45 
 
 Depths of all mysteries he thoroughly knew., 
 
 While trees for men, and men for trees we view. 
 
 No interest in this world's affairs requir'd, 
 
 From pomp, and gain, he cheerfully retir'd. 
 
 This house a Bethlehem was, an house of bread., 
 
 The poor and needy to supply, and feed. 
 
 That gospel-spirit of true charity, 
 
 His hand, and heart made always open ly 
 
 To all his neighbour's wants : To all a friend 
 
 Delighting to do good, and to be kind. 
 
 All that afflicted were, he cur'd their care, 
 
 With prudent counsels, and with holy prayer. 
 
 Our pressours to relieve, our wants supply, 
 
 These were his riches, this his luxury. 
 
 This almes to all, no ostentation staines, 
 
 But Godly poor men were his Benjamins. 
 
 Narcissus to the thing for which he pined, 
 
 Was not more like, than he in heart and mind 
 
 Was to the harmless dove, almost in all 
 
 But chiefly herein that he wanted gall. 
 
 He was another Moses, in whose breast, 
 
 Passion (if entred) never found a rest. 
 
 His calm and heavenly soul, it could not be 
 
 RufiTd, nor ranckl'd with an injury. 
 
 Nor scorn, nor spite of his worst foes could move. 
 
 Him to restrain his service, or his love. 
 
 Whose tongues with gall, and hearts with envy swel'd, 
 
 He with compassion, or neglect beheld : 
 
 For he who doth to immortal glory post, 
 Is not with vain and empty trifles crost. 
 
 He was no temporizer, who did run 
 
 Or ever dance to present fortune's tune. 
 
46 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 No low pitcht soul, yet unaspiring he 
 
 Attain'd to grandeur by humility. 
 
 So tender to his clergy, it did seem 
 
 Each Churchman was a second self to him. 
 
 In trust and counsell to his friend so close,] 
 
 If they were Nisus, he Eurialus. 
 
 His whole deportment gentle, sober, sweet, 
 
 For in his breast did zeal with meekness meet. 
 
 High wrongs, high place, in which he was employ'd, 
 
 He meekly suffer'd, modestly enjoy'd. 
 
 Chaste, as the blushes of a virgin rose, 
 
 Kind to his friends, and courteous to his foes. 
 
 For as a princely priest he wisely knew, 
 
 How to protect, and gen'rously rescue, 
 
 With a milde majesty, his friends repute 
 
 From those who did their honour persecute. 
 
 As a magnanimous and wise Commander 
 
 He keept the mean 'twixt flattery and slander. 
 
 At home, abroad, unto a scruple try'd, 
 
 By every dispensation varined ; 
 
 So that the purging fire, and fanning wind, 
 
 Left but pure grain, and quintessence behind. 
 
 Preaching, and prayer hence, from grosser ore 
 
 He did refine to spirit, and to power. 
 
 We saw in his discourses and example 
 
 Urim, and Thummim, in the second Temple. 
 
 Yet with no borrowed winges did take his flight, 
 
 Nor glow-worm like shin'd with a jugling light. 
 
 Whatever from his lipps, or life there came 
 
 To us did sparkle from the heavenly flamm 
 
 Infus'd, more than acquired, and did inspire, 
 
 And then inflammed every meaner fire 
 
 Of his inferiour charge, (like golden hair, 
 
 The beams, the sun darts through the lightsome air), 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 47 
 
 This light, and heat, at once in them appeared, 
 Altho' but in poor camel's hair attir'd. 
 But his more radiant, and more active spirit, 
 Doth now a clear, and ample orb inherit, 
 Where it hath lost itself, being rapt above, 
 In an eternall maze of joy and love : 
 Where shades are gone, and all the ideas ripe, 
 Have now resolv'd themselves into the type. 
 Blest is thy hap, our hope, thou'rt at thy rest, 
 Whilst we with Gog and Magog must contest. 
 May heavens bequeath to some, if not to all, 
 That on our spirits thy rich mantle fall ; 
 And to all aftertimes thy motto be, 
 YOUNG did both teach and live divinitie. 
 This box of Spiknard, while on thee we cast, 
 Non but a Judas will surmise it wast. 
 Tho' to thy memorie much more we owe ; 
 Yet praise and tears is all we dare bestowe. 
 
 2 Kings, ii, 12. 
 
 My Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel, and the 
 horsemen thereof. 
 Occidit ante diem, et spes nostras morte fefellit. 
 
 His EPITAPH. 
 
 To name all gifts and graces were too long ; 
 This all contains : <f Here lyeth Bishop Young." 
 
 Dignum laude virum musa vetat mori. HORAT. 
 MB. NINIAN PATERSON. 
 
 Sold by WALTER POPE in Roxburghs Closse, over 
 against St. Giles Steeple. Anno 1683. 
 
48 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 tfje lanwtttaJrt* iJtati) of tyt 
 , sotwgrr, fatfjo tepar&tf tyt 
 
 28, 1686. 
 
 The lady who is so strangely lauded by the Reverend Ninian Paterson, 
 curate of Libberton, as not 
 
 " Possest with barbarous chastitie*," 
 
 was a daughter of Sir Daniel Harvie, Ambassador Extraordinary 
 from England to the Sublime Porte. Her husband was Cromwell 
 Lockhart of Lee, so named after the Lord Protector, his mother 
 Robina Sewster, having been, it is said, a niece of Cromwell. f 
 Mr. Lockhart took as his second wife his own cousin-german 
 Martha, daughter, and at length sole heiress of Sir John Lockhart 
 of Castlehill. By neither of his wives had he any issue, and he was 
 on his decease succeeded by his brother Richard. 
 
 What is this world ? but endless toil and strife, 
 Tumults and toys, that wastes our wretched life : 
 Distempered Mutinies, Uproars, and Factions, 
 At best, the pomps and triumphs of vile actions. 
 In which we have to'r burial, from our birth, 
 A moneths mourning, for a moment's mirth. 
 That which presents delight in fullest measure, 
 Tickling the fancy, with deluding pleasure, 
 
 If any credit can be attached to the " Answer to the Scotch Pres- 
 byterian eloquence," Lond. 1693, 4to a production of Mr. George 
 Redpath, and not on that account the more likely to be veracious 
 _ the reverend poet was himself not much troubled with " barbarous 
 chastity." See page 64. 
 
 f This marriage is said in Harding's Biographical Mirror to have 
 taken place in 1650. Vol. 3, p. 56. Lond. 1793, 4to. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 49 
 
 It is as transitory as a flower 
 
 That blooms and blasted is, both in an hour. 
 
 So here an instance in a sprightly maid, 
 
 In courtly France, and gen'rous England bred. 
 
 Who could set forth both nations in their dress ; 
 
 Their ceremony, or their state express 
 
 Blest with the honours of a glorious birth 
 
 The greatest happiness we have on earth. 
 
 Her ancestors enjoyed all earthly pleasures, 
 
 Being men of myriads,, and masoq treasures. 
 
 Whose valour, and sage prudence, did advance 
 
 Some of them to an embassay for France. 
 
 Fortunes, and honours minions ; who by far 
 
 Outstript competitors in peace and war ; 
 
 To a descent so high, and honoured, 
 
 She did obtain, an equal nuptial bed ; 
 
 Matched with the LOG KH ARTS, who in deed and word 
 
 Second to none are, for the gown, or sword. 
 
 Scotland (for both) in an immortal fame, 
 
 Beyond their worth shall never sound a name. 
 
 Being matched so ; disdaining to be coy, 
 
 She losed herself in labyrinths of joy. 
 
 And liv'd as merry, as the youths of Greece, 
 
 When they from Colchos brought the Golden Fleece, 
 
 No Erisycthous miser, beggar rich, 
 
 Who have, and have not ; curst with Midas itch. 
 
 Her heart was satisfied with her store ; 
 
 And did not wretchedly gape, and pine for more. 
 
 A Princess tongue, and hand, and heart had she, 
 
 Harmonious, large, and liberal, and free. 
 
 No rumour vext her, she was nere so low, 
 
 Nor did she care what storms of state could blow. 
 
 Court was her crime, if any such there be, 
 
 Not being possest with barbarous chastitie, 
 
 D 
 
50 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Like that coy peevish plant Pudesetan,* 
 That shrinks at the approach of every man. 
 No, no, no time that Goddess doth record, 
 That burnt the temple where she was ador'd. 
 Yet all these sugred pleasures period hav.e 
 In this sad leisure of the loathsome grave. 
 Their plenty passed reach of pen, or tongue, 
 And were too great, to have continued long. 
 All which upon review give us to know, 
 All pleasures here have but a painted show. 
 
 N. PATERSON. 
 
 Immodicis brevis est setas, et rara senectus. 
 
 MART. 
 
 Usque adeo nulla est sincera voluptas 
 Solicituinque aliquid laetis intervenit. 
 
 OVID. 
 
 Medio de fonte leporum 
 
 Surgit amari aliquid. 
 
 LUCRET. 
 
 Laetus in prsesens animus, quod ultra est 
 Oderit curare : et amara laeto 
 Temperet risu, nihil est ab omni 
 
 parte beatum. 
 
 HORAT. 
 
 The sensitive herb. MS. note on broadside. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 51 
 
 XIX. 
 
 <n % I3*afl) of tf)t JEttgftt 
 
 $am*s Sari* of IJtrfl), HorO 
 UrtwtwonO an& Stoiljalt 
 
 James, third Earl of Perth, succeeded his father, Earl John, in 1662. 
 He married Lady Anne Gordon, eldest daughter of George, second 
 Earl of Huntly, and by her, who died 9th January 1656, had two 
 sons and one daughter. The youngest son was created Earl of Mel- 
 fort ; from him, James Drummond, created an English Peer by 
 the title of Lord Perth, 14th October 1797, was directly descended, 
 and his daughter, Lady Willoughby D'Eresby, now inherits the Perth 
 estates. The Earl died 2d June 1675. 
 
 His eldest son turned Roman Catholic, was in high favour with James 
 the Seventh, and was made Lord Chancellor of Scotland. 
 
 In Sir Robert Sibbald's autobiography, P. 37, (8vo. Edin. Thomas 
 G. Stevenson, 1833,) there is a very amusing account of his tempo- 
 rary conversion, which was brought about by the exertions of his 
 patron, the Earl. Although the worthy antiquary again changed his 
 religious views, Lord Perth continued firm, and adhered to the for- 
 tunes of his royal master, by which he lost both titles and estates. 
 He died at Rome llth March 1716. His descendants in the male 
 line are extinct. 
 
 J ealous 1 am, mourners are scarce adayes., 
 
 Time will have period, ere tears dime some eyes : 
 Admit the reason ever be so great, 
 The signs of sorrow weareth out of date. 
 
 A wake, awake ! Oh then dull dumpish age, 
 Be no more stranger to grief's tragide stage : 
 Implore Heav'ns may, their clouds of rain to turn 
 In showers of tears, t' assist dry hearts to mourn ; 
 
52 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 M ore universal cause for long time ne're 
 In any age to kingdome did appear : 
 When pillars fall, the roofs are weak'ned sure, 
 When States-men die,, does it not Thrones injure ? 
 
 E clips'd is not the pow'r of Majesty ? , 
 
 When Death blows out such lamp of Loyalty 
 
 Does not old Albion's Lebanon decay ? 
 
 When such prime Cedar, thus is pluck't away : 
 
 S ad, sad, O Perth ! is the distemper that 
 
 Thy death hath wrought into our publick state : 
 From Prince to Peasant, all in general 
 Do find the losse so epidemical ; 
 
 E xposed to deep groanning is each heart, 
 
 In woe all strive who shall have greater part : 
 
 Admired boundless mind of all the good 
 
 In Earth or Heav'ns by souls are understood : 
 
 A s sun to lesser lights doth splendour lend, 
 Thy influence to Heroe's did extend ; 
 The mirrour of all comprehended worth, 
 Nobility or honour could show forth : 
 
 R espected by the Machivals of state, 
 Faithful, ingenious, eminent, compleat : 
 T' advance thy Prince, all dangers for his sake, 
 Ev'n in thy actions thou did undertake, 
 
 L oved him so, when fined and confin'd 
 By the usurper, again re-re-fin'd : 
 Judg'd all thy sufferings but a duty bound, 
 'Mongst those who fought, reward was never found. 
 
 E steem'd by Monk, were he alive would give 
 
 This verdict, straighter crown friend neVe did live ; 
 From birth to death unstain'd, remain'd so ; 
 Whils from thy grave may loyalties laurels grow 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 53 
 
 O he of King's restauration instrument, 
 Short of no joy, then did him complement ; 
 With contemplation search thy matchless wayes, 
 Most circumspectly walked in bad dayes : 
 
 F rom whose rare steps, ages to come may trace 
 Guides, for to follow, Kingdoms well and peace : 
 A changeless son, to present church still seen, 
 Religion with good works did entertain. 
 
 P rov'd the most cordial tye could friendship binde 
 The best of humours, and most real kind : 
 Brave gen'rous spark, to Jove's society, 
 The quintessence of magnanimity : 
 
 E ven unto deserts makes the virtues moan, 
 
 They now may weep, their chiefest Lord is gone : 
 To tenants, widows, orphans, a disaster, 
 They ne're again shal find so just a master 
 
 R ated, though inward parts, and knowledge might 
 Have rais'd proud thoughts, unto promotions height : 
 Thou did it prize to man felicity 
 To be invested with humility. 
 
 T hy praise who views, write by immortal fame, 
 
 Will find 'bove PERTH'S are none that beareth name. 
 A lamentation to old Drummond's race, 
 Did so much glory from a chief embrace : 
 
 H old, hold ! As which is this relentment made, 
 Hath Of-spring left, does thee revive, when dead :* 
 Makes Drummond'sname, and Stobhal's house renown'd, 
 From which hath sprung eight lineal monarchs crown'd. 
 
 MQtJNGO] 
 
 * Mungo Murray, as previously noticed, was the author of congra- 
 tulatory lines on this " of-spring," when Lord Chancellor of Scotland. 
 
54 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XX. 
 
 tpon fjts late fitajcsttt, of 
 , ittng 
 
 From a volume of Broadsides in the Library of the Faculty of Advo- 
 cates, which appears formerly to have belonged to Wodrow. In the 
 same collection, there is another one, entitled " Suspiria or Sighs, 
 on the death of the late Most Illustrious Monarch, Charles the Se- 
 cond, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and who chang- 
 ed his earthly for a heavenly crown, on Friday the 6th February 
 1684-5, in the 37th year of his reign, and 55th of his age. Edin- 
 burgh, Reprinted by the heirs of Andrew Anderson, Printer to his 
 Most Sacred Majesty, 1685." As this is evidently from an English 
 pen, it has not been inserted in this Collection. 
 
 On the back of a copy of the Suspiria, in a volume of broadsides, which 
 is said to have belonged to Lord Fountainhall, and now in the Ad- 
 vocates' Library, are the following lines, apparently in his Lordship's 
 hand-writing. 
 
 Oh cruel death, thow filthy thing, 
 
 Durst thus attack our sovereign Lord ; 
 
 Thow thowghts that thow had got a King, 
 But trowth thowst got a T - 
 
 So left the World Jerusalems Great Guide,, 
 
 When He in Peace upon His Pillow Dy'd ; 
 
 So like Our Realm, all Israel made their Moan, 
 
 Even King Solomon upon His Throne. 
 
 But could the Tears of all the Princes save 
 
 The Great, Just Hezekiah from His Grave ? 
 
 Or could Our Sighs, or could Our Tears Avail ? 
 
 Or could Our Prayers with Wayward Death Prevail ? 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 55 
 
 Fame tells, how once a mighty Shield from Heaven 
 
 Unto the Great Anchise's Son was Given, 
 
 That shin'd with Oar and Gemms in every Part, 
 
 And would not take a Dint from Mortal Dart ; 
 
 Like that Bright Shield, Thy everlasting Name 
 
 (Engrav'd with Wonders by the Hand of Fame) 
 
 Shall Live, and shall Out-last all strength and Rage 
 
 Of Envious Time, and All-Destroying Age. 
 
 In thy Blest- Reign, Thou Great Coelestial Man ! 
 
 The Golden- Tree of Union First Began ; 
 
 Glorious, as that which in Old Eden Sprang, 
 
 When Angels on the Tender Branches Sang ; 
 
 Under the Shaddow of whose Sacred Wings 
 
 We Sat, and did admire the Best of KINGS ; 
 
 Then Loyalty, that was before near Dead, 
 
 With Courage Lifted up its Beautious Head : 
 
 So Mercy came, and on the Waters stood, 
 
 After the Deluge of the Roaring Flood ; 
 
 Then Peace appeared, and Broke those Heavy Chains 
 
 With which the Rebel-Gyant bound her Veins. 
 
 My Muse (of all Apollo's Tribe) the Worst, 
 
 To Thy Great Sepulchre comes only First ; 
 
 Thy Godlike Acts let abler Pens paint forth 
 
 In Words worth Dying for, Declare Thy Worth ; 
 
 But after All that Art can here Bestow, 
 
 Then shall Perfumes upon the Violets strew : 
 
 They Gild Refined Gold with Care and Pain, 
 
 And Smooth the Ice, and must at last Complain 
 
 Their Fading Lawrels cannot Grace Thy Herse, 
 
 For the Great Task's too Hard for Humane Verse. 
 
 Great is Our Loss, and most Severe Our Fate, 
 
 That Such a Life should have so Short a Date : 
 
56 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Well may the Nation Mourn, concern'd to see 
 No Pitch of Glory from the Grave is Free. 
 He that can make Remarks on All that's Rare, 
 May See how Short, how little Time things share, 
 That are most Wondrous, Bright,, or Gopd, or Fair. 
 Were all the soft and Pearly dews distill'd 
 Of every Flower in every Fragrant Field, 
 Even all the Sweets that Hibla's Hives do yield : 
 In One Broad Mazor, had We all the Gums 
 And Spices that from Rich Panchaia comes, 
 The Offerings were (alas !) too Mean and Small 
 To lay and Prostrate at Thy Funeral. 
 Although from Us Thou art Removed away, 
 Thy Fame, like Light, shal Shine to Perfect Day : 
 Thy Way is Gay and Rich in every part, 
 Drawen forth by All the Chymick Angels Art ; 
 And those Blest Angels which so much Admire 
 Goodness on Earth, to their Coelestial Quire 
 Shall carry Thy bright SOUL upon their Wings, 
 To make a Present to the KING of Kings. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 o tyt Jflteworg of tys JJttgftt $utwwra&l* 
 
 tol)o trtrtr in 
 IPom. 1686. 
 
 Thomas, fourth Lord Napier, was the son of the Hon. Jean Napier, 
 sister of Archibald, third Lord Napier, and Sir Thomas Nicolson of 
 Carnock, in the count) of Stirling, Baronet. His uncle having 
 resigned his honours in the hands of the Crown, obtained a new 
 patent, dated 17th February 1677, granting the barony to himself 
 and the heirs of his body ; which failing, to his three sisters, Jean, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 57 
 
 Margaret, and Mary, and the heirs-male of their body; which fail- 
 ing, ' heredi femellse natu maximae ex corpore dictae Dominae Jeannae 
 Napier, ahsque divisione et heredibus masculis ex corpore dictae 
 illius heredis femellae ; quibus deficienlibus heredi femellae natu 
 maximae dictas Jeannae absque divisione, et ita successive quamdiu 
 extant et supersunt ullae filiae legitime procreatae ex corpore dictae 
 Jeannae ;" which failing, to the same heirs of the bodies of Margaret 
 and Mary ; which failing, to the heirs-male whatever of Lord Archi- 
 bald ; which all failing, to the patentee's nearest heirs and assigns. 
 
 Under this destination Thomas Nicolson succeeded his uncle Archi- 
 bald, and dying in France in the year 1686, the title devolved on 
 his aunt Margaret. 
 
 Upon Lord Napier's demise, a law suit commenced as to the estates he 
 inherited from his father, and, what was somewhat remarkable, a dis- 
 pute arose amongst his heirs who should carry the head of the 
 corps. This honour was adjudged to the Earl of Linlithgow his 
 uncle, " then they strive for the right hand, what wes found due 
 to those that were males ; such dignities not transmissible to 
 women." Fountainhall's Chronological Notes, (as interpolated by 
 Mylne), p. 190. Edin. 1822, 4to. 
 
 Who without pale amazement ponder can 
 
 The dissolution of the frame of man ? 
 
 Heaven's masterpiece ; in whom the ETERNAL drew 
 
 His Portracture, for ravisht earth to view, 
 
 That heavenly, and immortal sparks, might sway, 
 
 The Monarchic of brittle clods of clay : 
 
 Whose twisted chains, compos'd of love and wonder, 
 
 Dissolves like ice, like glass does brake asunder ; 
 
 So that each man of high or low degree, 
 
 When weighed, is lighter found than vanitie. 
 
 So swifts this span of frailtie, life, we know 
 
 Eagles compared, are supposed slow : 
 
 Posts on the Earth, Ships on the Sea, the Wind, 
 
 Motion itself is hovering left behind ; 
 
 These to our faith, (the souls enlightned eye), 
 
 Scriptures makes Emblems of Mortalitie. 
 
58 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 And by dear-bought Experience, it appears 
 
 Youth's downs may fall, as well as grizlie hairs. 
 
 The Patient and Physician, strong and weak, 
 
 To Death the King and Beggar are alike : 
 
 If sins add fewel to the fire of hell, 
 
 Thrice happie he in youth that dieth well. * 
 
 Then onely NAPIER, thee we must confess 
 
 Plac'd in the zenith of all happiness : 
 
 To whose nativity the fates did owe 
 
 All glories, smiling fortune can bestow. 
 
 A birth, blest with such honours, vertues, parts, 
 
 That Court, or Countrey, can boast for their arts. 
 
 A name, all Albion over (it is clear) 
 
 For learning, valour, prudence, had NO PIER. 
 
 Hence they, and onely they, possest that name, 
 
 As a just donative of glorious fame ; 
 
 Which still from age to age no limits knew, 
 
 Till Glories crescent to a circle grew ; 
 
 Which passing the world's bounds could bounded be 
 
 By nothing now, but vast Eternitie. 
 
 Scarce four and twenty times the posting sun, 
 
 Through his coelestial Inns, the signs, had run 
 
 Till heavens great Privy Councill (ruthless fates), 
 
 Above the saphiro rafters him translates : 
 
 Where he pure vertues pleasures might obtain, 
 
 Who only here, had tasted of their pain. 
 
 Whose comely person to our ravisht eye 
 
 Vi'd only with his soul for beautie : 
 
 Yet handsomeness was but the outward shrin 
 
 To vail the glorious Saint was lodged therein ; 
 
 His judgement was so clear, it knew no night, 
 
 His apprehension active as the light ; 
 
 Whose vigour could discover and discern 
 
 The deepest mysteries, frail man can learn, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 59 
 
 That had he lived, with that same approbation, 
 
 H'had write a comment on the Revelation, 
 
 As that great miracle his Grandsyre did, 
 
 Admir'd by all alive, ador'd when dead. 
 
 Such was this noble Lord, where ever known, 
 
 Amazing strangers, loved of his own. 
 
 At home, abroad, his vertues prov'd his name, 
 
 He had NA PIER in the deserts of fame ; 
 
 Yet his short time deny'd to tell us what, 
 
 Leaving eternity to open that ; 
 
 Onely deserv'd such trophies : at his Urn 
 
 That France and Brittain both at once do mourn. 
 
 N. PATEBSON. 
 
 Felix qui Portum subiit, in quern si quis intra primos 
 annos delatus est, non magis queri debet, quam qui 
 cito navigarit. 
 
 SENECA. 
 
 Tolle caput luctu mersum, quando omnia functa 
 Aut moritura vides ; obeunt noctesque, diesque, 
 Astraque, nee solidis prodest sua machina terris 
 Ortum quicquid habet finem timet : ibimus omnes, 
 Ibimus ; immensis urnam quatit JEAcvs umbris. 
 Ast hie quern gemimus, felix ; non ille rogavit, 
 Non timuit meruitve mori ; nos anxia plebes, 
 Nos miseri, quibus uride dies suprema, quis aevi 
 Exitus incertum : sed et hie jam numine plenus, 
 Et dubios casuSj et csecae lubrica vitae 
 Effugit immunis fati : Christique beatus 
 Dulcibus aloquiis et vivis vultibus ardet. 
 
 STATIUS EVANGELIZANS, 
 
60 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 iftcworte of tye mttcf) 
 
 son, ISaillte antr Btttltrer of ^Btfin 
 , foljo trepartetr tf)is life, 
 
 2, 1686. 
 
 Of this embellisher of the city, we have not been able to collect any 
 particulars. Strange fate, that a person so " much honoured,'' one, 
 too, who could turn dunghills into palaces, an endless task, if we 
 believe all we have read about Edinburgh in the olden time should 
 now live only in the lugubrious strains of the curate of Liberton ! 
 
 This world's a boiling gulf of griefs and fears, 
 
 Where we have still occasion of new tears ; 
 
 Still something that molests us, whence we know 
 
 Heaven cannot be possessed here below. 
 
 What heart ? but that of Adamant, can hear, 
 
 Not making eyes, pay tribute to his ear; 
 
 That THOMAS ROBERTSON is dead ! a fate, 
 
 Which sounds just like the downfall of a state ; 
 
 Or some great Monarch, who with awful hand 
 
 Did sway a scepter both o'er sea and land, 
 
 Who was a father unto all in need, 
 
 On whom ten thousand did depend for bread. 
 
 Another Abraham whose vertues vie, 
 
 With all the lights that twinckles in the skie ; 
 
 So that our fancie is opprest with glorie, 
 
 That fill'd our eyes with wonder, tongues with storie. 
 
 He did attain to Fortunatus' purse, 
 
 And Amalthea's horn, without a curse. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 61 
 
 Yea, when his prosperous spring-tides did prevail, 
 His barge was never burdened with sail : 
 Such unambitious looks he did advance, 
 As could have put pride out of countenance. 
 And with the product of his heavenly stock, 
 He succoured all on wheel of fortune broke. 
 And did employ in building thousand hands, 
 Such Monuments as to amazement stands ; 
 Where beauty mixt with strength, doth so comply 
 To serve at once the viewer's use and eye : 
 Like wise Seth's pillars, which have solid stood 
 From age to age, spite of a threatening flood. 
 That to the world's last end there should be known 
 No builder like to THOMAS ROBERTSON ; 
 Whose glorious character for ever is, 
 He turned dunghills into palaces. 
 With all that cost and cunning beautified, 
 That adds to state, and nothing wants but pride, 
 All which within the skies their heads do shroud, 
 As they would ease great Atlas of his load. 
 But this was not our Hero's chief renown, 
 That he enrich'd and beautified the town. 
 Nay more within his glorious building falls, 
 For he erected, men as well as walls ; 
 And like a Solon when a Magistrate, 
 By law and building both preserv'd our State. 
 And with a sumptuous, free magnificence, 
 Made donatives both to the State and Prince. 
 So that some learned bard to come shall sing, 
 He was a subject could oblidge a King. 
 Nay he obliged the age, who left behind 
 Live characters of his heroick mind, 
 
62 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Six generous models of himself whose name 
 
 Are both the wonder and discourse of fame, 
 
 He with his lovelie mate from the first start 
 
 Of Hymen's bond,, ran heart still yoak'd in heart. 
 
 Inflam'd alike with that soul melting fire, j 
 
 That their two souls joined still in one desire, 
 
 Which only poets know, and can admire. 
 
 Their house a temple was where prayer and praise 
 
 Did blesse their nights, and sanctifie their dayes, 
 
 Which prayers, and alms unto eternitie 
 
 With GOD, and man embalms his memorie ; 
 
 Since like old Enoch, he to blesse is gone, 
 
 It's not his death, but his translation. 
 
 Why then should we accompt his gain our loss ? 
 
 Heavens hath the gold, the earth contains his drosse. 
 
 Non domus sed hospitium corpus est, brevem omnino 
 moram si cum ^Eternitate comparetur trahimus. Quod 
 si domesticee calamitatis vulnere afflicti, imis sensibus 
 reponant, dolorem leniet. CRUCIUS. 
 
 Intervallis distinguimur, exitu aequamur. SENECA. 
 
 Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam. 
 Hora fugit, rapido volvuntur tempora lapsu ; 
 
 Singulus accelerat Fata suprema dies : 
 Vitae damna brevis, decus immortale rependit, 
 
 Effugit ardentes posthuma fama Rogos. 
 
 N. PATERSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Printed by J. REID. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 63 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 tyt l&eworg of tfie wtowjmraftle Sit 
 Hawsag of 
 
 of 
 
 srflor to J)is :Ptajtstg, Horir 
 
 of % Session, &t* toijo ite= 
 
 jmt trtr tijis lift Jfanttarg 
 
 17, 1688. 
 
 This " incomparable" judge was indebted to his Grace of Lauderdale 
 for his seat on the bench. His promotion, however, arose from no 
 profound legal knowledge, seeing the worthy gentleman had not 
 been bred a lawyer, (Sir George Mackenzie's Memoirs, p. 240), 
 but he had previously qualified himself for a proper exercise 
 of judicial functions fry filling the office of Lord Provost of Edin- 
 burgh, in discharge of the duties of \vhich he gave such pregnant 
 proofs of versatility and subservience, as naturally pointed him 
 out to his illustrious patron, as peculiarly qualified to act the part 
 of a Senator of the College of Justice. This appointment he did 
 not hold very long, for although admitted an ordinary Lord on the 
 23d November 167 U to escape an impeachment, he was compelled 
 to resign both civic and legal honours in November 1673. He died 
 at his house at Abbotshall on the 17th January 1688. 
 
 Sir Andrew was the son of Andrew Ramsay, Professor of Divinity in the 
 University of Edinburgh from 1620 to 1630, and one of the clergymen 
 of that city, whose sacred and miscellaneous poems in Latin* were 
 printed by the heirs of Andro Hart at Edinburgh, in the year 1633. 
 In this little volume are two epitaphs, one on David Ramsay of Bal- 
 main, and another on Katherine Carnegie, his father and mother, f 
 
 * Milton is accused of owing many of his descriptions and speeches 
 to the < Sacra Poemata." See letter to the printer of the Weekly 
 Magazine. Appendix, No. 2. 
 
 f The direct descent of Andrew from David Ramsay is overlooked 
 by Douglas in his account of the Balmain Family. 
 
64 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Thus, although Sir Andrew had been originally an Edinburgh trader 
 he sprung paternally from the ancient family of Ramsay of Balmain, 
 and maternally from the noble family of Southesk. 
 There was a Mr. John Ramsay, minister of the Gospel at Markinch, 
 who, although married, having no family, mortified his lands of Du- 
 niface in the parish of Markinch, and shire of fife, for three bur- 
 saries in the University of St. Andrews, for youths, in the .first place, 
 of the name of Rarnsay, secondly, of Durham, thirdly, of Carnegy, 
 and fourthly, Lindsay ; the right of patronage was to be vested in 
 Sir Charles Ramsay of Balmain, and Sir Andrew Ramsay of Abbots- 
 hall, which would seem to indicate a relationship between the 
 granter and these two persons. The deed is dated 4th June 1681. 
 The patronage ultimately became vested in the Ramsays of Balmain, 
 in consequence of the extinction of the Abbotshall branch. It is 
 now in the person of Sir Alexander Ramsay of Balmain, Bart, who 
 is descended in the female line from the Ramsays. His father was 
 the son of Alexander Burnett, second son of Sir Thomas Burnett of 
 Leys, Bart, who married Catherine Ramsay, sister of Sir Alexander 
 Ramsay, the sixth baronet of Balmain ; upon his demise he left his 
 estate to his nephew, who took the name of Ramsay, and was created 
 an English Baronet, May 13. 1806 ; the old Baronetcy went to a 
 collateral branch, and became, it is believed, extinct upon the death 
 of the late Sir Thomas Ramsay, 26th June 1830. 
 
 As to divide the winds that disagree,, 
 When in tempestuous storms they mingled be, 
 And lay their stern encounters so asleep, 
 That they may whisper musick to the deep, 
 Impossible to us it is ; no less, 
 Thy praises or our griefs, are to express, 
 Great Abbot's-hall ! thy worth they only know 
 Who are above, when we do mourn below, 
 By intellect and love, ye converse there, 
 Things banished our muddie hemisphere. 
 Soul wounding grief, and wonder are the two, 
 Sole legacies, thou leaves us here below. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 65 
 
 And could not thou have stay'd with us a while, 
 
 Till thou had seen a fully purged He. 
 
 Thou Edinburgh's glory, pleasure of our eyes ! 
 
 Yet blest be God, it is with no surprise. 
 
 Although our woeful comfort who can smoother, 
 
 Is only this, we'll ne're losse such another. 
 
 And this compleats our tragedie, beyond 
 
 This, fate can hardly give a greater wound. 
 
 Our nation's bankrupt grown, all men may see, 
 
 Beyond the hopes of a recoverie. 
 
 When gallantry and justice have their fall, 
 
 In Collington* and generous Abbots-Hall, 
 
 For we could say, while they were both alive, 
 
 The Kingdom's honour could all storms survive. 
 
 Never did active soul of sacred birth, 
 
 Inform a more celestial piece of earth, 
 
 Than Abbots. Hall, who scarce has left behind, 
 
 A subject, of a more majestic mind. 
 
 How did he all our angry broiles appease, 
 
 And with his own unrest, procure our ease. 
 
 He car'd not what turmoils possest his breast, 
 
 So that the Town from tumults was at rest, 
 
 For alwayes like a monarch, he did reign, 
 
 Above dull piti'd envie or disdain. 
 
 Yet never did he to preferment rise 
 
 By scrapes, or bribes, or such base simonies.t 
 
 Sir James Foulis of Colinton was admitted Lord Justice-Clerk, 
 22d February 1684, and died at Edinburgh, 19th January 1688. 
 
 f A pretty bold assertion, if we may credit Malcolm Laing, who 
 terms the Great" Abbotshall, a " bankrupt trader," created a 
 Lord of Session, " in return for seventeen thousand pounds, extorted 
 as gifts from the Town." Vol. 4, p. 74. Third Edition. Lond. 
 1819. 8vo. 
 
66 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 He calm'd all quarrels, vanquisht every spite, 
 
 And made each enemy his proselyte. 
 
 More than ten years, which spoke his high renown, 
 
 He was the Angel-guardian of the town. 
 
 Where he made void the poet's sad regrate, 
 
 Of just Astreas long bewail'd retreat ; 
 
 His every act that Opprobrie cancel I'd. 
 
 In him she spoke, in him she breath'd and dwell'd. 
 
 We may affirm it since our Saviour's birth, 
 
 He was her truest deputie on Earth. 
 
 Whatever sentence from her lips did fall, 
 
 His Prudence made it still Rhetorical. 
 
 When this whole island floated in a sea, 
 
 Of Disobedience, and Disloyaltie. 
 
 He, by his Wisdom, all these syrens past, 
 
 Being pinioned unto the loyal mast, 
 
 His Goodness, and his Wisdom, was so great, 
 
 He equally both knaves, and fools, did hate. 
 
 If what we great or generous esteem, 
 
 Exemption from the grave could justly claim, 
 
 He had, (could now Fate's vigour be abated), 
 
 With Enoch and Elias been translated. 
 
 And yet though Death dissolved hath his frame, 
 
 He'll be immortal in a lasting fame ; 
 
 If generosity from death could save, 
 
 Great Abbots-Hall he had escap'd the grave. 
 
 But now being Heaven's Inhabitant and Guest, 
 
 He unmixt sweets enjoyes amongst the blest ! 
 
 Yet may his fame on earth, till time shall die, 
 
 Yield unto nothing, but Eternitie. 
 
 N. PATERSON. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 67 
 
 O anima emigra, Christo moriente quid horres ? 
 
 Vivam seu moriar, sanguine vivo Dei. 
 Transitus e vivis, vitse melioris Origo est, 
 
 Aut potius vitae mors ea Principium. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 * l^oan; a^rtrterfwrw a 
 
 fjttjus 
 
 Sir Peter Wedderburn of Gosford, the second son of James Wedder- 
 burn, a Dundee trader, was admitted Advocate 19th January 1642, 
 and raised to the Bench on the 17th June 1668. On the 1 1th of 
 November 1679, he died at Gosford, which he inherited from his 
 uncle, Dr. John Wedderburn, Physician to Charles I. His charac- 
 ter has been given in the most laudatory terms by Sir George Mac- 
 kenzie. See his Works, Vol. 1, p. 6. Edin. 1716, folio. 
 
 Upon the 8th of April 1680, John Wedderburne of Gosford was serv- 
 ed heir to his father on the West Maynes of Ballencrief, Barony of 
 Gosford, and other lands, in the county of Haddington, and in cer- 
 tain tenements in Leith, in warrandice of the lands of Ballencrief. 
 He was drowned off Calais on the 26th May 1688, and the elegy 
 here printed from an original broadside in the Advocates' Library, 
 is upon this " Phoenix of the age." His brother-german, Peter, 
 was, on the 16th October 1688, served heir to him. 
 
 Gosford, or Gusefuird, originally belonged to the Achesons, who ob- 
 taining like the Humes of North Berwick a grant of lands in Ireland, 
 disposed of their Scotch estate and settling in the " Emerald Isle," 
 that 
 
 " First gem of the Sea," 
 
 about the middle of last century, crept into the Irish Peerage, and 
 in the year 1835 attained that great object of ambition an English 
 Barony. Gosford was acquired before the Wedderburns got it, by 
 the family of Auchmouty. It now forms part of the large estates 
 of the Earl of Wemyss. 
 
68 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 The great Earl of Rosslyn the eldest son of Peter Wedderburn, 
 Lord Chesterhall a Senator of the CourtW Session, was the great- 
 grandson of Lord Gosford his grandfather Alexander having been 
 his Loidship's third son. 
 
 Hoc tandem humanae est sortis transceiidere metam ! 
 
 GOSFORDUM, et juvenem, et sic, potuisse raori. 
 Aspera fata nimis ! nostro nimis invida saeclo, 
 
 Hunc non matures passa videre dies. 
 Ah tantum tibi cur licuit mare ? gloria saecli 
 
 Nostri, ut tarn parvo clauderet orbe diem ? 
 Qui patriam advexit super ardua culmina laudum, 
 
 Naufragus exterm's obrueretur aquis ? 
 Quern socium ascivit Rex prudentissimus usque, 
 
 Sive petens pacem, seu grave Martis opus. 
 Nunquam illo melior quisquam, nee amantior aequi, 
 
 Clara togae studiis mens, manus apta sago. 
 Ira brevis semper, vindictae nulla Cupido, 
 
 Largaque pauperibus semper aperta manus. 
 Idem MAECENAS, simul et MARO : Clarus utrinque : 
 
 Hie virtutis apex, hoc pietatis opus. 
 Intemerata fides, probitas, constantia, candor 
 
 Labe car ens, saeclo hoc non habuere parem. 
 Ergo quern Patrise pepererunt funera luctum 
 
 Pandere, nunc lachrymis obruta musa nequit. 
 Nam GOSFORDIACIS Caledonia tota parentat, 
 
 Manibus, usque vovens annua justa rogis. 
 O animae viles patientius ite sub umbras, 
 
 Delicias aevi si brevis hora rapit. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 69 
 
 XXV. 
 
 of flje $f}owx of tfje age, 
 
 ffiosfortr, 
 torartt'tr totot 
 
 26, 1688. 
 
 What mid- day gropper, or what muffled eye, 
 May not a second Chaos now espie ? 
 When timely gasping, and great Titan shall 
 From the blind Heavens, like a dead cinder fall. 
 The signs are all fulfilled we understand, 
 That show the World's Catastrophe's at hand, 
 Since GOSFORD'S dead : who hath departed hence, 
 A victim to an unknown providence, 
 He singly being an hecatomb, these times 
 Require no less, to expiate our crimes. 
 And its all one, if heavenly powers agree, 
 By fire or water, whether it offer'd be. 
 That in the ebb of Wisdom, Justice, Grace, 
 Upon the land, in floods they might take place. 
 
 Great GOSFOBD ! who both did, and understood, 
 All that was generous, learned, virtuous, good, 
 Heroick, valiant, just, and temperate; 
 Whom none can equal, best but imitate. 
 The Nadir and the Zenith of a creature, 
 Had reach'd the highest pitch of perfect nature, 
 A Cherubim incarnate ! all do tell 
 Of him, not as a man, but miracle. 
 He was indeed a miracle, and we 
 That miracles are ceased may now agree. 
 
70 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 But why this son of peace should find a grave, 
 
 Within the bosom of an angry wave ? 
 
 Except he were a jewel never sent 
 
 To be possest by one sole element. 
 
 And since he's gone, no paradox appears, 
 
 To drown him once more in our pensive tears. 
 
 Nature gave him (while child) which most, in vain, 
 
 By art, and industry, strive to obtain ; 
 
 For he, long while before she did begin 
 
 To un-effeminate his cheek, or chin, 
 
 Unto the Muses went the milky way, 
 
 When others got the birch, he got the bay. 
 
 Yet his precocious virtues did presage 
 
 His early death, who did out-run his age. 
 
 Had he proportionally still encreast, 
 
 Of both the trees to make an equal feast, 
 
 Of life and knowledge ! Nature's funeral he 
 
 At the grand Sessions might have liv'd to see. 
 
 Hence angels courted him unto their bours, 
 
 Fitting their consort rather far than ours : 
 
 To Heav'n, since 'mongst our fires he could not stay, 
 
 He in a watry-chariot takes his way. 
 
 Dignum laude virum musa vetat mori. 
 
 N. PATERSON. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 71 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 eminent 
 
 Gentleman t^e Hatrtr 
 of 
 
 [This and the following article are from a MS. in the possession of 
 David Laing, Esq.] 
 
 David Halyburton of Pitcur, in the shire of Forfar, was the second son 
 of James Halyburton of Pitcur, but his brother-german James, hav- 
 ing died without issue male, he succeeded to the family estate, and 
 accordingly was served heir to his brother on the 22d October 1672, 
 and to his father of the same date. 
 
 In the memoirs of the Lord Viscount Dundee, London, 1714, p. 27, 
 the writer observes, in speaking of the battle of Killicranky, *' in 
 the battle, the Highlanders, besides their unparallel'd General Dun- 
 dee, lost the brave Pitcur, who, like a moving castle in the shape of 
 a man, threw fire and sword on all sides against his enemy." 
 
 Tho' souls, these sacred things, ne'r measured were 
 
 By inch and elme, as duller bodies are, 
 
 Tho' great souls have not alwayes been design'd 
 
 To be with greater earthly bodies join'd. 
 
 Yet here,, to his most stately outward frame, 
 
 Nature conjoined a most seraphic flame, 
 
 A soul so pure to sense so unconfin'd, 
 
 That tho' his flesh and blood had still combin'd 
 
 To make him stay at home at ease to live, 
 
 These carnal notions he would ne're believe, 
 
 But when he saw religion in the caus, 
 
 And loyaltie expiring with our lawes, 
 
 Nothing was hard to him, but straight he went 
 
 And join'd Dundee, the Scots' great ornament, 
 
 Great was his life, for's death he'I happy lye, 
 
 Who serving Church and State did noblie die. 
 
72 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 tyat gtnerous gotttf), 
 i&amsag, toijo, totting tf)* Bar 
 tot: >e Stoorfc, foaa fcilleir 
 at Uttnrorit* 
 
 Mr. Gilbert Ramsay was, upon the 1 1 th day of February 1688, examined 
 in civil law and found qualified, but he never past Advocate, 
 for in the month of June following, he presented a petition to 
 the Dean and Faculty, requiring that his entry-money of five hun- 
 dred merks should be returned, this demand being adjudged "very 
 reasonable," the treasurer, Mr. James Hunter, was ordered to re- 
 turn the money. 
 
 The parentage of Ramsay has not been discovered, but it may be 
 noticed, that upon the 23d February 1686, one Gilbert Ramsay was 
 served heir of Isobella Ramsay, " filiae Patrui." Now, as Isobella 
 was served heir upon the 10th of May 1670 to her father, George, 
 an Ironmonger at the West Port of Edinburgh, he consequently 
 must have been Gilbert's uncle. It is very probable, as both 
 time and name correspond, that he was the individual whose merits 
 have been so much extolled in the Epitaph. 
 
 This youthful votary of Mars held the rank of a Colonel in the rebel 
 army, for the author of the Memoirs of Dundee, in mentioning the 
 principal persons slain on the side of James the Vllth, after re- 
 cording the death of Dundee and Halyburton, adds to the list 
 " Colonel Gilbert Ramsay, Mackdonald of Largo, his tutor, and all 
 his family ; Glengary's brother, and many of his relations, and five 
 cousin-germans of Sir Donald of the Isles, with many private 
 Highlanders." P. 28. 
 
 Runrorie is the name by which the Highlanders uniformily speak of the 
 battle of Killycrankie, it is the locality at the upper end of the 
 pass, and as the fight not to say flight was chiefly there, it would 
 have been a much more appropriate appellation than that given by 
 the Lowlanders. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 73 
 
 Mars and Minerva mourning did debate, 
 
 Which of the two should most his death regrate. 
 
 Mars said that he was most concerned here, 
 
 I've lost a son who has not left his peer, 
 
 A son who had youth's sprightliness, a son 
 
 Whom nature blest with manhood, strength, and one 
 
 Who had the prudence of old age ; nay, all 
 
 The rarest gifts can to my sons befall. 
 
 Minerva then said, Mars thou hast just cause 
 
 To mourn this loss, for thou the murth'rer was, 
 
 Thou took him from my learned courts, where he 
 
 Might have liv'd long in full tranquillitie, 
 
 Praised at the bar for eloquence and law, 
 
 For justice on the bench without a flaw. 
 
 But now he's dead, in this he happy lyes, 
 
 That in great cause, great company he dyes. 
 
 He dyes, but how ? in serving Church and King. 
 
 He dyes, but when ? when wearied vanquishing. 
 
 He dyes, with whom ? in greatest company. 
 
 He dyes with that brave hero, great Dundee. 
 
 Write on his tomb, here lyes a youth below, 
 
 Who all the arts of peace and war did know. 
 
74 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 En iuttiw mmti rtamatttrigue fatrt 
 ffiforgtt $rtngli, 13. to 
 Itt, <aui nttj)*r inter 
 Comfttorttm l^nro 
 clavus rmindJcit, 
 
 Upon the 12th January 1654, James Pringle of Torwoodlee was served 
 heir to his father George, in the lands of Corslie, within the Lordship 
 of Ettrick Forest. James was probably the father of George, who 
 being a zealous Protestant, naturally felt much alarm at the throne 
 being occupied by a Roman Catholic. 
 
 Lord Fountainhall, in what have been termed his " Historical Ob- 
 serves," in speaking of the various rumours as to the mode in which 
 the Earl of Argyle raised money for his rebellion, amongst other 
 ones mentions, " that Polwart, Torwoodly, Mr. Gilbert Elliott, 
 &c. went to Geneva, and to the Protestant churches of Germany, 
 begging supply to the poor afflicted Protestants of Britain, and thus 
 raised a great summe, but I think it was not understood by the 
 givers that it was to be employed in a rebellion or invasion." 
 Bannatyne Club, Edition p. 191. Pringle was forfaulted in the 
 Scotish Parliament 2d of May 1685, for discoursing with Robert 
 Marline, and other persons, as to the extreme hazard that threatened 
 the Protestant religion in case James Duke of York should succeed 
 to the crown, and as to the ways and methods then talked of in 
 England, and such as might be adopted in Scotland for excluding 
 him. These reasons, however, the Scotish Parliament, 22d July 
 1690, deemed "to be trival and frivolous to infer the cryme of 
 treasone, but also to be good and justifiable." A change of opinion 
 which would have been more creditable to the disinterested and self- 
 denying members had it occurred in the reign of James the Second 
 instead of William the Third. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 75 
 
 George Pringle must have died somewhere between the 5th of June 
 1689, when the first Parliament of William and Mary met, and the 
 22d July 1690. His forfaulture was rescinded upon the application 
 of his son James. 
 
 Scotia in Australi Pringlorum gens Philomusa 
 
 Inclyta, lethali vulnere laesa dolet, 
 Vallibus et Sylvis, Turns celeberrima Galam 
 
 Juxta amnem, subito verbere quassa tremit. 
 Abreptum lugent charum Comitia membrum, 
 
 lllustrem, sanctum, magnanimumque virum, 
 Amissum lugent Proceres fratremque patremque 
 
 Eximium monitis Consiliisque bonis. 
 In moesto deflet miseranda Sione Columnam 
 
 Sancta cohors stratam, quae illabefacta stetit. 
 Heroem strenuum, vultu, genioque sereno, 
 
 Corpore robusto, mente sagace, pia : 
 Ardentem Zelo, mitem sine bile, columbse 
 
 Instar, praeclarum relligione, fide ; 
 Virtute ornatum, natum comitemque Minervae, 
 
 Divinum vitae cui moderamen erat : 
 Commoda qui patriae meditans, Solymaeque salutom, 
 
 Utriusque decus, flosque medela fuit : 
 Quique deum toto veracem corde secutus, 
 
 Alter Nathanael, Calebus alter erat. 
 Cujus erat cunctis victrix patientia sanctis 
 
 Exemplo : carni non toleranda tulit. 
 Mirum ! quam pulchre majestas conveniebat 
 
 Cum summa tanti sobrietate viri. 
 Quam suavi ac hilari (nam nil jucundius illo) 
 
 Hospitk) excepit, colloquioque bonos. 
 Fidus amicus erat, quo non constantior alter. 
 
 Vix ullum norat Scotia tota parem. 
 
76 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Sistite plorantes, alto suspiria ducta 
 
 Pectore, conatu sunt reprimenda pio. 
 Felix qui potuit Domino committere vitam, 
 
 Cui sumimis, Christo vivere finis erat. 
 Spernere qui didicit mundum, Coelestia ciirans, 
 
 Sternere quern dirse non potuere minae ; 
 Non furor hostilis, versutia, ferra cruenta, 
 
 Tramite de recto nulla pericla movent. 
 Quern nihil a Christo potuit divellere, cunctis 
 
 Posthabitis : Christi vincere solus amor 
 Immensus potuit, precioso nos redimentis 
 
 Antilytro miseros, sanquine nempe suo. 
 Hunc Deus Ornnipotens, per tot discrimina tutum 
 
 Restituit, cunctis eripuitque mails. 
 Plaudite, nam vicit ; laetum cantate triumphum, 
 
 Nam reduci visa est gloria magna Dei. 
 Mirandam Domini redeuntis namquc salutem 
 
 Ante obitum vidit, cum Simeone sene, 
 Non miser, afflict us, sitiens nunc esuriensque, 
 
 Non tempestates nunc subeundo malas, 
 Nonconfiscatus, metuens extrema malorum, 
 
 Cogitur obscuris nunc latitare locis. 
 Neve malam metuens, omni sine crimine, mortem, 
 
 Eumenidum rabiem, praeda petita fugit. 
 Per mare non fugiet, peregrinas exul ad oras, 
 
 Non Batavos repetet : nulla procella manet. 
 Sunt illi in Coelis nunc rivi deliciarum, 
 
 Nunc honor se tern us, gloria, paxque sal us. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 77 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 fl)* IB*at!) of Sir Sffitilliam 
 
 On the first of November 1678, Sir William Sharp of Stoniehill was 
 served heir of his brother-german, Robert Sharp of Castlehill. He 
 was the brother of Archbishop Sharp, for many years cash Keeper 
 to the Treasury, and afterwards Master of the Mint. He was a 
 Commissioner of Supply in 1690 for the shire of Edinburgh, (Acts 
 of Parliament, folio edition, Vol. ix, 137,) but must have died 
 previous to June 1693, as upon the 5th of that month Sir William 
 Sharp of Scotscraig, the deceased Primate's eldest son, obtained a 
 decreet in the Scotish Parliament against Alexander Earl of Mur- 
 ray and Patrick Earl of Strathmore, for five hundred pounds, due 
 to his then deceased uncle, " Sir William Sharp of Stonyhill," (Acts 
 Parl. ix, p. 275.) 
 
 Stoniehill is situated about a mile from Mussel burgh, and now belongs 
 to the Earl of Wemyss, through his maternal ancestor, the famous, 
 or rather infamous Colonel Charteris, who died there in February 
 1732. The house is still as entire as it was then, and was occupied 
 some time since as a seminary for youth, but is presently in the hands 
 of a private gentleman, who makes it his residence. In the new 
 Statistical Account, which is too frequently inaccurate in local in . 
 formation, it is said that Stonyhill was the residence of the Arch- 
 bishop's son, and that it was taken down " during 1838." The mi- 
 nuteness of the details gives such an appearance of reality, that a 
 person can hardly bring himself to believe that the whole is a mis- 
 take, and that whatever building may have been removed, Stony. hil' 
 is untouched, the noble proprietor, with great good taste, being 
 most anxious to preserve as much as he can a mansion to which so 
 many interesting recollections attach. 
 
 Two potent Heraulds joyntly do proclaim 
 Good Stonnie-hill's deserved praise and fame, 
 
78 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Dame Nature framed him faithful, wise and just, 
 
 Fortune afforded tryal of his trust. 
 
 Our Sovraign's cash, and signet testifie, 
 
 Sir William's signal for fidelitie. 
 
 O Stoniehill ! (but, certainly the best 
 
 Of Parian marble for a solid breast,) 
 
 Noble, ignoble person, rich or poor, 
 
 Were at his hand of equal dealing sure. 
 
 Religion, prudence, truth, and loyalty, 
 
 Perpetuat his fragrant memory. 
 
 His nearest kin and kindly legators, 
 
 Are of just purchase justly possessors, 
 
 Heav'n hath his soul, the grave his corpse ; but must, 
 
 Resound the meanest atome of his dust. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 tyt Ocatl) of fyt iUaw'tf anfc 2o= 
 ottraSU Sir 
 
 of iSogrfiaugl), Itmgijt, 
 lting'8 
 
 This elegy was reprinted in a very rare collection of fugitive pieces re- 
 lative to Scottish history and antiquities, " entitled * Reliquiae Sco- 
 ticse, 1828," 8vo ; of which only fourteen complete sets were made 
 up. 
 
 The following verses, in praise of the " bloody" Mackenzie, occur in 
 a MS. volume belonging to the Faculty of Advocates, entitled " Si- 
 baldi Elogia." 
 
 D. GEORGIUS MACKENZIE EQUES, DE ROSEHAUGH, CARMEN 
 
 THOM^E GLEG, M. D. 
 
 Pingere vis qua fronte Cato, titubante senatu 
 Asseruit patriee jura verenda suse ? 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 7$ 
 
 Pingere vis magnus quo Tullius ore solebat 
 Dirigere attoniti linguam animamque Fori ? 
 
 Pingere vis quanta Maro majestate canebat 
 Et quali tetigit pollice Flaccus ebur ? 
 
 Pinge Mackenzaeum, Pictor, namque altera non est 
 Quae referat tantos una Tabella viros. 
 
 ENGLISHED THUS. 
 If thou would draw with boldness what 
 
 Cato, Home's right maintained, 
 With what admired eloquence 
 
 Tully the great declaim'd. 
 And with what high majestick note, 
 
 Great Virgil us'd to sing, 
 How delicatly Horace woant 
 
 To touch the lyrick string, 
 Rare limner if that thou in one, 
 
 Would thus men rightly paint, 
 Mackenzie draw, none can but he, 
 
 Such great men represent. 
 
 J. A. M. D. 
 
 This probably was John Alexander, M. D. In the life prefixed to the 
 works of Sir George, another translation is given of Gleg's encomi- 
 astic lines, by Alexander Cunningham. Sec the Author's Life, pre- 
 fixed to his Works, p. xv. 
 
 Although Mackenzie has been the object of more than ordinary vitu- 
 peration, he was probably not worse than his assailants. Had he 
 been the monster, party spirit represents him, the hawking such a 
 laudatory production about the streets would not have been a very 
 safe speculation. He died 8th May 1690, and was buried in the 
 Grey-Friars. It may not be uninteresting to the Bibliographer to 
 mention, that in the first part of Monteith's " Theater of Mortality" 
 there is a duplicate cancelled leaf at page 16, containing the inscrip- 
 tion on Mackenzie's coffin. Copies with this leaf are of excessive 
 rarity. In the second part between pages 248 and 249 two leaves 
 are sometimes to be found, containing inscriptions on the Duchess 
 of Queensberry, her husband, Mr. John Law, Robert Milne, Alex- 
 
80 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 ander Monteith, Oliver Coll, James Peirson, John Jollie, and an 
 Epitaph in Linelholme churchyard by a schoolmaster on his wife 
 and children. 
 
 Let Muses mourn and Senators condole, 
 
 In mourning Robes the fall of this Greal Pole ; 
 
 Who like a marble Pillar of the Law 
 
 Upheld the nation, which from him did draw 
 
 As from a Fountain new refreshing streams, 
 
 For Youth's Instruction, who like radient beams 
 
 Enlighten'd, and enlivened this our land, 
 
 Hath often been on the decaying hand ; 
 
 His works shall keep his Fame in memory, 
 
 From age to age, and each posterity 
 
 Shall recommend his worth, and eik proclaim 
 
 Remembrance, of Sir George M'Kenzies name ; 
 
 Could any be exempted from death's stroak ; 
 
 None more deserving under the Royal Oak. 
 
 Could Wisdom, riches, honour, or sublime 
 
 Indowments, which to any man pertain, 
 
 Sufficient be, to redeem from the Grave, 
 
 Then might Sir George M'Kenzie Ransome have, 
 
 By all or any of these surely got, 
 
 But since that Crowns and Scepters withstand not 
 
 This fatal stroak, incident to mankind ; 
 
 Whereby both King and Subject are confin'd. 
 
 Let Funeral rites be celebrate with verse, 
 
 And let us straw our wishes on his Herse ; 
 
 After enjoying long and happy fate 
 
 Is now inter'd with honour and in state. 
 
 And tho' our land sustains loss by his death, 
 
 His name and worth survive while ages breath ; 
 
 Having intom'd his body in the dust, 
 
 His Soul in Heaven let rest with Spirits just. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 81 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 In this Tomb our nations Phoenix lies, 
 May such an other from his ashes rise,, 
 And we ne'er want one of M'Kenzie's race ; 
 Who like to him may promote Publick Peace. 
 What ere .the vulgar say, who dare contend ? 
 He lived well, and made an happy end.* 
 
 POSUIT, R. A. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 2Kjjon tyt tmtd) to to Hawentctr Scat!) of 
 
 fij* iJligftt ^onottrafclc Eatrg Slijafot!) 
 
 3r*01tfne, HaJjg liajner, tot. 
 
 This elegy should have had an earlier place in the collection, as 
 the Lady appears, from Lord Fountainhall's Historical Observes, to 
 have died in 1684. See Bannatyne Club edition, p. 121.] 
 
 The lady was the eldest daughter of John, eighth Earl of Marr, and 
 according to Wood's edition of Douglas* Peerage, (p. 295,) was 
 married in 1641 to Archibald, second Lord Napier, the nephew 
 and attached friend of the great Montrose, who died at Delffshaven 
 in Holland in the beginning of the year 1660. His wife ob- 
 
 * A very remarkable mistake occurs in the Beauties of Scotland, 
 Vol. I, relative to Lord Advocate Mackenzie. The author, in speak- 
 ing of Royston, in the county of Mid-Lothian, (now better known 
 as Caroline Park,) which belonged to Sir George Mackenzie, after- 
 wards Earl of Cromarty, and was inherited by his third son, James, (a 
 Senator of the College of Justice, by the title of Lord Royston,) 
 imagines the Earl and the Lord Advocate to be one person, and in- 
 vests the proprietor of Royston with the authorship of the numerous 
 works of his namesake. 
 
82 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 tained a pension of 500 per annum after the Restoration, and 
 there was amongst the family muniments of the Lords Napier, a 
 warrant in J662, by Charles the II, to the Earl of Middleton, to 
 pay to her Ladyship and her son, (the 3d Baron,) 3,000 sterling, 
 the reason assigned for this gift was the plundering their goods 
 by the rebels during the great rebellion, j-their long exile, and 
 great sufferings in the royal cause. 
 
 Elizabeth, Lady Napier, was the grandmother of Thomas, fourth 
 Lord Napier, whose epitaph the reader will find at page 56. 
 
 As I have seen an early rising lark 
 
 Spring from her turf, making the sun her mark, 
 
 Raising herself aloft, yet higher,, higher, 
 
 Till she had sung herself into Heav'ns quire, 
 
 So did this lady rise, and in a trice, 
 
 By pray'r, became a bird of Paradice. 
 
 For having, as her custom was, retir'd 
 
 To her devotion, there her King appeared 
 
 The scepter stretched out, she did draw near, 
 
 And touch'd its top with reverence and fear : 
 
 Yea, now she has obtain'd her great request, 
 
 And with the King do's now begin to feast, 
 
 Truth is, this Noble Lady, from her birth, 
 
 Became a constant strife 'twixt Heav'n and Earth. 
 
 Both claim'd her, pleaded for her, either cry'd 
 
 She's mine, she's mine, at length they did divide, 
 
 Heav'n took her soul, which Earth her corps did seize ; 
 
 Yet not in fee, she only holds by Lease, 
 
 With this proviso, when the Judge shall call, 
 
 Earth shall give up her share, and Heav'n have all. 
 
 Then since it is the great Creator's mind, 
 
 To take the wheat and leave the tares behind, 
 
 Wee'll willingly submit unto the rod, 
 
 But Wo's us for her, save the will of God. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 83 
 
 AKPOSTIKON. 
 
 L ong since the Lamb did freely thee espouse 
 
 A nd thou long since, likewise made him thy choose : 
 
 D oubtless the real marriage never was 
 
 Y et consumat, until thou hence did pass. 
 
 E xalted with thy virtues now thou art, 
 
 L o in that sacred Quire thou takes a part, 
 
 I oyning with praises unto him, whose love 
 
 Z eelds a most firm inheritance above, 
 
 A mongst thy fellow-saints, and likewise hath 
 
 B ought thee and freed thee from eternal death. 
 
 E clips'd thy pleasures never more shall be, 
 
 T hou art from alteration ever free, 
 
 H eav'n has thee crown'd with immortalitie. 
 
 A noble embleme of the house of Marr, 
 R ich graces in thy soul still lodged were : 
 A tlas of the Lord Napier's familie, 
 S o shin'd thou with all perspicuitie. 
 K ind to the poor, religious and wise, 
 I n piety thou finished thy days. 
 N e'er shall thy memory therefore be done, 
 E v'n till thou rise i'th resurrection. 
 
 Virtute non tantum sed re tu Gemma fuisti 
 Inclita, nam pietas splendida Gemma fuit 
 
 Et Pietas vitae Christi virtute cruoris, 
 Te donat stabili largitione poli. 
 
 A. D. 
 
84 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 En ftttttm Hatt&attsstmi 
 
 irirt, S, gfaannte Hauttm, 
 &ttla jfontana Sfttutte 
 
 Qui annum agens Octogesimum Secundum ex humanis 
 decedens, ad salutis seternse portum feliciter appulit. 
 
 2do Aprilis 1692. 
 
 The first baronet of Fountainhall was an Edinburgh shopkeeper, who 
 becoming a baillie, was enabled to attain the honour of a Nova 
 Scotia Baronetcy, the usual reward in those days, of a successful 
 dabbler in city politics. Playfair and his worthy successor Burke, 
 have endeavoured to engraft this industrious citizen on the ancient 
 stock of the Lauders of the Bass, and of Lauder Tower, an asser- 
 tion easily made, but not easily proved. 
 
 Burke is pre-eminently absurd. The first of the Lauders, according 
 to him, was a man named De Lauedre, an old Saxon Baron, who 
 accompanied Malcolm Canmore into Scotland in 1056, and assisted 
 him in recovering his kingdom from the usurper Macbeath." The 
 authority for this authentic fact is Hector Boece, the " father of 
 lies." Having thus fixed the date of the arrival of this illustrissi- 
 mus into Scotland, some half a dozen illustrissimi of the name are 
 noticed, ending in a Sir Edward Lauder, who, in 1425, was sent 
 Ambassador to France to negotiate the marriage between Louis XI. 
 and Margaret, daughter of James the First. 
 
 Skipping over more than two centuries, the Baillie is introduced 
 as lineally descended from the Ambassador, a convenient, but not 
 very satisfactory mode of establishing a descent. 
 
 Playtair gives a different version. He knows nothing of the Anglo- 
 Saxon Baron, and mentions as the first " upon record.'* Robert 
 Lauder, " one of those " brave'* chieftains that adhered to the gallant 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES- 85 
 
 Sir William Wallace." With his immediate descendants, if he had 
 any, he meddles not, but tells us that there was descended from him, 
 Robert Lauder, who lived in the reign of James IV. who had a 
 younger son named Andrew. He marries Bessy Bannatyne ele- 
 vated into Elizabeth Ballenden, daughter of Ballenden of 
 
 Laswade, and becomes the parent of three sons. The two eldest 
 were cut off in a barbarous and summary manner by the Cranstouns 
 and Humes ; and the youngest, Andrew, flying to his illustrious 
 relations the Ballendens, connected himself by marriage wi'h the 
 Dalhousie family, and was the parent of the first Baronet. 
 
 Andrew, who resided at Laswade, would doubtlessly have been some- 
 what astonished if he had been told that he was the Represen- 
 tative of " De Lauedre," the " Brave Chieftain," or the Ambas- 
 sador ;" we suspect he would have been better pleased in having 
 such a grandson as Lord Fountainhall, than by tracing his origin 
 to any such worthies whether real or imaginary. 
 
 John Lauder's right to the baronetcy was not admitted by Playfair, 
 who talks of it merely as an on dit." Nevertheless, the fact is 
 certain, and Mr. Chambers has given a very graphic account of the 
 struggle between the Baillie and his third spouse as to the series of 
 heirs to whom the honours were to be destined. The Lady was, it 
 seems, desirous of emulating the conduct of the wife of the Protec- 
 tor Somerset, by having the title settled upon the younger children, 
 to the prejudice of the elder. In this she was defeated. 
 
 Sir John Lauder was married, at least so goes the legend, thrice. He 
 is represented as having by his first wife three children ; by his 
 second, (Isobel Ellis, mother of Lord Fountainhall), fourteen sons 
 and two daughters ; and by his third, to whom, according to Cha m 
 bers, (vol. 3, p. 354,) he was united in 1670, at the " ripe age of 
 86," he had four sons and two daughters. Now, as his epitaph 
 bears that he died on the 2d day of April 1 692, at the age of 82, 
 he could not, it is presumed, have been 86 in 1670 ; and we strongly 
 suspect that in most cases, 82 is a period much too " ripe" for an 
 ancient gentleman, however juvenile his propensities, to become the 
 parent of four thumping boys and two bouncing girls. 
 
 It is obvious, therefore, that he would not be 86 when he married 
 Miss Ramsay for that was her name seeing that he had shuffled 
 off this mortal coil at the age of 82. Mr. Chambers has also made a 
 very strange mistake relative to a Lady Fountainhall, who died 
 in 1713, which we shall notice when we come to the elegy upon 
 her. 
 
86 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Ardua si virtus, capitis reverentia cani, 
 
 Aut morum probitas, et sine labe fides, 
 Si vis magna animi, veneranda modestia vultus, 
 
 Plurimus oris honos, ingeniive vigor 
 Tollere humo possent quenquam tot dqtibus auctum 
 
 Lauderus paucis laude secundus erit. 
 Vir pius atque probus, meritis spectandus et annis, 
 
 Sobrius et vigilans, justitiseque ten ax. 
 Munera qui toties bene splendida gessit in urbe, 
 
 Praetor honoratus nomen in astra ferens. 
 Sed magis impulsu est, quam sponte, amplexus honores 
 
 Et nunquam, nisi cum publicus usus erat. 
 Publica nani quoties poscebant commoda, nunquam 
 
 Defuit auxilio consilioque suo. 
 Certa fides verbis inerat, constantia factis ; 
 
 Partibus a Regis fidus et usque stetit. 
 Qui nunquam adduci potuit, juraret ut olim 
 
 Usurpatoris verba in iniqua trucis. 
 Maluit at civis jus perdere et omnia, Regum 
 
 Quam sic Scotorum prostituisse decus. 
 Cujus et externas diffusa est fama per oras 
 (Non minus atque domi) sedulitate sua. 
 Mercator quondam, sua rite negotia tractans, 
 
 Nomen, et ingentes accumulavit opes. 
 Quas veluti varies prudens impendit in usus, 
 
 Sic quoque pauperibus munera multa dedit. 
 Gymnasiumque suis, duo pulchra cubicula condens, 
 
 Ornavit donis, Inclyta Edina, tuum. 
 Queis merito rebus populi contraxit amorem, 
 
 Civibus et gratus, ceu pater, usque fuit. 
 Hinc virtute sua tenet indelebile nomen ; 
 
 Quantumvis fugiens ambitionis erat. 
 Conjugio triplici felix, et prole beata, 
 
 Quae soboles patrem vita animisque refert. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 87 
 
 Uxor et illius, clara de stirpe^ superstes 
 
 Et genere, et meritis fulget honora suis. 
 Ex Idintona praelustri gente et avita 
 
 Filia, cui caput est Dalhusiana domus, 
 Sed jam grandaevus senio extenuatur ab ipso, 
 
 Ut cadit incurva falce resecta leges. 
 Octonos deeies, et binos attigit annos, 
 
 At diuturna raagis postera fama manet. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 tije wtttf) to 6e HamtntcH Otatl) of 
 tyt SStortig twgl)t*2 Jftilne, SJKatd)^ 
 Jftafter, iSutg^ss of t^e Metropo- 
 litan Cits of Scotland to^o lr^ 
 parteft t^ts life, 
 
 1695. 
 
 [From the Original, belonging to C. K. Sharpe, Esq. and formerly 
 in the curious and extensive library of Robert M>lne, whose caustic 
 Jacobitical interpolations of Lord Fountainhall's whiggish historical 
 notices, have rendered the small quarto volume previously referred 
 to so very amusing and piquant.] 
 
 Although the subject of this Elegy was an Englishman, as the author 
 was probably James Donaldson, (of whom afterwards), it has found 
 a place in this collection. From Milne's wife and friends being al- 
 luded to, without any reference to children, it is probable that he 
 died without issue. 
 
88 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 In gloomie shades of darksome night, where Phoebus 
 
 hides his head, 
 I heard an echo cry aloud, that Umphrey Milne was 
 
 dead; 
 
 My stupid senses rose aloft, and wackened with a cry, 
 Let Pegasus the Muses horse, go through the air and fly 
 To tell the ends of all the earth, that he has lost his 
 
 breath : 
 The highest powers, lookt from above, thought him to 
 
 good for earth, 
 O ! Monstruous death, and bloody foe, thou enemy of 
 
 man ! 
 Thou's barbled all thy arrows great, from earth now has 
 
 him tane, 
 That was a credit to the land, known by all of great 
 
 note, 
 Though he was born an English man, he was a real 
 
 Scot. 
 
 He coost a copy to all men, who ever shall succeed, 
 He teacht brave men his noble art, did not eat iddle 
 
 bread : 
 
 Many may lament full sore, that he is dead and gone, 
 Beside his wife, and dearest friends, the poor will him 
 
 bemoan, 
 Death with his fearful bloody syth, has cutt this Sedar 
 
 down, 
 
 But he has left his art behind, even to his great renown ; 
 His name will blosome in the dust, his actions were so 
 
 good, 
 
 He was so kind to poor and rich, and still he feared God, 
 He was belov'd of every one, and namely by the com- 
 mon, 
 Though he was call'd Episcopal, be sure he was no 
 
 Roman: 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 89 
 
 He wore a badg of secresie, and well did know its worth ; 
 There was a motto upon it, and that was called Truth ; 
 None dare but venerat his name, pious, good, and kind ; 
 He's gone from earth to heavens glore, left not his match 
 
 behind. 
 My quill cannot descrive him right, the truth of this I 
 
 know : 
 For any thing that I can guess, there's few like him 
 
 below. 
 I will not name his parentage: his breeding, nor his 
 
 birth : 
 But he that runs, may read his life, he was a man of 
 
 worth ; 
 
 He valued not this earth below, although he had it satis, 
 He lov'd to lay his stock above, and now he is beatis. 
 He's left this region here below, that is with troubles 
 
 crost, 
 And gone where he'll get leave to sing, glore to the Holy 
 
 Ghost. 
 Since none can well descrive his worth, that in this land 
 
 doth dwell, 
 He'll waken at the Trumpit's blow, and answer for him 
 
 sell. 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 Here lyes a man, both good and rare, 
 That for his art none could compare. 
 
 D[ONALDSON]. 
 
90 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 tyt tmtrt) to 6e Hawcntel* Itoatl) of 
 tecanter ILottf UUafl), one of l)ts J&a^ 
 jestfc's Iftost ^onottrafcl* 
 (Kottnnl, anft %xfytqnn> tot. 
 
 tfjis lift, 
 21, 1698. 
 
 Alexander Lord Heath or Raith, was the eldest son of George, fourth 
 Lord and first Earl of Melville, by Catherine, daughter of Alexander 
 Lord Balgony. He married Barbara, third daughter of Walter Dun- 
 das, younger of Dundas, and by her (who died 23d February 1719) had 
 two sons, both of whom died in infancy. Lord Reath held the office 
 of treasurer-depute, 1689, and had the management of the public 
 revenue till his death, 27th March 1698. 
 
 His Lordship was a rigid Presbyterian, and as such, much exposed to 
 the sarcasms of the Jacobites. He figures in some lines said to be 
 written by Lord Newbottle. 
 
 There's old chinnie the daddy, and Raithy the monkey ; 
 There's Leven the hero, and little Petcunty. 
 Where shall ye see such, or find such a soudy, 
 Bannocks of bearmeal, cakes of crowdy. 
 
 SCOTISH PASQUILS, Vol. i. p. 34. Edin. 1827, 12mo. 
 
 It seems the Heavens begins to frown, the world draws 
 
 near an end, 
 When wisdom drops down to the grave, that did this 
 
 land defend ; 
 
 The dull sound of Mortality does ring thro' all th' Earth, 
 The Eccho cryes most doolfull like, alas ! for good Lord 
 
 Reath. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 91 
 
 Great Albania, go mourn awhile, my quil is droping 
 
 tears ; 
 Thou lost not such a friend I trou, no, not this hundred 
 
 years. 
 
 Now wisdom, charity, and love, put on your ragged gown, 
 There is a Jewell very rich, this day fallen from your 
 
 Crown ! 
 The voice of poor, like eccho cryes makeing a dolefull 
 
 sonnet, 
 Until the Council find a head that well can fill his 
 
 bonnet. 
 
 His wisdom lay in silence long, until it got a vent, 
 Like precious oyntment gave a smell, the King then for 
 
 him sent, 
 
 And gave him places honourable, he did deserve them all, 
 In future ages for to come, will be chrononical. 
 Dame Nature has been very bold that fram'd him at first, 
 The motto of his emblem was, God sayes, be good and just; 
 And when he came into the world he was endu'd with 
 
 Grace, 
 Then Reason did take hold thereon, and sat in Nature's 
 
 place ; 
 Virtue sent him to her garden to see what flower he 
 
 would pull, 
 There he pulled Grace, like Aaron's Rod, that buded 
 
 ever still ; 
 Then Vertue fell in love with him, 'cause he had chosen 
 
 the best, 
 
 She says to Honour, Follow him, he is my real guest. 
 When Vertue saw that Honour went, and followed at his 
 
 back, 
 
 Wisdom cryes aloud, I will run with Truth to be his 
 cloak. 
 
92 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 And that will serve him all his life, what er'e he can 
 
 need, 
 
 But I'll defy the universe to take from it one threed. 
 As Solomon did wisdom choise for to obey God's will, 
 So I resolved to follow him, and will do ever still. 
 The Ark was of a curious bulk, but was not very much, 
 Yet it contain'd the world great, yea, and the holy 
 
 church. 
 
 King David was but a little man, sober, but not Machia, 
 Yet wisdom found him out a way to kill the great Golia. 
 His virtuous person and its worth before others to dis- 
 
 crive, 
 For vertue, wisdome, parts, and grace, there's few like 
 
 him alive. 
 
 He spake in converse like to Job, without all kind of fear, 
 Gray hairs rose up and gave him praise, his wisdom did 
 
 admire. 
 
 His worthie noble family, even from their very youth, 
 The whole track of their life has been to suffer for the 
 
 truth, 
 Till Phoebus rose with mighty heat in all his radiant 
 
 beams, 
 They sailed on the goulf against the tide, came to the 
 
 chrystal streams. 
 
 Now thy successour Leven great, he is a man belov'd, 
 In counsel, state, and mighty war, the King has him ap- 
 proved. 
 
 He did behave him self so well abroad, by sea and land, 
 Which made the King put him in trust Hye Keiper of 
 
 Scotland. 
 Though now Lord Reath lyes in his tomb, according to 
 
 God's will, 
 His name and fame continue shall in future ages still. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 93 
 
 You Seraphims and Cherubims, salute him with a bless : 
 He's gone from Earth to heaven's glor, that truely ho- 
 
 nour'd place. 
 
 Ten thousand ages yet to come is but to him one day, 
 That beatiphick vision great he will enjoy for aye, 
 As one of the saints all clade in white, upon Mount Zion 
 
 hill, 
 
 Through ages of eternity the Lamb's will follow still. 
 Though friends should make the rivers run with tears 
 
 thus shed below, 
 He will not rise for all their cries, till the last trumpet 
 
 blow. 
 
 J[AMES] D[ONALDSON]. 
 
 XXX\ 7 . 
 
 En igrcsttttn,rt ^irwoiruw 
 in eimsto 
 
 , &, 
 
 : gut trwn 
 crtitt, 15, 
 
 Andrew Bruce was the son of a Commissary of St. Andrews, and hav- 
 ing studied theology, obtained the Archdeaconry of St. Andrews, 
 from whence he was elevated to the See of Dunkeld, which he held 
 till the year 1686, when he was deprived of it by the Popish party, 
 who then had supreme controul over the weak mind of the arbitrary 
 and bigoted James, who had taken offence at his opposition to a 
 repeal of the laws against popery. 
 
 James, too late, discovered his error in alienating the mind of his loyal 
 Protestant subjects, and endeavoured, but fruitlessly, to regain 
 
94 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 the hearts he had lost. Accordingly, amongst other attempts so 
 to do, he presented the deposed Bishop of Dunkeld to the 
 Bishopric of Orkney, on the 4th May 1688, hoping, no doubt, 
 that the rigidity of the climate might cool the Protestant ardour 
 of his nominee. The Revolution put an end to all his Majesty's 
 speculations, whatever they may have been, and to the good Bishop's 
 provision, as the introduction of Presbyterianism deprived him and 
 the rest of the order of their respective Sees. 
 
 According to Keith, he died in 1700; but the Elegy communicated 
 by David Laing, Esq. establishes that he died the preceding year. 
 
 Dirum, atrox, immane scelus ! facinusque nefandum ! 
 
 Quod tantum extinxti ferrea Clotho virum. 
 Quern summis natura bonis cumulavit, et auxit ; 
 
 Quern sacrae in blando Musae aluere sinu. 
 Cujus opem, innumeris Ecclesia quassa procellis 
 
 Poscebat, cujus consiliumque pium- 
 O jactura gravis ! damnum irreparabile ! quod plebs 
 
 Ima dolet, Mystoe Rex Proceresque dolent. 
 
 Aliud. 
 Quod mortale fuit, rapuit mors invida ; Brussi : 
 
 Sed manet a busto vibida fama tuo. 
 Nescit namque mori Virtus, Prudentia,, Candor, 
 
 Mens ampla, et Pietas, intemerata Fides. 
 
 Aliud. 
 Te vigor ingenii, mentisque sagacis acumen 
 
 Fecerunt homines vincere ; pene Deos 
 Vivos, honos doctis ; et sacra gloria mitrae ; 
 
 Mortuus, Angelici deliciaeque chorL 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 95 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 EnOfcftttw ntwctttatn sat(sSqplx>ran&ttm 
 
 TFivi aamofcttw iCUbertnttt J&agistri 
 
 jjfcttffit Ittttont tx |Jastim= 
 
 IMS <2lruwxsflMS ttwtts, 
 
 glroasttdjon, 
 
 [From the original broadside, which has a border of cross-bones, skulls, 
 &c. in possession of the editor.] 
 
 The Reverend James Kirkton died at Edinburgh in the month of Sep- 
 tember 1699, and was interred in the Grey Friar's Church Yard. 
 Though a shining light of the Presbyterian Church, during the 
 period of his existence, he was, until the publication of his " Secret 
 and true history of the Church of Scotland," in 1817, by C. K. 
 Sharpe, Esquire, hardly known, except in the pages of the Scotch 
 Presbyterian Eloquence, where he figures somewhat conspicuously. 
 It was he that discovered that Abraham had fled from Judea for debt, 
 and gave a very graphic picture of the fall of Jezabell. His obser- 
 vations on Hymns and Spiritual Songs are worthy of note. 
 
 " There be'' says the Reverend Gentleman, " four kinds of Songs, 
 profane songs, malignant, allowable, and spiritual songs. Profane 
 songs : 
 
 My mother sent me to the well, 
 She had better gane hersel, 
 For what I got I dare not tell, 
 
 But kind Robin lo'es me. 
 
 Malignant songs, such as, He, ho, Gilliekrankie, and The King en- 
 joys his own again ; against which I have not much to say. Thirdly, 
 Allowable songs, like, " Once I lay with another man's wife ;" ye 
 may be allowed, Sirs, to say this, but I do not say that ye are allow- 
 ed to do this, for that's a great deal of danger indeed : Lastly, 
 Spiritual songs, which are the Psalms of David; but the godless 
 Prelates add to these, glory to the father, the worst of all I have 
 yet spoken of." 
 
96 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Upon another occasion, his congregation must have been somewhat 
 startled, as he commenced his sermon, by this exclamation " Deil 
 tak my soul and body.' 1 He then paused and proceeded, " You 
 think, Sirs, this is a strange word in the pulpit, but you think no- 
 thing of it out of the pulpit : but what if the Deil should take 
 many of you when ye utter such language." 
 
 Although the genuineness of the specimens of Presbyterian eloquence 
 preserved in the work just referred to has been questioned, there really 
 seems sufficient reason for believing the authenticity of the greater 
 part, as amongst the printed remains of many of the Scots Divines of 
 the period, passages might be selected nearly, if not entirely, as 
 absurd as any there recorded. If in works published, after much 
 careful revision, such absurdities are to be found, they are much more 
 likely to occur in extempore preachings, where in the excitement 
 of the moment, words pass the lips, e're the speaker has weighed 
 their exact import : besides, as the general style of conversation, 
 even amongst the higher classes, was coarse and homely, any minis- 
 ter to be popular, would require to adapt the language of his sermon 
 to the taste and capacity of his hearers. 
 
 Kirkton is introduced in Pitcairn's Assembly, as Mr. Covenant Plain- 
 dealer, the following is given in imitation of his ordinary style, 
 " Fornication with the virgin, that's as ill as the curates hobbling 
 on the \vhore of Babylon and begetting fourteen blackbirds, to wit, 
 the Prelates," &c. 
 
 Hei mihi ! subripitur fato sincerus Amicus 
 
 Kirtonus ; secli gloria rara sui. 
 Qui mihi suppetias misero tulit ante frequenter 
 
 Et Laturus erat postea semper opem. 
 
 Quo moriente perit spes omnis nostra, ruinam 
 
 Ni tan tarn Fratres jam reparare velint 
 Eximium pietate virum, virtuteque clarum. 
 Deflebunt cuncti longa per reva PH. 
 
 P. J. ANDERSONUS, Scholarcha, 
 Lyntoniensis. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 97 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 on ttjc mud) to to lamented 
 of 
 
 [From the original Broadside formerly belonging to Robert Mylne, 
 and now in the collection of C. K. Sharpe, Esq.] 
 
 Douglas, in his Baronage, p. 321, mentions that Francis Masterton of 
 Parkmill, in Clackmananshire, Sheriff- Depute of that county, and 
 Ensign of Stirling Castle, married Christian Craigengelt, and by 
 her had several children, of whom Francis the third, and Henry the 
 fourth, were " both Surgeons in Edinburgh." This Francis was 
 undoubtedly the worthy whose demise " doubles " the national 
 " grief" from the loss which the good town of Edinburgh sustain- 
 ed by his death. 
 
 The distinguished genealogist who records the existence of Masterton, 
 seems to have been very sensitive on the subject of his status in 
 society, as he dubs him surgeon, whereas the Elegy distinctly tells 
 the reader that he in whose 
 
 *' good medicines we found repose, 
 For they with pleasant sweets did us dispose," 
 
 was a humble " Apothecary," but " no Surgeon." 
 Francis Masterton was the uncle of Colonel James Masterton, M. P. 
 for the Stirling district of Burghs. 
 
 Come thou my mournful Muse to his great name 
 Doubly inscribe that thence the purer flame, 
 To Heaven so offered may more grateful rise, 
 The grosser parts be wood for Sacrifice, 
 Doubles the grief that's in the Nation spread, 
 Since he whom Edinburgh did love is dead 
 
 G 
 
98 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 For every tear that with our eye's most shed, 
 
 Even on a languishing a sickly bed, 
 
 They will into a stream amongst us turn, 
 
 And every on will have just cause to mourn, 
 
 For who can cease to shed a thousand tears, 
 
 Whilest he is dead and Edinburgh's loss appears. 
 
 Tho' in the grave or in the mounted sky, 
 
 Whatever mansions doth his dust survie, 
 
 Still on our hearts he shall for ever live, 
 
 We indispos'd he did always relive. 
 
 When bussie cares did oft oppress our mind, 
 
 He was the only comfort we did find, 
 
 In his good medicines we found repose, 
 
 For they with pleasant sweets did us dispose, 
 
 But now he's gone, Death's rapt him from our sight, 
 
 And cruely rob'd us of our only right ; 
 
 He, though no Surgeon, yet did understand, 
 
 His bussiness in what he took in hand, 
 
 How nimbly he his patients did survey 
 
 Twice, thrice, and sometimes oftener in a day. 
 
 To every one that call'd him he with speed 
 
 Did run, to the poor a helper in their need, 
 
 Who can unconquer'd Death withstand ? 
 
 A furrowed brow, old age at hand, 
 
 For Death a little after this we all must feel, 
 
 It's so decreed by the fatal wheel ; 
 
 And all the numerous ofspring of the earth, 
 
 That always feed on her who gave them birth, 
 
 Must every one its birth, its funeral, 
 
 The Womb and Tome being alike to all, 
 
 To dust they must return, their breath resign; 
 
 Thus being Heaven's highest great design. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 99 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 t!je wttrt) to fie lamented $eatl) antr 
 floss of % Ifttgftt $onottra6le 
 Katn <2Barl of eratoforir, 
 sag, tot. antr one of I) is 
 ties ios 
 
 Jjo Begartetr t!)is 
 life ifttard) 6, 1698. 
 
 William sixteenth Earl of Crawford and second Earl of Lindsay suc- 
 ceeded his father in 1676. He was twice married, 1st, at Leith, 
 8th March 1670, to Lady Mary Johnston, eldest daughter of James, 
 Earl of Annandale and Hartfell ; and 2dly, to Lady Henrietta Seton, 
 only daughter of Charles second Earl of Dunfermline, and relict of 
 William fifth Earl of Wigton. 
 
 This Lord was an eminent patron of the wild Churchmen of the time, 
 and, 
 
 " For a modern statesman he was fit, 
 
 For both were small, his fortune and his wit." 
 
 What a pity seeing his peculiar fitness for office, not to mention his 
 ultra-presbyterian furor that his Lordship had not lived in more 
 modern times ! 
 
 He was the restless Puritan's post-horse ; 
 Old sighing hags did chalk him out his course, 
 And zealous websters were his councillors; 
 Then he became Knight-errant of the cause, 
 And fought his way through all the kingdom's laws. 
 
 SCOTISH PASQUILS, Vol. i. p. 69. Edin. 1827, 
 
 The noble Lord figures in Pitcairn's witty but coarse comedy of the 
 " Assembly " as Lord Whigridden, " A Presbyterian Peer, a rigid 
 fooL" 
 
100 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 The first edition of the Assembly was printed in 1722, and bears the 
 imprint of London. The second has merely the date of publica- 
 tion, 1752, and is said to be ' done from the original manuscript, 
 written in the year 1692." The Editor of this last edition seems 
 not to have been aware of the existence of the prior one, which 
 perhaps was printed for private circulation, as it might have been 
 dangerous in 1722 to have published so severe an attack upon the 
 Whigs. Be this however as it may, the original curious preface, 
 containing a key to the political portion of the drama, for the first 
 time appeared in 1752. Lord Crawford is very severely handled, 
 indeed he figures as a blockhead, a pauper, and a knave. His 
 character is closed with these remarks : " For all his pretences to 
 religion, yet, to oblige a friend or compliment one whom he is afraid 
 of, he will do things both against his conscience and his reason, for 
 so he lately told the Viscount of Tarbat he had done in subscribing 
 an act for his pension. His malice and injustice to the Episcopal 
 clergy, even to those who complied to the civil government, is well 
 known in this kingdom ; and that his sense is as little as his estate, 
 which is none at all, no man who hath any sense doubts." 
 
 You noble Lords lay by your robes, come mourn a while 
 
 with me, 
 
 For good Lord Crawfoord that is gone into eternitie ! 
 You Nimphs upon Parnassus tops, make doolfull 
 
 melodic, 
 With tears of the Castalian brook, for this great 
 
 destinie. 
 
 A Star is fallen upon this land, we may call it a Pole ; 
 That none on earth could ever pick in his blanket a 
 
 hole. 
 
 Now PIETY has got a blow, in countrey and in town, 
 He was a pillar of the Church, supporter of the Crown ; 
 Josia like he did behave, when truth lay at the stake : 
 Would venture life and fortune both, but's word he would 
 
 not break. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 101 
 
 If Argus should appear and weep, of that there's great 
 
 need 
 Or Valley Hadarimmon like, to her girOafe'nts- ftriild in', ' 
 
 blood, ,> J ' , . >,>,', 
 
 Earl Crawfoord did behave himself- ftr.etteryrsfop" ;t>f ' 
 
 station 
 
 He was a credit to his name, and famous in the Nation, 
 He was a Stat'sman most entire, the King put him in trust 
 To be a great Lord Theasurer, because he was most just ; 
 He wore a belt of secrecy, and well did know its worth, 
 There was a motto upon it, and that was called truth ; 
 If one should venture to descrive his noble ancient stock, 
 Would need to have a diamond pen, to place it in a rock : 
 But Death that fearful bloody foe, grand Enemie of Man, 
 Has bent his bow, and with a dart from earth now has 
 
 him tain : 
 
 Deaths commission's very great, he bears a bloodie shield, 
 The motto of his scutcheon is, Ye mortals all come yeild. 
 The good men they are taken away, unto the kingdom 
 
 loss, 
 
 He was prepared every hour, death came not unaworse : 
 His name will blossom in the dust, and have a fragrant 
 
 smell ; 
 
 For piety and faithfullness he others did excel. 
 There is a plant sprung from his loyns, his honours to 
 
 succeed, 
 
 That is so vertuously inclin'd, does not eat idle bread ; 
 Like a young HERO he behaves, humilitie's his leader, 
 He is beloved of every one, from King unto the Begger. 
 Great volumes might be wrote of him, that lyes into his 
 
 tomb, 
 My pen cannot my Muse renown, therefore I must 
 
 succumb. 
 
102 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 If that Sylvester were alive, to embellish this in gold ; 
 Our rare Buchannan with his pen, his worth can scarce 
 
 be fold: ;: 
 He's now. gone to S^rafick bliss, the heavens would not 
 
 Jiira wart, . 
 Though he was cloath'd with human flesh, he was a real 
 
 Saint. 
 Since no man can descrive him well, that in this land 
 
 does dwell : 
 He'l waken at the trumpets sound, and answer for 
 
 himsell. 
 
 J. D.* 
 
 * Probably James Donaldson, the author of " A pick- tooth for 
 swearers, or a looking-glass for Athiests and prophane persona, where- 
 in the greatness of the party offended, the solemn giving of the law, 
 together with the strictness and purity thereof; the unquestionable 
 verity of the Holy Scriptures, and what fearfull sentence the wicked 
 may expect in the GREAT DAY, are briefly touched." Edinburgh, John 
 Reid, 1698. (In verse.) Small 4to. pp. 24. He wrote also " Hus- 
 bandry Anatomised, or an Enquiry into the present manner of tilling 
 and manuring the ground in Scotland for most part, &c. Dedicated 
 to the Earl of Marchmont, Lord Chancellor, and the Lords of the 
 Privy Council; 12mo. Edin, 1697 ; and various other Pieces, both 
 in prose and verse. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 103 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 ttmtersallg lamented Scat!) of 
 
 t^e ijonowttr Captain George 
 
 JKelba of eresccnt^fiall, 
 
 toiio tepartrtr fljts life, 
 
 i9fl) Sqptewfcer 1699. 
 
 [From the Original in the collection of C. K. Sharpe, Esq.] 
 
 Nisbet mentions that he '* saw, in the hands of Captain Melvil of 
 Crescent -hall, a mutual contract betwixt the Laird of Weems and 
 John Melvil of Reth, anent a watergang to Schaws Mill, of the date 
 1340." Vol. II. Appendix 30. But he gives no information as to 
 the pedigree of the Captain, and the different peerage writers are 
 silent on the subject. 
 
 If we may believe the Elegy, and there seems no reason for discredit- 
 ing its testimony, this gentleman was of the noble family of Melville, 
 now represented by the Earl of Leven and Melville. The evidence 
 of a " bore" or " birth" breif is referred to a species of proof then 
 common, and usually received as sufficient. The more curious por- 
 tion of this production is that which refers to the devoted attach- 
 ment of Melville to the gallant Montrose, and to his taking down 
 the legs of that martyr to loyalty from the places where they had 
 been set up, in Stirling and Glasgow. Unfortunately the end of 
 some of the lines have been torn away a few words and letters, 
 however, have been conjecturally supplied. 
 
 Great Melvil ! it's a crime almost to dare 
 To praise your merit, it transcends so far 
 The sphere of our activitie, that your bays 
 Are 'bove our power to lessen or to raise. 
 You were sprung from the noble familie 
 Of th' Earl of Melvils, as does testifie 
 
104 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Your Bore-Brieff, and your virtues do proclaim, 
 
 You did adorn your pedigree and name ; 
 
 All the conspicuous honours of the face 
 
 And symmetry, your personage did grace, 
 
 Such vigor nature to it did impart 
 
 It never needed the Paeonian art, 
 
 Till you were aged about seventy-seven 
 
 You never used drugs or medicine. 
 
 And in proportion, your soul's qualities 
 
 Were notable above the vulgar size : 
 
 Mars did contend with Pallas, who should have 
 
 You for their minion, and to you they gave 
 
 Their princely donatives, you being loath 
 
 T' offend the two, was darling to them both, 
 
 Only the juncture and your loyalty 
 
 Attract'd you most of all, Bellona's way, 
 
 Where you with wondrous valour and renown, 
 
 King Charles the First's most righteous cause did own, 
 
 Under the banner of the great Montrose, 
 
 And after rogues, by murder his eyes did close, 
 
 And to this nation's reproach and [disgrace, 
 
 Set up his quarters in each publick [place.] 
 
 Your courage and your kindness was . . . 
 
 For great Montrose, your General, . . . 
 
 You with the hazard of your life t[ook down] 
 
 One of his leggs set up in Stirling T[own.] 
 
 Twice : and the other which in Glasgow [stood] 
 
 You took down once, not fearing li[fe or blood] 
 
 Your signal and untainted loyalty. 
 
 God in this life did wondrously [try] 
 
 His body, which the mobile did Tare . . 
 
 You honour'd were with splendour . . . 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 105 
 
 The very picture of his leg .-'* . . . 
 Immortal frame, and doth A ..... 
 Joyn'd with Montrose's arms, w . . . 
 And naked arm and dager .... 
 And conform to your motto, with . .,. 
 Do injoyn silence, or do threaten . . 
 To all who ever after shall oppose . . 
 Their righteous King, or's trustees li . . 
 This is not all the glory you have gain[ed] 
 By keeping still your loyalty sustained.] 
 The very angels in their anthems sing, 
 Hail Melvil ! faithful both to God a[nd King.] 
 Enter into the joy which God ordain[Y] 
 For evr'y one that's his, and the King^'s.] 
 F. 
 
 Edinburgh, Printed by John Reid, in the year [1699.] 
 XL. 
 
 Enjwfcwatttrttw rt Oqpl<wan&uw 
 
 at ovnattssmw 
 Huntrin, 
 
 [From the original Broadside belonging to C. K. Sharpe, Esq.] 
 
 James Lundin was the second son of John Earl of Melfort, by Sophia, 
 daughter and sole heiress of Margaret Lundin of Lundin, by Robert 
 Maitland, brother of John Duke of Lauderdale; but his elder 
 brother John dying young, he succeeded his mother, and according 
 to Wood's Peerage, Vol. II. p. 366, died unmarried, 6th November 
 1698. Upon the 29th April 1699, Robert Lundin of that Tlk was 
 served heir-male and of entail to his brother, James Lundin, in the 
 lands and barony of Lundin ; (Abridgement of Retours, Vol. I.) 
 
106 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 He was the grandfather of James Drummond, created Lord Perth 
 14th October 1797, whose daughter, Lady Willoughby D'Eresby, 
 now possesses the Perth estates. 
 
 According to ordinary rules, the issue-male of Lord Melfort's first 
 marriage would have succeeded to his titles, but upon being created 
 an Earl, his Lordship, who was a zealous Roman Catholic, having 
 been disappointed in an attempt to make converts of his offspring 
 by the heiress of Lundin, took the title to himself and the heirs- 
 male of his second marriage with Eupheme, daughter of Sir Thomas 
 Wallace of Craigie, Lord Justice-Clerk, with a remainder to his 
 heirs-male whatever. This anxiety to exclude the Protestant heirs, 
 operated as a complete extinction of the honours during the surviv- 
 ance of the first series of heirs called. Had the usual order of succes - 
 sion been preserved, the honours would probably have been saved, for 
 when Lord Melfort was attainted on the 2d of July 1695, there was 
 a clause anxiously introduced in the Act, declaring that his forfeit- 
 ure should noways affect or taint the blood of the children pro- 
 created betwixt him and Sophia Lundin. 
 
 The Earl was raised to the dignity of a Duke by James II, after his 
 abdication, and died in January 1714. His Duchess survived 
 him, and lived to above 90 years of age. She supported herself 
 during her widowhood by keeping one of the two Faro tables 
 authorised by Louis XIV. 
 
 Quae vis ingenii ? vel quae facundia linguae 
 
 Lundini laudes pangere rite queat ? 
 Qui genus antique celsoque a stemmate duxit, 
 
 Et tribubus summis sanguine junctus erat. 
 Quis Drummondorum aut Lundima nomina nescit ? 
 
 Nomina qiise replent solis utrasque vias. 
 Quisve Metellanis poterit componere digna 
 
 Carmina ? Gordonios vel celebrare satis ? 
 Ex quibus et multis aliis Lundinius Heros 
 
 Prognatus, pariter clarus in orbe foret 
 Invida si sinerent solummodo fata morari, 
 
 Donee ab excelso funderet axe jubar. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 107 
 
 Proh dolor, at prima rapitur bonus ille juventa 
 
 Et longe ante diem febre recisus obit. 
 Lseta cui facies praestanti in corpore fulsit, 
 
 Mirus et eloquii fluxit ab ore nitor. 
 Integritas morum, virtus, pietasque, fidesque, 
 
 Ornamenta animi magna fuere sui. 
 Spectatus juvenis, studioque expertus in omni : 
 
 Et nulli ingenio vel probitate minor. 
 Sed neque celsus honos, nee avitse gloria gentis 
 
 Aut pietas possuiit sistere tela necis. 
 Mors sua sceplra gerit toti communia mundo, 
 
 Et cito vel sero demetit omne caput. 
 
 W^ALTEB] D[ENISTON ?]. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 of tt>e mud) ^onouretr 
 Sir iJto&ger $og of 
 sometime a Senator of 
 College of Sfttstiee. 
 
 Of Sir Roger Hog of Harcarse there is a brief account prefixed to the 
 decisions reported by his Lordship from 1681 to 1691. Edin. 1757, 
 folio. From it we learn that he was a son of William Hog of Bog- 
 end, in Berwickshire, that he entered Advocate " with applause 
 and success" in 1661 ; and that upon occasion of his promotion to 
 the Bench in November 1677, he was knighted at London by 
 Charles II. 
 
 It appears, that on the trial of the Earl of Argyle, in 1661, he was 
 opposed to the relevancy of the libel, this opposition however seems 
 to have given no offence at Court, as he received promotion, and 
 remained on the Bench till March 1688, when, according to his 
 Biographer, he was dismissed, for giving an opinion on some " high 
 points" of prerogative against the Crown. 
 
 This may be true, but it is nevertheless certain, that his Lordship was 
 
JOS SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 charged with gross injustice in certain cases, in which his son-in- 
 law, Ayton of Inchdarnie was concerned, and that the very day be- 
 fore his dismissal, Mr. Robert Pittilloch, Advocate, formerly Solici- 
 tor-General to the Lord Protector, called him " a bryber,"* for 
 which insult to the Bench, he was very properly ordered to be 
 apprehended. 
 
 Pittilloch published an account of his controversy with Harcarse at 
 London,, 1689, under the quaint titles of " Oppression under the 
 colour of law, or my Lord Harcarse his new practicks, as a way- 
 marke for peaceable subjects to beware of playing with a hot-spirited 
 Lord of the Session, so far as is possible, when arbitrarie govern- 
 ment is in the dominion."! 
 
 After the Revolution, Lord Harcarse was replaced on the Bench ; but 
 how he settled matters with Pittilloch, has not been ascertained. 
 He died in 1700, in the 65th year of his age, and " both in his 
 public and private capacity, was spoken of by all parties with honour, 
 as a person of great knowledge and probity."J 
 
 At the most silent hour of night, when sleep 
 With a fast pressure o'er man's sence doth creep, 
 A dull and heavy weight, methought did lye 
 Upon my soul ; I wept, but knew not why, 
 Till in my view, Ah me, there soon appears 
 A company, all sad, and all in tears. 
 I lookM ; and as they past, each man 1 thought 
 In broken words, his neighbour something taught ; 
 Just was I going to ask, when lo ! I see, 
 What them afflicted and affected me ; 
 A mourning Hearse did follow, and on it, 
 To tell who lay within, these lines in writ : 
 
 * Fountainhall's Notes, p. 247. 
 
 f This was reprinted with another tract by Pittilloch. Edin. 1827. 
 4to. In this volume, the present Elogy, from the original, in what is 
 termed the Fountainhall Volume of Broadsides, was included. 
 
 J Biographical Sketch, p. 2. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 109 
 
 The good, the godly, generous, and kind, 
 The best companion, father, husband, friend ; 
 The stoutest Patron to maintain a cause ; 
 The justest Judge to square it by the laws. 
 Whom neither force nor flatt'ry could incline, 
 To swerve from equity's eternal line. 
 Who in the face of tyranny could own, 
 He would his conscience keep, tho' lose his Gown ; 
 Who in his privat and retired state, 
 As useful was, as formerly when great. 
 Because his square and firmly temper 'd soul, 
 Round whirling Fortune's Axis could not roll. 
 Nor by the force of prejudice or pride 
 Be bent his kindness to forgo or bide, 
 But still in equal temper, still the same, 
 Esteeming good men, and esteemed by them. 
 As an example and encouragement 
 Of Virtue, with an aged life all spent 
 Without a stain, still nourishing and green, 
 In pious acts, more to be felt than seen. 
 
 When this I had with intermissions read, 
 (For floods of tears these intermissions made.) 
 I could not stay for to search out for his name, 
 For well I knew that HARCARSE was the same. 
 
 Edinburgh : Printed in the year 1 700, 
 
110 SCOT1SH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XL1I. 
 
 of 
 of t^e Jambtrbitg of 
 
 William Dunlop was the son of the Rev. Alex. Dunlop, minister of 
 Paisley, by Elizabeth, daughter of William Mure of Glanderton. 
 One maternal aunt was the mother of Principal Carstairs, and an- 
 other the wife successively of Zachary Boyd and James Durham. 
 A great portion of his life was spent in America. Returning to 
 Scotland after the Revolution, he, in 1690, was presented to the 
 parish church of Ochiltree, and a few months afterwards had a call 
 to that of Paisley. He was named Principal of the University of 
 Glasgow in November 1690, and died in March 1700. 
 
 Principal Dunlop married his cousin Sarah Carslairs, and was the 
 father of Alexander Dunlop, afterwards professor of Greek in the 
 University of Glasgow, who published a Greek grammar, and 
 died in 1742, and of William Dunlop, A. M. Professor of Divinity 
 and Church History in the University of Edinburgh, whose well- 
 known Collection of Confessions of Faith, was printed at Edin. 
 in two vols. 1719-22, 8vo. The second volume was posthumous, 
 Mr. Dunlop having died at Edinburgh, October 29, 1720, at the 
 -early age of twenty-eight. 
 
 - Quis talia fan do 
 Temperet a lachrymis ? 
 
 M ust we now our ideas thus imploy, 
 
 A h's death lament instead of joy : 
 
 S ader's our state than when scarce ./Eneas, 
 
 T o Dido could tell's ideas ; 
 
 E ven worse than when to Jacob 'twas told, 
 
 R ent Joseph is, whereas but sold. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. Ill 
 
 W e ought therefore his praises to resound, 
 
 I n thousands since his match isn't found. 
 
 L o he, like holy Lot, his time spent here, 
 
 L oving his God, and him did fear : 
 
 I n preaching he, like Luther, was a star, 
 
 A ny convincing that did err ; 
 
 M oses for meekness, Aaron in his speech. 
 
 D espising ill, and well did teach, 
 
 U riah's sp'rit, in him did ly of gold, 
 
 N one so precious to be sold : 
 
 L ike Joseph for's parts, the King did 'm promote, 
 
 're passing many in his coat. 
 
 P lac'd by the King, the Col ledge to govern, 
 
 P iety to plant, did discern : 
 
 R ightly, yea, by our Lords, he was elect'd, 
 
 1 n speed our trade for to direct. 
 
 N one could so well with peace debates agree, 
 
 C oncerning gentlemen, as did he. 
 
 I n Nestor's age, his equal was, I don't believe, 
 
 P aul like he was, when here he did survive, 
 
 A 11 his rare virtues, I cannot rehearse ; 
 
 L ow'ring my sails, I end my verse. 
 
 Mors ultima linea rerum 
 Que me fugerunt his Lector corrigat aequus.* 
 
 * Wodrow lias written at the foot of the elegy, " By Mr. Ja. Paul," 
 a piece of information for which we feel truly grateful, as every lover 
 of Poetry must be anxious to know from whose pen an elegy so 
 singularly original proceeded. The style and versification have re- 
 cently been imitated by Mr. David Miller, in some of his funereal pro- 
 ductions, with considerable success we refer especially to his verses 
 on the Rev. A. Thomson. 
 
112 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 n tyt tinfttraalls lamcntrtr IBeatf) of tfje 
 Uttg^t ^onotitailt Halrg yi\ 
 
 Lady Anno Douglas, eldest daughter of William first Duke of Queens- 
 berry, sister of the second Duke of Queensberry, and of the 
 first Earl of March, married David then Lord Elcho, but after 
 the Countess his mother's death, Earl of Wemyss, and by him 
 had two sons and two daughters. In consequence of her clothes 
 taking fire, she was, on the 13th July 1700, so severely scorched, 
 that she expired on the 23d of the same month. Wood styles her 
 Countess of Wemyss, (vol. ii. p. 623,) an erroneous assumption, 
 seeing her husband did not succeed to the earldom until 1705. 
 
 It was through this marriage that the present Earl of Wemyss inherits 
 the Neidpath estates, and his claim to the earldom of March. 
 
 The universe, it seems, is drawing nigh, 
 Its final, and fore-doom'd catastrophic. 
 We have seen, its firie preluds seise upon, 
 And marr the glory of our Caledone, 
 In her most stately structurs, and we see 
 That human kind is not from the same free, 
 And burning feavers every where do waste, 
 And moulder humane bodies unto dust ; 
 As if this present age were to expire, 
 Both with all time, and th' universal fire. 
 My Lady ELCHO we the more lament, 
 That she by a malignant flame is sent, 
 And early to the charnel house doth pass, 
 Since nothing of malignant in her was : 
 She's as illustrious in her pedigree 
 And name, as the most noble family 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 113 
 
 That's here : her father's., and her brother's bays, 
 
 Are as extensive as Apollo's rays ; 
 
 All the conspicuous honours of the face, 
 
 And symmetric, our Lady ANN did grace. 
 
 And all the rare accomplishments we find, 
 
 Dispers'd in others, center d in her mind. 
 
 A snow like candor did adorn her soul ; 
 
 It ever was without all fraud and guile, 
 
 And all the actions which from hence did flow, 
 
 Were like the source upright, and serene too ; 
 
 She of all other vertues had such store, 
 
 As there be flowers which Flora's brow decore. 
 
 So wer't the custom now to canonise, 
 
 We might her in the Alb of Saints comprise : 
 
 She either was as free from stains as they, 
 
 Or had she faults, the flame purg'd these away. 
 
 And she's gone straight above the starry pole, 
 
 Leaving her noble husband to condole. 
 
 His double loss: Alace ! A phrase too mild, 
 
 Where his most loving lady and dear child, 
 
 Or rather children, and all hopes from them, 
 
 Ascend like to Elijah in a flame : 
 
 Onlie well grounded hopes of her blest state, 
 
 Can his excessive agonies abate, 
 
 And the two hopefull boys she left behind, 
 
 May mitigat the sorrows of his mind. 
 
 Edinburgh : Printed by George Jaffray, Anno 1 700. 
 
114 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 upon itjc Ocatlj of Htcut 
 
 of &j?rtl 1700, (n tyt 27fl) gear 
 of J)(0 age, pairing toen ten 
 gears an flJter in 
 ittng 
 
 Of Lieut. Haddow we have been unable to obtain any information. 
 
 No youth nor strength, nor vigour of that kind, 
 Greatness of soul, nor yet heroick mind, 
 Undaunted courage, magnanimitie, 
 Nor gifts, nor parts of the most high degree, 
 Nor racked skill, nor highest reach of arts, 
 Tho' all conjoin'd, and all did act their parts ; 
 No medecines, tho' proper and in season, 
 Apply'd by art, and highest pitch of reason, 
 Nor is there ought in all the earth that can 
 Preserve the life of fadeing mortal man : 
 But in due time, by heaven's prefixt decree, 
 Both young and ag'd, yea all mankind, must die. 
 Here was a youth for generosity, 
 For courage, candor, ingenuity, 
 And other parts of person and of mind, 
 That of his years few equals left behind ; 
 True son of Mars, a credit to that art, 
 Both ready and expert in every part, 
 No danger could affright so great a mind, 
 Yet still his nature affable and kind. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 115 
 
 While in great dangers wonderfully sav'd, 
 When many gallants were of life bereav'd. 
 Yet fatal death, by Heaven's directing power, 
 Removed him home in his appointed hour, 
 In peace (while young) he was call'd off the stage, 
 When in the spring time of his growing age. 
 Confessing sin his newest heart did spend, 
 Pleading for mercy, praising to the end ; 
 Although that nothing falleth out by chance, 
 But by the course of divine providence, 
 Yet Innocents may be brought to their graves 
 By crafty villains, undeserving knaves, 
 Who in due time, as Heaven shall send just cause, 
 May chance to suffer by the divine laws, 
 Although that Jehu acted by command, 
 Yet Jezerel's blood was sought at Jehu's hand. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 n t$e EtnibcvsaUp Hawcntca -Dcati) of 
 
 ir. &lexantrer Sdjeilla, an eminent 
 
 fltimstcr of t!je osptli, toljo ire= 
 
 parted tfjis life at Jamaica, 
 
 in J)is return from 
 
 ealetronia, 1700, 
 
 Alexander Shiels, the author of the well-known work, " The Hind 
 let loose," was a son of James Shiels of Haugh-head in Berwick- 
 shire. He became a popular preacher and great saint of his time. 
 His style of preaching, if we can credit the sample preserved in the 
 Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence,* employed on one occasion when 
 
 * 2d Edition, London, 1693, p. 85. 
 
116 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 addressing a congregation at Berwick, must have been somewhat 
 forcible. 
 
 " Many," said he, *' had religion the day, but would have none the 
 morn, their religion was soon gone like a woman's virginity.'' 
 
 His peculiarities, religious as well as political, brought him under the 
 strong arm of the law, and being taken in 168*5 before " the Coun- 
 cil, after much altercations (he) at last consented to sign the ab- 
 juration of these treasonable principles of riseing in armes, &c. ; 
 but declined to swear it. He would have entered a protestation, 
 but he signed it only in so far as it was consistent with his duty, but 
 that was rejected. Then he was content to declare that he owned the 
 present King, and that it was unlawful to raise war against him, or 
 assassinat his adherents ; for a man may declare many things that 
 he could not swear ; and he said though he was a Presbyterian, he 
 was against pressing the Covenant itselfe. At last he signed the 
 abjuration, but in respect he had formerly retracted the taking 
 thereof, saying he was forced thereto, it was mocked; now that 
 what he had done was voluntar, they were resolved only to banish 
 him." Fountainhall's Chronological Notes, 140. 
 Shields was meanwhile incarcerated in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, 
 but he contrived to escape therefrom in woman's clothes, for which 
 the jailors, John Vans and Arthur Udney, were dismissed sum- 
 marily by an Act of Privy Council, in Nov. 1686, (Acts of Parlia- 
 ment, vol. ix. p. 66, folio edition.) He joined Renwick, a cele- 
 brated Scots worthy, of whom he became biographer, and on the 
 5th of December 1686, he attended a field preaching with him at 
 the Wood of Earlston in Galloway. Subsequently he went to 
 Holland, from whence he returned after the revolution, being, it is 
 said, (Scots Worthies, 3d edit. Edin. 1796, 8vo. p. 509,) " greatly 
 esteemed by King William." 
 
 He was settled minister at St. Andrews, where he continued until 
 1699, when he in company with Messrs. Borland, Stobo, and Dal- 
 gleish, were pitched upon to go over with his countrymen to Darien. 
 He suffered in common with the other adventurers the privations 
 attendant upon that unfortunate attempt to colonize, and with some 
 difficulty escaped to Jamaica, where he died of a malignant fever, 
 upon the 14th June 1 700, at Port-Royal. The expenses of his fune- 
 ral were paid by a kind countrywoman, Isabel Murray, probably the 
 person in whose house he expired (Scots Worthies, p. 322.) 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 117 
 
 <? 
 
 Come muses nine, assist me to lament 
 The loss of him, no danger could prevent. 
 From carrying on the cause of Christ his master, 
 But boldly did withstand every disaster, 
 Came in his way, and like to Noah's dove, 
 He for the ark of God bear such a love 
 That to the sole of 's foot he found no rest 
 Untill he found the deluge overpast. 
 Would I had Argus eyes that floods of tears 
 Might flow from thence to dispell all our fears. 
 Heaven by this stroke, seems our designes to blast, 
 Since he is gone, whil'st life and strength did last, 
 All hazards ventur'd, Religion to promote 
 By's life and doctrine, where e'er he footing got ; 
 That heathen infidels did almost own 
 The glorious gospel (by him) to them shown, 
 To be more precious than all their Indian gold, 
 As I have heard by travelers oft told. 
 Shall such an usefull member of the church 
 Fall by death's dart and ne'er on heart so much 
 As once be grived nor any eye found weep 
 For losing of a shepherd of Christ's sheep. 
 Who e'er was faithfull in feeding of his flocks 
 And notwithstanding of what stumbling blocks 
 Stood in his way, he tenderly them led, 
 And with sincere milk of the word them fed, 
 Wherefore he now is with immortall rayes, 
 Crown'd in these mansions where his Master stayes. 
 
118 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 Srttflj's Champion; or an. IHltgte on 
 to 6* lamented J3*if)>f tt)at 
 an ffiotrls iKttnfeto: of 
 
 Invoke no Muse, but the Celestial King, 
 
 When you the praises of a Saint do sing : 
 
 A Saint who did his Master's cause defend, 
 
 And boldly for his countrey's rights contend. 
 
 He does a victim for his countrey fall, 
 
 Which Courtier's pride, and Churchmen's greed enthral. 
 
 This Presyter the truth did ever love, 
 
 Nor could his holy soul at all approve, 
 A Popish King's indulgences to take, 
 
 And by such means the solemn league to break : 
 The breach of solemn oaths he still did dread, 
 Nor truckl'd under Court- designs for bread : 
 Which, to the blush may put some preaching dons, 
 Beneath whose greed our bleeding countrey groans. 
 He with the truth did still adorn his SHIELD, 
 Which made him boldly to maintain the field. 
 While others strive through blackest crimes to raise 
 To their base names tall pyramids of praise, 
 His name shall be embalm'd with the perfume 
 Of sweeter spices than from JEgypt come. 
 Truth's balmy laurel shall surround his name, 
 And Fame, that mighty herauld, shall proclaim 
 Those just encomiums that to him are due, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 119 
 
 And every age his praises still renew. 
 
 SHIELD'S shall not dye, while there's an honest heart 
 
 That loveth truth, and truth will still impart. 
 
 He scorn'd the fawning flatt'ries of the age, 
 
 Nor would with truckling parasites engage. 
 
 His honest heart could never entertain 
 
 A thought, that might his holy garment stain. 
 
 Nor knew such vertue in perswasive gold, 
 
 That for its sake his countrey could be sold. 
 
 He harmless thought that Achan could not lodge 
 
 In God's great temple with his golden wedge : 
 
 Achan before was lodged in the camp, 
 
 But Rabbis now receive the fatal stamp, 
 
 With our own substance we are bought and sold, 
 
 Men of all ranks obey the chink of gold. 
 
 A fatal thing to this poor-bleeding land, 
 
 Whose wealth and trade they vainly do withstand. 
 
 This holy man more eagerly was bent 
 
 For Christ's seraphic kingdom, and was sent 
 
 A harbinger i' th' Indies, to proclaim 
 
 Our Soveraign Lord's great doctrine and his name ; 
 
 But having seen what villany could do, 
 
 His soul was struck with penetrating woe. 
 
 Then heavenly powers, who all these crimes foresee, 
 
 Did, by eternal wisdom, straight decree 
 
 This holy soul shall quickly take its flight, 
 
 Before he heard these gloomy shades of night 
 
 Darken'd our lamps, and so eclips'd our skye, 
 
 That we below the gloomy darkness lye. 
 
120 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Hattwrtrtr I3*atf) of 
 HonaUr, IStmtottlteptttt of 
 , antr asstittt to 
 
 Signet, tot)o 
 tfteir at <lrinJ)tt*g$, 
 August 1700. 
 
 Of Duncan Ronald, Director-Depute of Chancery, the very little that 
 has been traced is contained in a Tract now in possession of the 
 Editor, and which is supposed to be unique, entitled, " Memorial 
 representing the State and Constitution of the Chancery Office in 
 North Britain." Small 4to. ; no date, but printed evidently at 
 Edinburgh after 1707. From this production we learn that Ronald 
 held the situation of Depute under Sir William Kerr, Director of 
 Chancery, and his successor Lord Charles Kerr, who seems to have 
 obtained the Directorship in 1695. 
 
 It would appear that Sir William Kerr, from necessity, or perhaps 
 avarice, had exacted from the Chancery clerks a portion of their 
 jdues, and that Mr. Ronald, in a representation he gave in to the 
 new Director, Lord Charles, at his entry, declared, " that no direc- 
 tor, before the year 1690, ever pretended right to these clerks' dues, 
 but that Sir William Kerr his circumstances then required it, and 
 so he attempted it, leaving therefor his clerks, only two old men, 
 both poor and wanting friends to deal with, viz. Mr. John Brown, 
 and John Brown, (a/zas Laird Snuff,) who dyed, as was alleadged, 
 v.ithout making a publick complaint for repetition, so that their 
 seeming passive compliance, (or what ever way it was }< ) for two or 
 three years, is since obtruded to their successor as a new footing, as 
 'tis termed.'' 
 
 Mr. Ronald does not appear to have been successful in his attempts to 
 benefit the successors of Laird Snuff, for the abuse continued after 
 his decease, as the above quoted pamphlet demonstrates. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 121 
 
 Nisbet, (vol. i. p. 299,) informs us, that " One Robert Ronald, 
 Provost of Montrose, bore argent, a lion passant, guardant gules, 
 tied to an oak-tree proper ; and on a chief azure, a rose slipped 
 between two crescents of the first. Crest, an oak-tree leaved and 
 fructuated proper; motto, Sic virescit virtus." The proper arms 
 " of the family were argent, a lion passant gules, tied to an oak-tree 
 proper, and on a chief azure, three crescents of the fruit Font's 
 Manuscript." 
 
 This year at Rome the jubilie doth stand; 
 D But whether Death or Pope doth most command, 
 My querie ! pray tell me travler now, 
 Where Death inhabits, reigns, and pays his vow ! 
 
 If you can tell me, where this King do lodge ; 
 
 I'll be thy vassal, and thy sorely drudge. 
 
 Death! Death! our Kings, our Queens, our Nobles all, 
 U Our Knights, our Barons, Lairds, by thee they fall, 
 
 Our Dives, Lazrus, Senecas, and Lords ; 
 
 Can never scape thy dedly fatal cords. 
 Why is it so ? By heavens alone decree, 
 Men must be living, also men must die. 
 
 But ah ! Death, now thou carries high thine hand, 
 N Thou soars aloft ; we cannot thee command : 
 Thou shoots (like Cupid) arrows from the skyes, 
 Thou sends thy darts ; als soon the mortal dies. 
 Ah me ! why so ! can nothing thee attack : 
 Can vertuous dimonds never thee attract. 
 
 No, no, say'th Death : for why ? my time is come, 
 C My scepter, crown, are old, and reign nigh run. 
 I'm but a vassal of the powers above, 
 I must display the banner of my love. 
 For Death's my name, a lyon I must be, 
 Untill my days be turn'd to eternity. 
 
122 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Now judgements nigh, the world is near an end, 
 A My sword is sharpest when I must defend 
 My cause ; and my commission I display, 
 When dust I send to dust, their natives clay. 
 
 So queries are but idle, vain to thee ; 
 
 Read, birth, death, judgement, smd eternitie. 
 
 For if I could have spar'd a lovely face ; 
 N Helen of Troy, might damped me with grace. 
 
 If riches ; Cresus might have brib'd me then ; 
 
 If grace, or beauty, or the sons of men. 
 
 Then might I have had thousands at my hand, 
 Of Absalom's and Solomon's to stand. 
 
 If learning, Cicero, Seneca, these wits, 
 Would play'd me music, when I took my fits, 
 Alse well as David ; but no harmonic 
 Can wound me : magick cannot blind mine eye. 
 Nay, Kings and Emperours are my trophies still, 
 Who then can bribe me, who has all at will ? 
 
 Thy DUNCAN RONNALD, Depute of the Rolls, 
 R The Keeper of thy Charters, Seasines, Scrolls, 
 Might been preserv'd, if grace or parts might do : 
 But who's the man, I spare, of candour now. 
 
 Yes, weep ye may, ye Scribes and Writers throng ! 
 
 But ye that weep, must meet me ere't be long. 
 
 Kindness of nature, Sympathie indites 
 O Our mourning over Ronnald, and invites : 
 He was a man of geniousness and arts, 
 Divine and moral ; lov'd by men of parts. 
 What's more ; he had the popular applause, 
 Of Commons, Learnings,. Enemies, and Foes. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 123 
 
 He carried civil in his Post and Chair 
 N Of honour's district, void of anxious fear ; 
 Content with fortune, Providence's decree, 
 And vain Ambition, Emptiness did see. 
 
 Therefore I Death, behoov'd to pluck my rose, 
 For fear of withering here among his foes. 
 
 Well spoke, O Death ! crown me with mortal rayes, 
 A Come stay no longer, quickly cut my dayes : 
 Since we must pass to heaven thro' Baca's vale, 
 Hoise anchor, Death, set mizons on thy sail : 
 For dye we must before we come to be, 
 With Duncan Ronnal in prosperitie. 
 
 For we must walk by faith, as Ronnal d did, 
 L And get our Charter party, to be hid, 
 In our recesses : Pray'r must be the key, 
 Love and assureance, twofold charitie. 
 Then Jesus merits, Jacob's ladder can, 
 Make scarlet sins, made whiter than a swan. 
 
 Death, Death, deny us fate of sudden calls, 
 D Seize but gradation, e're you break our walls ; 
 
 Then sound thy trumpet, as a lona shrill ; 
 
 Our bodies yield, decay to dust they will. 
 For moulder, dwindle, and consume to dust, 
 Men (dust they are) return to it they must. 
 
 Hsec raptim et cursum composuit. 
 
 MB. GEORGE DEMPSTER. 
 
J24 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XL VIII. 
 
 tf>e iPeplorafcle Seats of tf)t 
 ^onourafcle ^latgarrt ^twteas of 
 
 toijo trtpavtctr iJjts life 
 tlje 22tr August 1700. 
 
 Margaret, Countess of Rothes, eldest daughter of the Duke of Rothes, 
 an Elegy on whose death occurs previously, married Charles fifth 
 Earl of Haddington on the 7th of October 1674, and by him, who 
 died in 1685, she had John seventh Earl of Rothes, from whom the 
 present Earl is descended in the female line, and Thomas the sixth 
 Earl of Haddington. 
 
 To prevent the two titles merging in one person, Earl Charles resigned 
 his honours, and obtained a new patent, by which his titles were made 
 to devolve upon his second son. Riddell's Inquiry, Vol. I. p. 213. 
 
 Now the most fragrant flower of femal kynde, 
 
 In this our age falls, scarce is left behind. 
 
 Or may her paralell for pietie, 
 
 Pregnant patience, and Christian charitie : 
 
 Her noble actions made her virtues known, 
 
 And to posterity they ought to be shown, 
 
 For pietie and charitie always did 
 
 Attend each motion of her sp'rit, which hid 
 
 Could noways be, when those who timely were 
 
 Objects of charitie, apply'd to her, 
 
 The widow's relief, and the orphan's stay. 
 
 To the disconsolate she was alway 
 
 A timely support ; so that her worth and fame, 
 
 Throughout all ages her vertues shall proclaime. 
 
 A tender mother, and a loveing wife ; 
 
 Yea truly chest in every step of life, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 125 
 
 Inclyn'd to vertue in all things that might tend 
 
 To the advantage of her dearest friend, 
 
 Constant affection, inviolable love, 
 
 Did to her noble consort all ways prove, 
 
 Her chastity to him to be sincere, 
 
 During her weddlock bonds, and since they were 
 
 Dissolv'd by death, to're noble offspring she, 
 
 And others of her sex for pietie ; 
 
 And vertue hath allways a matron been, 
 
 That none her to excell was ever seen : 
 
 Far as she was most noble by her birth : 
 
 So farr more noble was she for her worth ; 
 
 That all who know her actions must confess : 
 
 No tongue or pen is able to express, 
 
 The great renown the memory of her name 
 
 Doth still deserve, for everlasting fame. 
 
 Shall it proclaim to future ages, that 
 
 Posterities her praise may celebrate 
 
 From time to time, while time doth remain, 
 
 Untill the world dissolve, and her soul come again. 
 
 Which is ascended (I presume) to rest, 
 
 Into eternal joyes, with those are blest ; 
 
 For pietie and vertue did attend 
 
 All the actions of her life unto the end. 
 
126 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 untitnrtg Ocatl) of i tl)at 
 Oottng HaUg tyt &otwt*S8i 
 of Uuccltugi). 
 
 [From a copy furnished by C. K. Sharpe, Esq.] 
 
 This Lady was Mary Countess of Buccleugh, eldest daughter of Francis 
 second Earl of Buccleugh. She was served heir to her father 6th 
 October 1653. At the age of eleven she married (9th February 
 1659) Walter Scott, eldest son of Sir Gideon Scot of Highchester, 
 aged fourteen. They were married by Mr. Hary Wilkie, minister 
 of Wemyss, without proclamation, by an order from the Presbytery 
 of Kirkaldy. 
 
 The youth of the parties affords pretty distinct evidence that undue 
 advantage had been taken of the tender years of the young lady ; 
 but such things were common in Scotland at that period. The 
 Presbytery was brought before the Provincial Synod of Fife, and 
 got off on this very curious ground, that the order rested on an Act 
 of the General Assembly, allowing such marriages in case of ne- 
 cessity, or fear of rape, and that the Lady's friends were apprehensive 
 of abduction. Master Scott must have been a precocious youth 
 truly, according to this defence. But what a strange picture of 
 the barbarous state of Scotland does all this present ! Here is an 
 infant of high birth, and great wealth, whose property and person 
 the laws were unable to protect, and who could not remain single 
 after the age of eleven, without the risk of being carried off. 
 
 The juvenile ravisher was rewarded with an Earldom for his gallantry, 
 for he was created Earl of Tarras, Lord Alemoor and Campcastell, 
 for life only, by patent dated 4th September 1660, he being then 
 between fifteen and sixteen years of age. All his brilliant expecta- 
 tions were extinguished by the death of his Lady, who died on the 
 12th of March 1661, in the thirteenth year of her age, it is almost 
 unnecessary to add, that there was no issue of this strange marriage. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 127 
 
 She was succeeded by her sister, the Countess Anne, who married the 
 Duke of Monmouth, when little more than twelve years of age. 
 
 Lord Tarras married again, and left, by his wife Helen Hepburn, three 
 sons and three daughters. From his second son Walter Scot of 
 Harden, the present Lord Polwarth is descended. 
 
 Here goes into the grave, a glorious Prime, 
 Honour and Fame were but attending time 
 Of farder ripening, and the bringing on 
 Of her fair flourish to perfection. 
 But O ! when Time did Fame and Honours call, 
 Then comes proud Death, and swiftly mines all ; 
 So wise and young ; so young and so compleit, 
 Greatnesse and Goodnesse trysted here to meet. 
 Farewell, sweet Countesse ! it's thy noble dust 
 Which is committed to this Tomb in trust. 
 The splendour of thy virtues and their rayes 
 Shall shine in our horizon many dayes. 
 
 L. 
 
 fl)e wty of $tt. Ortlfort ifcttfe, 
 
 of fyt oll* %t of Strut- 
 , toijo Srpavtctr tin's life 
 
 72 
 
 [From a broadside belonging to C. K. Sharpe, Esq.] 
 
 Mr. Gilbert Rule is shown up in the ' Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence,'' 
 and the following specimen is given of his style of prayer. After 
 the dissolution of the General Assembly he thus expressed himself 
 in the pulpit, " O Lord, thou knows that Christ's Court, the Ge- 
 neral Assembly, ought to protest against usurpers upon Christ's 
 kingdom, but if we had known that King William would have been 
 
128 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 angry with us in earnest, and if the brethren would have followed 
 my advice, we should have pleased the King for this time, and taken 
 Christ on our own hand till some other opportunity." 
 
 He was the Salathiel Littlesense of Pitcairn's Assembly, and we are 
 told in the preface, " That famous saying of his in a publict lecture, 
 *i aliquis virus colebit falsum Deum, seu vervm L^evm ut non prescrip- 
 tion est t iste virus est guiltvs idolatries, is so known through all the 
 town, that he is named Doctor Guidus, from that very thing." 
 
 [Rule] succeeded Doctor Monro, who was unjustly ejected from the 
 situation of Principal of the University of Edinburgh, for no other 
 reason than his being an Episcopalian ; this would naturally expose 
 the intruder to the ridicule of the Tory party, but if these two speci- 
 mens of his oratory are founded in truth, he was a fair object of satire. 
 
 Pull fraught with years and knowledge doth resort 
 
 The rich-lade cargo to his heavenly port ; 
 
 Where the celestial Harbingers do wait 
 
 To entertain what was decreed by fate : 
 
 An honour to the OLD METROPOLIS, 
 
 The rich man's favour, and the poor man's bless, 
 
 The widow's friend, the fatherless his prop, 
 
 Th' oppressed's help, and the distressed's hope. 
 
 What needs encomiums ? Thy own works praise thee ; 
 
 Or elegies ? Thy many volumns raise thee. 
 
 It's hard to judge at which he was the best, 
 
 Divine or Philosoph ; great in the least. 
 
 A RULE to rich and poor, to small and great ; 
 
 Learning's rich magazine, and wisedom's seat. 
 
 In his own person was a library, 
 
 And glory of the University, 
 
 Whose works shall live unto eternity. 
 
 Let friends then cease for to lament and mourn, 
 
 And bring the earthly mould unto it's urn. 
 
 (It's the all-seeing Providence would have it,) 
 
 While that the soul returns to God who gave it. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 129 
 
 LI. 
 
 <n tlje borg mud) lanwrtea I3*att) of 
 trulg liofile, antt unibmallg t*sjwt*a 
 Hora Basil ?|?amtltoun, son to 
 amast asatlltam littfte of ^amfl 
 town, granadjtia to $ am* s iPttfte 
 of $atmltouu, atitr 
 
 of 
 toas unfortunately 
 
 August 27, 
 
 1701, fctat 29, 5s 
 
 cutrcalJounuQ 
 
 to vtstut I)ts 
 
 servant 
 
 Lord Basil Hamilton was the sixth son of William and Anne, Duke 
 and Duchess of Hamilton. He was baptised at Hamilton on the 
 16th of December 1670. His Lordship was drowned in the Min- 
 noch, a small river of Galloway, which had been swoln by a heavy 
 rain, whilst attempting to rescue his servant, who had unadvisedly 
 ridden into the stream with the object of trying the ford. 
 
 The first Duke of Argyle, in a letter dated 9th September 1701, to 
 Carstairs, says, ' You have heard Lord Basil Hamilton is drowned, 
 and Lord Selkrig looking on. It is a mighty stroke to that 
 family, and weakens the grummel Ionian party in Scotland." The 
 way in which this sad event is alluded to, does little credit to 
 the heart of the writer. As he had recently (23d June 1701) 
 received his Ducal Coronet, through the instrumentality of the 
 Presbyterian or Whig party, he perhaps thought that this light way 
 of treating the calamity with which the Tory family of Hamilton 
 had been visited, would please so zealous a saint and so power- 
 ful a patron as the Reverend Mr. Carstairs. 
 
 I 
 
130 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Wood, who notices the letter (vol. ii. 488), points out the error in 
 date into which the Editor of Carstairs' State Papers has fallen, 
 by substituting 1699 for 1701 ; but he himself makes a mistake, in 
 calling the writer Earl instead of Duke of Argyle. 
 
 The Earl of Selkirk was the brother of Lord Basil, who was married 
 to Mary, grand-daughter and heiress of Sir JDavid Dunbar of Bal- 
 doun, in the County of Wigton, Bart., and by her, who died at 
 Edinburgh, 15th May 1760, aged 84, he had two sons and two 
 daughters. The present Earl of Selkirk is the great, great grand- 
 son of Lord Basil. 
 
 Just as he liv'd he dy'd ; 'twas SYMPATHY, 
 'Twas thus he liv'd, 'twas thus he came to dy. 
 This universally respected Lord, 
 (Heroick soul !) did generously afford, 
 His heart, hand, tongue, purse, credit, to restore 
 His countrey's honour, fam'd in days of yore, 
 Endeavour'd to maintain her reputation, 
 When undervalu'd by its neighbour nation. 
 And 'twas his genius to sympathise 
 With such as were deprest with miseries. 
 Scarce to be match'd by subjects, for his birth ; 
 And yet still more illustrious for his worth. 
 Were I an artist in calcography, 
 I would transmit his name, fame, memory, 
 To after ages, far beyond the power 
 Of time itself t' obliterat, or devour. 
 His SYMPATHY continued to the last ; 
 Ah me ! that at this time it mov'd so fast. 
 When he attempt'd his servant's life to save, 
 And lost his own ; yet the DESIGN was BRAVE. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 131 
 
 LII. 
 
 ti)t unitttrsallj) lamtntttr Ocatl) of 
 
 l%tgl)t JjJonouvafcJc Hortf Basil 
 ^awilton, Jrotl)*r=gmnan to ijis 
 estate fljc I3ult* of Hamilton. 
 (Bring a sljort Jjtnt of 
 ^nrottft life, antr fatal 
 trtatt,) toljo aj>c& 
 August 27, 1701, 
 set 27.* 
 
 Ah ! how all elements conspire with Death, 
 To stifle at it's pleasure human breath ! 
 The very water here at its command, 
 Destroys a PEER and PILLAR of this land ; 
 BASIL, who was descended from that line, 
 Where brightest rays of royal tie do shine, 
 Who next the Duke, was Phoenix of his name 
 And house, which everywhere diffuse their fame, 
 Whose personage was so symmetrical, 
 All justly HIM, his father's image call, 
 And in whose stately fabrick lodged was 
 A SOUL, which other souls did far surpass : 
 A SOUL, consults the good of CALEDON, 
 As if in both, were not two souls, but one. 
 A SOUL, through his short course of life, was free 
 From swearing, drunkeness, and leacherie. 
 
 * It is strange that his age should be so differently stated the pre- 
 ceding elegy calls him twenty-nine, the present one twenty-seven, and 
 Wood, in his edition of Douglas, makes him thirty. In a few months 
 he would have been thirty-one. 
 
132 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 And treacherie, and all the other crimes 
 Which are the horrid scandal of these times. 
 With sublime sence, and courage he withstood 
 Whatever did oppose the publick good, 
 And he his charitie did so extend, ] 
 All CALEDONIA will him still commend, 
 As their thrice worthie patriot, and friend. 
 Ah ! fatal instance of his charitie ! 
 To save a menial servant he did die. 
 Ah ! that the cruel Fates would not allow 
 What to that most heroick deed was due ! 
 Here, his attempt the Fates did render vain, 
 As they did those of his for DARIEN.* 
 Our DARIEN trade, with it, our publick good, 
 Were by the Fates o'erwhelmed by a flood ; 
 And the same Fates our propugator drown, 
 Ev'n in that act which merited renown : 
 And CALEDON, alarum'd with the Fate, 
 With floods of tears the publick loss regrate. 
 To his thrice worthy mate, an ample field 
 
 * His Lordship attained great popularity in his native country, in 
 consequence of his successful exertions on behalf of certain of the 
 Darien adventurers, who had been captured by the Spaniards, thrown 
 into prison, and threatened with death. Lord Basil was deputed by 
 the Darien Company to solicit the interference of King William. His 
 Majesty at first refused to see him, because he had not appeared at 
 Court when last at London. This difficulty was got over, and an 
 audience fixed in the Council Chamber. The King, however, forgot 
 the appointment, and was hurrying into another room, when his Lord- 
 ship intercepted his Majesty's retreat, and insisted firmly but respect- 
 fully on his right to be heard. The King returned, listened with great 
 patience to the eloquent address of his amiable suppliant, and gave 
 instant orders to apply to Spain for redress, observing to those near 
 him, " This young man is too bold, if any man can be too bold, in 
 his country's cause." 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 133 
 
 Is patent to her grief, she's big with child : 
 She weeps, the child shall ne'er his father see, 
 While the three born lisp out an elegie, 
 So great's her grief : sure she had lost her life, 
 Had not the Christian overcome the wife. 
 So great's his mother's sorrow, that her soul, 
 Were she not saint, would with his mount the pole. 
 Only well grounded hopes of his blest state, 
 Can their excessive agonies abate. 
 
 LIIL 
 
 , or a 
 
 terg mud) antr ttnibtrsallg, t!>o' 
 enough lamented Itoatf), antr to tyt 
 
 ttUtnt ana 
 
 9Sasil Hamilton, 
 
 IBttfee of 
 ton, tot. 
 
 [This, and the two preceding elegies are from the originals in the 
 Library of the Faculty of Advocates.] 
 
 What sullen planet rul'd the direful day, 
 Whereon the true-born SCOT was snatch'd away ? 
 Good GOD ! what must this tragick death portend ? 
 Why must so great a PATRIOT have this end ? 
 Is it because our sins the Heav'ns outbrave ? 
 That we must meaner expiation crave. 
 
134 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Or [shall the land] yet suffer more and more ? 
 And are fresh judgements kept for us in store ? 
 The last more dreadful than what went before. 
 The loss of wise men doth our land benight, 
 And leaves us void of conduct and of light. 
 Then does Lord BASIL'S fatal death demand 
 Full floods of tears as tribute from our land. 
 I see each rank to tell his death prepares, 
 In the most tender and most mournful aires ; 
 And I the meanest of the Scotish swains, 
 Amongst the rest offer my humble strains. 
 Oh ! that my lowly verse could justly rate 
 The nation's loss and his lamented fate ; 
 Whose noble mind did all its actions bend 
 To raise our trade, and countrey to defend. 
 Noble by birth he was, yet nobler still 
 By virtue, which his princely SOUL did fill. 
 His noble air with a mild sweetness mix'd, 
 Both love and fear in the beholders fix'd. 
 No proud disdain or storms in him were seen, 
 But all [was gentle] graceful was his mien, 
 His grace was all respect, his virtue love, 
 And in each breast did deep affection move. 
 He plac'd not gallantry in dreadful oaths, 
 Nor in full bowls, which sober nature loaths ; 
 Nor dream'd of Deities in women's cloaths. 
 His brighter SOUL with purer fire enflam'd, 
 At nobler feats, and loftier actions aim'd. 
 Actions that might his countrey's fame display, 
 Which long in sloath's dull ashes burried lay. 
 He laid his projects still to raise our trade, 
 In forreign colonies our fame to spread ; 
 For CALEDONIA'S injur'd settlement, 
 With just resentment to the Court he went, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 135 
 
 And that with great expense, yet did decline 
 
 To be repa/d for either cost or time. 
 
 Thus brave and generous did HE live and die, 
 
 And shrunk away in boundless charity. 
 
 To imitate our SAVIOUR he strove, 
 
 Aiming to save, dy'd in abundant love. 
 
 If the Centurion's charity was nam'd, 
 
 And signally by sacred writ was fam'd, 
 
 Lord BASIL'S must in duty be proclaim'd ; 
 
 One prayed our Saviour for his servant's cure, 
 
 This for his servant did ev'n death endure. 
 
 O fatal hour to this unhappy land ! 
 
 Whose constant wrongs Lord BASIL did withstand. 
 
 Daring and brisk in ev'ry gen'rous act, 
 
 Nor would HE from an honest cause retract, 
 
 The heavy groans which fill each street and lane, 
 
 Our deepest loss and misery proclaim. 
 
 His death no sooner strickes the hardest ear, 
 
 But the sad statutes of despair appear. 
 
 All cry, we're lost, our hope and joy is gone, 
 
 And in sad silence do the loss bemoan : 
 
 Curs'd be thou Minnock, Author of the deed. 
 
 Curs'd streams flow black into your fountain's head, 
 
 Shrink in, and ne're be seen by Titan's rays, 
 
 Nor be henceforth named in our days. 
 
 O hatefull be thy banks, whose wat'ry womb, 
 
 With swelling waves, did the brave SCOT entomb. 
 
 Let not thy name in our records be found, 
 
 But in perpetual silence be thou drown'd, 
 
 Let all the nymphs and lovely swains straight fly. 
 
 Thy hated banks, where the pale corps did ly. 
 
 Let hooting owls and dolefull birds appear, 
 
 Let their sad musick be thy constant chear. 
 
136 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Ye HEAVENLY powers grant that the annual day 
 Eclips'd may be, and darkness rule the sky, 
 As a sad index of his destiny ; 
 Whom neither birth, desert, nor youthful age, 
 Could rescue from bold death's insulting rage. 
 
 Edinburgh, Printed by John Reid, 1701. 
 
 LIV. 
 
 tyt tmttf) lamented treaty of ftnne, 
 
 Countess of Hefcen, tofjo tregartefc 
 
 fljte lift in tye Castle of Strin^ 
 
 Jwrgl), tijjon tye nintf) trag 
 
 of $amtarg 1702, 
 
 [From the original in the possession of C. K. Sharpe, Esq.J 
 
 This lady was the sister of David, third Earl of Wetnyss, and had by 
 her husband David, third Earl of Leven, and second Earl of Mel- 
 ville, George, Lord Balgony and Raith, who died without issue in 
 August 1721, before his father, and Alexander, who ultimately suc- 
 ceeded to the title and estates. The only daughter, Lady Mary, 
 married William, second Earl of Aberdeen. 
 
 Lord Leven was, at the time of his wife's death, Governor of Edin- 
 burgh Castle, and resided there. He was removed in December 
 1702, but was re-appointed 2d March 1706. He died in May 1728, 
 aged 68. 
 
 The Leven and Melville family were very severely handled in the Jacobite 
 pasquils of the times. See verses on the Union Parliament, Scot. 
 tish Pasquils, Vol. III. p. 82. In the same very curious collection 
 will be found a song on the Earls of Wemyss and Leven, being re- 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 137 
 
 spectively made High Admiral and Commander-in-Chief, March 
 1706. It commences, 
 
 Let all our forraign enemies, 
 
 Attack us if they dare-a 
 Since Weems is Neptune of the seas, 
 And Leven the God of War-a. 
 
 If sighs and moans cou'd speak, or tears could breath, 
 
 If moans and crys could but attone for death, 
 
 Thousands would then appear to act their parts, 
 
 In mourning habits and with sable hearts. 
 
 Children do weep, her Lord disconsolate, 
 
 A mother mourning, brother wailing at 
 
 Their loss, a sister that laments with crys 
 
 Her absence, at the closing of her eyes ; 
 
 We may well moan, but how can we complain ? 
 
 What's loss to us, to her a greater gain. 
 
 But noble dame, O wouldst thou had but staid 
 
 A little here, and not so soon have paid 
 
 Thy debt unto dame Nature ; ah ! but we 
 
 Deserved not so happy for to be. 
 
 A lady good and just, while living, dy'd ; 
 
 While dying liv'd, to Heaven's now convey'd 
 
 By angels to receive a crown which she 
 
 Had gained here below, and now is free 
 
 From earthly cares, with Heavenly Host to be. 
 
 Her piety and virtue did presage 
 
 That she should act upon an higher stage. 
 
 She is not dead, she lives ; it's only we, 
 
 Poor purblind creatures further cannot see. 
 
 Now royal fort, it was thy fatal lot 
 
 To lose an ornament that heaven hath got, 
 
 Where she shall rest, while friends on earth do mourn, 
 
 Bringing with tears her ashes to their urn. 
 
138 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 The Maiden Mount outvies the Roman seven, 
 
 Gave a wise King to earth, and a great saint to Heaven, 
 
 Great Britain's James, and Anna Weems of Levin. 
 
 1 
 
 LV. 
 
 n ti)e berg mud) lamented jOeat!) of 
 t^at truelg nofcle antr pious Hatrg, fl>e 
 Countess of Hefcen, Jraugftter of 
 iJttgJlt ?|onourafcle t^e Hortr 
 Bruntislanir antr 
 Countess of 
 snatefj'lr atoaw it? 
 a su&Oen tteat^> 
 
 1702. 
 
 [From the original in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates.] 
 
 As sudden claps of thunder strikes the ear, 
 And damps the stoutest by some secret fear, 
 As dismal judgments sent by God's command 
 Make mortals shrink, and in amazement stand : 
 Even so the mournful news that fly around 
 Of bright Pastora's fall, do deeply wound 
 Each heart with fear, and such a secret smart, 
 As chills the blood in every vital part ; 
 Just as the strings of nature were unbound, 
 And every part a dissolution found. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 139 
 
 All justly dread the heaven's thereby intend 
 On us, for sin, fresh judgements now to send, 
 While the rare pledges of their divine love, 
 By fatal stroaks, they suddenly remove. 
 
 Too just's our fear, since that brave soul is gone, 
 And in sad mourning, left us to bemoan 
 The clay was once informed with every grace, 
 Which fixed majestick beauty in her face, 
 That spangled orb of glories, darting light 
 And dazzling rays to each beholder's sight, 
 Such rays as ravish'd all the sense and mind 
 With pleasing wonder, and all joys refin'd ; 
 So glorious was the temple and the place 
 PASTORA'S soul adorn'd with every grace, 
 Whose streams did heavenly joy and light impart, 
 By noble vertues, to each gracious heart, 
 Like some unbounded ocean, from above, 
 Of heavenly grace and all transcending love. 
 The oppressed's patron, and the orphan's stay, 
 She did her charity to all display, 
 No interest, passion, or blind prejudice, 
 Could on the reins of her bright judgement seize ; 
 Calm and serene her mind, from passion free, 
 Like just ASTHMA judg'd with equity. 
 Her husband's glory, and her sex's pride, 
 Who lov'd, admir'd, and all submission paid. 
 Her holy soul in chastness bore the sway, 
 And from pretenders took the prize away. 
 She in devotion's sphere with Seraphs vied, 
 And in pure strains of zeal, each duty paid ; 
 Yet with these glittering grace bore a mind 
 Humble, as osiers bending to the wind. 
 
140 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Whene'er she acted, or whate'er she spoke, 
 Heaven did appear in every grace and look. 
 On heavens bright battlements the gods convene, 
 View'd all her graces, divine air and mein, 
 Then by eternal wisdom straight approve, 
 From earth this divine creature to remove, 
 That she amongst the seraphims might shine, 
 With all the glories of their powers divine. 
 
 Mourn then all ranks., lament her sudden death, 
 As a sad index of the divine wrath, 
 That her pure soul, whose piety could move 
 Heavens, our deserved judgements to remove, 
 Is of a sudden quickly caught away, 
 And none such left our sorrows to allay. 
 
 Lament her Hero's loss, see how he lyes 
 All bath'd in tears, whose sighs do rend the skies ; 
 No more he'll live encircled in these arms, 
 Bless'd with the sweets of fair PASTORA'S charms, 
 Nor on the heavenly music of her tongue, 
 While in melodious notes her love she sung ; 
 No more that heaven of beauties can she view, 
 To all these pleasures he must bid adieu. 
 
 Weep for her tender plants forc'd from her arms, 
 Who weep and mourn, and scarce do know their harms. 
 Begone all joy ! let mourning veil each face, 
 And yield, Melpomene, Thalia's place. 
 
 Edinburgh, printed by James Watson, on the north side 
 of the Cross, 1702. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 141 
 
 LVI. 
 
 on 
 
 to to lawentrtr iieat^ of J)is 
 antt Sobmign ;|&ajf stg, Hing 
 azatlltaw of tier 
 anU glorious 
 
 King William III. died on the 6th of March 1702, and the following 
 mournful poem to his memory is, on the authority of a manuscript 
 note,* ascribed to the celebrated David Williamson, minister of the 
 West Kirk, a clergyman who had no less than seven wives ; a sub- 
 ject of perpetual merriment to the Jacobite wits. See Scottish Pas- 
 quils, Vol. I. He figures as one of the Dramatis Personae in the 
 comedy of the Assembly, and in the preface to the second edition, 
 many odd stories are told of this stiff pillar of the Kirk. His ad- 
 venture, when pursued by Dragoons, with the daughter of the Lady 
 Cherry-trees, excited the wonderment of Charles II. whose recollec- 
 tions of his feelings when in the Royal Oak, made it a matter of 
 astonishment to him how any one, when so pursued, could have suf- 
 ficient courage to do what Mass David did. It is but justice to the 
 worthy clergyman to mention that the young lady afterwards be- 
 came his first spouse. 
 
 Opprest with grief, distrest with mournful groans, 
 
 Not able I'm to speak ; ah ! Heaven frowns ! 
 
 A dreadfull cloud o'ershades our horrizon, 
 
 A cloud which should,, which will make us bemoan. 
 
 Ah Death ! why so severe ! could none but he, 
 
 Thy tyrannizing power satisfy ? 
 
 Why so impetuous ? Why so uncontrol'd ? 
 
 Why so illimited ? Ah ! why so bold ? 
 
 Thou universal monarch, whose command, 
 
 Nor king, nor prince, nor peasant can withstand, 
 
 * Apparently in the hand of Lord Fountainhall. 
 
142 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Could not thy fatal blow have been suspended ? 
 
 Could nothing 'gainst thy rage have him defended ? 
 
 What grief, what sorrow fills my weary'd mind ? 
 
 Grief, which t' express, I'm strait'ned words to find. 
 
 My muse, ah why so dull ? ah why so d^ad ! 
 
 May I adjure you to awake with speed, 
 
 Ah dismall theme ! our gracious king is dead, 
 
 A king endued, Adorn'd with all that can 
 
 Commend a prince, a Christian, a man. 
 
 His wisdom, valour, conduct, piety, 
 
 His matchless, fearless magnanimity, 
 
 Will make him famous to posterity. 
 
 His grand achievements, noble famous actions, 
 
 His deep foresight in all his great transactions ; 
 
 His pure, unstained faithfulness and zeal, 
 
 Which stir'd him up our mortal wounds to heal j 
 
 His prudent, faithfull, equall government, 
 
 His never paralelled management 
 
 Of all affairs ; his matchless skilfulness 
 
 In all intrigues of War, and arts of peace ; 
 
 His recommending reformation, 
 
 Both by his pow'r and conversation, 
 
 His causing publish laws sin to suppress, 
 
 His tender love of us in our distress, 
 
 His affability to all his subjects, 
 
 His clemency to miserable objects, 
 
 His deeds at home, abroad, where e're he goes, 
 
 Whereby he quells the rage of all his foes, &c. 
 
 Will eternize his name to ages all, 
 
 Who us for such a king will blessed call. 
 
 No injury of time shall e're cancell 
 
 His memory, who doth so far excell, 
 
 The greatest heroes, monarchs, princes, kings, 
 
 Whose character the greatest poets sings. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 143 
 
 Whatever did these heroes beautify, 
 
 Was to be found in our great Majesty. 
 
 What's great, what's good in all the elegys 
 
 That e'er were pen'd ; nay, all that historys 
 
 Record of heroes to their grand renown, 
 
 May be applied to him who wore our crown : 
 
 Some have for conduct eterniz'd their name, 
 
 Some's mercy hath much beautified them, 
 
 Some have for godliness been much admir'd, 
 
 For valour some their enemies have deter'd ; 
 
 Some virtue shines in one, some in another, 
 
 But all appear'd in him, who like a mother, 
 
 Of all his people had a tender care, 
 
 For whose good, he himself did never spare, 
 
 But to the greatest hazards did expose 
 
 His royal person, ev'n amidst his foes. 
 
 So great a heroe was our Majesty, 
 
 That I can never reach hyperboly ; 
 
 He was the Phenix, glory of our age, 
 
 Who with courageous valour, quell'd the rage 
 
 Of all his foes, on whom his name strook terror, 
 
 He did oppose the Antichristian error. 
 
 The champion of our Israel is gone, 
 
 What heart of stone will not his death bemoan ? 
 
 In him we've lost the greatest general, 
 
 That e'er did yield to th' king of terror's call. 
 
 He's gone, he's gone, he's gone, sad news to us. 
 
 Alas ! alas ! alas ! what loss to this. 
 
 The loss is ours, not his, who for a crown 
 
 Of gold on earth (which now he has laid down) 
 
 Is with a diadem of glory crown'd, 
 
 A crown which cannot fall unto the ground. 
 
 But while I think upon the blissedness 
 
 Of our now glorious king ; I can't express 
 
144 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 What fear I have of dismall, fatal blows. 
 Which now may reach us from our mortal foes. 
 O then let all, with one consent bemoan 
 With sighs, and tears, and lamentation, 
 The death of our late soveraign Majesty. 
 Who our horrizon so did beautify. 
 But now he's in the higher house above, 
 Reaping the fruits of all his works of love. 
 God has translated him from all his labour, 
 And fully landed him in heaven's harbour. 
 He served his generation faithfully, 
 And's fall'n asleep in Christ, no more to dye. 
 
 LVII. 
 
 tyt mud) to 6e lamented Scat!) of tfje 
 ^onottraile Sir JfoJw SJjato of 
 ffireenorft, Ht one of Ijts ;|ajestg's 
 jrcitmgal Satltswen for t^e Cus- 
 toms antr Uxcise of Seotlantr, 
 trepartetr tfjis life tt)e 
 of &jml 1702. 
 
 The Shaws of Greenock obtained that estate, according to Crawfurd, 
 (History of the Shire of Renfrew, Paisley, 1818, 4to, p. 125,) 
 in the Reign of Robert III., by marriage with the heiress of Gal- 
 braith of Greenock. On the 28th of June 1687, James VII. con- 
 ferred the honours of the Baronetcy on Sir John Shaw, Knight, of 
 Greenock, who died at Edinburgh, in 1694, was buried in the Abbey 
 Church at Holyrood, and was succeeded by his son and heir, Sir 
 John, the subject of this elegy, who died also at Edinburgh, but 
 was interred at Greenock among his ancestors. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 145 
 
 By bis wife Elenor, daughter and one of the co-heiresses of Sir Thomas 
 Nicolson of Carnock, he had a son John, the third baronet, who re- 
 presented the County of Renfrew in Parliament : and by his wife 
 Margaret, the eldest daughter of Lord President Dalrymple, had 
 one daughter, Marion, who, on the 29th of March 1718, married 
 Charles Lord Cathcart, whose descendants inherit very valuable 
 sub-feus in Greenock. It was probably from this circumstance that 
 the present Peer, when raised to an English Earldom, took Baron 
 Greencck as his second title. The Baronetcy became extinct in 
 1752, and the estates devolved on Sir John's nephew, John Stewart, 
 son of Sir Michael Stewart of Blackball, Bart. 
 
 Ah ! now the joy of Greenock *s banks is gone ! 
 
 Was a supporter of old Caledon, 
 
 Likewise the glory of the western soil, 
 
 Who for its profit spar'd no pains or toil ; 
 
 Why should inconstant fate to us creat 
 
 Such various alterations in our state, 
 
 That when death pleases t' exercise its power, 
 
 It ruins prince and knight into one hour. 
 
 Man, no mean part of God's great work, is tost 
 
 In a rough sea of fate, and almost lost, 
 
 Did not the Heavens provide mansions above, 
 
 For such as are the true objects of love. 
 
 Even here on earth, as this brave knight still was, 
 
 Who for his wisdom millions did surpass ; 
 
 Zeal to God's church possest his pious breast, 
 
 And charity within it still did rest. 
 
 The true solace of's country, it's defence, 
 
 The poor's provisor, the traveller's residence ; 
 
 In so far as his honourable station 
 
 Cound reach, he strove still to advance this nation ; 
 
 His memory ought ne'r to be forgot, 
 
 Whilst sun and moon endure, nor his fame rot ; 
 
 But through all ages posterity should narrate 
 
 His name and worth, with the great loss our state 
 
 K 
 
J46 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 By's death sustains, who manag'd affairs well, 
 During his time, whatever it befell, 
 So that no doubt his soul is now at rest ; 
 With those who ever live in mansions blest ; 
 To mean well cannot miss sure to affect, 
 All those perfections, good actions do respect. 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 tyt $catf) of tyt 
 antr ttulg gtotts ffieorge Sari of 
 Sotttfjorlanir, fo!)o tepartttf 
 
 1703, ana of $i& age 
 tyt ?ofl) 
 
 George fourteenth Earl of Sutherland was born at Dornoch 2d Novem- 
 ber 1633. He died on the 4th March 1703, aged seventy, and was 
 buried at Holyrood, where there is a monument to his memory, 
 with an inscription, which will be found in Monteith's Theatre of 
 Mortality. 
 
 He married at Edinburgh llth August 1659, Lady Jean Wemyss, 
 eldest daughter of David second Earl of Wemyss, and widow of 
 Archibald Earl of Angus, by whom he had a son and two daughters. 
 
 Almighty power at length in Love doth call 
 This Noble Lord, unto the Heavenly Hall, 
 A Peer that was without hyperbole, 
 Pious and just, (that all the world could see,) 
 The more admired of the golden age, 
 Than all the quirks of this our iron stage. 
 Zealous unto the cause that he profess'd, 
 A friend to those that did befriend the best : 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 147 
 
 When evils grew apace, he would not tarry, 
 Nor from his principles in least would vary. 
 But quite his native land and soil, lest he 
 A sharer of his sins and plagues should be : 
 And patiently in forreigne lands did hover, 
 Until the heavens did cause the cloud pass over ; 
 Mean while his loyalty unto his Prince 
 Untainted was, when conscience did convince 
 All zealous Patriots that they had a call 
 To bring God's worship in, and beat down Baal. 
 And then this worthy Peer did take a share 
 In that most glorious work, to help to bear 
 Our ark home, that was trod and trampled on 
 By Baal and by Dagons priests so long: 
 His earthy lease he did so right improve, 
 That his last exit prov'd but a remove. 
 He liv'd to dy, he dy'd to live, yea more, 
 He liv'd to fix above his greatest store. 
 And sighing Muse, let us now make a turn 
 To his good Lady, that dost weep and mourn 
 For her sad loss, what heart of flint then could 
 Forbid such tears to stream, that only would 
 Stop the great fountain of her grief, to make 
 The same o'reflow, and so the dam would break ? 
 Must no drop fall, when such a loving pair 
 Do part, whose love was long as it was rare, 
 When many winters both their lives had grac'd, 
 And now at length a sunder to be plac'd ? 
 A sunder only for a while, for she 
 Can only stay where her good Lord must be. 
 Then, Madam, cease to weep and wail so sore, 
 Since he's a little only gone before. 
 
148 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 From this world's stage the good Earl George is gone, 
 More just and pious in the land was nqne, 
 In life and death the same, without controul, 
 The Earth his body hath, the Heaven his soul. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 n tyt Heat!) of J)ts ffirace 
 
 Ottftc of &rggle, to!)o irepartefc tfjis 
 
 lift flje 28fl) trag of Sept 1703, in 
 
 tfje flotoer anif strength of 
 
 !)ts age, to tfje great grief 
 
 of i)is eottntregmen, 
 
 HORAT. Dignum laude virum musa vetat mori. 
 
 Occidit ante Diem spes nostras morte fefellit 
 
 [From a Broadside formerly belonging to Robert Mylne, and now in 
 the possession of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq.] 
 
 This pious nobleman, whose support to the Kirk has been so affection- 
 ately eulogised, died of wounds received in a brothel, not far from 
 his seat of Chirton, near the town of North- Shields in England. 
 
 By his Duchess, Elizabeth Tollemache, daughter of the Duchess of Lau- 
 derdale, he was father of the great Duke of Argyll, the original in- 
 troducer, according to Mylne, into Scotland, of certain curious 
 instruments, when he came down from England as Commissioner of 
 Parliament, on the 6th March 1705 :* and of Archibald Earl of Isla, 
 afterwards Duke of Argyle. 
 
 * Argyle Papers, p. 6, 4to. Edin. Stevenson, 1834. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 149 
 
 The first Duke left his English estate of Chirton to his mistress, Mrs. 
 Alison ; but the Duchess and her son, the great Duke, as he is call 
 ed, disputed the settlement. A very amusing account of the little 
 trickeries and devices practised on this occasion to annoy the unfor- 
 tunate female to whom the bequest had been made, and to soil 
 the memory of the deceased Duke, is contained in the Argyle 
 Papers. 4to. Edinburgh: Stevenson, 1834. 
 
 Several of the Duke's letters will be found in Carstairs' State Papers. 
 4to. Edin. 1774. 
 
 Man's life's a flying vapour, which doth rise 
 Like a small spot 'twixt two extremities : 
 An empty shadow of a lying dream. 
 Where we delusions for delights esteem, 
 Which in our best and prosperous state doth show 
 But drops of frailty plunged in seas of woe. 
 Lo now a noble Peer, in strength of's age, 
 Ah ! too, too soon is taken off the stage, 
 Who was a pillar both to Kirk and State, 
 Wherefore well wishers of them ought regrate 
 His fall, did them support in all events,, 
 Especially in time of Parliaments. 
 Narcissus like, he was in heart and mind, 
 Delighting to do good, and to be kind 
 Unto all ranks, save that he'd not refraine 
 To haunt too much their company, do disdain 
 The best of them for a small private gain, 
 Which oft hath been the frailty of good Kings, 
 Though in the end sometimes sad fate it brings 
 Even to courageous ones, so Sisera fell 
 By Jael's hand, who smote him with a nail, 
 And Samson was by Dalilah betray'd, 
 Therefore all should of such sort be afraid. 
 But to return, to praise this noble Peer 
 Who, to our grief, is fitted for his Beer, 
 
150 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 No scornor, spite of his worst foes could move 
 
 Him to restraint affection from great Jove, 
 
 In so farr as his zeal and piety, 
 
 Was ever bent for Christian charity, 
 
 Th' opprest to relieve was all his care : j 
 
 His riches were the Kirk and State's wellfare,: 
 
 His calm and noble spirit could not be 
 
 Ruffled nor rankled with an injurie. 
 
 Their tongues who with envy against him sweld, 
 
 He with compassion and neglect beheld. 
 
 His whole deportment gentle was and sweet, 
 
 Which in his breast made zeal and meekness meet 
 
 We therefore hope to glory he is gone, 
 
 To praise the Lamb that sitteth on the throne 
 
 Of the Almighty, and Great King of kings, 
 
 To whom the Lamb still Hallelujah sings. 
 
 Let's memory to future ages be 
 
 Kept in record for zeal and piety.* 
 
 * In a Scotch paper for August 1814, there is the following notice 
 relative to a skeleton found at Chirton : " On the second instant, the 
 skeleton of a man was found at the depth of thirty fathoms in an old 
 coal-pit at Chirton near North Shields. The discovery has excited 
 much curiosity. The Duke of Argyle, who resided at Chirton in the 
 reign of William the Third, built a small house of unhewn stone in a 
 shrubbery which was afterwards converted into a brothel, and remained 
 there until the present proprietor came to the estate, who immediately 
 pulled it down. About the year 1734 a young seafaring man became 
 a-missing, and was never more heard of." This probably was the 
 place where his Grace received the wounds of which he died, as it 
 is not likely there would be two places of that description so near 
 Chirton. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 151 
 
 LX. 
 
 <n tyt teatf) of tyt 
 Sit Barnes jFaltoner of 
 one of fl)* Horfcs of 
 
 tl)r 
 1705. 
 
 A part of this Elegy, from the Original in the Advocates' Library, has 
 been printed in Haig's enlarged edition of Lord Hailes' Catalogue 
 of the Lords of Session, p. 446. Lord Phesdo was the son of Sir 
 John Falconer, one of the Wardens of the Mint, who, upon learning 
 that he was to be prosecuted for malversation, died of a broken 
 heart at Phesdo, in Nov. 1682. His son had been admitted Advo- 
 cate in 1674, appointed a Lord of Session 1st Nov. 1689, and a 
 Lord of Justiciary 27th January 1699. 
 
 I NEED no art to set a needless 
 Upon true grief, or beautifie a loss 
 With rack'd invention, my rude muse forbears 
 Sorrow to spread or to enlarge the tears 
 Of all true SCOTS who wish ASTREA turn, 
 If tears could do, all Albion ought to mourn. 
 This glorious star did fall the ninth of June 
 Who shin'd alse clear as jPhrebus did at noone, 
 That day a stare did fall, whose golden head 
 All wandering stars with his light striv'd to lead 
 In the straight Rode of Justice, and the laws 
 Of Libertie, for CALEDON'S true cause. 
 
152 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 A Pillar fallen, who endeavour 'd support 
 
 His Countrie's right against the English court ; 
 
 Each loyal soul, who lov's their native land 
 
 Condole their loss, and do amazed stand 
 
 To hear that wee, so bright a star have} lost, 
 
 Who shyn'd so clear, that he did come almost 
 
 ASTREA like for to enlight dark dayes 
 
 Of Vices all, with his cleare shyning rayes 
 
 Of just, of Right, of Law, mercie, and reason 
 
 Abhorring Pride, fraud, greed, brybrie, and treason, 
 
 And mercie he with law did always mix, 
 
 Now by Christ's love, where he his hopes did fix, 
 
 He sitts enthron'd, and he hath left behind 
 
 An offspring good, true, generous, and kind, 
 
 From age to age, who shall preserve his name, 
 
 Of honour true, his due praise they'll proclaim 
 
 Into this cause, sad death does want his will, 
 
 Likes his own motto, HE WAS PREPARED STILL. 
 
 W[ILLIAM] W[HYTE.] 
 
 LXI. 
 
 fyt wtttf) to fie lamented Seat!) of tyt 
 Ultgfjt ^onourafclt $o!jn Sari of 
 Stairs, toljo trqparteO t!)is Itfe 
 
 ofgfanttars, anno 1707, 
 
 John, second Viscount, and first Earl of Stair, was one of the Com- 
 missioners of the Union. " Being exhausted with the anxiety and 
 fatigue to which that unpopular office had long exposed him, he 
 died suddenly, 8th January 1707. On that day he assisted at the 
 debate on the 22d Article of the Treaty of Union, pressing the point 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 153 
 
 with great earnestness, walked home after it, and dined very cheer- 
 fully with company." Wood, Vol. II, 327. This Elegy is one of 
 the best in the collection. 
 
 The Sovereign Beeing who doth beeing give 
 To all the creatures in the world that live, 
 He whose Decree unshaken still doth hand, 
 Whose steady will, and uncontroul'd command, 
 Produce of course all events, means, and things, 
 And out of discord perfect concord brings. 
 This supreme essence, by his special grace, 
 Appointed hath all men their time and place, 
 Particular endowments, special fate, 
 Their fixed periods, predestinated state, 
 And every thing which to the same relate. 
 Yea some with signal gifts he doth endow, 
 And place as lamps or lights in open view, 
 Whose counsel sage, and bright example may 
 Direct the weak and simple in their way. 
 When such great lights do in a moment fall, 
 We are admonisht to take warning all, 
 To launch our ships, and tackling all provide, 
 Hoist up our sails, and Pilote seek to guide 
 Our crazy vessels to Emanuel's shore, 
 Where they in safe port may be evermore. 
 
 Such events also other language have, 
 And plainly say, the mercies we receive 
 Are disregarded ; neither do we know 
 Their estimate, till by some fatal blow 
 We thereof are deprived : then all do cry 
 Alace ! he's gone, Alace ! what shall we say, 
 The oracle of law, the churches stay ; 
 The State's support, our ancient Kingdom's glory, 
 Is gone, is gone ! O lamentable story ! 
 
154 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES., 
 
 He who of late in Senate House did shew 
 Profound experience, and his perfect view 
 Of all the knotty subjects of debate, 
 Which so much puzzled have our wits of late. 
 By whose sage counsel, and assistance raije, 
 So much is done in the now grand affair, 
 Of reconcealing these two jangling states, 
 Removeing strife, contention,, and debates, 
 Uniting both in interest, wealth, and peace : 
 All sorts of discord must for ever cease, 
 And we, the happiest men on earth must be, 
 While this great Patriot's fame shall never die. 
 In fine, my friends, this Noble Peer you'le find 
 Has few or none his equals left behind. 
 
 LXII. 
 
 #on tyt mutt) lamented teatfj of 
 
 Sari of Stairs. 
 
 [From the original amongst the Fountainhall Broadsides.] 
 
 The title was originally Stairs, the great lawyer was always termed 
 the Viscount of Stairs, in modern times the S has been removed, 
 although Stairs sounds the better of the two. 
 
 Is't the reward of the ungrateful age 
 
 To worthy actors on this earthly stage ? 
 
 To snatch fame's crown, which from times being grew ; 
 
 For virtues head, and to great parts was due. 
 
 If thus : Why souldier doest thou joy in warrs, 
 
 And print thy valour on thy breast with scarrs ? 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 155 
 
 To gain a glorious and immortal name, 
 
 If unjust tongues do turn it into shame : 
 
 Why doest thou thirst so much to win the day, 
 
 Since Envy in the rear takes all away ! 
 
 Let lo Pcearis, then, no more be known : 
 
 Away with all the trophies of renown, 
 
 Let virtue cease since call'd by name of vice, 
 
 And courage yield itself to cowardice ; 
 
 Cease darting Envy, and lay by thy pen, 
 
 Strive not to make the best, the worst, of men 
 
 For plaudite to Stair's fame shall resound, 
 
 Whil'st thou in dark oblivion shalt be drown'd, 
 
 The more thou writes, fame shall the louder cry, 
 
 And thou thyself with thine own darts destroy, 
 
 For better uses made, thy quill bestow 
 
 In paying tribute to his ashes due. 
 
 Shall Sol abscond his radient beams, and none 
 
 The want of such transparent light bemoan, 
 
 Or shall the dwindling tapers of the skies 
 
 Be hid in cloudy lanthorns from our eyes, 
 
 And shall there be no seaman to bewail 
 
 Want of these guides by which he us'd to sail. 
 
 Then shall not we record that fatal day, 
 
 In which our nation's light was snatch'd away. 
 
 Scarce was his noble soul to flesh confin'd, 
 
 His thoughts were notwithstanding then refin'd ; 
 
 His wit was more than men so soon do reach, 
 
 His wisdom did anticipate his speech, 
 
 Which like a prosp'rous plant did quickly spread 
 
 And made on sudden a judicious head, 
 
 In which like oracles we hear of old 
 
 Deep mysteries of learning he did hold ; 
 
J56 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 There was such learning we may justly term't 
 The gen'ral Univers'ty of the learn 'd. 
 What heavens hid from superficial minds 
 He doth disclose, and all their secrets finds 
 As conquer'd nature panted by his side, j 
 Far less could art his searching eyes abide ; 
 With more than Argus' many eyes he saw 
 The place, the scope, the sense, of every law ; 
 And Stairs that indigested chaos made 
 In beauteous order center in his head, 
 Which by a fluent tongue he did produce, 
 And lend in season for his country's use. 
 Nature did courage to these parts subjoin, 
 Which made him feared by ail, he fearing none, 
 Therefore as right he claims a double crown, 
 One for the sword, the other for the gown, 
 By which two things Rome did not only stand, 
 But all the earth, as vassals did command, 
 What makes a nation great, and only can, 
 Concur'd and did cohabite in this man, 
 Then was he rais'd more subject for to find 
 To his industrious and sufficient mind, 
 So those who elevated are on high, 
 Far more than those, who are on ground do spye. 
 In Parliament with Tutty's sence he sung, 
 Which was decor'd with Naso's milder tongue ; 
 These made his hearers first with wonder stand, 
 Then follow at his Eloquence command. 
 Ne'r Orpheus power, or Siren half so great, 
 The latter being conquer'd by a mate. 
 There's no Ulysses, who can stop his ears, 
 When he the charming of this Siren hears. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 157 
 
 He all the controversities did arise 
 
 Did quell, and stubborn wills by reason made a prize. 
 
 Oh ! who with lips can all his praises sing, 
 
 True to his country, loyal to his King, 
 
 Both did to his politick wisdom flee, 
 
 As birds for safety to a shady tree, 
 
 There they both fled, and there protection found 
 
 From all the dangers did them both surround ; 
 
 Heav'n blest with success ev'ry great design, 
 
 And made a light in times of darkness shine. 
 
 Now shall I end the wonder of the age, 
 
 What more can any actour on the stage ? 
 
 Nature and Art seem to be at their best, 
 
 And all invention, and all thought nonplust, 
 
 His mighty soul tho' still doth more aspire, 
 
 And crys, when at the very highest, higher. 
 
 The Union shall perpetuate his name 
 
 As long as there's an ear or mouth in Fame, 
 
 In which all th' advantages contain'd 
 
 By which our Church and State can only stand, 
 
 Which has been hatching long thro' ages past 
 
 Now brought to birth by help of Stairs at last. 
 
 But ah ! alas ! the famous Stairs is gone 
 
 And left us to enjoy what he has won. 
 
 His vig'rous soul well knowing it was blest 
 
 Abhor'd these chains which kept it from its rest, 
 
 Oft striv'd the body, but it striv'd in vain 
 
 Its restless struggling prisoner to contain, 
 
 Oft importun'd by pain, it still refus'd 
 
 And as an outlet temperance it us'd. 
 
 Let Brittain be his tomb, his Epitaph 
 
 The Church and State, thro' his wise conduct safe, 
 
158 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 The antidote to popery and vice 
 The port to long desired merchandise. 
 And as that does by annual strength encrease 
 His praise be annual, and never cease. 
 
 1 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 tfje mud) lamented IBtatl) of 
 rate tyt &nttfyt$8 of 
 folio tepartrtr tf)ts lift 
 gang, 9, 1707. 
 
 This Lady was Catherine, eldest daughter of William and Anne, Duke 
 and Duchess of Hamilton, and first wife of John first Duke of 
 Athol, by whom she had six sons and one daughter. 
 
 Death is a champion bold, a gyant fierce, 
 
 A sergeant grim, whose countenance doth pierce 
 
 The stoutest heart, where he doth point his eye, 
 
 Whom none dare fight, and from him none can fly, 
 
 By general suffrage every where is own'd, 
 
 Yet no such thing as death is to be found ; 
 
 No death at all, death but an empty name, 
 
 A bugbear word, a chimera or dream. 
 
 There's life indeed, given by a power supreme, 
 
 Who only gives and doth remain the same, 
 
 Aleanarly as long as he thinks fit, 
 
 And at his pleasure he withdraweth it, 
 
 And life returning to its proper source, 
 
 The creature wants it, and is dead of course. 
 
 This being the fate of mortals, one and all, 
 
 It now remains that we lament the fall 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 159 
 
 Of this great Princess, in this juncture nice, 
 When sin abounds, and bare-fac'd rampant vice 
 Displays its banners in the open streets, 
 And with much success, gains curst proselites, 
 At such a juncture, it's extremely sad, 
 The good depart, and still remain the bad. 
 This pious LADY now departs the stage, 
 Detecting this degenerated age, 
 Doth to the fountain of her life return, 
 To perfect joy, while we on earth do mourn, 
 Condoling the misfortune to survive. 
 A LADY who so virtuously did live, 
 A LADY great, in all respects compleat, 
 In whom all brightest characters did meet, 
 Of pure untainted blood, of noble race, 
 Whose brave ancestors virtue's steps did trace, 
 Whose magnanimous acts, heroic deeds, 
 Surpass my praise, my eloquence exceeds, 
 In short, their great and never roting name, 
 Must still remain in the records of fame ; 
 Of person stately, and of comely grace, 
 But above all, the virtue, wit, and grace, 
 And other rare endowments of the mind, 
 The greatest ornaments for seize and kind. 
 The want of these examples good, alace ! 
 And depreciating pray'rs in every case, 
 Us to condole this loss, do justly call, 
 And from this event to take warning all. 
 
160 SCOTISH ELEGfAC VERSES. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 2Ipon t!je mud) to 6e lamented Seat^ of 
 
 of Crossrig* one of tljc 
 Senators of tlje College of 
 ^Justice, totjo tepavteir 
 fljis life &vtl is, 
 
 1707. 
 
 A Diary of events in Parliament by this Senator of the College of Jus- 
 tice was presented to the Bannatyne Club by John Hope, Esq. now 
 Lord Justice-Clerk. For some account of his Lordship, see Haig's 
 enlarged edition of Lord Hailes' Catalogue of the Senators of the 
 College of Justice, p. 338. 
 
 True grace and virtue are such special things; 
 
 They sweeten gall, arid blunt the pointed stings 
 
 Of death and hell, and other plagues that rage 
 
 'Gainst sinful man in this corrupted age. 
 
 The pious soul is perfectly secure 
 
 'Gainst all that's ill and all that can devour 
 
 'Gainst wasting sickness and all tormenting pain ; 
 
 Yea ev'n against the whole infernal train 
 
 Of maladies and furies much enrag'd, 
 
 He rests in safety, being closely hedged 
 
 About with ramparts of Salvation strong, 
 
 No cross can harm, no plague can do him wrong, 
 
 When death in his most formidable hue 
 
 Arrests the just, requiring what's his due, 
 
 The pious patient with a smiling face 
 
 The ghostly Sergeant does with joy embrace. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 161 
 
 Bids him proceed, and welcom do his will ; 
 
 And tho' he may the feeble body kill, 
 
 His better part is from his dint secure, 
 
 And shall on wings haste to a place more pure, 
 
 When it for ever shall with hallowed light 
 
 O're shaded be, and fill'd with all delight. 
 
 Why then should those who are the kindred near 
 
 Of just men, mourn to want their presence here ? 
 
 Yea mourn, why not ? good cause they have to mourn 
 
 For want of those who wroth away did turn 
 
 By fervent pray'r, and by whose counsel good, 
 
 And bright example ill they have withstood ; 
 
 But on this news which now doth reach our ears, 
 
 A more extensive cause of grief appears, 
 
 Not kindred only should this loss lament, 
 
 But all the nation may the same repent ; 
 
 A person of a blameless holy life, 
 
 A friend of concord, enemy of strife, 
 
 Deny'd to wordly pleasures and to pelf, 
 
 Extreamly humble and deny'd to self; 
 
 Most zealous for the Church, kind to the poor, 
 
 Upright in judgement, on decission sure, 
 
 Patient in crosses, meek in prosperity, 
 
 Of easy access, and much courtesy, 
 
 The Orphans friend, the Widows sure defence, 
 
 And without bribes he justice did dispence. 
 
 When such a one as he departs from hence 
 
 The loss is gen'ral, tho' to him great gain 
 
 To be above the pow'r of guilt and pain. 
 
162 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 tyt tnud) lamented teritf) 
 Hot* ISrtijaten, 
 trqpartetr t!)ts life 
 at Honto 
 
 21 1708. 
 
 Lord Belhaven acquired no little reputation in his own country for his 
 speeches against the Union, which however much thought of at the 
 time, appear now turgid and inconclusive, and even inferior to 
 the ordinary run of the patriotic speeches of the present day. 
 
 Lockhart says that his Lordship made long premeditated harangues, 
 wherein having a prodigious memory, he used to be very full in 
 citing such passages of history as supported his assumptions, draw- 
 ing parallels betwixt preceding and present times, a mode of 
 haranguing which must have tried the patience of his auditors pretty 
 severely. 
 
 According to Mackay, his appearance was not peculiarly interesting, 
 as he was *' a rough, fat, black, noisy man, more like a butcher 
 than a Lord." Memoirs, p. 236. He was taken up on suspicion of 
 favouring the Pretender's attempt to invade Scotland in 1718, but 
 was afterwards liberated, and died, according to Wood, (Vol. I. p. 
 205,) " of an inflammation of his brain, 21st June 1 708, immediately 
 on his release from prison, in the 52d year of his age." 
 
 There is a portrait of Lord Belhaven in Pinkerton's Scottish Gallery. 
 He was the author of a tract now scarce, entitled *' An Advice to 
 the Farmers in East-Lothian to labour and improve the ground," 
 12mo. which escaped the notice of Mr. Park in his improved edition 
 of Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors. 
 
 Ah cruel death why dost thou us deprive 
 Of this most noble peer, who while alive 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 163 
 
 Achilles like withstood Hectorian flames, 
 
 Thought to've invaded the fleet of Grecians, 
 
 With such undaunted courage that he still 
 
 Came off with honour, till craftiness got will, 
 
 A more heroick peer never did breath 
 
 In this our age, than Balhaven, so that death 
 
 It seems hath only slain for envy, 
 
 To aggrave out griefs by's destiny. 
 
 Who always strove his country to uphold, 
 
 Without regard to dangers manifold. 
 
 Ah ! could I but sufficiently let fall 
 
 These floods of tears pertain to's funeral, 
 
 I'd weep untill my Muse's eyes turn'd dry, 
 
 Before I should narrat an elegy ; 
 
 Those rare perfections did possess his mind, 
 
 Who to his country always was so kind, 
 
 That nothing could from it his love withdraw, 
 
 Such was his constancy, oonform to law. 
 
 What cloudy darkness then doth this presage, 
 
 That he should be thus remov'd off the stage ? 
 
 Whose case was allways to maintain the fame 
 
 Did appertain unto his noble name, 
 
 Whose valour and conduct did ever flow 
 
 Throughout the earth, while they were here below. 
 
 So that the noble name of Hamilton 
 
 Could not restricted be in Caledon, 
 
 Their worthy fame does flie the world abroad, 
 
 For loyalty unto their KING and GOD. 
 
 What heart's so hard as not to sympathise 
 
 In condoling this loss with wat'ry eyes, 
 
 Were't not that Heaven decrees him to remain 
 
 In their celestial mansions, where no pain, 
 
 No care shall ever his pious zeal molest, 
 
 That it may with other sants be blest 
 
164 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 In praising of the Lamb, sits on the throne, 
 Eternally ; so thus my Muse hath done. 
 
 Edinburgh, printed by John Reid, in Bell's Wynd, 1708. 
 
 1 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 <S)n tyt wttrf) to 6* lamented 
 of Hortr $Qfyn Hamilton of 
 
 [From the original Broadside in the Advocates' Library.] 
 
 () ! who their eyes from weeping can refrain ? 
 Or yet their hearts from heavy grief restrain ? 
 For that a Peer of Scotland's dead and gone, 
 Which justly calls all Scotish hearts to groan, 
 What for a Peer ? a prince can crave no more, 
 Than that a kingdom should his death deplore, 
 The noble Lord Balhaven he it is, 
 Who clearly calls at Caledon to this : 
 To weep and wail and to bemoan his death, 
 Which loss to us, none to him caused hath, 
 Oh fate 1 if mortals might expostulate, 
 With thy severe victorious com bate, 
 Wherein thou makes the greatest to thee yield, 
 And the most noble champions quit the field, 
 Can none of all the Commons of the land, 
 Thee satisfie, nor answer thy demand ? 
 But a brave heroe, and a cedar tall, 
 Must be cut off, and for a victim fall, 
 Could none for age decrepite, and decreed 
 By nature's course here no more to reside, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 165 
 
 Content thy cravings ? But an Ancient, 
 
 Who to his country was an ornament, 
 
 For prudence,, parts, and civil polity, 
 
 For wisdom, learning, and true piety, 
 
 Deservedly applauded by the best, 
 
 And for his worth admir'd by all the rest ; 
 
 But, he must also by the fatal blow, 
 
 Oft conquering death, be conquered, and foregoe, 
 
 His honour, highness, and his grandeur great, 
 
 And follow thee, from whom there's no retreat : 
 
 Who can express the loss that we sustain, 
 
 By loseing him who did our laws maintain ? 
 
 Who all wise zealous was for Church and State, 
 
 Who feared not of greatest men the threate, 
 
 But why do I into this ocean launce ? 
 
 Since all his vertues I can never seance, 
 
 Nor can the Muses in Parnassus hill, 
 
 His merits sing with all their art and skill. 
 
 Nay Cicero that Rhetorician great, 
 
 Should here with all his Rhet'rick be in strait, 
 
 But this I'll say, a happy change is made, 
 
 In that for grief, he is for ever glade ; 
 
 But why should we his happiness envy, 
 
 Altho great loss we do sustain thereby, 
 
 Since he for Hav'n in heav'n is possess'd, 
 
 And sighs no more but sings among the bless'd, 
 
 So kind is God to take him safely home, 
 
 From all the woe and wrath that's like to come. 
 
 EPITAPHIUM. 
 
 Risi, Ploro : fui, non sum : Studui, requiesco ; 
 Lusi, non ludo: Cecini, nunc Muteo; Pavi 
 Corpus, alo vermes : Vigilavi, Dormio : Dixi 
 Salve, Dico vale ; Rapui, Rapior : Superavi, 
 
166 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Vincor: Certavi, Pace utor : jure ego vixi, 
 Jure igitur Morior : non obsto, obstare nequirem 
 Terra fui quondam, rursus sum terra, nihil sum : 
 Terra caduca vale : vermes Salvete, recumbo. 
 
 1 
 
 Edinburgh ; Printed by John Reid, in Bell's Wynd, 
 J708. 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 tyt nefoo: enough to 6* lamentrtr 
 
 of Horir Jfofjn ^amttton of 
 Balljaten, tofjo irqpartttr tins 
 lift at Hon&on, 
 
 1708. 
 
 This seems to be the production of William Whyte, an unknown 
 poetaster, who has Latinized his name, probably the same person 
 who signs W. W. at the end of the Elegy on Lord Phesdo, _ see 
 ante, page 151. 
 
 Melpomene come and inspire my quill, 
 Come Muses nine, assist me to distill 
 The British tears which now old Caledon 
 Ought to pour forth for him, whose past and gone 
 From British court into the court of Heaven. 
 Let each true SCOT lament of Lord Ealhaven, 
 With sighs and groans for him, off noble blood, 
 For liberties and laws who firmly stood, 
 With learned parts, and with true eloquence, 
 Yet Atropus with him would not dispense 
 When's glass was rune, she hath remov'd him hence. 
 Yet's he's not dead, in Heaven still liveth he, 
 From English goal, and all restraints he's free; 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 167 
 
 This clear bright star his fame on earth shall shine, 
 
 While sun and moon shines, for he was all divine. 
 
 'Demosthenes, the glory of the Greeks, 
 
 Tullie's tongue, and Homer's pen, who seeks 
 
 To be extold, for's country's right more he 
 
 Ought to have applause, beyond them worthy three. 
 
 Brave Lord Balhaven, this Hamilton, true SCOT, 
 
 His fame shall flourish, while some men's stink and rott, 
 
 By's blessed offspring and noble progenie, 
 
 His glorious name shall still preserved be. 
 
 Balhaven in heaven now sits, and smiles to see 
 
 His foes cast down, while he's off prison free. 
 
 Peace now, flat Muse, be silent, wise, and dumb, 
 
 He's in the blest place, where foes scarce can come. 
 
 EPITAPHIUM. 
 
 Serenus Dominus hie nobilis, ejus 
 
 Titulus est Belli, quoque cceli Belhavenus, 
 
 Pro patria bellavit ; for which his soul in Heaven is, 
 
 A carcere solutus, quid de eo dicere restat, 
 
 Quam ? Gloria, in coelis ditissimus aethere proastat. 
 
 GULIELMUS CANDIDUS.* 
 
 Edinburgi, Excudebat Joan : Rheadus, 1708. 
 
 * In a volume of Poems, Elegies, Song, &c. chiefly written about 
 the close of the 17th century, belonging to the Society of Scotish 
 Antiquaries, are two Elegies, one on the death of the " statlie, comlie, 
 sonsy gentleman, Alexander Ross," eldest son of the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews, who died, scarce middle age, January 1708, and another 
 on Sir David Cuningham of Milcraig, who died 28th January 1708, 
 both signed " William Whytte." 
 
168 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 t!)0 mud) to ie laniftntttf 
 of ^tr ffirace tyt latUtfjts of 
 
 antr 
 fopo 
 tin's lift 
 
 2tf, 1709. 
 
 This Lady was second daughter of Charles Lord Clifford, eldest son 
 of Richard Earl of Cork and Burlington, and she married, 4th De- 
 cember 1685, James, afterwards second Duke of Queensberry, by 
 whom she had seven children. In consequence of the failure of 
 heirs -male of the body, his Grace the Duke of Buccleugh enjoys the 
 Dukedom of Queensberry, and large Estates in Dumfriesshire as 
 descended from Lady Jean Douglas, the eldest surviving daughter of 
 this marriage, who became, (oth April 1720,) the wife of Francis 
 Earl of Dalkeith, afterwards Duke of Buccleugh. 
 
 Amazing stroak ! A Princess great this day, 
 
 Has fled from hence, (and can no longer stay) 
 
 Upon the summonds of that ghostly thing 
 
 Call'd Awful Death ! and frightful Terrors King ! 
 
 This rageing gyant doth with cruel face, 
 
 Maw down the flower and chief of human race, 
 
 Without regard to sex or beauty fair, 
 
 Strength, vertue, courage, and all charms most rare, 
 
 Could princely breeding, or elustrious birth ? 
 
 Could signal virtue or excelling worth ? 
 
 Could beauty's charms, or human greatness stand ? 
 
 Against the power of death's destroying hand 
 
 This gallant Princess might have stood his brush . 
 
 And not to value all his blows a rush. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 169 
 
 But none of these enduements can resist 
 The dreadfull blows of his strong massy fist. 
 The high, the low, the good, the great, the small, 
 The strong, the fible, or the weak, yea all, 
 Of human race, must at his awfull frown 
 Sink in the dust, and never more be known. 
 Yet notwithstanding of his boundless sway 
 He shall be vanquished, and the glorious day 
 Doth come apace, when all that virtues be 
 Shall from his bonds be made for ever free, 
 Yea crown'd with glory and eternal joy, 
 Compleatly free from all that doth annoy. 
 Yet we may justly with due grief lament 
 The loss of one so highly eminent. 
 So good, so great, so prudent, wise, and just, 
 As every one her Grace acknowledge must. 
 Yea, who with justice can deny but all 
 Ought to regreat so great a Princess fall ; 
 Whose grave example did so much defuse 
 Her princely vertues, that none can refuse 
 Her grace to be a patroness indeed, 
 To all who would in vertues ways succeed : 
 Let us therefore, with all due sorrow cry, 
 This day, this day, a princess great did dy, 
 Whose room or place few lady's can supply, 
 Or copy on Tenth of her vertues rare, 
 Or rich enduements, which surpasseth far 
 The common sort by infinite degrees, 
 And here we stop to wipe our mournfull eyes. 
 
 Mr. R. DOWGLASS. 
 
170 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 tfje mud) lanwxtrtr lieatfj of tfje goolf 
 anir great ffltt. ffieorg* ^rttftttm, 
 professor of iStfotnitg, anir one 
 of flc Wim'*ter0 of 
 in 
 
 In the Edinburgh Courant there is the following notice of the death 
 of Meldrum:" Friday 18th to Monday 2 1st February 1709 
 *' Upon Friday last departed this life, the Reverend Mr. George 
 Meldrum, one of the ministers of this city, and Professor of Theo- 
 logy in the College there ; who was a man of great learning, and 
 eminent for his piety and charity, and is much lamented by all sorts 
 of people." 
 
 Could 1 great Meldrum ! thy great worth proclaim 
 
 With equal art, I'd gain immortal fame, 
 
 I to myself a monument could raise, 
 
 And well deserve the honour of the bayes. 
 
 But since thy worth my art transcends so far, 
 
 As fixed stars from earth removed are. 
 
 In minor notes Tie sing thy greater praise, 
 
 While sighs and tears do drown my warbling layes. 
 
 Thrice happy was that hour that gave thee birth, 
 
 And thrice accurs'd that took thee from the earth. 
 
 From that to this there was a doubtful strife, 
 
 If GRACE or LEARNING shar'd most in thy life ? 
 
 Both had so great a place : yet shining grace, 
 
 True learning, grasped with a kind embrace ; 
 
 So well these two did striving still agree, 
 
 The strife was, which should have the most in thee ? 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 171 
 
 I tell no fables, grief makes eloquent ; 
 
 The learned MELDRUM was a holy Saint ! 
 
 His piercing thoughts were fix'd on things sublime, 
 
 'Twas not 'bout trifles that he spent his time. 
 
 His study was his GOD to know and preach, 
 
 Preach what he knew, and knew well what to teach. 
 
 Though fawning muses lov'd him, and he them, 
 
 He still was frugal of his precious time. 
 
 Even these few hours to recreation lent 
 
 In serious, godly exercise, he spent. 
 
 In this his LORD did imitate : his food 
 
 Was to go round, and still be doing good. 
 
 When in the pulpit his grave face I saw, 
 
 It damp'd my soul with more than human aw. 
 I thought I saw God's messenger appear : 
 This fill'd my soul with reverential fear. 
 But, when that divine eloquence he taught 
 The sacred mysteries, al o'erpow'rd my thought. 
 At other times, when schools his presence graced, 
 In chair I thought I saw great Plato placed, 
 Of Cic'ro teaching sound Philosophic, 
 So did their thoughts and lofty stile agree. 
 Again, when speaking on revealed law, 
 Th' Apostle Paul, I thought I heard and saw ; 
 Nor was his friendly converse less admired, 
 First visite, made a second more desired. 
 Thus spent this learn'd and holy man his days : 
 Nor shall the eating rust of time his praise 
 Eraze, while sun can spread his lightsome rays. 
 
 EPITAPHIUM VIRI REVERENDISSIMI GEORGII 
 MELDRUMII.* 
 
 S. S. Theologiae in Academia Edinburgensi 
 Professoris Doctissimi, Clarissimi ; 
 
172 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Verbique Divini in Ecclesia Edinburgena 
 
 Ministri Vigilantissimi, Sanctissimi ; 
 Qui multo cum bonorum luctu decessit XII 
 
 Cal. Martias, Anno ^Erae Christianae 
 MDCCIX. 
 
 ]Melleus hie situs est, Meldrumius,* ore disertus, 
 
 Doctus, mente sagax, entheus atque pius. 
 Malleus errorum, dum sacri dogmata verbi 
 
 Explicat, et Populum sedulus usque docet. 
 Muneris aut Sancti tradens praecepta, cavendos 
 
 Dum monstrat scopulos, haereticosque domat. 
 Eripiens animas Oreo,, votisque potitus, 
 
 Charus erat multis Presbyter ille bonus. 
 Munificum miseris Ecclesia deflet, Edina 
 
 Plorabit; summo gaudet at ipse Polo. 
 
 P. dolens G. S. 
 
 * In the preface to a Pindarick Ode to the memory of this reverend 
 gentleman, who is represented as having died the 18th of February 
 1709, f in the 75 year of his age, is is said " His wit was good, and 
 genius admirable, at an age when these perfections are not discernable 
 in others. I need give no other evidence of this, then his being Pro- 
 fessor of Philosophy in the Marischal Colledge of Aberdeen, in the 
 sixteenth year of his age." 
 
 " Tho' he accepted of a toleration in times of Episcopacy, yet he 
 remain'd fix'd in his principles, which he evidenc'd when he refused 
 that conscience-racking oath, which would have oblig'd him to leave 
 them. And even before the test was contriv'd, he was banishM twenty 
 miles from Aberdeen, by an act of the Privy Council, upon the ac- 
 count of Non-Conformity." 
 
 The disease of which he died is spoken off in terms certainly not 
 very intelligible. The author says, " I hint also at the nature of the 
 disease that ushered his death ;" but it is in vain to extract any hint 
 on the subject from the ode. 
 
 f Edinburgh, 1706, 4to, a copy is in the library of the editor. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 173 
 
 LXX. 
 
 tfj* mud) lamented teat!) of 
 most llofcl* Hatrg Christian 
 
 toijo tepartrtf ttjts lift 
 
 21 st of 
 1710, 
 flotoo: of 
 
 This lady, the date of whose demise does not appear either in Wood or 
 Brydges, was the second daughter of the Duke of Rothes. She 
 married James third Marquess of Montrose, by whom she had one 
 son, James, afterwards first Duke of Montrose. His widow after- 
 wards became the wife of Sir John Bruce of Kinross, Bart., but by 
 him had no family. From the reference in the Elegy to a surviving 
 " consort" it appears that she predeceased Sir John. 
 
 Her son married Lady Christian Carnegie, second daughter of David 
 third Earl of Northesk. She died at Edinburgh, 25th May 1744, 
 having had four sons and one daughter. Peerage of England, by 
 Brydges, vol. 4, p. 228. 
 
 O what a change in few days hath death made 
 
 By making such a gemm of love to fade. 
 
 'Mongst all fine ladys scarce was there any one 
 
 Could paralell this, in old Caledon ; 
 
 She was endu'd with such rare gifts of grace, 
 
 And all perfections, as could be in a lace 
 
 Invironed : So that in this our age 
 
 A finer lady was ne'er remov'd off stage. 
 
 Yea, all her actions denoted that she was 
 
 During her life a splendid mirrour glass, 
 
174 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Wherein all eyes beheld her, might well see 
 
 A structure of nature's excellencie. 
 
 O death, why hast thou thus our hopes undone, 
 
 To cause the setting of a rising Sun ? 
 
 Where moderation ever did exort j 
 
 Great pleasure and fame, even from the rigid sort. 
 
 Rich were the pleasures her consort did enjoy 
 
 In her embraces, without the least annoy. 
 
 Now there is none but his great loss lament, 
 
 Since Heaven's so soon hath for her hither sent. 
 
 The poor do weep, who now will want supply 
 
 Even to their daily growing penury ; 
 
 And all ranks by their countenances show, 
 
 What praise and tears we to her memory owe. 
 
 Her outreaching virtues were compleat, 
 
 And all her actions prudent and discreet. 
 
 So perfect was she until health did cease, 
 
 That still she prais'd GOD who sent her ease 
 
 While that her pious soul its flight did make 
 
 To Heaven, where with blest saints, it rest does take 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 175 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 n ii)* mutl) to to lamwtrtr 
 itf gl)t ^onottraSl* Sir 
 
 , of tf)at Ellt, one of 
 Hortrs of Session, anlr 
 
 toljo 
 
 ofijanttarg 
 1711. 
 
 Sir William Anstruther was the eldest son of Sir Philip Anstruther of 
 that Ilk. He was appointed an ordinary Lord of Session at the 
 Revolution, 1st November 1689, and a Lord of Justiciary 9th No- 
 vember 1704. He was created a Baronet in 1694. 
 
 His Lordship published " Essays Moral and Divine in Five Discourses, 
 viz. I. Against Atheism. II. Of Providence. III. Of Learning. 
 IV. Of Trifling Studies, Stage Playes, and Romances __ V. Upon 
 the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and Redemption of Mankind." 
 Edin. 1701. 4to. The volume is dedicated to John Earl of Tul- 
 libardine, afterwards Duke of Athol. The following is a specimen 
 of the prose and verse of this learned senator. Speaking of the fair 
 sex, he remarks. " It is true woman is subject to man, he is her 
 head, but I may question if it was not rather inflicted as the punish- 
 ment of her sin, than sprung from the prerogative of our nature. 
 But it may be thought we retain some resentment at the first cause 
 of our misery, and by our innate love to the sex, they continue to 
 be the bane of human life. 
 
 Men all at once by woman first was damn'd, 
 And one by one, we're still by them trapann'd. 
 " Contagion to the root Eve first did bring, 
 " Her daughters blasts us, branches as we spring. 
 
176 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 " She thrust us out, we're by her offspring led 
 
 " Astray from happiness, from whence we fled, 
 
 '* And least again we paradise should ehoise, 
 
 " They do amuse us with fantastick joyes." P. 153. 
 
 His Lordship was a great hook collector. The library remained 
 in the family till 1832, when it was sold by the creditors of the 
 present Baronet ; it was perhaps the finest collection, as regarded 
 condition and intrinsic value, ever offered for sale in Scotland. 
 
 Mourn, O North Britain ! and ye Judges all, 
 Our judgements, tears doe from us justly call : 
 
 Fifans mourn ! Lord Ensters death bemoan ! 
 Thy friend is dead, thy best beloved is gone, 
 Who pious, prudent, just, and upright was, 
 Though sometimes he did hold his peace, because 
 To speak at random is not meet for one 
 
 Who sits a judge, in our Great Albion. 
 Should I in tears, dip in my pen, to praise 
 The great, the just, Anstruther in his dayes ? 
 His gifts, his learning, and accomplishments, 
 'Twould far exceed my reach, and detriments 
 To his acknowledged worth, would surely be, 
 As no unbyass'd reader can but see, 
 Our Session now a head-piece wants, that was 
 A man sincere, impartial in each cause : 
 When on the bench, Lord Enster's face I saw, 
 
 1 thought I saw meek Moses with the Law ; 
 Ingraven on his breast, that all might know, 
 He came not there to make a publick show, 
 But to declair that he was sent of GOD, 
 
 To tell the truth, as once did Aaron's rod, 
 Distinguish 'twixt true miracles and feign'd, 
 He blossom'd so in judgement when he reign'd ; 
 In publick trust, he manag'd all so well, 
 That we dare say, our subjects did it feel ; 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 177 
 
 To poor opprest, he lent his helping hand, 
 Before his face ill-doers could not stand. 
 In all his life none dare degrade his name 
 With any blot, in justice, or declaime 
 That he did look on persons for their wealth, 
 And never did consult his soul's health, 
 Unsting'd is death unto this godly man, 
 A comfort to his friends, because he can 
 Account for justice, by him execute, 
 With his sphere, that he might contribute 
 Unto the peace and quiet of our land, 
 In actions all that this man took in hand ; 
 His tongue triumph'd in evidence that he 
 Was alwise true, to bound men and to free, 
 No bribes could him engage to plead for one,* 
 Because the truth he would pervert for none, 
 He knew his Witness was to be his Judge, 
 Which made him faithful, so that a deluge 
 Of wrath on him at this day cannot be 
 Inflicted by our God, that cannot lie, 
 So that his shouts amongst the blessed is, 
 And Hallelujah by him's sung in bliss. 
 
 MB. A. B. 
 
 * The judges of those days were far from scrupulous if they were 
 not directly influenced by hard cash, they not unfrequently allowed 
 themselves to be biassed by the solicitations of their " Peats*' or fa- 
 vourites. See Court of Session Garland, p. 6, 8vo. Edin. T. G. 
 Stevenson, 1839, and letter relative to Lord Fountainhall in Ap- 
 pendix. 
 
178 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 LXXII. 
 
 tt)e netw tnottgf) to fit lamented 
 of tf>r illustrious an& nofile 
 ttarauis of ttllfibar&ine, 
 trrparttti ttjis life at 
 JSattle near 4Wons, 
 first 
 
 1709, 
 
 [From the original in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates.] 
 
 John Marquis of Tullibardine held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 
 the Dutch service : a number of Scots officers fell with him. He 
 was eldest son of the marriage between the first Duke of Athol and 
 Lady Katherine Hamilton his first wife. 
 
 His Lordship died without issue, and the title was assumed by 
 his brother William, who was attainted as Marquis of Tullibar- 
 dine for his accession to the Rebellion, 1715-16. The news of 
 the surrender of Mons was received with great rejoicings in 
 Edinburgh. The following notice on this subject occurs in the 
 Scots Postman, No. 170: "The account of the surrender of 
 Mons to the High Allies being come, nine guns were fired at the 
 putting out of the colours on the Castle on Tuesday last, (October 
 18,) about nine o'clock in the morning ; and by order of my Lord 
 Provost and the Magistrates of this city, the musical bells play'd 
 from two to four in the afternoon ; and from four to eight all the 
 great bells rang : a full round of cannon were fired at twelve and 
 four, and the rest of that day was concluded with all demonstrations 
 of joy, as used upon such extraordinary occasions." 
 
 An account of the Geography and History of Mons was translated 
 from the French by John Mack Gregory, Professor of Geography 
 and History, and printed by James Watson at Edinburgh, 1709. 
 Small 4to. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 179 
 
 What sighs, what groans, are those I hear always ? 
 
 What gushing torrents now run from all eyes ? 
 
 What wofull news, what killing sound is this, 
 
 That fills all hearts with grief and bitterness. 
 
 Ah dolfull news ! but they cannot be fled, 
 
 The noble Marquis Tullibardiris dead. 
 
 That sweet, that noble matchless paragon ; 
 
 Ah ! is he gone ? He's gone ; alas he's gone. 
 
 What eyes do not with mournfull tears run doun, 
 
 What heart's not struck with this (death striking) sound. 
 
 A cruel death ! could nought thy hunger fill, 
 
 But must thou noble Tullibardine kill. 
 
 Could nothing serve to satiat thy greed, 
 
 But must thou glutt thyself in noble blood ? 
 
 All tongues, all pens cannot aright descry 
 
 The matchless worth of him who's tae'n away, 
 
 His noble soul was vertue's reall seat, 
 
 And vertue made his soul with grace compleat. 
 
 Ignoble deeds in him bore never sway, 
 
 His fame will stand before black mouth'd envy. 
 
 For courage, Ajax, Hector, Alexander : 
 
 A loyall subject, and a brave commander. 
 
 In eloquence he second was to none, 
 
 And he for beauty was ane Absolon, 
 
 For wisdom he did for his age excell ; 
 
 But why should I attempt his praise to tell. 
 
 I'd hold the seas far sooner in my hand, 
 
 And without pen or ink recount the sand. 
 
 Or weight the earth in an emponderous scale, 
 
 Far sooner than his worthy merits tell. 
 
 His trump of fame shall the wide world hear : 
 
 And his good name all monuments out wear. 
 
 No marble tomb or trophees virtue needs, 
 
 Fame is his herauld and proclaims his deeds ; 
 
]80 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 His praises fill ten thousand thousand mouths, 
 He was the mirror of all noble youths. 
 But now,, alas ! grim death hath him assail'd, 
 Belov'd he lived by all, and dyed bewail'd, 
 His warfare's ended, and his peace be^un, 
 All storms are past, and he enjoys the sun. 
 Corruption, incorruption hath put on ; 
 He's gone from earth unto an heavenly throne, 
 When he shall have an everlasting crown 
 Of glory, joy, of peace and high renown. 
 
 POSUIT MR. ROBERT SMITH. 
 
 LXXIII. 
 
 En Sittiw I)*0ftr*riit(00fmf 
 . 15. ffittl, 
 
 This reverend gentleman is probably the same person who figures in 
 the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence. Lond. 1693. (Second Edi- 
 tion, with additions, p. 98.) " The Moderator, Chrighton, immedi- 
 ately after the Assembly was dissolved, praying, (amongst many 
 other reflexions upon the King and his Counsellors,) said these 
 words, " O Lord thou knows how great a surprisal this is to us: we 
 lookt upon King William at his first coming among us to have been 
 sent in mercy or deliverance to this poor Kirk, but now we see that 
 our deliverance must come from another hand : Grant God he be 
 not sent to be a plague and a curse to thy Kirk." 
 
 The date ot Mr. Crichton's demise has not been ascertained, it was 
 probably in the course of the year 1709, as the funeral elegy now 
 printed is inserted at the end of a volume of newspapers of the year 
 1708-9, between two other elegies, viz. that of Mr. Meldrum and 
 the Marquis of Tullibardine, the death of both of whom occurred 
 in 1709. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 181 
 
 Saturni infausta, eras Signo ad Sacra vocandus 
 
 Nocte recumbebam : Tristia mixta Sono ; 
 Mortuus est Creghton, Pastor Sacratus Edeni ! 
 
 Quid prodesse valent nunc mea vota Pia ? 
 Non semper vixere Patres, cecidere prophetse ! 
 
 Esque Propheta Eheu ! Mortuus atque Pater ! 
 Die mihi qui Vitae Sanctse ratione sequuta, 
 
 Attigeras Christi Notitiamque Dei ? 
 Mystica Mosaic* Legis, Mysteria Regni 
 
 Ccelorum ut scisti ? Quam tibi sit tua fides 
 Illorum ! Cselestis amor ! Constantia victrix 
 
 In mediis nobis quse incubuere malis ! 
 Quanta tibi fervens moderata & Coelitus Ira 
 
 Id Christi Causam ut intemerata staret : 
 Simplicitas primseva Patrum gestuque & amictu' 
 
 Divini & Cultus Scotica simplicitas ? 
 Scotia te jactet Patrios portasse Penates, 
 
 Haud placuerunt qui Syrmata longa trahunt. 
 Immemoranda tamen non est Divina Facultas 
 
 Placandi Numen forti humilique Prece, 
 Qua quoque Peccatorum Animos ut gurgit emersos 
 
 Erigeras mire ad Mystica Sacra Dei : 
 Spirantes Christum Morituros mille juvasti, 
 
 Divino Eloquio, mellifluoque tuo : 
 Non Mirum ; duxit Christus Spiramine codem 
 
 Quo est & Apostolica tota loquuta Cohors 
 Viribus attritis Sacris, longaque Senecta, 
 
 Condita in hoc Tumulo mollitur ossa cubent. 
 Mortuus est Creghton ! Quamvis moritura putandum 
 
 Fama Viri non est, dum licet ore loqui. 
 
182 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 W&t mm ^arapfjrasrtr in 
 
 Compos'd to sleep on Saturn's ominouj night, 
 
 For worship till the signal should invite ; 
 
 A melancholly knell beat through mine ears, 
 
 This sound, our Creghtoris dead! needs no more prayers ; 
 
 The Fathers, and the whole prophetick race 
 
 Are gone, and like them Creghtoris gone to peace ! 
 
 How didst thou ? Sacred soul ? Such light procure 
 
 Of God and Christ ! Tell me I thee adjure ! 
 
 How pierc'd thou through the dark Mosaick vail ! 
 
 Read Gospel truths : Or, didst thou ever faill 
 
 Them to believe and love ? Nay, but them fast 
 
 Maintain'd, amidst the evils us harast : 
 
 How great thy zeal, (yet moderat), for Christ's cause, 
 
 Sacred it might be kept in every clause : 
 
 Thy mein and habite grave, with the ancients vy'd, 
 
 Simplicity in Worship, Scotland's pride ! 
 
 Scotland thee boasts, it's Churches friend most true, 
 
 'Gainst trained Prelates, and th' Hierarchic crew : 
 
 I shan't forbear to speak thy Divine art 
 
 With God in prayer, tho' humble yet sometimes parte ; 
 
 By which suck'd up to God above the sky, 
 
 Minds earthly, drown'd in sin that lay ; 
 
 Thousands their last breathed in Jesus breast, 
 
 Helpt by thy skill, with sweetest tongue exprest ; 
 
 No wonder, for in him burnt the self same fire, 
 
 Which did th' Apostles with sacred truth inspire ; 
 
 Spent with his sacred toyl, his nature rest 
 
 Required, he obey'd with saints is blest ! 
 
 Our great Creghtoris dead, shall time out-wear 
 
 His Mem'ry ? It shan't be so, while tongues there are. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 183 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 tyt tnttrf) law*nte& teaty of tyt IUfot= 
 
 of ti)* ffiosgrt (n tfj* Canongat* 
 
 of Sirtnlwrgl), fo!>o 
 tepartetr tf)ts life, igtf) 
 1711* 
 
 ,J? *'rrf cioO jjmvis!? HijR 
 
 On a copy of this elegy, Jelonging to Mr. David Haig, of the Advo- 
 cates' Library, and obligingly communicated by him, there is (he 
 following notice in MS. " His coloque (colleague) Mr. William 
 Mitchell, Minister after in the High New Church of Edinburgh, died 
 at York, on his way to London, as one of the Commissioners sent 
 with the Church's address to King George II. September I727;" fl * 
 <I*\R wo/r yir, oiiv/ ,Jni*8 hog^M /(jiW 
 
 O what a change has death in few days made ! 
 
 By making such a light so soon to fade_, 
 
 In Scotland's kirk where brightness did so shine, 
 
 By life and doctrine as one truly divine. 
 
 His life he travel'd only for to save 
 
 Such as might be preserv'd, ere to grave 
 
 They were hence call'd, their judgement to prevent, 
 
 For what he truly was of purpose sent ; 
 
 A real Saint hither, who ne're could be 
 
 Ruffled or rankled with an injurie ; 
 
 Yea like to Moses was he in the breast, 
 
 If passion enter'd, it could find no rest. 
 
 No scorn, nor spight of his worst foes could move 
 
 Him to refrain his service or his love 
 
 From Christ's poor members, who were his Benjamins, 
 
 With whom his acts to memory remains. 
 
184 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 More serious and zealous ne're was one 
 Than this our pious pastor, now is gone. 
 Learning was all the desire of his heart, 
 And true devotion did in him still impart, 
 That godly wisdome did his mind uphold 
 In greatest dangers, and perils manifold, 
 Of all afflicted souls he took good care 
 With prudent counsel and with holy prayer. 
 His moderation such was, as might extort 
 Affection from those of the rigid sort. 
 He perfect was until his breath did cease, 
 Still serving GOD in's station with much ease, 
 Till Heav'n was pleas'd to call him hence in peace, 
 To a more glorious and much better place, 
 Where now his zealous and most pious spirit 
 Doth a most clear and simple orb inherit, 
 In an aeternal maze of joy and love 
 With blessed saints, who are now above 
 The reach of all their en'mies cruelty, 
 As Conquerors over Death triumphantly. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 185 
 
 LXXVL 
 
 fljc UPeati) of tyt 
 
 n 
 
 , anlr 
 of <8torg* 
 
 , tofjo 
 
 1711. 
 
 [From the original, communicated by Mr. David Haig.] 
 
 This appears to be from the pen of Robert Monteith, whose Theatre 
 of Mortality has been previously noticed. It is printed in that work, 
 p. 12, 2d Part, with one slight alteration. 
 
 From an account in which James Anderson, the editor of the Diplo- 
 mata, is debtor, and Robert Monteith the creditor, now in the 
 Advocates' Library, it appears that the latter was a copying clerk, 
 and earned his subsistence, at least for some time, in that way. 
 
 Besides his Theatre of Mortality, and a translation of Buchanan's 
 Fratres Fraterrimi, Monteith wrote " The true and genuine art of 
 exact pointing ; as also what concerns the distinction of Syllables, _ 
 the marking of Capitals and Italick, or different character, to be 
 used in Prints and Manuscrips, as well Latine, as English. Omne 
 tulit punctum, qui punctat singula recta. By R. Monteith, M. A. 
 Edinburgh, printed by John Reid, Junior, M.D.CC.IV. 12mo." 
 
 There is in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates a Petition in 
 verse, written and subscribed by Monteith to the Senators of the 
 College of Justice, craving assistance. A few copies were privately 
 printed, and included in a very scarce collection, of which not 
 above half a dozen complete copies were made up, entitled " Ex- 
 cerpta Scotica." 8vo. Edin. 1825. 
 
 The debt which man by birth contracts, he must 
 By death repay, adjoining to the dust. 
 
186 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Had goodness, grace, or truest candour been 
 
 Excus'd from fate, he death had never seen. 
 Oh ! the contagion of our fathers fall 
 
 To certain death hath doom'd his offspring all. 
 Mausoleum he merits well to have, j 
 
 And not the common cell of homely grave, 
 As b'ing, by heaven's tender care set o're 
 
 The good town's treasure and George Heriot's store. 
 Since his first breath did thro' his nostrils pass, 
 
 Of vertues all the mirrour bright he was : 
 Furnishing mortals with examples fair, 
 
 Of ev'ry action, honest, great and rare. 
 Injured Edinburgh to his wings did fly, 
 
 For sudden help, from hardest je'pardy ; 
 Scotland from him, in Epitome did draw 
 
 A matchless man of truest Burgal law ; 
 Heroick actions ever did attend 
 
 Him, all his life, unto his blessed end ; 
 Endearing goodness did him so exalt, 
 
 'Bove Burgers all, below th' enamled vault : 
 Reward of vertue, glory ; and the pen 
 
 Of learned ones him stile, FISHER OF MEN. 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 Here lyes the perfect and the upright man, 
 Of charity and righteousness the plan ; 
 Scotland with joy as glad, that he was born, 
 As now, in tears, his funeral doth mourn. 
 
 R. M. 
 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 187 
 
 LXXVII. 
 
 tyt tmtrf) laments treat!) of 
 pjatmlton, iWintster of tyt 
 in t$* regular 
 of iEftittfmrglJ, antt 
 sometime formerly 
 of Erelantr* 
 
 [From an original Broadside in the collection of David Laing, Esq.] 
 
 The date of Mr. Hamilton's death has unfortunately not been given in 
 the elegy. He published, (Edinburgh, 1701, 4to,) "a sermon 
 preached before his Grace James Duke of Queensberry, and his 
 Majesty's High Commissioner, and the Honourable Estates of Par- 
 liament, in the Parliament House, upon Sunday the 24th day of 
 November 1700. 19 pages. 
 
 He had for a coadjutor the Reverend Mr. Hart, whose Journal was 
 privately printed in 1832 by Duncan Stewart, and circulated amongst 
 a few friends. It was edited by Principal Lee. 
 
 Come citizens and mourn with me apart, 
 The righteous perish, and few lay't to heart. 
 A faithfull pastor is called now to Heaven, 
 Who was a shinning light, whilst among men. 
 John Baptist he might well be call'd, for why 
 None that came to him unbaptis'd did die. 
 Ireland may well his pious zeal declare 
 And love he had to promote true faith there, 
 Such was his life and doctrine among the savage 
 Natives thereof, who did the countrie ravage, 
 Most cruely us ruin to pressage, 
 Yet with much mildness, he did them engage 
 
188 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 To yield and own his message from above 
 Was sent, and he an harbinger of love. 
 His charity to all so far extended, 
 That none could say he any e're offended 
 By word or deed, but endeavour'd alway 
 To recal such as wandered astray 
 From the right paths of God's commandment, 
 And brought them in by gospel documents ; 
 So that of him, it may be trulie said 
 Like John the Baptist, he the foundation laid 
 Of righteousness somewhat into a land, 
 Whv re ignorance prevailed on every hand : 
 No doubt therefore his pious soul now sings 
 Eternal praises to the King of kings ; 
 And to the Lamb that sits upon the throne 
 With other saints, and the first baptist JOHN. 
 
 LXXVIII. 
 
 fcttttm te ac 
 
 Hauter, <&x En- 
 
 Saturn, 
 
 18, 1713, 
 
 Mr. Chambers in his account of Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, 
 refers to this elegy, and asserts that it applies to his Lordship's step, 
 mother Margaret Ramsay, daughter to George Ramsay of Idding- 
 ton, Baillie Lauder's third wife. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 189 
 
 Now, as the elegy specially refers to a living husband, and as the 
 Baillie died in 1692, it must follow, that the Lady Fountainhall 
 eulogised could not be Margaret Ramsay. Nor does the evidence 
 stop here, assuming Margaret Ramsay to have had a posthumous 
 eon, he must have been at least twenty when this elegy was writ- 
 ten. Now the application of " adolescentulus" to a young man of 
 twenty is preposterous. It would rather appear that the lady was 
 the second wife of the judge, by whom he had a son Robert, born 
 January 24, 1688, and who died on the 17th December 1698.* 
 Mr. Chambers asserts that she survived her husband, and if this be 
 true, it would negative the supposition that she was the party in 
 question but as Fountainhall belonged from 1692 to 1722 to Sir 
 John Lauder as the elegy relates to a Lady Fountainhall who had 
 an ** adolescentulus" called Alexander Lauder, and a husband 
 whose " heart'' " too big for words" could only " feel" a " load of 
 grief" and ' smart" it cannot answer any one else. Perhaps Lord 
 Fountainhall had three wives, like his father " thedeacon before him." 
 
 There is a mistake in the historical account of the College of Justice 
 as to Lord Fountainhall's marriage he is represented as having mar- 
 ried a daughter of Lord Pitmedden. This is erroneous. His first 
 wife was Janet Ramsay, daughter of Lord Abbolshall, and his se- 
 cond, Marion Anderson. His eldest son, also named John, married 
 August 10, 1696, Margaret, daughter of Sir Alexander Seton of 
 Pitmedden, and it was probably this alliance that gave rise to the 
 error. 
 
 An quia Matrona eSj Generoso Stemraate nata, 
 
 Fatorum rigido numine, Sancta, cadis ? 
 
 An quia Conjugio Generoso Juncta Marito, 
 
 Exosam Eumenides sortem habuere Tuam ? 
 
 An quia Te Superi Generosa Stirpe bearant, 
 
 Hanc Atropos viduat sseva Parente sua ? 
 
 Haudquaquam ; Innocuam spectans sine crimine Vitam, 
 
 Nos tali indignos orbat at Ipse DEUS. 
 
 Si Pietas ! Morum Candor ! si Lucida Virtus ! 
 
 * Chambers, Vol. 3, p. 353, who quotes an entry by Lord Foun- 
 tainhall to that effect. 
 
190 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Distulerint Vitae Fata dolenda Tuse ; 
 
 Nee Tua vel Parcis licuisset rumpere Fila 
 
 Tarn cito, supremam vel properasse diem. 
 
 At cunctis lugenda jaces, Generosa, Propinquis, 
 
 Flebilis et justis omnibus,, atque Pijs. 1 
 
 Te dolet abreptam Genitor, longsevaque Mater, 
 
 Atque sua incassum fletibus ora rigant. 
 
 Incassum tua Fata dolent, sua damnaque plorant 
 
 Dulcis Conjugii Pignora chara Tui 
 
 Te tamen ante omnes, charus, Viduusque Maritus 
 
 Luget, et Incassum cuncta dolore replet. 
 
 Quid juvat immense Praecordia rumpere motu, 
 
 Atque Piae Lachrymse quid, Generose, juvant ? 
 
 Quid juvat assiduis ruptus Plangoribus ^Ether, 
 
 Quidve juvant moestis tecta repleta sonis ? 
 
 Posse putas Superos flecti vel Fata precando ? 
 
 Haudquaquam ; exanimis, nee revocanda, jacet. 
 
 Comprecor idcirco tristes Te ponere luctus, 
 
 Quum nullo Censors sit reparanda modo. 
 
 Nam sua cuique dies stat, et irrevocable tempus, 
 
 Et brevis est Vitce terminus usque sua. 
 
 LXXIX. 
 
 Fall'n ! by the Dismal Stroak of harshest Fate, 
 Because by Birth, but more,, by Vertue, Great ? 
 Ah ! had Malignant Powers thy Fate design'd, 
 Because unto a Generous Consort join'd ? 
 For that kind Heav'n had bless'd thy Fruitful Bed, 
 Has cruel Fate thy Children Orphans made ? 
 No; no; 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 191 
 
 GOD has as justly rob'd, and thee possest 
 
 Of Full, Immortal, and Eternal Rest. 
 
 Cou'd Vertue ! Piety ! Transcending Grace ! 
 
 Have added to the number of thy Days ; 
 
 Then had thou stood beyond the reach of Fate 
 
 And scorn'd Death's bitter and revenging Hate. 
 
 But to the Conqu'ring Tyrant, ah ! thou lyes 
 
 (By all bewail'd) a spotless Sacrifice. 
 
 Thine Aged Parents now pine out their Years 
 
 In grief; they sigh, they melt, and dye in Tears. 
 
 Thy Orphan Children do with sad regrate 
 
 Lament their own in thy disastrous Fate. 
 
 But ah ! this Load of Grief, thy Husband's heart, 
 
 Too big for words, can only feel, and smart. 
 
 But why should thou thy Heart thus rend with Grief? 
 
 Thy Tears make nothing for thy Soul's relief. 
 
 Why fill thy Doleful House with Doleful Noise? 
 
 And rend the .ZEther with thy mournful Cries ? 
 
 Can these unhinge what Heav'n has decreed? 
 
 No ; no ; she's irrecoverably Dead ! 
 
 For Heaven's-sake then thy Floods of Tears restrain, 
 
 Thou canst not weep her unto Life again. 
 
 Man's Life is short, none can prolong the Date 
 
 Of his determirid, his Eternal Fate. 
 
192 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 of Sir gatitcs 
 rfa 
 
 , 1713. 
 
 [From the original in the Advocates' Library.] 
 
 The following entries relative to the death and funeral of Lord Ad- 
 vocate Stewart, are from the Scots Courant. Wednesday April 
 29th, to Friday 1st May 1713. 
 
 " May 1. This morning, between four and five o'clock, the Hon. Sir 
 James Stuart of Goodtrees, her Majesty's Advocate for the King- 
 dom of Scotland, died here, and is very much lamented by all that 
 knew him. 
 
 May 6. _ Yesterday the corps of Sir James Stuart, her Majesty's Ad- 
 vocate for Scotland, was interred in his own burial place in the 
 Gray-friars Church-yard, being accompanied hy all the Nobility and 
 Gentry, and the whole Members of the General Assembly, and 
 whole Corporation of the City." 
 
 Sir James was very obnoxious to the Jacobite party, by whom he 
 was christened Jamie Wylie. Some clever Latin verses upon him 
 occur in the Scotish Pasquils, Vol. I with a very tolerable trans- 
 lation. 
 
 A full and interesting account of Sir James will be found in the Colt- 
 ness Papers, recently edited by James Dennistoun of Dennistoun, 
 Esq. for the Maitland Club.* It is one of the most curious and 
 valuable works hitherto printed by the Northern Clubs. 
 
 Speak, grieved muse, alarm the world, and read 
 Th' unwelcome news, great SIR JAMES STEWART'S dead, 
 Awake ye British bards, your artfull numbers show, 
 For each a subject here, here a vast theme for you, 
 
 * As the contribution of James Bogle, Esq. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 193 
 
 So vast, instead of justest Elegies, 
 
 You sha'n't be forced to write poetick lies. 
 
 Buchanan rise and write his active life ! 
 
 A man of peace, and yet a man of strife ! 
 
 Early he felt a persecuting rage, 
 
 Yet liv'd and prosper'd, dy'd a good old age ! 
 
 His unaffected,, solid piety, 
 
 And patience, Blackmore !* those I leave to thee 
 
 Shakespear, Ben Johnson, Dryden, all and one 
 
 Of you, describe his wit ; his sense can none ! 
 
 His universal reading, learn'd society 
 
 Of Virtuosos, claim as right, do ye ! 
 
 His knowledge in the laws pray imitate 
 
 College of Justice, Ministers of State ! 
 
 His deep politick reach, that study ye ; 
 
 But add his conscience, and his honestie ; 
 
 He read those records where truth sacred lies, 
 
 His view and faith of sacred mysteries 
 
 Were great and strong, yet orthodox and good, 
 
 He read, he thought, he pray'd and understood ; 
 
 Whence be became truth's grave and strictest judge, 
 
 Our teachers taught, they learn'd, without a grudge 
 
 From his grand oracle of sense, to know 
 
 Their failures, work and duty, when and how ; 
 
 His penetrating soul could soon discern 
 
 The things which Church and State did most concern. 
 
 To gownmen all, who Caledonia grace, 
 
 I sound th' alarm ; but pray ! in the first place 
 
 Learn'd lawyers come., then next bring Levi's tribe, 
 
 The one's best friend, the others greatest pride 
 
 Is dead and gone ! plead his fame's justest right 
 
 The one I do require ; for this indite 
 
 * From this reference to Blackmore, it would seem that at the time 
 he was deemed a great poet in Scotland. 
 
 N 
 
194 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 A solemn fast, ye sacred crew, when met 
 In your assembly ; mourn your church's fate! 
 Thou'st giv'n the alarm ; sit down, and say no more, 
 My grieved muse ! in silence deep deplore 
 The State and Church's fate : silencf a crime 
 In all, who reason speak, or can write rhyme, 
 Shall be unpardon'd ; while the fam ousname 
 Of SIR JAMES STEUART lasts in mighty fame. 
 
 LXXXI. 
 
 n tfje most lamentable IBeatt) of tfje 
 
 $tts!)t ?|onottra6le Sir Barnes Steuart 
 
 of ffiooIMrees, ijer Jftajestg's &te 
 
 boeate, toljo Separtett tljis life, 
 
 |ag i, 1713, in )e fstf) 
 
 gear of !)is age. 
 
 Let Scotland mourn, the STATE and CHURCH have lost 
 
 A pillar whereof they of late could boast 
 
 None such in Europe, nay, for ages past 
 
 They cannot shew a head so sound and fast. 
 
 Profound his wisdom ! next to Solomon 
 
 His equal none can condescend upon. 
 
 Most entricat and nice affairs of STATE 
 
 Were soon resolv'd by his unerring pate, 
 
 Misterious matters of the CHURCH, likewise 
 
 'Twere cleared up as dazling sun-shine rays. 
 
 All puzzling matters of the law he could 
 
 Tho' most confus'd and intricat unfold : 
 
 But that which crowned all, his PIETY 
 
 Unshaken steadfastness and Probity, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 195 
 
 His perseverance in the way of GRACE, 
 And active diligence in ev'ry CACE 
 To prosecute the wellfare of his NATION, 
 And CANDOR in so high a post or station, 
 Surpass all that can be express'd or said 
 His shinning TALENTS, not in floods uplaid ; 
 But vig'rously with much activity 
 Exerted were, ev'n to a PRODIGY. 
 
 When rash and fiery men at rights would run 
 Into the labyrinths that they should shun, 
 And by their zeal, or want of knowledge, screw 
 Things to a pitch, which after they might rue. 
 He instantly did them their error shew, 
 And back again he by the hand them drew.* 
 No weighty matter of the CHURCH or STATE, 
 Nor case of LAW, in any grand debate, 
 Without his COUNSEL, VOTE, or APPROBATION, 
 Have ever been transacted in the nation 
 For twenty years and more ; and all that while 
 By his advice, he never did beguile : 
 His judgment always solid was and sound, 
 And those who would not follow't, since have found 
 That they did err, and he was in the right ; 
 But to break off, his great character bright 
 Is so well known, and likewise well approv'd, 
 That all who knew him, him admir'd and lov'd. 
 And since his place can be supply'd by none, 
 His loss we never can too much bemoan. 
 
 * In these days when so many " rash and fiery men" " screw things 
 to a pitch," the controul of such a man as Sir James Steuart is 
 much wanted. 
 
196 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 LXXXII. 
 
 tyt wttc!) lamented Seat!) of Sir 
 Stefoart of fiioo&tms, 
 ^irbotat, fatfjo tt 
 partrtr ti)is lift i*lag i, 1713 > 
 in >* 78tl> gear of 
 I) is 
 
 On the copy of the elegy communicated by Mr. David Haig, there is 
 tin's MS. note, " His sone, Sir James, died at Cultness, August 9, 
 1727, Wednesday." 
 
 Mourn northern parts of the Great Britains Isle, 
 
 You've lost a cedar, was to you somewhile 
 
 A strong supporter of your Church and State, 
 
 In times of doubts and fears, by's skill and art, 
 
 When cedars such do fall, shrubs may then expect, 
 
 That violent storms will come them to deject. 
 
 He was one sprung from an illustrious stem, 
 
 Which did adorn their ancient royal name ; 
 
 So active was his soul for her promotion, 
 
 That Luther s zeal, Justinian's devotion, 
 
 Did still attend him with such moderation, 
 
 As requisit was for his pregnant station ; 
 
 So that there are but few, here left behind, 
 
 Accomplished with such candour of mind, 
 
 Pious and just he was, gave all their due, 
 
 His queen, his country, and his clients too. 
 
 His virtuous wit, his zeal and pietie, 
 
 Made Court and Church his suitors always be : 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 197 
 
 His love to learning, and delight in arts 
 
 Quickned the vigour of his natural parts 
 
 To the last hour, that pen nor pincel can 
 
 Paint the perfections of so rare a man : 
 
 So lively as he was for contemplation 
 
 Of profound faculties with contentation, 
 
 Which from his sentences most sweet and calm, 
 
 Did ever flow, like unto floods of balm, 
 
 In such transcendant streams, by all renown'd, 
 
 That he as with a garland is now crown'd : 
 
 So that the glistring wings of lasting fame 
 
 Shall to all ages eternize his name ; 
 
 Like to a blazing star, throughout Scotland. 
 
 While sun and moon in firmament do stand. 
 
 May heavens preserve, to's hopeful progeny, 
 
 An equal measure o's zeal and piety. 
 
 LXXXIII. 
 
 t!)t ntfatr enough to to lanmrtrtr 
 13* atf) of tij* mud) ijonorrtr Hortor 
 
 parteir ttjts Itfc t!)* 230 
 of rtofcer 1713. 
 
 The following character of Pitcairn is from the pen of the author of 
 the History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland : _ " He 
 was the most celebrated physitian in Scotland this age, and certainly 
 a im.n of great skill, and nou of long experience. I am told he still 
 spent three or four hours every morning in reading and writing, 
 and some people talk that every day he did read a portion of the 
 Scripture, though it seems he made ill use of it. He was a pro- 
 fessed Deist, and by many alledged to be ane Atheist, though he has 
 
198 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 frequently professed his belife of a God, and said he could not 
 deny a Providence. However, he was a great mocker at religion, 
 and ridiculer of it. He keeped noe public society for worship, and 
 on the Sabbath had his sett meetings for ridiculing of the Scriptures 
 and sermons. He was a good humanist, and very curious in his 
 choice of books and library. He gote a vast income, but spent it 
 upon drinking, and was twice drunk every day. He was a sort of a 
 poet. There goes a story of ane apparition he had frequently, 
 which he ouned. He dyed not very rich ; and for some years he 
 was much declined in his business and health. Some say he had 
 remorse at his death, but others that he continued to mock at reli- 
 gion and all that is seriouse. He was a Jacobite, violent ; and was 
 consulted anent the Pretender's health. He was a man of great 
 learning, and was sometime Professour at Leyden, and till of late 
 keeped a great correspondence with learned men abroad. " Ana- 
 lecta, Vol. II, p. 255. 
 
 The malice appearing on the face of this paragraph is palpable enough. 
 Pitcairn was an adherent of the dethroned family. Wodrow was a 
 supporter of the reigning one. The former was an Episcopalian, 
 the latter a Presbyterian ; hence the charge of Deism, and insinua- 
 tion of Atheism. Pitcairn was a wit, Wodrow any thing but one ; 
 the physician was sprightly and playful, the clergyman dull and 
 
 Wodrow's Analecta have been presented to the Maitland Club by its 
 munificent and amiable president, the Earl of Glasgow, and a more 
 desirable contribution could hardly be found ; although Wodrow was 
 a poor creature, the minuteness with which he chronicled every 
 atom of intelligence, whether true or false, has, from the paucity 
 of authentic information, conferred an interest on the collection it 
 otherwise would not have possessed. Strange to say, this venerable 
 
 twaddler, and partial compiler historian he cannot be called, has 
 
 been recently selected, to dignify with his veracious name one of 
 the northern book clubs. 
 
 Dr. Pitcairn's daughter Janet married Alexander, fifth Earl of Kellie,* 
 and was mother of the sixth and seventh Earls; she died at Drum- 
 
 " We hear that on Tuesday last, October 12, 1731, the Right Ho- 
 nourable the Earl of Kelly was married to Miss Janet Pitcairn, 
 daughter of the late learned and celebrated physician, and ornament 
 to our country, Dr. Archibald Pitcairn." Cal. Mercury. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 199 
 
 sheugh 7th June 1775. He had another daughter, Betty. In one 
 of the volumes of broadsides belonging to the Faculty of Advocates, 
 there is an elegy upon the death of James the 7th, and on the back 
 occurs the following lines in manuscript, with an explanation : 
 " A blithe cantie prize of sexteen years of age, 
 Did gett the picture of THINK MIGHTIE SAGE." 
 
 " Think Mightie Sage 1 ' is Robert Calder's Anagrame for King James 
 the Eighth, whose picture, finely sew'd by Dr. Urquhart's daughter, 
 was rafled, and gain'd by Dr. Pitcairn's daughter Betty, whom Calder 
 calls " a blithe cantie prize,'' or the Anagrame for Elizabeth Pit- 
 cairn." 
 
 Pitcairn left no surviving male descendants : his heir of line, thro* the 
 Countess of Kelly, is Sir Ralph Anstruther, of Balcaskie, Bart. 
 
 Lord Hailes thought very highly of Pitcairn's Latin poems. A collec- 
 tion of his literary remains would be a valuable accession to the 
 stores of Scotish literature. 
 
 Let muses mourn, and Physicians condole 
 
 The loss of him whom neither could controle, 
 
 In skilfulness of sciences and arts, 
 
 Because he was the scilfulest in these parts ; 
 
 Yea, from his youth he every day encreas'd 
 
 By's great experience in Physick tread : 
 
 But now alace he is from us gone, 
 
 Who was the greatest in our Caledon. 
 
 For every thing that might him qualifie 
 
 Both for physick, verse, or chymistrie : 
 
 Whate're the vulgar say, he was expert, 
 
 In all those sciences makes men perfect, 
 
 Both for this life, and that which is to come ; 
 
 Where he doth rest until the day of dome. 
 
 His liberalise he had unto all trades j 
 
 Should move them to condole, that he now fades 
 
 Who by his counsel and his care supported 
 
 Them in their straits, and nought from them extorted. 
 
 The poor ought likewise weep, he did supplie 
 
 In greatest time of their extremitie : 
 
200 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Wherefore his soul no doubt in Heaven doih rest, 
 In Abraham's bosom with other Saints most blest. 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 Here now he lyes, whom all now prize 
 For's wisdome, and those parts, 
 
 Are requestit to sympathie 
 Those are of loyal hearts. 
 
 LXXXIV. 
 
 te morte 
 fcattri ittatntt Seotu 
 
 [From the original in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates.] 
 
 Quando prisca fides, omnes et Apollinis artes 
 
 PITCABNO invenient, mi Volusene, parem ? 
 
 Cui fuit incoctum generoso pectus honesto, 
 
 Quod solum credo posse placere Deis. 
 
 Solus in hoc aevo raris cessit amicis, 
 
 Quos et cana fides famaque novit anus. 
 
 Ille decus secli Medicis monimenta reliquit, 
 
 Queis artem magnus discat Apollo suam. 
 
 Gens inimica Poli fremuit, nam cuncta moventem 
 
 Sternum monstrant haec monimenta Deum. 
 
 Plurima et invenit, docuitque inventa : quid illae 
 
 Ingenii vires non potuere sui ? 
 
 Quicquid habet tell us, vel picti regia co3li, 
 
 Judicio solers subdidit Ille suo. 
 
 Fas versum atque nefas, ubi tot perjuria terris 
 
 Incubuere, nemus migrat in Elysium, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 201 
 
 Quo secura quies, quo munera juris et sequi, 
 
 Fallere vel falli nescia vita manet 
 
 Maximus Huic Gramus, Makinius atque Locartus 
 
 Occurrunt. Isetis numina magna locis. 
 
 O qui complexus, O gaudia quanta fuerunt ! 
 
 Digna quidem superis gaudia digna Deis. 
 
 Felices animas ! si publica commoda spectes, 
 
 Nulla tulit tales bis duo terra Viros. 
 
 Cumque dies veniet, solio quae reddet lulum, 
 
 Ex patriam Scotis, et sua fana Deis, 
 
 Nil erit Elysiis nisi maxima gaudia campis, 
 
 Nulla remordebit bis duo cura Viros. 
 
 Da, Volusene, precor,, tua carmina, solus amicum 
 
 PITCARNUM digne tu celebrare vales. 
 
 Tu celebrare vales ilium, quern Dia Mathesis, 
 
 Et Natura Parens laudat ubique Virum. 
 
 Ille decus Phcebi, Phoebo qui digna locutus, 
 
 Attingit meritis Solis utramque domum. 
 
 Sparge pio cineri flores; quern non capit orbis, 
 
 PITCARNDM ingentem nam capit urna Virum. 
 
 Ille Salus hominum, Scotorum Gloria, major 
 
 Invidia, Medicum Gloria prima fuit. 
 
 Da Volusene, precor, tua carmina culta; Virorum 
 
 Maximum Ego parvis non tenuabo modis. 
 
202 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 LXXXV. 
 
 wttrt) to 6e lamented 
 of Commissioner lUllo, toljo 
 tregarttfr tf)is life % 2tr 
 of rtofco: 1716. 
 
 [From the Original, communicated by Mr. David Haig of the Advo- 
 cates' Library.] 
 
 Kello, or, as he was sometimes called, Cayley, was shot by a Mrs. 
 Macfarlane, the cause is altogether unknown, the particulars of 
 the murder will be found in the Appendix. The lady's escape and 
 concealment furnished Sir Walter Scott with an incident in Peveril 
 of the Peak. 
 
 Abimalech a champion bold and stout 
 Had by a woman all his brains dash'd out, 
 Th' ambitious youth did at a Crown aspire, 
 And thought to have the Castle set on fire, 
 But as he racklesly approach'd the door, 
 A woman who perhaps might be a whore, 
 A peice of milston droped ov'r the wall, 
 Which by mischance upon his pate did fall ; 
 Whereby the case of his proud brains was crushed, 
 His excit made, and usurpation hush'd. 
 
 And Sisera a man of great renown, 
 Who on the ground to sleep had laid him down, 
 Was by a female nailed to the ground, 
 And he a corps soon afterwards was found. 
 
 And Olifernus in am'rous fit, 
 His heart and life to Judeth did commit, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 203 
 
 'But he regardless of his life him slew, 
 And with a shabre off his head did hew. 
 
 These three great heros we have nam'd before, 
 With sev'ral others we might mention more, 
 By female hands dispatched were and slain, 
 Therefore let none impute it as a stain, 
 Unto the honoured Defunct that he fell 
 By female hands as some are pleased to tell, 
 Since many heros of first rate or size, 
 By woman have been slaughter'd by surprise ; 
 But let us all lament the honour'd squair, 
 Who by mischance fell in th' unhappy snare, 
 And was of life at unawars depriv'd, 
 Whether by chance or by a plot contriv'd ; 
 The caution's good, let every one take care 
 T' avoid the danger of the fatal snare. 
 He that in vertue's path abideth closs, 
 Can never be surpriz'd or put to loss ; 
 For tho' to dangers he may be expos'd, 
 And ev'n in midst of dangers throng inclos'd, 
 Nay, vanquished, or ev'n depriv'd of life, 
 Shot with a pistol, or stab'd with a knife, 
 His exite is not fatal, vertue will 
 Through death and dangers great support him still ; 
 From dismal accidents none can pretend 
 T' affirm, the patient made a fatal end ; 
 For vertuous men have oft been snatch'd away 
 By death, in several shapes surprisingly : 
 As doth the wicked, so the just oft fall 
 By sudden death, terrible to all. 
 
204 8COTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 LXXXVI. 
 
 to 6t lamented 3i*atf) of 
 tfje wttrt) IjottottttO Sir 
 Uttrtel of t^at 
 
 [From an Original Broadside, communicated by Mr. David Haig of 
 the Advocates' Library.] 
 
 The exact period of the demise of Sir John Riddell has not been 
 ascertained. He was alive in 1699, as he then married his fourth 
 wife, Margaret Hepburn, Lady Rosehill j but he must have been 
 dead in the year 1713, as his son Walter had then succeeded to his 
 title and estate. One of Sir John's wives was a daughter of the 
 laird of Swinton. The brother, Aichibald, was ancestor of the 
 Riddells of Granton. From him is descended John Riddell, Esq. 
 Advocate, whose learned and able works on the Peerage, and other 
 subjects, legal and historical, have deservedly attracted so much at- 
 tention. 
 
 Ah cruel death ! it's time to give it o'er : 
 
 Now Charon's boat is fraughted with such store. 
 
 Of ponderous souls, scarce it can contain, 
 
 Without a rupture, a more numerous train ; 
 
 So many in the evening of this age 
 
 Fall sacrifices to thy boundless rage. 
 
 If thou continue, thy empire may be 
 
 Confin'd to this declining century ; 
 
 Here's one was crown d with honour and with years, 
 
 And slain by thee, did mount the higher spheres. 
 
 And in spight of thy cruelty dotli claim, 
 
 The laurels of a never fading fame, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 205 
 
 It doth surpass, our Herauldrie to trace, 
 
 Th' antiquity and grandure of his race.* 
 
 It may suffice, he was chief of the name 
 
 Of Riddel, and so ancient was his stem, 
 
 And honourable, scarce its parellel 
 
 Is to be found, sure, none doth it excell. 
 
 And both his comely face and symmetrie 
 
 Most square, were suited to his pedegree, 
 
 And both his soul and all his actions were 
 
 Of the same size, most rare, and regulare. 
 
 He had a noble soul ; he did surpass, 
 
 The most of gentlemen in sence and grace, 
 
 And in facetiousness, but there were none, 
 
 In Caledonia, who had more renown 
 
 For charity to all, and tenderness 
 
 Towards his vassals, when e're in distress, 
 
 For constant uprightness, and above all, 
 
 For a most stedfast and tenacious zeal, 
 
 What tho' his zeal was groundless, and his creed, 
 
 Holy intention hallows still the dead ; 
 
 This 'cording to his motto, Hope to Share, 
 
 Made him to Foreign Nations to retire. 
 
 And now to share in all the glory gained, 
 
 For keeping still his conscience unstain'd, 
 
 An harvest is adjusted to his hope, 
 
 That infinitly surmounts each earthly crop. 
 
 Rye-Dale, and Whitton, sure, are of low price, 
 
 Compared with the Heav nly Paradise. 
 
 Heav'ns had already bless'd him upon earth, 
 
 With those and ladies four, of noted worth, 
 
 And with a numerous and admired race. 
 
 (Which length of time, I hope, shall nev'r efface) 
 
 And after death do bless him with a share 
 
 Of Pleasures that are endless and sincere. 
 
 * The family of Ridclell is one of the most ancient in Scotland. 
 
206 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 LXXXVII. 
 
 tlje IBeafl) of tfje 
 
 iEarl of Cromartg, Hovtr 
 
 life 27fl) August I7i4,a5ottt 
 % 90tl> gear of i)ts age. 
 
 [From a Broadside communicated by Mr. David Haig of the 
 Advocates' Library. J 
 
 Sir George M'Kenzie, the first Earl of Cromarty, was one of the most 
 versatile statesmen of the versatile period in which he lived. He 
 was originally a Lord of Session under the title of Lord Tarhat, but 
 was deprived of his office on the 16th February 1664 in conse- 
 quence of his interference in the matter of billeting, by which an 
 attempt was made to exclude the all powerful Lauderdale from 
 further political domination. Years elapsed before he could pacify 
 that influential statesman ; he was at last successful, and was ap- 
 pointed Lord Justice-General on the 16th October 1678, and on 
 the llth November following he was admitted a Privy Councillor. 
 After this his rise was rapid. He received a Viscounty from James 
 II, and, 1st January 1703, an Earldom from Queen Anne. 
 
 His Lordship is accused, whilst holding the office of Lord Register, 
 of falsifying the minutes of Parliament ; a charge not improbable, 
 considering that he was not troubled with many scruples of con- 
 science, although the author of a religious treatise. 
 
 He was a writer of some celebrity in his day but is now chiefly 
 known to Scotish antiquaries by his treatise on the Gowry Con- 
 spiracy, Edinburgh, 1713, 8vo, in which he adopts the side of 
 King James. He appears to have had in his possession the alleged 
 mysterious papers found on the body of Lord Gowry. What sub- 
 sequently became of them is unknown : they may yet lurk in some 
 charter-chest, perhaps that of Royston, now the property of the Duke 
 of Buccleuch and Queensberry. Lord Cromarty describes them as 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 207 
 
 consisting of ' two sheets, stichit in a bible book of near five inches 
 long, and three broad ; full of magical spells and characters, which 
 none can understand, but those who exercise that art." 
 
 Mourn all ye loyalists in Britain's isle, 
 
 Since he is gone who was for a long while . 
 
 A true supporter both of Church and State, 
 
 In prosperous and likewise adverse fate, 
 
 This great Appollo of our Isle is dead, 
 
 Therefore ye ought put on your sable weed : 
 
 His eyes from which ye borrowed so much light. 
 
 Death has at last shut up in darksome night, 
 
 He who in every science was well known, 
 
 In other coun treys as well as his own ; 
 
 Did to the world every where impart, 
 
 Freely his skill of many noble art, 
 
 No pincill can draw nor any coullour paint. 
 
 Those perfections his genius did present, 
 
 In him were all the parts of learning seen, 
 
 And all the knowledge mortals can attain, 
 
 Like Roman Maro lofty were his strains, 
 
 Easie like Ovid, he flow'd without great pains, 
 
 He all the beauties of their toung could tell, 
 
 In all their ways of speaking did excell, 
 
 He by his skill still new discoverie show'd 
 
 And how to improve them all his strength bestow'd, 
 
 For which the world ought to his memory give, 
 
 Long lasting praise that's name and fame may live, 
 
 Who to his pow'r was even Scotland's friend ; 
 
 And always strove its libertys to defend, 
 
 Proving a patron always unto all ; 
 
 To do the same whither great or small, 
 
 His principells were of the priinseve age, 
 
 Which he did contribut whilst on this stage, 
 
208 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 In short by his our reaching, solid mind, 
 All arts and sciences were well defin'd. 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 ! 
 
 Into this tomb a great one is enshrin'd, 
 Who was by Heaven undoubtly design'd 
 For doing good unto the Church and nation, 
 Whilst he liv'd here according to his station, 
 Untill that death deprived us of one 
 Who was a constant friend to Britan's throne, 
 Near nintie years, who then can cease to mourn ? 
 And with some British tears bedew his urn, 
 Strangers then drop, as you pass by, a tear, 
 Because the world his worth did much admire. 
 
 LXXXVIII 
 
 lawenteO Utatf) of 
 3&tjjl)t ^onottratto JfoJm J&urrag, 
 3Lor BofoJjill, ow of fyt Senators 
 of flje eolleg* of Ifttstw, tofjo 
 trepartetf ttn's lift upon 
 
 John Murray was the second son of Sir John Murray of Philiphaugh, 
 and Ann, daughter of Sir Archibald Douglas of Cavers. He was 
 admitted Advocate 4th February 1688, and elected Member for Sel- 
 kirk in the Scotish Parliament from 1703 to 1707. He, after the 
 Union, was sent to the British Parliament as Member for that 
 county. He was appointed a Lord of Session in place of Lord 
 Crosrig, and took his seat 7th of June 1707 ; and on the resigna- 
 tion of Lord Fountainhall, obtained that Judge's Justiciary gown, 
 1st June 1709. See Haig's Senators of the College of Justice, p. 485. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 209 
 
 O ! thou my muse, that's now bedew'd with tears, 
 
 Sob thou dire sighs, pierce Adamantine ears : 
 
 For darlings of the muses now do mourn ; 
 
 Their sable weeds with tears, they all adorn. 
 
 Why ? pale fac'd death, on his wing'd steed did fly 
 
 From the utter-gate of Eternity ? 
 
 And hath our Senate-house bereav'd, of one, 
 
 Who, for his vertue, might have fill'd a throne : 
 
 Judicious, great, and pious Lord BOWHILL : 
 
 His empty seat, upon the bench to fill 
 
 Scarce any of our wits he's left behind, 
 
 With such judicious, and a pious mind. 
 
 O ! Senators, who sable- weeds put on, 
 
 BOWHILL has scal'd the heavens to a throne ; 
 
 And trumpets forth the Mediator's praise ; 
 
 Where angels flee about, delight to gaze. 
 
 Who did pronounce pointed decreets 'mongst you, 
 
 With open face the Deity doth view, 
 
 Justice doth cry, while equity doth moan, 
 
 Of all my sons BOWHILL'S my only one ; 
 
 Who thro' the fogs, and mists rais'd at the law, 
 
 The equal cause, in justice always saw ; 
 
 And angell-like, who wisely cou'd repell 
 
 Quirks of the law, foam'd up in Bacchus-cell. 
 
 The sons of Levi cause thus Pulpits groan, 
 
 While for the loss of thee BOWHILL, they moan : 
 
 (No wonder ; for he, amongst great and small, 
 
 Jure Divino Presbyt'ry did call ) 
 
 The Acts of Parliament, beyond the pole 
 
 Did fill his heart, and his sublimer soul ! 
 
 And so, he always lov'd to punish crimes, 
 
 In these profane, degenerating times. 
 
 He caus'd Hell's brats find stroak of Justice hand, 
 
 When they impanell'd for their crimes did stand. 
 
210 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 The poor, whom he supprrted, now do mourn, 
 While friends prepare his body for its urn. 
 
 J oys on nimble wings, have taken flight ; 
 
 O now Cimmerian darkness vails our night. 
 
 H ow can heroick vertue joys have ? 
 
 N one like him now ! tho' he must down to grave. 
 
 M ay heavens fill his empty seat below, 
 
 U ntill Rome's cursed strength no pow'r can show. 
 
 R ight reason in his civil orb did move : 
 
 R eligion waft him to a seat above, 
 
 A nd all who live within our hemisphere, 
 
 Y e may bedew your eyes, and drop a tear. 
 
 LXXXIX. 
 
 n tlje tmid) to 6* lamentrtr Statf) of tyt 
 
 of Saltsiwrg, totjo 
 
 life 
 , in 
 gear of 
 
 [From a Broadside in the Fountainhall Collection, now in the Advo- 
 cates' Library.] 
 
 His Lordship has been praised or censured according to the political 
 creed of the critic, the usual, and perhaps proper, fate of all violent 
 partizans. He was alleged to have been desirous of altering 
 the Episcopal ritual, and this assertion is supported by a very 
 curious passage in the Analecta of the old twaddler Wodrow, if 
 his authority can be relied on. Vol. II, p. 320. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Here is a loss to Church, State, and to all, 
 
 When such tall cedars and strong oaks do fall ; 
 
 When fathers smitten are, children may fear, 
 
 That dismal stroaks apparently draw near ; 
 
 Yea here behold a general loss is come, 
 
 When Reverend Gilbert Burnet is call'd home. 
 
 He early did begin truth to defend, 
 
 And so continued till his life did end, 
 
 When any did against the same contend. 
 
 Of all his churches his care was still great, 
 
 And bear much charges out of his own estate, 
 
 That by his labour they much good might gain, 
 
 And have no cause against him to complain. 
 
 His conversation grave and full of grace, 
 
 To all men harmless in whatever place. 
 
 His worthy writing he hath left behind, 
 
 Which gave much light to those that are yet blind. 
 
 For peace with all men he did still desire, 
 
 As far as might keep truth pure and entire ; 
 
 A faithful minister of Christ our Lord, 
 
 With diligence still labouring in God's word, 
 
 Which were the weapons he did use, whereby 
 
 Truth might defended be and verity. 
 
 He oft obtained, though some ill men design'd 
 
 Against him, that they might occasion find 
 
 Him to accuse, altho' his works were pure, 
 
 Which to all ages ever shall endure. 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 Under this tomb good Gilbert Burnet lies, 
 The death of whom makes many weeping eyes. 
 He laboured hard, and now his work is done, 
 That he may rest till resurrection. 
 
212 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 When he shall rise, and with all saints ascend, 
 To be with Christ world without end, 
 Singing still praise to God for ever more, 
 And to the Trinity glory therefore. 
 
 1 
 
 XC. 
 
 fyt neber enough to fie lamented 
 Beat!) of flje iSarl of ^orgtrfjar, fofjo 
 trepartefc tl)ts life lietemfier tfje 
 
 gear of !)te 
 
 [From the Original, communicated by Mr. David Haig of the Advo- 
 cates' Library.] 
 
 In the first volume of the Analecta Scotica, Edin. Stevenson, 1834, 
 p. 193. 8vo. will be found some interesting particulars relative to 
 the death of Lord Forfar, who died of wounds received at the battle 
 of Sheriffmuir. 
 
 Ah ! Scotland, Ah ! why are thy muses dumb ? 
 Is there no Poet in thee can move his tongue ? 
 In melancholy matter to bemoan 
 The sad surprising woes of Albion, 
 On woe upon another back doth roll, 
 Utter distruction without controll ; 
 Seems Scotland to invaid, nay over spread, 
 And under foot our greatest pleasures trade ; 
 Ye mournful muses, all come join with me, 
 Assist me in my mournful melody ; 
 Homer awake, here's matter for thy pen, 
 Mournfull Melpomeny, assistance lend, 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 213 
 
 But if with grief so sure your hearts doth swell, 
 
 As thoughts can't conceave, nor tongue can tell, 
 
 Then let your wat'ry eyes as fountains flow, 
 
 Griv'd hearts half broken have been eased so, 
 
 Thus being eased, in one join hand in hand, 
 
 Lament the sad disasters of our land, 
 
 A dismal cloud o'respreads our horrizion, 
 
 Forquhar, that princely hopefull youth is gone, 
 
 A youth who's wisdom, valour loyalty, 
 
 Shall famous make him to posterity, 
 
 A hopefull youth, dearly beloved by all, 
 
 Save a rebellious crew, who into thrall 
 
 Would have the land involved (whilst Forquhar brave, 
 
 Ere they prevail, doth chuse to dig his grave,) 
 
 Weep tears of blood, ye Rebels, when ye hear 
 
 The nation's loss of this quit cut off Peer. 
 
 Not by mischance of shot alone, but by 
 
 Your cruel aim'd at stroaks, whilst manfully, 
 
 For King and Countrys' cause he stands it out 
 
 And conqu'ring dies in giving you the rout. 
 
 Poor Scotland's cause is still your cry and boast 
 
 Whilst by your cruel hand Scotland hath lost 
 
 A pillar whereof she of late could boast. 
 
 Is righteous Able murder'd 'cause his good, 
 
 GOD shall revenge the cause his sakeless blood 
 
 Shall be requir'd at a curst Cain's hand ; 
 
 A fugitive he's be in forraign lands, 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 Here lyes a Princely Peer a Douglas bold, 
 Sprung of that root, which present and of old 
 Still is and hath been valiant in our land, 
 Yet who is able Death for to withstand. 
 
214 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 May GOD preserve the princely Douglas left, 
 Least Scotland of its darling be bereft. 
 
 XCL j 
 
 sa^on tf)e ocmlrtng mud) to 6* lamented 
 
 I3tttci)*s0 of ^awtlton, 
 t$ts life t|it I6tf) of rtoiw 1716, 
 in ti)* 86fl) gtar of Jjer age. 
 
 [Communicated by Mr. David Haig.] 
 
 This lady was the eldest surviving daughter of James first Dake of 
 Hamilton, and was born about the year 1636, (Anderson's Memoirs 
 of House of Hamilton, p. 147.) She was Duchess of Hamilton in 
 her own right, but upon her marriage with Lord William Douglas, 
 he was created Duke of Hamilton for life, 12th October 1660. Her 
 Grace resigned her titles in the hands of King William, 9th August 
 1696, in favour of her son, who became Duke of Hamilton, with the 
 original precedency. He, as is well known, was killed unfortunate- 
 ly in a duel with Lord Mohun. 
 
 This noble Princess of immortal fame, 
 An ornament unto the Christian name ; 
 More vertues than we're able to express, 
 By constellations did her breast possess ; 
 Unbyass'd zeal, and decent modesty, 
 Prudence, patience, love and charity ; 
 Nay, spotless charity and fortitude. 
 Humility, and ev'ry thing that's good, 
 Adorn'd this most illustrious Princess's mind, 
 And in her nothing that is bad we find : 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 215 
 
 No dusk of vice her heavenly breath did taint, 
 Or passion unbecoming any Saint. 
 The main character of a Saint we find, 
 Illustrously shine in her noble mind ; 
 Ev'n charity in an extended sense, 
 In suff'ring long an unprovok'd offence, 
 Construing well of actions done amiss, 
 And lib'ral bounty to all in distress, 
 The widows, orphants, poor, and fatherless, 
 Her Grace's hand found ope for their relief, 
 And all she could, did to ass wage their grief. 
 With all afflicted she did sympathize, 
 And from her hand they always found supplies ; 
 Heav'n blest her with a talent, and she did 
 Improve the same, and not her talent hid ; 
 Much earthly wealth this Princess did possess, 
 But share therein had all the fatherless 
 As she had access, and their case did know, 
 No needy soul did from her empty go. 
 She cloath'd the naked., and the hungry fed, 
 And made the hearts of helpless orphants glad. 
 And as the needy now adays are throng, 
 Heav'n for their sakes her life preserved long ; 
 Even much beyond the common term of years 
 That others live, leaving the world in tears, 
 At least so much thereof as knew her Grace, 
 And shar'd her bounty near her dwelling place, 
 That to them she some comfort might afford; 
 But at the last, it now has pleas'd the LORD, 
 To take her home unto his place of glore, 
 Loaded with blessings of the starving poor, 
 Who in this world can have her help no more, 
 This debt to nature all of us must pay, 
 And therefore ought prepare for such a day, 
 
2J6 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 When earthly comforts can no comfort yield, 
 Nor be against the darts of death a shield : 
 Let us lament this Princess' loss, and strive, 
 That where she is we may at last arrive 
 To heav'nly mansions, and eternal joy^, 
 Where nothing doth disturb, nor cause anoy. 
 
 XCII. 
 
 tyt mtuf) to to lamented teat!) of 
 . CHfjarfes Utmfcwft, Captain 
 of fl>e ettg ffittarS of iEOin= 
 tMrgf), &c, toljo Qtca tl)t 
 3i8t of ttofier 1717. 
 
 [From a Broadside belonging to Mr. David Haig.] 
 
 As the Town-Guard was formed in 1696, (See Kay's Edinburgh Por- 
 traits, Vol. II, p. 185,) it is not improbable that Dunbreck was the 
 first Captain : the last Captain, Mr. James Burnet, died on the 24th 
 August 1814. 
 
 In the Pennicuik MS. there is an Epitaph on " Captain John- 
 ston, Commander of the City Guard of Edinburgh, a gentleman of 
 monstrous bulk," which commences thus : 
 
 " Death, to provyde the wormes an good Yule dinner, 
 Barrels the beef of a gigantic sinner ; 
 Of such a monstrous size, his flesh and blood 
 Would serve ten cannibals a year for food." 
 
 It ends, 
 
 " Oh death hath cut thee down with cruel rage, 
 And kill'd the greatest captain of the age." 
 
 What means the warlike Mars thus to appear, 
 And all Bellona's train surpriz'd with fear. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 217 
 
 For sword and helmet banners all displa/d, 
 In wonted brav'ry visages afraid. 
 
 And melancholly looks loudly declare 
 How deeply in this Hero's fate they share. 
 
 Just cause of grief ; their valiant champion's gone, 
 The valiant Captain DUNBRECK alone. 
 
 Who understood, and practis'd in the field, 
 And never knew at any time to yield. 
 
 Besides his skill in militar affairs, 
 
 His conduct and his vertue both declares. 
 
 Th' inherent grandeur of his ancient race, 
 Whom probity and virtues rare do grace. 
 
 Valour and goodness may unite together ; 
 The one's not inconsistent with the other. 
 
 As did the Captain in his conduct shew, 
 To all who half of his conduct knew. 
 
 Kind Comerad, true friend, and all his life, 
 The best of husbands to a loving wife ; 
 
 With whom in peace he liv'd, in love did dy, 
 And is lamented universally. 
 
 Captain DUNBRECK in fame's record shall live, 
 
 Whilst springs their streams, and rocks their stones do give. 
 
218 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XCIII. 
 
 tf>e treaty of i^t. SSranS, StttOent of 
 in ti>e Janibersitg of 
 
 , to!)o trqpartrtr 
 tijis life on t!je lot!) 
 limmfcer 1717, 
 in fl>e I7t!) 
 gear of 
 
 By J. C. one of his Fellow Students. 
 
 The initial, J. C. may perhaps stand lor John Callander of Craigforth, 
 afterwards a well known Scotish antiquary, and who in his early 
 years was a wooer of the muses. His poem on the Powers of Har- 
 mony, originally printed in 1762, and afterwards reprinted in 1788, 
 has been much admired. 
 
 Brand was probably a son of Sir Alexander Brand of Brandsfield, 
 Knight, a curious notice of whom occurs in the St. James' Evening 
 Post, 14th September 1725. It is there stated, that he was one of 
 the principal persons who erected the statue of King Charles in 
 the Parliament Square, ** and he humbly proposes to erect that of 
 his Most]Sacred Majesty, King George, and the young Prince, 
 William Augustus, at his own charge, for a decoration to a canal, 
 he designs to supply the King's Palace and the suburbs of that city 
 with fresh water, and for keeping it sweet and clean, a work 
 opposed by none of that kingdom.'' He was a keen Hanoverian, 
 and as he says, in his verses to the Prince of Wales, on the anni- 
 versary of his birth-day, 1st March 1725, exposed himself to the 
 anger of a " Jacobitish Lady," at a masquerade, where, as a harle- 
 quin, he danced, by singiug, on drinking the King's health, the 
 following : 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 219 
 
 CHANSON A BOIRE. 
 A la sante de Roy, Bacchu, 
 A la sante de Roy, Bacchu, 
 J' atten le cu de verre, 
 
 Tering, Ting, Ting, Tering, Ting, Ting. 
 
 As he was a major at the Revolution, he must have been rather an 
 f.ged Harlequin. 
 
 Must natures vast profusion be in vain ? 
 So soon must BRAND return to dust again, 
 How sudden are our choicest hopes beguil'd 
 He ne'er grows old who scorns to be a child. 
 'Tis fatal to be ripe before the time, 
 Tho' great indeed to shew so quick a prime. 
 
 In BRAND both art and nature did unite 
 
 To make him lov'd, and render him complete ; 
 
 More moderate gifts might have prolonged his date. 
 
 Youth could no greater qualities bestow, 
 
 Nor rip'ned age more full perfection show. 
 
 Mature for heav'n, he shun'd a dull delay, 
 
 Leapt o'er old age, and took the shortest way. 
 
 So shoots some generous plant his youthful head, 
 With kindly show'rs and heavens indulgence fed : 
 His prosperous growth declares that he's designed 
 By nature to excell his neighbouring kind ; 
 But thro' abounding early Vigour weak, 
 The body bends, the loaded tendrils break ; 
 He sheds his blooming honours all around, 
 And sinks with fatal plenty to the ground. 
 
220 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 XCIV. 
 
 an& lEnod), & HJt^lostte on 
 tyt iD*at!) of tyt iltQftt 
 , latt llottr 
 of 
 
 [From a copy formerly belonging to Bishop Jolly, and now in the 
 Diocesan Library, Edinburgh.] 
 
 Some account of this worthy Bishop will be found in the Appendix, 
 extracted from the funeral sermon preached on his demise, and 
 printed at Edinburgh 1720. 12mo. 
 
 Ellas. Enough, my soul, let's quit this cool retreat, 
 Of contemplation the delightful seat : 
 Let's hasten to the Court, and join the quire, 
 That sweetly raise the voice or tune the lyre ; 
 The crowded hall and solitary grove 
 Of my transported mind th' alternate pleasure prove. 
 But lo ! Good Enoch hither bends his pace ; 
 And more than common gladness guilds his face. 
 
 Enoch. The pleasing rapture of your breast 
 Sits on the tincture of your cheeks confest, 
 Has some rich griping Usurer, when old, 
 Made restitution of his ill-got gold ; 
 Or Atheist turn'd devout with dying breath, 
 And sav'd his soul in the article of death, 
 From whence soe'er your joyful wonder flows, 
 Be pleas'd the grateful secret to disclose. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 221 
 
 Enoch. To make th' agreeable, desir'd report, 
 With willing speed I left th' Olympick Court. 
 With humble gratitude I call to mind, 
 How that my self, the first of human kind, 
 Without submitting to the laws of fate, 
 God to these blisful regions did translate. 
 Next you from Jordan's flowry banks was torn, 
 And hither in a flaming chariot born. 
 Not more amazement fill'd th' ^therial climes, 
 Nor joy, at either of those happy times, 
 Than Rose by's strange arrival has imprest 
 On ev'ry sympathetic heavenly breast. 
 Without one single guardian angel's aid, 
 He hath himself alone the journey made. 
 Satan in vain endeavour'd to controul 
 The rapid motion of the sprightly soul : 
 Swifter than blast of wind or beam of light, 
 It left the lagging devil out o' sight. 
 
 Ettas. Where were those bright inhabitants of heaven, 
 To whom departed Saints in Charge are giv'n, 
 That hover round the pious sick-man's bed, 
 And when the soul's out of the body fled, 
 Forthwith receive it on their azure wing, 
 And waft t* immortal bliss the little eager thing ? 
 
 Enoch. Not the least sign of his approaching fate, 
 Had giv'n them warning on their charge to wait. 
 In perfect health, the good old man had gone ; 
 To visit a sick brother of his own ; 
 And, as he breath'd his vows in ardent prayer, 
 And curling incense cleav'd the yielding air, 
 His soul all of a sudden mounts the skies, 
 Amidst the fragrant steams of its own sacrifice. 
 
222 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Elias. Most pleasant is th' adventure you relate, 
 Nor less amazing than our common fate. 
 Say, what bright beauties deck'd that soul's fair face, 
 Which heav'n was pleas'd with such a boon to grace ? 
 Who can God's goodness worthily proclaim ! 
 He first gives merit, then rewards the same. 
 
 Enoch. Heav'n seem'd to take unspeakable delight, 
 In show'ring blessings on this favourite. 
 I mention not those virtues, one may find, 
 Less eminent, in others of his kind : 
 Such as the sweet resentments that inspire 
 Th' indulgent husband, and the gentle sire ; 
 Nor that majestick sweetness, that could move 
 At once our veneration, and our love ; 
 Nor those peculiar talents he displaid, 
 E'er Scotland's Sion was in rubbish laid ; 
 When Perth, St. Andrews, Glasgow, spoke his fame, 
 And Elgin and Edinum blest his name. 
 
 'Twas ardent love to God, and Charity 
 Towards the most invet'rate enemy ; 
 A just abhorrence of successful crimes, 
 And steadiness to truth in dismal times ; 
 The most submissive resignation still 
 To the disposal of Jehovah's will : 
 'Twas by such noble qualities he gain'd, 
 And in the love divine above each rival reign'd. 
 
 But still devotion in his soul bore sway, 
 And for the brisk excursion pav'd the way. 
 For, as the blest, incessant exercise 
 Of rapturM angels in devotion lies ; 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 223 
 
 So by it's aid, he, more than human grown, 
 Had in th' angelick nature lost his own. 
 And let's suppose an angel t' animate 
 Some human creature's body, after fate ; 
 As that frail union would dissolve with ease, 
 Without a sudden wound, or slow disease : 
 So did the venerable Rose expire, 
 And to his native skies with joy retire. 
 Now he's immers'd in pleasures all divine, 
 And wreaths of glory round his temples twine. 
 He for a while dispens'd with th' heavenly crown, 
 And, for the church's good, deferr'd his own ; 
 But that he knew (as happen'd in your case) 
 Elisha's double spirit would take place. 
 
 Both. While pious men delight in fervent pray'r, 
 And by repentance their misdeeds repair ; 
 While heav'n is to relenting sinners kind, 
 And charitable deeds, acceptance find ; 
 While saints to virtue just applauses give, 
 So long shall Rose's name, and praise and honour live. 
 
 xcv. 
 n 
 
 , folio 
 
 13tf) f ttig 1720, 
 
 Lord Stratbnaver was the only son of the marriage between John, 19th 
 Earl of Sutherland, and Lady Helen Cochrane. His Lordship mar- 
 ried Katharine, daughter of William Morrison, Esq. of Preston- 
 
224 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Grange, by whom he had William, who succeeded his grandfather 
 in 1731, and became 20th Earl of Sutherland. He is the direct 
 ancestor of the present Duke of Sutherland, the heir of line ; but 
 the male representation of the old Earls of Sutherland is in 
 Sutherland of Forse, who, if Lord Mansfield's absurd notions as to 
 male succession in ancient Scottish Earldoms were duly carried out, 
 ought to be Earl of Sutherland. 
 
 Sing Muse (if grief allow) in softest lays, 
 Deceast Strathnaver's well deserved praise ; 
 He has so much himself, you need not trace 
 The shining glories of his ancient race ; 
 First own thyself for such a task unfit, 
 Then sing the beauties of so bright a wit ; 
 Sing his strong reason and his solid sense, 
 Finely expressed in smoothest eloquence ; 
 Sing modesty, that makes the difference 
 Betwixt mens real merit and pretence ; 
 Sing youth refined from vanity and rage, 
 Which shows that wisdom's not confin'd to age ; 
 His boundless knowledge also should be sung, 
 Which he dispens'd with an unerring tongue ; 
 Sing how from this such treasure he'd produce, 
 What could be wish'd for pleasure or for use. 
 His universal learning sing, and then, 
 How he not only studied books but men ; 
 His martial valour in a righteous cause, 
 His firm adherence to our ancient laws, 
 His open heart sing, and his gen'rous mind, 
 Just to mens virtues, to their failures blind. 
 To these you likewise justly may annex, 
 The charming sweetness of the other sex. 
 In fine, his humble piety proclaim, 
 The best ingredient to embalm his name. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 225 
 
 Consider, Muse, and name me, if you can, 
 So kind a friend, or so polite a man ; 
 His soul too great to be confin'd to clay, 
 Has broke it's prison, and has forc'd it's way. 
 Since now this wond'rous man no more does live, 
 What Reader's so hard-hearted but must grieve ! 
 What must the loss be to the world, if all 
 That has been nam'd, unto the dust should fall ! 
 But this of comfort does some prospect give, 
 He leaves a hopeful Representative ; 
 We see each of these noble qualities 
 Grow in the son, that in the father dies. 
 May heav'n on him his father's gifts entail, 
 May no disease, but old age make them fail. 
 
 XCVI. 
 
 nrtet cnougi) to to lamcntctr 
 a* afl) of tl)at T7ertttotts 
 t!)g Gentleman 
 
 Ovummona* 
 
 temfinr 26, 1720. 
 
 [Communicated by Mr. David Haig.] 
 
 Of Captain Drummond, the editor has been unable to obtain any in- 
 formation. He perhaps was related to George Drummond, Lord 
 Provost of Edinburgh, one of the few civic rulers of whom the 
 metropolis has reason to be proud. 
 
 How frail, how vain, momentainous man ? 
 His life a vapour, longest years a span. 
 
226 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 No birth, health, wealth, strength, nor age, 
 
 The grave's devouring hunger can asswage. 
 
 And tho' kind heaven upon him did bestow 
 
 Good store of blessings, that are here below, 
 
 He always carried in such equal tide, r 
 
 No worldly riches made him swell with pride, 
 
 Yet still the poor in time of need did find 
 
 True tockens of his charitable mind : 
 
 When that their cry did reach his ear, 
 
 He for their help was soon astire. 
 
 To Town and Council then he would apply, 
 
 And used all means for their recovery. 
 
 For he was ever full of clemency, 
 
 The poor, yea rich talk of his charity : 
 
 When others had confin'd them in his hand, 
 
 For their relief he boldly up did stand : 
 
 So if he could their liberty procure, 
 
 For bis own dues they would not stay an hour. 
 
 His soul too great to be confin'd to clay, 
 
 Has broke its prison, and has forc'd its way. 
 
 Since now this worthy man no more does live, 
 
 What readers so hard-hearted but must grieve ? 
 
 What must the loss be to the world, if all, 
 
 That has been named, unto the dust should fall ?* 
 
 To say no more this well affirm I can, 
 
 He was an honest-hearted gentleman. t 
 
 * From these four lines being nearly the same as four lines at the 
 end of the Elegy on Lord Strathnaver, the two productions are pro- 
 bably from the same pen, otherwise one of the " Poets " has taken 
 very unwarrantable freedom with the other. 
 
 f From one or two circumstances noticed in the elegy, Drummond 
 must have been for some time ruler either of the *' Heart of Mid- 
 Lothian," or of the corresponding Fortalice in the Canongate. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 227 
 
 XCVII. 
 
 tyt wbft-tnottgl) to to lawentrir 
 Iteafl) of % ftrtmtOr JJttr. 
 
 folio tegartrtr tfjts lite 
 30, 1720, &ge 28 
 
 [Communicated by Mr. David Haig.] 
 
 The reader will find at page 110 some notice of this amiable person, 
 prefixed to the verses on his father's memory. 
 
 O great, eternal, high and mighty One, 
 
 Who doth command all flesh before thy throne, 
 
 Not at our times, nor seasons it must be, 
 
 But when thou'art pleas'd to give the high decree. 
 
 For thou art he who on us doth bestow 
 
 All temp'ral Blessings which are here below. 
 
 And as we prize them, so thou can allow 
 
 The use of them, and take them from us too. 
 
 O Edinburgh did thou behold and see 
 Thy mighty loss, and thy great misery, 
 Thou might condole thy scarr in floods of tears, 
 But thou'art regardless, and it seems not fears 
 Such mighty blows altho they're double thrown, 
 Such weighty stroaks, that enemies must own, 
 The Church hath lost a Pillar of renown. 
 For they do own his Learning great and rare, 
 His conversations and his walking square, 
 
228 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 But who is he that can withstand the dart 
 Of this cruel tyrant, when he doth attempt 
 To give the fatal blow, 'tis sure none can 
 Withstand the mighty Conqueror of Man. 
 Not youth nor strength, no rank, yea, no degree 
 But who must subject be to his decree. 
 But happy he who from his dart is free; 
 He enjoys GOD with all felicity. 
 Now he doth sing, from all his sins he's free, 
 And he doth praise GOD to Eternity. 
 
 XCVIII. 
 
 teglorafcl* I9*at!) of flje 
 twwra6l* go!m 3lortr 
 toljo toas lost at Sea, on tl>e 
 
 iofl) of liobcwlw 1721. 
 
 [Communicated by Mr. David Haig.] 
 
 John, the third Lord Belhaven, was the son of the celebrated oppo- 
 nent of the Union, and was not a little indebted to that cir- 
 cumstance for the popularity he possessed in Scotland. Having 
 obtained the government of Barbadoes in 1721, he sailed for that 
 island on board the Royal Anne, which was wrecked on the Stag 
 Rocks, near the Lizard Point, about midnight, on the 10th Novem- 
 ber, when all on board perished, excepting two men and a boy, who 
 drifted ashore on pieces of the wreck. 
 
 This disastrous shipwreck was the subject of a ballad, now of exceed- 
 ingly rare occurrence, in which the details of the lamentable fate of 
 his Lordship are recorded with great minuteness. If we believe 
 what is said there, the wreckers made a good harvest. 
 
 " Stripping all without distinction, 
 'Twas the custom of the coast. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 229 
 
 One gentleman was drove on shore, 
 
 'Bout whom they found a thousand pound ; 
 
 Whose name's supposed to be Crosier, 
 By writing in his pocket found. 
 
 Likewise, they say, the Lord Balhaven 
 
 Having on a diamond ring; 
 His shirt, marked B, the floating ocean 
 
 Did to the land his body bring." 
 
 The Lady Anne, daughter of Andrew Bruce, a shopkeeper in Edin- 
 burgh, is described, we hope by a poetical fiction, as having gone 
 mad. 
 
 " Thus she raves, in sad distraction, 
 
 In her bed with cords she's bound ; 
 Crying night and day, my tender jewel, 
 He is in the ocean drown'd." 
 
 His Lordship, by this marriage, had four sons, John, his successor, 
 Andrew, James, and Robert. (Hamilton's Case for Hamilton of 
 Wishaw.) This elegy is " written by Mr. Penniecuik.'* 
 
 Let Scotia's sons in sable weeds appear ; 
 Sigh every soul, and drop a fun'ral tear, 
 Belhaven's gone, the gallant Scotish Peer ; 
 In doleful ditties sing his glorious name. 
 Let grones be heard, loud as his matchless fame, 
 Nature, turn'd gloomy fac'd forbears to smile, 
 All cheeks are pale, and sorrow sinks the Isle. 
 
 When his immortal sire resign'd his breath, 
 True Scotsmen felt the agonies of death ; 
 (The faithful Patriot's memory shall stand, 
 While there are men or honour in our land.) 
 Yet they mixed words of comfort with their grone 
 The Saint a relict leaves, his hopeful son ; 
 But he's gone too, where shall we comfort have, 
 Its buried with him in the watery grave. 
 
230 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Ah faithless Sea, thy cruelty deplore, 
 Rich was the Scotish cargo which you bore, 
 To waft with kindness to a foreign shore. 
 Old as thyself was the dear hero's blood, 
 Which thou extinguished with an impious flood. 
 
 Yet his surviving fame as far shall go 
 As Phcebus shines, or thy proud waves can flow. 
 Perfidious element ! must thy cold arms 
 Hold him, and wash away his blooming charms. 
 Ah traitor to thy trust, how durst you touch, 
 Him who the English court admired so much, 
 A greater loss than if you'd drown'd the Dutch. 
 Ye ships, that on the dangerous seas do run, 
 Hang out a mourning flag, and drop a gun. 
 Like lightning fly unto Barbadoes Court, 
 And tell the killing news, The great BELHAVEN'S lost, 
 That the New World may with the Old condole, 
 A skilful statesman, and a gallant soul. 
 Nor shall he want a tomb to tell his deeds, 
 To this and all the ages that succeeds : 
 His actions are engraved in ev'ry breast, 
 When brass and marble fails, his fame will last. 
 Each tongue's a trumpet, loudly to proclaim 
 His merit, and his never dying name. 
 
 ANNEXA. 
 
 Old Sathan, England's friend, our foe, 
 Contriv'd BELHAVEN'S overthrow, 
 Lest the Indians should have broke 
 England's and ta'en a Scottish yoke, 
 To Scotland only sent their pelf, 
 Thinking all Scotsmen like himself. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 231 
 
 XCIX. 
 
 % teat!) of Sit 3BaWO 
 , i&art 
 
 [Communicated by Mr. David Haig.J 
 The Elegy, which is in small 4to. hears the following title : 
 
 SCOTLAND'S Tears. 
 
 ,,;.::., ;.j fy, :; ,.,3 MM! 
 
 An ELEGY, lamenting the death of the Honourable Sir 
 DAVID DALRYMPLE of Hailes, Knight Baronet, late 
 Lord Advocate for Scotland, &c. who died at London 
 December^, 1721. 
 
 noctem auro secuta est, 
 Qua non audieret mistos vagitibm cegris 
 Ploratus mortis comites fyfuneris atri. 
 
 Luc. 
 
 EDINBURGH ; Printed and Sold by Alexander David- 
 son, at his Shop in the Parliament-house. 1721. 
 
 Sir David Dalrymple of Hailes was the youngest son of the great Vis- 
 count of Stairs. He was admitted an Advocate 3d Nov. 1688, and 
 was successively Solicitor-General and Lord Advocate. He sat in 
 the British Parliament from 1707 to the period of his death in 
 1721. He was created a Baronet 8th March 1700, and he married 
 4th April 1691, Janet, daughter of Sir James Rochead of Inverleith, 
 and widow of Alexander Murray of Melgund. According to the 
 authority of Robert Mylne, he was the author of " Times Bargains 
 tried by Rules of Equity and Principles of the Civil Law. London 
 printed ; Edinburgh, reprinted for William Dickie, bookseller ; 
 
232 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 and sold by him and by William Brown, bookseller in the Parliament 
 Close, and by the most of booksellers in town, I2mo. p. 36. [No 
 date.] 
 
 There is a copy in the Advocates' Library, B B B, 6, 11, which for- 
 merly belonged to Mylne, who has written on the title, " by Sir 
 David Dalrymple." 
 
 His eldest son, Sir James, by his wife Lady Christian Hamilton, young- 
 est daughter of Thomas, sixth Earl of Haddington, was the father 
 of Sir David Dalrymple, better known by the title of Lord Hailes, 
 whose services to the historical literature of this country can never 
 be too highly appreciated. His Annals of Scotland and Addi- 
 tional Case for the Countess of Sutherland, are invaluable ; and it 
 certainly says little for Lord Mansfield, that he was unable to ap- 
 preciate the merit of the latter production, and that he should 
 have tossed it aside with the contempt he is said to have done. 
 The noble Lord has recently had justice done to his remarks by 
 John Riddell, Esq. who, in his valuable work on Peerage and Con- 
 sistorial law, has most triumphantly established the utter worthless- 
 ness of his Lordship's opinions on Peerage matters. 
 
 SCOTLAND'S TEARS, &c. 
 
 Omnes eodem cogimur ; omnium 
 Versatur urna ; serius, ocyus 
 Sors exitura, et nos in ceternum 
 Exilium impositura cymbce. 
 
 Hor. 
 
 Tu pater fy patrice numen 
 
 Infundis lumen studiis, fy cedere nescis 
 Grcecorum ingeniis. 
 
 Complaints like ours thro' Tyber's Vales did fly, 
 When Rome's bright star, wise Seneca did die. 
 Like him by all men lov'd, by all admir'd, 
 Our age's greatest lawyer is expir'd. 
 
 We'll grateful tributes bring unto his hearse, 
 And sing his praise in high immortal verse. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 233 
 
 O ! could I like Thamyrus raise the song, 
 
 Which gain'd the Pythick prize, and charm'd the liss'ning 
 
 throng. 
 
 Caliope hath not her aid deny'd 
 I'll sing as when the brave Lord* Basil dy'd, 
 In Nyth's proud fatal floods did valour drown ; 
 And now we've lost the glory of the Gown. 
 From House of Commons, at Command of Jove, 
 Angels translate him to the Peers above. 
 With Lockhart and Mackenzie he'll conspire 
 To help the angels notes, and raise the Anthems higher. 
 Had he been there, when angels did rebel, 
 His counsel might the traitors sav'd from hell, 
 Created with free-will, as man below, 
 (Th' Eternal's edict had decreed it so,) 
 They'd power to stand, or choose perpetual wo. 
 
 When Eve new dropt from her Creator's hand, 
 With honour fraught, fit for her wide command, 
 Fair, universal Queen, and Adam's bride, 
 Dazzling with regal pomp and wedding pride, 
 Unto the Vassal serpent bow'd her ear ; 
 For ignorant of fraud, was void of fear. 
 Had our wise advocate been there, no doubt, 
 With arguments he'd render'd Satan mute ; 
 And from our parents hand preserv'd the damning fruit. 
 Such was his rapt'rous strains of eloquence, 
 His elevated thoughts, and nervous sense, 
 He charm'd the judge in camp of gowned war, 
 In manly words he brighten'd up the bar. 
 Like great Boetius knew the liberal arts, 
 Like him of noble blood, and noble parts. 
 
 * The Authors Pastoral on Lord Basil Hamilton's Death. 
 
234 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Such was the force of his luxuriant wit, 
 
 Like Cicero he spoke, like him he wrote. 
 
 Solid and just, and strong his notions were, 
 
 His language full of beauty, full of fire ; 
 
 Copious and fertile was his labouring Iptin, 
 
 Still plotting to do good, nor were his plots in vain. 
 
 The vig'rous morals of his speech were true, 
 
 And still he gave th'ill natur'd world it's due. 
 
 A pure and pleasant taste of life he had, 
 
 Always jocose, and never was he sad. 
 
 All men must own, this character is true, 
 
 He ev'ry thing except ill nature knew. 
 
 Good nature was congenial to his blood, 
 
 Not his rare cordial, but his common food. 
 
 He did not taste it seldom, as a feast, 
 
 It smil'd upon his brow, and lasted in his breast. 
 
 Good nature always thro' his actions ran, 
 
 His Character, The wise good natur'd Man. 
 
 In ev'ry state of life and ev'ry where, 
 
 Serene, and all his words were debonair. 
 
 Nature and fortune lib'ral were to him, 
 
 Designing he the heights of fame shou'd climb ; 
 
 A Friend to virtue, and to vice a foe, 
 
 His life and learning wrought it's overthrow : 
 
 The oracle of law, as was his sire, 
 
 Whom this and future ages shall admire ; 
 
 His country's honour, and a lasting hope, 
 
 She lean'd upon him, as her safest prop. 
 
 But ah ! our Patriot to the grave is gone, 
 
 Whose shoulders did support a tott'ring throne ; 
 
 Yet with his matchless pen contriv'd a way, 
 
 To save the warriours, who had lost the day, 
 
 Counsell'd the sovereign to a clement sway. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 235 
 
 All Day his country's care was his delight, 
 And harmless mirth his mistress, when t'was night. 
 No sullen cares disturb'd his easy mind, 
 His judgment deep, his thoughts were unconfin'd. 
 In Britain's senate, where the patriot sat, 
 A faithful servant to the king and state. 
 His wisdom overturn'd impending ills, 
 And sav'd his country from oppressive bills. 
 His prudence put the Parliament on courses, 
 To serve the king, and save the people's purses. 
 Thus excellent he was, but now he's gone, 
 The darling of the people and the throne ; 
 And we with floods of tears the loss bemone. 
 Who can forbear to mourn ? Let all combine, 
 England with Scotland in the duty join : 
 With sighs and tears let us lament his fate, 
 Our guardian, and the pillar of the state. 
 
 While the fix'd stars of heav'n preserve their place, 
 And Phebus runs his round, and shows his face ; 
 While show'rs descend, and vapours upwards fly, 
 And day and night succeed alternately ; 
 While Luna's empire, or the sea remains, 
 And mother earth sends forth her flow rs and grains ; 
 While rapid Spey rolls proudly thro' the north, 
 While Don and Tay shall scaley flocks bring forth ; 
 While Netheris streams incorporate with Clyde, 
 And Tweed thro' Tweddale hills doth softly glide ; 
 While learning hath a lover, truth a friend, 
 And government a law 'mongst men's maintained, 
 The image of SIR DAVID'S mind shall last 
 In every heart, and all believe him blest. 
 
236 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 In solemn pomp of grief surround his tomb, 
 Weep for his death, and weep for Scotia's doom. 
 With grateful voices sing his praise aloud, 
 The man so wond'rous wise, the man so wond'rous good. 
 
 ! 
 
 May ever greens and roses shade his tomb ; 
 Hither let ev'ry pious pilgrim come, 
 With rev rence bow, devoutly kiss the shrine 
 Where lies the ashes of the man divine. 
 Phenix Arabia's bird, forsake the East, 
 Your citron groves on's marble build your nest, 
 Shake on his dust the silver morning dew : 
 For he a phenix was, as well as you. 
 
 C. 
 
 !je Sfytyfyttif* ears,a pastoral sacrefc 
 
 to ti)e JWeworg of fljat excellent 
 
 gentleman, azailltam JitsSet 
 
 of Utrleton, Ss$. W&a 
 
 &2elr20tl) of October 
 
 1722. 
 
 [From the Pennicuik MSS. in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates.] 
 
 In the notice of the death of Nisbet in the Journals of the day, it is 
 said that he died at Restalrig, " deservedly regretted by his equals 
 for his generous good nature and engaging deportment, and no less 
 so by his inferiors, for his affability and kindness, and a ready hand 
 to the necessities of the indigent." He was buried in the Greyfriars 
 Church yard. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 237 
 
 ADONIS. MELINDOR. 
 
 Omnes eodem cogimur : omnium 
 Versatur urna ; serius, ocyus 
 Sors exitura, & nos in eternum 
 Exilium impositura cymbae. 
 
 HOR. CAR: Lib. 11. Ode III. 
 
 Adonis. Why weeps Melindor in the sullen grove, 
 Throws by his crook, forsakes his fleecy drove, 
 Brusht with bleer winds, and perishing with cold, 
 Whilst only prowling wolves possess the fold ; 
 Why such unusual murmurs from the floods, 
 And savage boars triumphing in the woods ; 
 The herbage wither'd, which was wont to bloom, 
 And nature sick, puts on a dreary gloom. 
 Pale look Melindor's cheeks, no dimpling smile 
 Ah bodeing omens of a ruin'd isle, 
 Rise, rise, Melindor, from the blasted oak. 
 
 But there Melindor sigh'd, and thus he spoke, 
 Whilst owls and batts around the grove did throng, 
 Listening unto the melancholy song. 
 
 Melindor. No wonder earth her head in sables shrouds, 
 And Phoebus blush and sneake behind the clowds ; 
 That flinty rocks reverberat our groans, 
 And blasted beeches shake their naked bones ; 
 That every shepherd's face a blackness wear, 
 And Heaven contracts her brow and drops a funeral tear ; 
 That rivers backward to their channel run, 
 For universall natur's out of tune. 
 Confusion seizes on our earthly ball, 
 To tell the doleful tale of Strephon's fall. 
 
238 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Could I, like Sandie, sing in lofty layes, 
 
 My oaten reed should burst with Strephon's praise : 
 
 He, next to Pan, had every shepherd's love, 
 
 'Twas Strephon's name that consecrat the grove ; 
 
 Each thing he did was with uncommon Igrace, 
 
 Had shepherd's plainness, and a prince's face, 
 
 No haughty air e'er dwelt upon his brow, 
 
 Short were his words, and sweet as morning dew, 
 
 Still cheerfull as the morning lark was he, 
 
 And humble as the lowly cypress tree, 
 
 Let ev'ry swain pay homage to his grave, 
 
 From us he should a grateful tribute have. 
 
 Upon that sacred spot we'll laurells plant, 
 
 Feed them with tears, they shall not moysture want,- 
 
 There ev'ry morning kneel, devoutly pray, 
 
 And as we sing our plaints, we'll loudly say 
 
 A wyld disorder reigns thro' all the plains ; 
 
 We've lost the best and bravest of our swains. 
 
 Rich was the swain in aikers and in flocks, 
 
 Lord of the lowly plains, and these exalted rocks. 
 
 He py'pd the live long day devoid of care, 
 
 Free as our thoughts, and unconfin'd as air. 
 
 The like indulgent heaven did blessings rain, 
 
 To help the sickly and the aged swain. 
 
 Loyal to Pan but ah ! he crackt his clay 
 
 Upon his Prince's coronation day. 
 
 A wild disorder reigns through all the plains, 
 
 We've lost the best, the bravest of our swains. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 239 
 
 CL 
 
 iWelandjolg ifttttse, an 
 occasioned 5g flje treaty of tfjat 
 learn'tt Sifoine an& eminent |Joet, 
 %ri*rt eal&er, late 
 Gospel at 
 lienljotrn, fo!)o trteir 
 1723. 
 
 [From the Pennicuik MS.] 
 
 This Elegy has been printed, and there is a copy belonging to Mr. 
 David Haig. The poet mourned was a zealous Episcopalian, and 
 generally reputed to be the author of the well-known " Scotch 
 Presbyterian Eloquence." 
 
 - - Fuit hcec sapientia quondam 
 Publica privatis secernere, sacra profam's. 
 
 Ah is the matchless man the charmer dead ? 
 
 Are his bold flights and manly fancies fled ? 
 O ! Calder, constant cordiall to our hearts, 
 
 Couldst thou have legacy'd thy noble parts, 
 Which brought up learning to the highest pitch, 
 
 No man I'm sure hade ever dy'd more rich, 
 Could I confirme thy sense, as men doe pelfe 
 
 I'd gladly be executor myselfe. 
 But oh I wish in vain ; thy wits retyr'd 
 
 Which tryumph'd ore our hearts and all admyr'd. 
 Great school divyne by the learned word rever'd ; 
 
 In every science thy bright parts appear'd, 
 
240 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Thomist and Scottst, and Duns Scotw too 
 
 Wer bableing schoolboys when compar'd to you. 
 Deep was your judgement, and your fancy clear, 
 
 Your conversation was the choicest cheer. 
 The most phlegmatique drousie man ejer liv'd 
 
 Charm'd with your strange surprising tales reviv'd 
 Tales so surprising, natural, and fyne, 
 
 Each man preferr'd them to the richest wyne. 
 When e'er you spoke then sorrow fled away, 
 
 Good humour did prevail and all turn'd gay, 
 The old forgote their age, and spritely turn'd, 
 
 Men sunk in debt grew blyth, no longer mourn'd ; 
 Never did Circes herbs more hurt mankind 
 
 Then your sweet words did rectify the mind ; 
 You gladden'd every soul, charmed every sense, 
 
 With rare poetick flights, and boundless eloquence. 
 Thy every word did life and joy impart, 
 
 They danc'd thro' ev'ry vein and tickled ev'ry heart ; 
 Words that did with poetick number shine, 
 
 A charming poet and a deep divine. 
 With learned polemick works you've fully shown 
 
 You were a second Athanasius grown. 
 When mad enthusiastic prophets rose 
 
 Your quill did their vain heresies oppose 
 And like sharp Juvenal with keenest rage 
 
 You lash'd the modish follies of the age. 
 Our souls are seized with a damp of greif, 
 
 Horror hangs o'er the active springs of life, 
 Since thou art gone, thou dear good-natur'd man, 
 
 We'll sing thy elegie like dying swan, 
 Wee hang our heads, and beat our labouring breast. 
 
 Farewell then matchless poet, matchless priest. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 241 
 
 CII. 
 
 for 
 
 [From Lugubres Cantus, part II. Edin. 1719, 8vo.] 
 
 John Mitchell died at Edinburgh January 5, 1719, aged 19. He was 
 a brother of Joseph Mitchell, who, according to the Biographia 
 Dramatica, was the son of a stone-cutter. Joseph afterwards became 
 an author of some little note, and besides poems, collected into two 
 volumes, in 1729, 8vo, wrote an opera entitled the Highland Fair, or 
 Union of the Clans, 8vo. 1731, with a frontispiece designed by 
 Hogarth. 
 
 The demise of John was the occasion of many verses from his pen, and 
 from that of John Callender, Esq. of Craigforth, who was deeply 
 attached to the deceased, and these, under the patronage of the 
 Athenian Society in Edinburgh, were published under the following 
 title : " Lugubres Cantus. Poems on several grave and important 
 subjects, chiefly occasioned by the death of the late ingenious youth 
 John Mitchell ; In two parts, with a General Preface, by ap- 
 pointment of an Athenian Society in Edinburgh. London, Printed 
 for J. M'Euen in Edinburgh, and for T. Cox, near the Royal Ex- 
 change. London, 1719." 8vo. The first part consists of the 
 verses by Joseph Mitchell, and the second, of those by Mr. Callander. 
 Prefixed to each part are recommendatory poems by ' R. Boyd, 
 A. Philips, E. Young, C. Cunningham," and others. 
 
 There is prefixed an engraving by Clerk and Pine, representing Par- 
 nassus, with Apollo and the Muses in great tribulation for the death, 
 it is presumed, of the " ingenious youth." As the volume is scarce, 
 this account of it may not be unacceptable. 
 
 Who knew the youth interred here, 
 And can refuse to shed a tear ? 
 Such was his worth, our loss is such 
 We cannot love, nor grieve too much. 
 
 Q 
 
242 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Admir'd by all, as unenvy'd 
 
 He liv'd, and sore lamented dy'd. 
 
 Tho' few his years, his generous soul 
 Before he reach'd the fatal goal 
 Mature for Heav'n, its native clime, 
 Spurn'd at old age, and left slow time. 
 Ye virtues, loves, and graces weep, 
 And round his urn your vigils keep ; 
 When will ye such a vot'ry find ? 
 Or we so good and true a friend. 
 
 CM. 
 
 tyt mutt) to 6t Imtwrtrtr teatf) of 
 . jpwrs 
 
 [From a scarce collection of Poems on the death of Mr. Webster. 
 Edin. 1720, 12mo.] 
 
 The present Elegy has been selected not because it is the best, but 
 because it is the shortest, from the volume, which although bearing 
 the title of " Threnodia," contains besides the principal funeral 
 poem which consists of twenty close printed pages in 12mo, " other 
 three all done by different hands, none know of another." 
 
 Mr. James Webster was one of the ministers of the Tolbooth Church, 
 Edinburgh, and died May 17, 1720. He was much ridiculed for 
 his peculiar tenets, and for his singular style of preaching. There 
 is a "godlie ballad," " To the tune of Lillebolero Bullen a la','' in 
 the Advocates' Library, which commences thus 
 
 Great Meldrum is gone, let Webster succeed, 
 A rare expounder of Scripture and creed, 
 Who's learning is nonsense, who's temper is bad, 
 It's predestination that makes him so mad. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 243 
 
 Take some nots of Webster's evangells. 
 
 And God made man on purpose to damn him 
 
 By a fixed decree, and weall it becam him. 
 
 By algebra he makes it appear to be true, 
 
 Three deils and a half possest ev'rie sow. 
 
 With pryde and great passion he is ow'r master'd. 
 
 Nor has he yet satisfied for his own bastard. 
 
 But for all these crymes he now is exculpat, 
 
 For zeal against King and Prelats in pulpite," &c. 
 
 It seems he wore a leaden cap on his head, which afforded a capital 
 theme for the Jacobites to enlarge upon. See Scotish Pasquils. 
 
 In a sermon by him preached in the Tolbooth Kirk on Sabbath the 
 7th March 1714, and printed 1720, 12mo, on " The two great 
 promises of the Covenant of Grace, and its foundation unfolded," 
 he undoubtedly expresses himself in a very odd manner he says, 
 " Christ dyes and makes a Testament, and leaves the Father to be 
 Tutor and Curator to the poor orphans, and leaves the Holy Ghost 
 to be executor, and leaves all he has to the bairns of the house." Of 
 course he means the New Testament, but this homely method of 
 arresting the attention of his auditors is very much in the style of 
 the specimens contained in the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence, and 
 shews that the allegations in that work as to the ordinary manner of 
 addressing congregations by the Calvinistic clergy of the time was 
 not much, if at all, exaggerated. 
 
 Hath cruel Atropos, with fatal knife, 
 
 Cut off the thread of such a blessful life ? 
 
 Hath death thus snach'd, oh most afflictive doom, 
 
 The blessed WEBSTER from his gospel loom ? 
 
 Where such a golden web of grace he wrought, 
 
 As captivated each auditor's thought : 
 
 Each thread was wrought so closs, so superfine : 
 
 His stile was pure, his eloquence divine ; 
 
 His strain so high, and yet so gospeliz'd, 
 
 The learn'd were charm'd and yet the lambs were pleas'd. 
 
 What holy charm like this, at once inchants 
 
 The heads of Rabbis and the heads of Saints ? 
 
244 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 For every sentence dropt, did freight bequeath, 
 
 A field of fancy, and a feast of faith : 
 
 His Web so evangelick warp and woft, 
 
 Disgrac'd the weavers base, of legal stuft : 
 
 For from his balmy lips, when ever o^'t, 
 
 The marrow of the gospel always drop't. 
 
 This heavenly zealot, for the gospel scheme, 
 
 Taught without fear, and argu'd without shame, 
 
 He hammered Antichristian Dagons down, 
 
 And brake Arminius and Socinus crown : 
 
 He dash'd the Antmomian Pate ; altho' 
 
 This burning, shining light was nicknam'd so, 
 
 By these, who ignorantly durst defame 
 
 The ancient gospel as a novel scheme ; 
 
 He did expose their subtilized lies, 
 
 Who cloud, with legal shade, the gospel skies : 
 
 His fiery zeal 'gainst error all did flash, 
 
 And burn'd up Anti-Evangelick trash, 
 
 If zeal some times did speak in angry fashion, 
 
 The holy cause declar'd it holy passion : 
 
 And hence his meekned soul to all did yield, 
 
 When sin or error were not on the field. 
 
 While heterodox divines, his zeal provockt, 
 
 His sword in all erronours blood was sockt : 
 
 His doctrine pure divine did run a cross, 
 
 To all Baxterian dregs, Simsonian dross, 
 
 'Gainst which he did his zealous process form, 
 
 And rais'd a hopeful Ecclesiastick storm : 
 
 His error dashing zeal, if backed more, 
 
 Had turn'd erroneous teachers to the door. 
 
 But since he fought enough, kind heaven at last, 
 
 Reserv'd him not to see the counter blast : 
 
 From earth while on t, he suffered not to fail 
 
 Micajah's courage, or Elijah's zeal. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 245 
 
 His prayers short, substantial, unconfin d, 
 
 With holy divine rhetorick interlin d, 
 
 Touch d every heart, and ravish d every mind. 
 
 His learned tongue was still the gospel bell, 
 
 Which rang the joyful sound in spite of hell : 
 
 The toal to some was sweet to others snell. 
 
 Free Thinkers do the GOD of heaven blaspheme ; 
 
 But this free speaker glorified his name. 
 
 He cloak d the crimes of neither prince nor priest : 
 
 But made with open mouth a cleanly breast. 
 
 His mouth did trumpet forth the times sad ev Is, 
 
 Which brought on him the spite of men and dev'ls : 
 
 He slighting flattery, feud and threatnings great : 
 
 Stood out the tempest, both of Church and State ; 
 
 And keeping conscience pure, that constant feast : 
 
 Let no ambiguous oath disturb his breast ; 
 
 'Gainst all assaults, untainted he abode. 
 
 While doubtful if it clash d with th oath of GOD ; 
 
 Left by the children of the church, his mother, 
 
 'Mong many brethren, was an eye-sore brother. 
 
 On earth much slighted, like his LORD, but then, 
 
 When of him earth was weary, heaven was fain. 
 
 He tho' oppos d, maling'd and much envy'd, 
 
 Liv'd without stain, and without sickness dy'd ; 
 
 So much aloft his soul did heavenward soar ; 
 
 The carcase could not hold it any more ; 
 
 While glorious angels in triumphant way ; 
 
 His holy soul to glory did convey : 
 
 Heaven order'd angels of the Church to gather. 
 
 Angels of earth to bear his body thither, 
 
 That these might hear him say, ' Farewel I'm now 
 
 ' A member of a better church than you, 
 
 ' The General Assembly of the blest, 
 
 ' Is now my home, when thus from you dismist ; 
 
246 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 ' This church I find triumphant in her head, 
 
 ' While yours I found, but militant indeed : 
 
 ' 'Mong you some times I fought for truth beat down 
 
 ' But now my head wears the victorious crown : 
 
 ' There's here no jars, no jangling, nq sin, 
 
 ' Nor yet false brethren, unawarse brought in : 
 
 ' Here's no temptations, black nor spoted clothes ; 
 
 1 No altercations about Civil oaths : 
 
 ' No snell logomachy doth here take place ; 
 
 ' No strife of words, no doubt of sovereign grace : 
 
 c I see, I hear, I smell, I teast, I reach 
 
 ' The free, the absolute grace I once did preach.' 
 
 Thus all that had his mournful hearse in trust, 
 
 Might draw such doctrine from his happy dust : 
 
 Earth render'd up his undeserved prey, 
 
 Heaven claim'd the right, and bore the prize away. 
 
 Let Edinburgh lament, lament the loss 
 
 Of such a powerful preacher of the Cross, 
 
 Ah ! is he gone, the church, the city wants 
 
 A man of GOD, a darling of the saints, 
 
 A miracle of zeal, a sign, a wonder, 
 
 A messenger of joy, a son of thunder. 
 
 Ye little flock, so widow like without him, 
 
 Which prest his pulpit once, and throng'd about him, 
 
 Lament his death, on hollow sounding lyres ; 
 
 Anoint his funeral pile with brinnish tears : 
 
 If rocky senseless hearts refuse to weep, 
 
 Invite ye hosts, which mournful measures keep : 
 
 Come, come bright sun, fair moon and lofty stars, 
 
 Put on your mourning suit, which light debars ; 
 
 Since such a splendid star as this, hath gone 
 
 To higher orbs, and dimn'd our horizon. 
 
 Ye cludy vapors, drop down tears of grief ; 
 
 When these are spent, send more for their relief. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES, 247 
 
 Ye liquid water, which surround the main, 
 Exalted on high, by Phebus fiery train, 
 Drop down again, and help our eyes to mourn, 
 Till floods of sorrow overwhelm his urn : 
 But ah ! my muse, it self drown'd in the deep, 
 Can wade no more : Therefore I stop and weep. 
 
 CIV. 
 
 reWtefi, or ane <&lt%it on tfje 
 
 I3*atl) of JWrs* 
 , sister to 
 rag of |btotottn, fcarfiarottslg 
 
 Itintatlr of 5oflarwaws, 
 1723, 
 
 Pennicuik does not appear to advantage in this laboured effusion, in 
 which he aspires to soar higher than his muse would carry him, 
 The assassination by Mushett of his wife was yet fresh in the memory 
 of the public, when Kincaid of Gogarmains, a cadet of the old family 
 of Kincaid of that Ilk, in emulation of this celebrated murderer, 
 thought fit to kill his wife. He was enabled to escape to Holland 
 with the view of proceeding to the East Indies. He appears to have 
 been deranged, at least this was the excuse set up for him. More 
 than a century before, the name of Kincaid had come before the 
 world, by the atrocious murder of Kincaid of Warriston by his 
 wife, a profligate wanton. See Mr. C. K. Sharpe's privately printed 
 work on the subject. Edin. 1827, small 4to. 
 
 " The huy and cry of heaven pursues him at the 
 Heils fresh from the fact." 
 
 CHAUCER. 
 
248 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 As these are fatall tymes when nature sighs, 
 
 And noxious reeks from earth eclips the skys. 
 
 She speaks to men with pestilential breath, 
 
 Conveys her poison, and triumphs in death, 
 
 For punishment of sin, as heaven permitts, 
 
 She sullen grows, and takes her peevish fits. 
 
 She shows a gloomy discontented mind, 
 
 And glutts the grave with spoils of humane kind. 
 
 As vennome of the asp with tumour swell, 
 
 And turgid grows, and ripens into hell, 
 
 Then villainy its impious hands shall reer, 
 
 In querpo strutt, and Satans livery wear, 
 
 And this we by a sad experience know, 
 
 We feel its effects by a weighty blow. 
 
 Mens principles and practices contend, 
 
 The devil's empire for to recommend. 
 
 It's hard to tell, the tymes now s so accurs'd, 
 
 If our opinions or our deeds are worst. 
 
 In broad day light men act what heretofore, 
 
 In dead of night their conscience would abhore. 
 
 And women ravisht on the King's high way, 
 
 And every man his neighbour doe betray. 
 
 Falsehood and fraud grow rank in this our soil, 
 
 And pulses with a hellish fever boil. 
 
 The mentioning our crymes makes nature start, 
 
 They'd cloak ane infidell and pearce his heart. 
 
 Religion's fled, and truth is now no more, 
 
 Christians commit what pagans would abhore. 
 
 Earth's faithless grown, this leads me to relate 
 
 Harmless Eliza, thy untimely fate. 
 
 Thow falls by thy own husband's impious hands, 
 
 That joyn'd thee to himself in marriage bands. 
 
 All virtues most untainted fill thy heart, 
 
 Thow kept alivethe flame, abhor'd the wanton's part. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 249 
 
 This flame, alace^thy sad and dismal fate, 
 
 Wedded to him that every man did hate. 
 
 Rigid and false, perfidious still in strife 
 
 With thee, who know the character of a wife. 
 
 Obey d thro' duty, that curst idiot, strove 
 
 Meekly,*andywith the utmost stretch to love. 
 
 Tho' he a nature's miscreant was, and nature's blott, 
 
 And fitt for marriage lyes, a gelded Sott. 
 
 Eliza thou was virtuous from thy youth, 
 
 High born, well bred, and spoke the native truth. 
 
 To that unnaturall wretch ner'e gave offence, 
 
 Thy thoughts, words, acts, plain full of innocence. 
 
 To tell the tyger's age I'le forbear, 
 
 That would from the most savage force a tear. 
 
 Thy death Eliza must not be exprest, 
 
 It with convulsions cleaves my labouring breast. 
 
 A Christian's heart would start at every word, 
 
 And break in pieces like the monster's sword. 
 O providence, nature and sense complain, 
 
 If vice triumph, then virtue works in vain. 
 
 Shall hellish hands smoaking with impious lust, 
 
 Be rais'd to the destruction of the just. 
 
 Hath heaven no flames to burn the wretches head, 
 
 Hath it no thunderbolt to strike him dead, 
 
 Swimming in blood must the poor Lady lye, 
 
 And he a cursed fiend have feet to fly. 
 
 But providence is just, and we are blind, 
 
 When we think heav'n severe, then heav'n most kind. 
 
 Murmures be husht ! are not the virtuous blest ? 
 
 There is another life, ther's ane eternall rest. 
 
 Tho' villany in earth triumphant reigns, 
 
 It leads to horror and eternal chains. 
 
 Virtue sprouts up in the other syde the grave, 
 
 There ane eternall spring the virtues have. 
 
250 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Tho' vice triumphs and villany doth crow, 
 
 Yet still sin works the sinners overthrow. 
 
 Sin shakes the conscience, doth its peace controll, 
 
 And with unceasing horrors fills the soul. 
 
 All evills and devills in the conscience dwell, 
 
 In the other world they've not so great a hell. 
 
 The sinner still undone by sin, O then 
 
 Lett us beg grace, acquit ourselves like men. 
 
 Man may become a new and noble creature, 
 
 For grace allays the stormes and appetites of nature ; 
 
 Renounce a peevish world, and all its pelf, 
 
 And make a generous conquest of yourself. 
 
 Then death in whatsomever shape it comes, 
 
 Will waft us sweetly to our heavenly homes. 
 
 Rise in the strength of faith and run the race, 
 
 Till Jesus shew his reconcil'd face, 
 
 And you feel blossomes of the heavenly grace. 
 
 Lord sett us free from passions furious strife 
 
 And all the stormes of a tempestuous life, 
 
 And these which fell on this most virtuous wife ; 
 
 And draw thy wrathfull sword with vengeance keen 
 
 To slay such villains as Kincaid and Skeen.* 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 Here lyes a lady in her prime of age 
 
 Found reeking in her gore, 
 Slain by her husband's hellish rage ; 
 
 Her death all men deplore. 
 
 * Ensigne Hugh Skeen, engaged in the plott. MS. note. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 251 
 
 cv. 
 
 Clan, oeeasion'ir fcg tije 
 of tlje ijtg!) an& potent $rinee, 
 ffiraee S^^w Uufte of gftfjole, 
 sometime Commtsstoner to ttjc 
 parliament antr <K^ttre^ of 
 Seotlantr^ |Jrinet#al Seere^ 
 targ of State> antr Untgtjt 
 of t^e most nofile or&er 
 of 
 
 1724. 
 
 This Elegy by Pennicuik probably appeared in the shape of a broad- 
 side, but no printed copy has been found. 
 
 The subject of this lament was John first Duke of Athol, Secretary of 
 State in the reign of William III. High Commissioner to the Par- 
 liament of Scotland, and Chancellor of the Universityof St. Andrews. 
 He was twice married ; first to Lady Catherine, daughter of William 
 and Anne, Duke and Duchess of Hamilton, by whom he had four 
 sons and one daughter, and secondly to Mary, daughter of William 
 Lord Ross, by whom he had two sons and one daughter. He was 
 the father of John Marquess of Tullibardine, slain before Mons in 
 1709 : an elegy on whom will be found at page 178, and of William 
 Marquess of Tullibardine, who was attainted for his adherence to 
 the Pretender, and who died in the Tower. 
 
 A manly fierceness dwelt on ev'ry brow, 
 
 But fears and froims supplant that fierceness now. 
 
 Scoto-Brigantes feel the mighty blow, 
 
 And wildly roam o're heath and hills of snow, 
 
252 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Gigantick armes now drops the keen claemore, 
 Own their defeat who ne'r could yeeld before. 
 Grief spreads her terrors thro' their iron bonds, 
 Whilst hollow rocks reverberat their groans ; 
 So mourn the faithfull vassals of the wood, 
 By nature taught to honour princely blood. 
 When the bold Lyon dyes, their native king, 
 Their bowlings make the vocal forest ring. 
 The melancholy news of Athole's death, 
 Their great chieftain he's resigned his breath, 
 Makes them in numerous shoals like spiders goe, 
 Tune their baggpipes and trumps with sounds of woe 
 Their cryes and strains excessive grief betray, 
 They throw their pistols and their plaids away : 
 So mourn the Eagle's followers when he's gone, 
 Dropping their pinions on the vacant throne, 
 And wound their bosomes with hudge grief opprest, 
 Scattering their plumage on the sovereign nest. 
 Oft did the August, the sacred Sandrehim, 
 Set at his feet and safety find in him, 
 Throw ev'ry Levit's heart strong joy did run 
 To see their highland heroe on the throne. 
 When first the gospell dawn arose a starr 
 To pylot eastern sages from afarr, 
 St. Andrews starr shin'd on a highland breast, 
 To guid the Western church as you the east, 
 When mother church began to spread her light 
 To Ult'ma Thule overspread with might, 
 When by a soveraign call to stear the helm, 
 With steady hand he managed this realm. 
 Let Scotsmen drope their tears upon his shrine, 
 Whose mem'ry shall in lasting annals shine. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 253 
 
 CVI. 
 
 fattljfttll StfytyfyrtO, a ftttwal pom 
 to t$e wrmorg of tljat ptous anU 
 fcarn'tr pastor t$e Utebmnir |r. 
 $)atcrgou, fttfmsttv 
 
 at t 
 
 Serfs, toijo irropt 
 talitg Sa5at 
 1726. 
 
 Some few lines of these verses by Pennicuik, are vigorous, and the 
 character of the reverend gentleman is very forcibly drawn. Lucky 
 it was for him that he lived in other times, as a preacher who 
 did not " waste his lungs in froth and foam," who was free from 
 " cant," was well acquainted with ' books" and shew'd "good 
 nature was ally'd to grace/' would now a days have been veto'd 
 to a dead certainty. 
 
 Jesus, the faithful Shepherd of the flock, 
 
 Hath built his fold upon a solid rock, 
 
 Storms, and the gates of Hell shall never shake, 
 
 Tlio' like the ark yow'd think it water weak, 
 
 Toss'd on the waves, or like the burning bush, 
 
 Expos'd to furious flames around it rush, 
 
 It's strength is great, and hid from humane eyes, 
 
 For the foundation-stone's above the skies. 
 
 Tis true the under shepherds of the flock 
 
 Are men, and dye, and drop the past'ral crook, 
 
 Their labours do survive them when they're dead, 
 
 They sow'd, and Jesus fructifies the seed, 
 
 By which the sheep on wholesome herbage feed. 
 
254 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Wee mourn a pastor dropt unto his rest, 
 
 Who many gifts and ev'ry grace possest, 
 
 And sacred love flam'd in the prophet's breast. 
 
 Loud cries like ours were spread in Eamaah's vale, 
 
 When Samuel dy'd, and ev'ry face greKv pale. 
 
 Our gospel Samuel, our Elijah's gone, 
 
 T' augment the choir surround th' Eternal's throne. 
 
 The venerable man who preach'd soe long, 
 
 And charm'd his audience with the Gospel song, 
 
 In favour with his God, by men admir'd, 
 
 Our churches faithful Prophet is expir'd, 
 
 Just tribute to his memory we'll pay, 
 
 Whilst angels shall approve of all wee say. 
 
 His life was all a sermon, all a pray'r, 
 
 Shin'd like a Moses in the Gospel chayr, 
 
 Ev'n sones of Belial, void of sense and grace, 
 
 Receiv'd correction when they saw his face. 
 
 'Twas awful, full of beauty and of love, 
 
 And did a lecture to the wicked prove. 
 
 He did not waste his lungs in froath and foam, 
 
 With heart and brains he press'd the conscience home. 
 
 No trifling tales with cant dropt from his mouth, 
 
 In manly words he stated solemn truth, 
 
 Was well acquaint with books and mankind too, 
 
 Of learning had an universal view, 
 
 Knew all the senseless jargon of the schools, 
 
 And by his life and sermons prov'd them fools, 
 
 For he join'd truth with peace, and walk'd by gospel rules, 
 
 His reasoning was deep, yet very clear, 
 
 Gave knowledge to the soul, and charm'd the ear. 
 
 A pleasant temper 'mongst his gifts took place, 
 
 And shew'd good nature was ally'd to grace. 
 
 He liv'd in peace, and hated broils and din, 
 
 He never had a quarrel save with sin ; 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 255 
 
 But when the wicked pled for what will damn us, 
 O then he was an unbelieving Thomas. 
 
 CVII. 
 
 tl)e tmtrt) to to lament* tr Heat!) of tfje 
 
 , on* of tyt Senators of 
 tyt Colltg* of Jtastttt, fo!)o 
 tepartrtr fl)ts Hifc, 
 
 so, 1729. 
 
 This gentleman was the second son of Robert Hamilton, Lord Pres- 
 mennan, a Judge of the Court of Session. The elder brother John 
 married the grand-daughter of the first Lord Belhaven, and under 
 the patent of creation succeeded to the title and estates. He was 
 the great opposer of the Union, as previously noticed. 
 
 His brother James Hamilton passed Writer to the Signet 19th February 
 1683. On the 8th of November 1712, he was appointed an ordinary 
 Lord of Session and a Lord of Justiciary. He had a charter under 
 the Great Seal of the lands and barony of Pencaitland, in the county 
 of Haddington, dated 3d July 1696, and upon his elevation to 
 the Bench, assumed the title of Lord Pencaitland. He married 
 Catherine, daughter of Denholm of Westshields, and by her had 
 three sons and five daughters. His grand- daughter Mary, the only 
 daughter of his eldest son John, having married William Nisbet of 
 Dirleton, 2d February 1747, carried the estate of Pencaitland into 
 that family. 
 
 Empress of Islse, who rules the rolling Forth, 
 Thou fairest Phylad of the friged North, 
 What means this ruefull clap and midnight cry, 
 That shakes the corners of the cloudy sky ? 
 Why does thy heart heave in declining age, 
 And every fibre feel a frantick rage ? 
 Because no sorrow seems to equal mine, 
 Nor Saint surpass the Son I here resign ; 
 
256 SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 Who was the country's darling poors refuge, 
 A learned lawyer, and impartial judge, 
 Whose moderation, publick peace procur'd, 
 And drew confession from the most obdur'd : 
 Survey with pleasure the choice clientje cause, 
 Who liv'd adequate to the divine laws, 
 By whom was threatning injuries supprest, 
 And wrongs received wittily redressed. 
 A friend to those who were so to the State, 
 And foe to such as had declar'd their hate. 
 The same a second brother to the great 
 Belhaven who ere he silenc'd was by fate, 
 Had sung his country's sorrows, at a time 
 When threatning tempest made his tongue divine. 
 Witness, ye Gods, how he repell'd the proud, 
 Outvy'd the vain, and higher powers withstood. 
 An action worthy such a patriot's pains, 
 Told to his honour, in all after reigns ; 
 So he who bore the hand and pen for good, 
 Full of his virtues, as he flow'd in's blood, 
 Rose by his reason, and acquired applause, 
 By being conscious of his country's cause. 
 Nor was his voice e're heard to varnish crimes, 
 A vice too common in thir corrupt times ; 
 Who to the Sovereign of eternal spheres, 
 Sings sacred anthems with seraphick airs. 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 Here lies Pancaitland, who the Muses paint 
 As one intirely careful and content, 
 Whose frailer body's fortifi'd in soul, 
 And rais'd above the reach of human toil. 
 
 Edinburgh, printed by William Adams, 1729. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 i. 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF SIR ALEXANDER 
 FRASER OF DOORES, KNIGHT AND BARONET.* 
 
 [From the Sermon preached at his funeral by John Menzies, Professor 
 of Divinity in Aberdene. Edin. 1681.] 
 
 You expect, I know, before I close, that something be spoken of the 
 honourable person, whose funerals we now celebrate. And here I 
 confess were a large field, were I fitted or disposed for a panegyrick : 
 Nor is there want of great precedents in such cases from Nazianzen, 
 Ambrose, and many others, both ancient and modern. Nor can it be 
 denyed, but that the doing justice to the memory of deserving persons, 
 may excite the living to trace the footsteps of the virtues of the dead. 
 Yet, I not being accustomed to such discourses, and having a thorough 
 aversion of what may savour of flattery, I hope therefore I shall be 
 the more easily excused, if I be the more sparing on this head. 
 
 Though this worthy gentleman did live much of his time abroad, 
 out of his native country, yet the fame both of his honour and merit, 
 did overspread these three kingdoms, yea, and did reach to other na- 
 tions also. The antiquity of his honourable family of Doors is beyond 
 dispute. The Stock whereof was, an immediat son of the Great Thane 
 of Cowy and Doors, (for so I understand he was designed) upwards 
 
 * See Elegies on Sir Alexander Fraser, pages 13 and 16. 
 
 R 
 
258 APPENDIX TO 
 
 of three hundred years ago, at the same time that another son of the 
 same Great Thane, married the roble heretrix of Philorth. The 
 estate possesst by the Thane was very vast about these Grampian 
 Mountains : and of him, and of the great Lord Fraiser in the south, 
 two families of the same name, of so great antiquity, that it is hard to 
 account, which did come of the other ; yet or these two, many noble 
 families of this kingdom acknowledge themselves td be descended, 
 and therefore have the Fraisers arms quartered with their own. But 
 I confess, I am not herauld enough to dilate upon this subject. 
 
 Should any say to me with him in the poet, 
 
 Et Genvs, et Proavos, et qua non fecimus ipsi 
 Vix ea nostra voco 
 
 Though none, I hope, will deny a due esteem to an honourable de- 
 scent, unless he be of a levelling principle : Yea, the Holy Scripture 
 speaks honourably of the sons of nobles, Eccles. 10, 17. Yet I have 
 this to add, that besides this gentleman's honourable descent, he was 
 a man of eminent personal worth and merit : whereof take this one 
 instance among many, that when this family of Doores had lately suf- 
 fered an eclipse, as ancient houses have their vicissitudes, he by his 
 virtue and industry recovered it from a collapsed condition. He might, 
 without all peradventure, have made comfortable purchases in the 
 pleasant places of England ; yet such was his love to his native country, 
 and to this ancient seat of his ancestors, that he choosed rather to 
 make an atchievment here. And now, having provided his other 
 worthy and well-deserving children of riper years, hath transmitted 
 this old heretage of his progenitors, with all its dignities, to his hope- 
 ful son here present, who by the mother, (a lady of great virtue,) is 
 descended of the honourable name of Caries in England, a family 
 which bears as noble marks of honour and ancient pedigree as most 
 of the noblest families in that kingdom. This his youngest son, he 
 sent hither to be educated, and who, I trust, by the mercy of God, 
 shall inherit many of the virtues of his predecessors. So that he had 
 both the dignity of an honourable descent, and likewise (which in con- 
 junction with the former, I believe will be highly esteemed by all) 
 of a just and virtuous acquisition. 
 
 This may seem much ; yet I see an ocean before me, on which I 
 dare hardly adventure : But one thing I cannot let passe, his unstained 
 loyalty to his Sovereign, in times of great trouble and temptation. He 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 259 
 
 was fourty years and upwards a courtier, in the reign of two Kings, 
 and beheld with sorrowful eyes, the most dismal convulsions which 
 ever these kingdoms did suffer ; yet was he never stained with a blot 
 of disloyalty. 
 
 He was educated a schollar at Aberdeen, the time when his family 
 fell low. And after he had spent some years in his youth over seas, 
 in pursuance of his studies, and had been graduated Doctor of Medi- 
 cine at Piemont, he was so much noticed in the Court of England at 
 his return, for his learning and skill in that excellent Faculty which he 
 did profess, that in the year 1639, he was chosen Physician in Ordi- 
 nary to King Charles the First of glorious memory, and served his 
 Majesty faithfully in peace and war, both in his profession and other 
 eminent services, until the evils of the time encreasing, he was by 
 special order from his Majesty, sent to attend the Prince then in 
 Flanders, with whom he continued doing many considerable services, 
 until our dread Sovereign who now reigns, and whom Almighty God 
 long preserve, came to Scotland in the year 1650. 
 
 And his Majesty again departing beyond seas, the confusions of the 
 times still prevailing, he was among the first who repaired to his Ma- 
 jesty, leaving family and employment (which he might have had very 
 considerable) esteemed it his greatest honour and advantage to suffer 
 hardships in serving his Prince. In consideration of his constant 
 fidelity and loyalty, and exposing of himself to many hazards in his 
 Prince's service, it pleased his gracious Majesty, at his happy Re- 
 stauration, to settle him as principal Physician, to have the care and 
 inspection of his royal person. In this great trust he continued untill 
 his death ; and so great was the confidence his Majesty had both of 
 his skill and faithfulness, that he would not readily take physick with- 
 out him. Amongst the many marks of his Prince's favour, the honour 
 of Baronet was conferred upon him, besides the places and preferments 
 settled on his lady and children. Nay, so gracious a Prince did he 
 serve, that his favour did not expire with the life of his faithful servant ; 
 and therefore gave order to transmit his remains in one of his royal 
 ships unto Scotland, to be buried in the sepulchre of his fathers. 
 
 It would take a volume to recount all the offices of kindness he did 
 to his country-men by his friendship, by his skill in medicine, and 
 when occasion did require, by his purse also. A man he was of great 
 generosity, integrity, and a most faithful and fast friend. These things 
 could not but purchase to him admirable repute. Hence it was, that 
 
200 
 
 A I' 1 s KM) IX TO 
 
 when within these few years he made a visit to his native country, 
 and lived some months here at Doores, a great confluence of persons 
 of eminent quality resorted hither to pay their respects to him, all 
 whom he entertained nobly ; and yet disdained not to give his most 
 judicious consultations to multitudes of diseased persons, who also 
 flocked to him from all quarters, for cure of obstinate maladies, which 
 had given defiance to the skill of other physicians, all which he did 
 gratis ; nor did his country-men more rejoyce in his converse among 
 them, in that little interval, then he was longed for again at Court, 
 as was manifest by many letters he receiv'd at the time, from great 
 persons at Court, and by his gracious reception from his Soveraign at 
 his return. 
 
 Had any of the divines who attended him in his sickness been per- 
 forming this last office to him, I doubt not but they could have given 
 an account of his religious deportment at death ; all who knew him 
 here will witness to his temperance and sobriety : his constant adher- 
 ence to the Protestant religion was manifest to all. It was by his 
 charity and supply, with the concurrence of his servants, thorow his 
 direction, and the influence, assistance, and considerable expence of a 
 most deserving friend and relation of his, that the pious work of the 
 Bridge of Dy (towards which a sum of money was mortified by a 
 reverend minister, though that without the assistance foresaid could 
 never have done it) was promoved and brought to the finishing cubit. 
 And it is by his means that this old place and church (where his fa- 
 thers did worship God) is now repaired, or rather re-builded. There 
 is one instance more of his piety, which if I should forget, I should be 
 unjust to his memory. He was pleased to favour me with some let- 
 ters in reference to his beloved son : and I must declare, that so far 
 as I remember, he never did omit in any of them to request that his 
 son might be religiously educated in the fear of the Lord, solemnly 
 protesting he would rather have him good than great. These were his 
 own expressions, whereof I found myself often obliged to put his hope- 
 ful son in rememberance. 
 
 Yet notwithstanding all these good and excellent things, he had no 
 immunity from death, the common lot of all mankind. Your fathers 
 where are they ? Zee. 1 , 5. And do the Prophets, though persons of 
 eminent sanctity, live for ever ? It's true, it pleased Almighty God 
 to prolong his dayes to some above the seventieth year of his age ; so 
 that on this account, as it is said, Job 5, 26. The Lord brought him 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 261 
 
 to his grave in a full age, as a shock of corn comes in, in his season. 
 What shall I now add ? His Majesty has indeed lost a faithful servant 
 and subject ; his native countrey has lost a deserving patriot ; bis fa- 
 culty hath lost an eminent artist ; his lady and children have lost a 
 dear and loving husband and father ; his familiars have lost a noble and 
 faithful friend: but I must correct all with the word of the Father, 
 Non amisimvs, sed prcemisimus ; he is not lost, he is only gone before, 
 we must go to him, and not he return to us. What therefore re- 
 mains ? but that we pass the time of our sojourning here in the fear of 
 the Lord; and be instant in praying with the Psalmist, So teach us, 
 Lordj to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. 
 Amen. 
 
 II. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE SACRA POEMATA RAMS^I. 
 
 [In a letter addressed to the Publisher of the Weekly Magazine, 
 April 2, 1722.]* 
 
 SIR, If we are rightly informed, the deservedly admired Milton 
 did not conceive the design of composing that inimitable poem of 
 Paradise Lost till about 1639 ; and it is even said he did not put hand to 
 it sooner than 1650. This performance always has been, and will con- 
 tinue to be admired for its many excellencies, and greatly valued for this, 
 that the author had been thought to have attempted a subject for his 
 poem never before touched by any. I must, however, do honour to a 
 countryman of our own, who ventured several years before Milton an 
 attempt of this kind. This was Mr. Andrew Ramsay, whose Sacra 
 Foemata, were published at Edinburgh in 1633. This gentleman was 
 Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh from 1620 to 
 1630, and one of the Ministers of that city. This is all 1 have learned 
 of him. This work of his consists of four books : the first treats of 
 the Creation ; the second of the Happy Condition of Man before the 
 
 * See Epitaph on Lord Abbotshall, p. 63. 
 
262 APPENDIX TO 
 
 Fall ; the third of the Fall ; and the fourth and last of the Redemp- 
 tion of Man. I would recommend the perusal of Mr. Ramsay's poems 
 to your readers of taste ; and I will venture to say they will find, that 
 the great genius Milton owes many of his descriptions and speeches in 
 the Paradise Lost to the Sacra Poemata of Rajnsay. It would take 
 up too much room in any of your weekly papers, to insert all the cita- 
 tions from each, wherein the two poets have hit upon the same de- 
 scriptions, similies, and machinery ; I shall therefore confine myself to 
 a few of them at present. Mr. Ramsay, in the invocation at the be- 
 ginning of his poem, has the two following lines : 
 
 Non mihi Pegasides cura, non presses Apollo 
 Pegasidum ; nil Cirrhajuvat, nil numina vana. 
 
 MILTON. 
 
 Following above tJC Olympian hill I soar 
 Above the flight of Pcgasean wing. 
 
 Mr. RAMSAY describing Light. 
 Turn lucis et umbrce 
 
 Alternat pater imperium, noctemque diemque ; 
 Sic fugiente die piceis premissa quadrigis 
 Jncubuit palens tenebroso vespera amictu, Sfc. 
 Alma dies sine sole, Sfc. 
 
 MILTON. 
 
 And forthwith light, $c. 
 
 To journey thro" 1 the airy gloom legan, 
 Spher'd in a radiant cloud ; for yet the sun 
 Was not. 
 
 Again RAMSAY. 
 
 Ipse suis favet inceptis, et limine in ipso 
 Applaudit nascenti operi, 8fc. 
 
 MILTON. 
 
 Nor past uncelebrated nor unsung 
 By the celestial choirs, fyc. 
 
 The purposes of the Almighty to create man is so much alike de- 
 scribed by both poets, that one can scarely doubt that Milton has read 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 263 
 
 Mr. Ramsay's performance, and has the following lines in view in hook 
 V. 1. 499. of Paradise Lost. 
 
 Sed quo spectat JUBC Dcedala texta, 
 
 Tantce et moris opus ? Quidnam promovimus istis f 
 
 Cum mare, cum tellus nobis, neque regia cceli, 
 
 Farrea donaferunt, thuris operentur acerra ; 
 
 Ergo hominum cteleste genus fingamus ; 
 
 Non prona terram spectat, Sfc. 
 
 And the speech which Ramsay puts into the Creator's mouth to the 
 newly created man, giving him dominion over all things created, and 
 the prohihition of touching the forbidden fruit, is equally similar to 
 what Milton gives, book V. line 520. 
 
 Ramsay concludes his first book with a description of the Almighty 
 surrounded by the heavenly host, who admire his works, and salute 
 him with a plaudit of approbation ; many such are to be met with 
 through the Paradise Lost. 
 
 I suppose by this time, Mr. Printer, you will think that I have 
 arrogated too much room in your collection, and the adorers of Milton 
 will certainly think that I am but a very superficial critic ; but I must 
 beg those gentlemen's pardon, by declaring, no man can admire the 
 divine Milton more than I do ; nor do I pretend to equal Mr. Ram- 
 say's performance to the Paradise Lost, but only to make Mr. Ramsay 
 better known to his countrymen. 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
 March 8. 
 
 III. 
 
 BAILLIE THOMAS ROBERTSON.* 
 
 After the sheet containing the Elegy on this person had been sent to 
 press, the Coltness Papers were circulated amongst the members of the 
 Maitland Club ; and as this valuable and important work must be inac- 
 
 * See Elegy, p. 60. 
 
264 APPENDIX TO 
 
 cessible to many of our readers, the following extract relative to the 
 Baillie and his buildings may be acceptable : 
 
 " Walter's (Stewart) eldest daughter was married to John Robeson, 
 Dean of Guild of Edinburgh, and Brewer. She lived in great felicity 
 and had many children, but after her death their family was ruined 
 by that remarkable fyer and burning in the Parliament Gloss, anno 
 1700. There all Baillie Thomas Robison's wealth had' been laid out 
 in sumptuous houses, and from these buildings he is designed on his 
 vain-glorious monument yet standing in Greyfriars church, Urbis 
 Edina? ornator si non conditor ; yet in one night and a day, all was 
 consumed and his family ruined, and this John Robeson among his 
 other children brought to poverty. This burning was by the populace 
 called a remarkable judgement, because Baillie Robeson in his office 
 as youngest magistrate, it fell to his share to attend the execution of the 
 sentence of the Restoration Parliament, in ignominiously burning the 
 Nationall Covenants at the puhlict Cross of Edinburgh by the hands 
 of the common executioner ; and it was remarked that this man's high 
 sumptuous tenements were burnt, and none else ; and the fyer sloped 
 at the place of execution. Men are ready from events to read judge- 
 ments as they affect, and find out judgements for their neighbours 
 faults, but never remind judicial strokes for their own or their friends 
 sin and transgressions, yet some judicious folke thought there was 
 something singular in this stroke upon his family ; and upon this his 
 son Henry, who was ane advocate, and lost his patrimony of 3,000 
 lib, studied divinity, and was minister of the gospel in Oldhamstocks 
 in East- Lothian. To conclude the digression, this was perhaps the 
 greatest conflagration could have happened in any city, by the vast 
 hight of houses, for the highest pinicle was called Babylon, being back- 
 ward fifteen storeys high from the foundation, and all was ane immense 
 heap of combustible matter upon a small foundation, and made a pro- 
 digious blaze. The Dean of Guild, by his losses, was much impover- 
 ished, and was made one of the Captains of the City Guard, and at 
 last was put as pensioner upon the City's charity, his family scattered, 
 and his male issue had no succession. Anna, his eldest daughter, 
 married to Mr. James Spence of Kirktown, Writer in Edinburgh, 
 has two sons Ministers, and two daughters married to Ministers of 
 the Gospel.''* 
 
 Thomas Robertson of Lochbank, was the owner of several houses 
 
 * P. 48. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 265 
 
 and shops in the Parliament Closs, besides considerable heritable sub- 
 jects in the Exchange, and other places in Edinburgh. He was pro- 
 bably a son of the Baillie if so, he was equally unfortunate with the 
 rest of the family, as he got into difficulties, and conveyed his estate 
 real and personal, to a trustee for his creditors, who offered his heritage 
 to public sale on the 27th of April 1698. A copy of the printed 
 articles,* supposed to be unique, containing a detailed account of the 
 different subjects, is in possession of the writer. It is very curious, and 
 gives the size of each house, the number of rooms, the rent, and the 
 occupier's name. The first tenement entered by the Scale Stair, and 
 on the first floor, a house of six rooms and a cellar, was rented by 
 the relict of William Law, goldsmith, and James Robertson, for 62 
 Scots. This was the mother of the great financier, Law. It appears 
 from this document, that the Faculty of Advocates kept their library in 
 the first floor of a house in the Exchange Stair, and paid 240 Scots 
 per annum as rent. Lord Mersington occupied the fifth storey of a 
 tenement in the Scale Stair, consisting of eight fire rooms and a garret, 
 and paid 200 Scots of rent. Lord Crossrig, another Judge, occu- 
 pied the third storey of a tenement in the easter turnpike of a back 
 land in the Meal Market, consisting of thirteen fire rooms, two garrets, 
 and two cellars, at a rent of 300 Scots. 
 
 IV. 
 
 GILBERT RAMSAY.f 
 
 From the recently printed Memoirs of Locheill, there are some 
 reasons to suppose that the Elegies on him, and on the Tutor of Pitcur, 
 were written by Mr. Philp or Philips of Almeriecross,J the author of 
 a Poem still, it is presumed, in MS. entitled the " Grameis," written 
 
 * The well-known antiquary, James Anderson, the publisher of the 
 Diplomata Scotise, was the agent employed to conduct the sale. 
 
 f See Elegy on him, page 72. 
 
 J By the marriage of the heiress of Almeriecross, this estate was 
 carried into the family of Grahame of Morphie. 
 
266 APPENDIX TO 
 
 in Latin, in imitation of Lucan's Pharsalia. It is in celebration of 
 the exploits of Lord Viscount Dundee. 
 
 In the Memoirs of Locheill,* the following particulars occur as to 
 the death of Ramsay : 
 
 ' He was a young gentleman bred to the law, which having stydyed 
 att Ley den with great application, he, about 1 the same time that the 
 King left England, past his tryalls, and was admitted advocate, with 
 the general applause of that learned faculty. The confusions that fol- 
 lowed made him quitt the bar, where it was reported he would soone 
 become eminent, and joyn my Lord Dundie, whom he attended in 
 quality of a volunteer with great cheerfulness. After that general had 
 made his disposition, and while they waited his orders to engadge, the 
 gallant Earl of Dumfermline calling for some spirits, and filling a dram 
 with his own hand, drank, A health to the King, and success to his 
 armes.' And when it came in course to Mr. Ramsay, he took the glass 
 in his hand, and addressing himself to his Lordship, I assure you, my 
 Lord,' said he, * that this day we shall have a glorious victory over the 
 King's enemies, but I shall not have the pleasure of seeing it.' And 
 having thus spoke, he pledged the health, and drank his glass. 
 
 " The gentlemen who were nixt him observing ane unusewal flush 
 and disorder in his countenance, which they had not formerly taken 
 notice of, enquired seriously into the reason of his expressing himself 
 so. He answered frankly, that he had a dream that morning imme- 
 diately before he awaked, wherein not only the action itself, with 
 every thing that was to happen remarkable about it, but allso the order 
 of the troops on both sides, were fully represented to him ; and that 
 there was not a person of any note to fall there, but he saw their 
 wounds bleeding ; that every circumstance that had hitherto happened 
 was a confirmation of what he saw before in his sleep, and that he 
 was now fully convinced that the remaining part would come to pass 
 in the same manner. The Lord Dunfermline, and the gentlemen on 
 both hands joyned their endeavours to prevail on him not to engage, 
 but he was obstinate, and said that he was determined to acquitt him- 
 self of a duty which he thought indispensibly incumbent on him, seeing 
 his Majesty was deserted by those who ought by their offices to have 
 served him ; adding that he could meet death without the least ap- 
 prehension, and that he had related his dream merely on account of 
 
 * P. 280. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 267 
 
 its novelty. Soon after this the army began to move, and Mr. Ram- 
 say, being one of those sixteen that followed my Lord Dundie, fell by 
 Mr. Drummond's right hand, where he was first posted." 
 
 A notice of the death of Haliburton, with part of the verses on his 
 death by Mr. Philip, occurs p. 270. 
 
 V. 
 
 EPITAPH OF THE DUKE OF ARGYLE.* 
 
 [As a set off to the Kirk Epitaph on his Grace the following from a 
 manuscript in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates may perhaps 
 be admitted into the Appendix, although not presenting a favourable 
 picture of the Presbyterian Champion.] 
 
 Pluto did froune, Proserpina did smyle, 
 
 At hell to hear the claps of old Arguyle. 
 
 Pluto cry'd loud lett no gates opened be, 
 
 If he come in I'm sure he'll cuckold me. 
 
 The Queen replys with three great sighs and groans, 
 
 No fear my Lord, for he hath bruis'd his stones. 
 
 Pluto reply'd, I fear he will rebell, 
 
 Says Proserpine, for that I cannot tell, 
 
 For to rebell we know it is his kynd. 
 
 In stocks and chains then he shall be eonfyn'd. 
 
 We have in hell prisones secure enough, 
 
 Castles more strong than that of Edinburgh. 
 
 What roume, says Pluto, shall we put him in ? 
 
 Rebellion and lust wer er'e his greatest sin. 
 
 We'l thrust him in the warmest place of hell, 
 
 His pryde, and greed, and leecherie to quell. 
 
 To pryd, to greed, to lust he was right clever, 
 
 Let Cerberus alone to gnaw his liver. 
 
 Non him lament, peers, barons, nor yet boors, 
 
 For he went hence in the armes of his whoors. 
 
 He dy'd the death quhich is not due or common 
 
 Unto his house, but by a leecherous woman. 
 
 * See Elegy p. 148. 
 
268 APPENDIX TO 
 
 VI. 
 
 INSCRIPTION FOR JOHN EARL OF STAIRS, HIS BURIAL 
 PLACE AT KIRKLISTON CHURCH^* 
 
 [From Pennecuik's MSS. The Stair family were never very popular. 
 The first Viscount's Lady was generally reputed in the lower orders 
 to be a witch. It was her daughter whose lamentable marriage 
 formed the subject of the Bride of Lammermoor, perhaps the most 
 touching of all Scott's romances.] 
 
 Stope, passenger, but shed no tear, 
 
 A Pontius Pilate lyeth here, 
 
 Whose lineage, life, and present state, 
 
 If you'll have patience I'll relate. 
 
 A brat of an unbury'd bitch, 
 
 Gote by Belzebub on a witch, 
 
 Whose malice oft was crack'd at home. 
 
 With the curst cubs of her own womb. 
 
 Bred up in treachery and trick, 
 
 By Crook Craig Dady,f and Old Nick, 
 
 In which he hath such progress made, 
 
 That he outstript both Devil and Dade. 
 
 He mock'd at murthering a single man, 
 
 So heroe like he kill'd a clan.J 
 
 Tho' they were innocent no matter, 
 
 The compliment to hell the better. 
 
 But these things being below his station, 
 
 First he betray'd, then sold his nation. 
 
 * See Elegies, pp. 152-154. 
 
 f The great Lawyer and first Viscount of Stairs, whose head was 
 said by the Jacobits to be awry. 
 
 J An allusion to the horrid massacre of Glencoe. 
 He chiefly brought about the Union. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 269 
 
 To all that's ill he gave his voice, 
 And now runs post to get his price. 
 O passenger get off with speed, 
 For seldom does the Devil lye dead. 
 Fly off if you your safety prize, 
 For Legions haunt where here he lies. 
 
 VII. 
 
 LETTER TO JAMES ANDERSON, ESQ. CONTAINING A 
 SINGULAR CHARGE OF JUDICIAL CORRUPTION 
 AGAINST LORD FOUNTAINHALL.* 
 
 [This document occurs amongst the Anderson Papers in the Library of 
 the Faculty of Advocates, and has been printed for the singularity 
 of the charge, for, bad as the other judges might be, Lord Foun- 
 tainhall is usually, and we are satisfied, justly excepted from the list 
 of the corrupt. The idea of getting Anderson to pit Lord Pollok 
 against Lord Fountainhall is excellent.] 
 
 SIR, 
 
 I understand that Mr. David Lauder, who is my adversary's friend, 
 has, by his influence, occasioned his father, the Lord Fountainhall, to 
 allow the advocation to pass, tho' after the Sheriff's sentence, (how- 
 ever, I know the Sheriffs will plead their own prerogative), now 'tis 
 to be advised again to-morrow, which is Saturday, and on Tuesday to 
 come in before the Lord Pollock, to whom, and Mr. Duncan Forbes, 
 I hope, Sir, you'll be pleased to speak, that this dismall affair may 
 have ane end. My expences will amount to near six or 7 pd. st. tho' 
 the Sheriffs in their interloquitor has allowed me but 15 pd. Scots; 
 therefore, I hope Sir, you'll represent my case to my Lord Pollock, 
 for I am afraid Fountainhall and his son, being my adversarie's friends, 
 in a manner may bring me to unnecessary troubles and expences. Sir, 
 your diligence in this obliges me to subscribe myself doubly your obedt. 
 
 * See page 188. 
 
270 APPENDIX TO 
 
 humble Servant. (Signed) HECTOR M'NEALL. Duddingston, 
 March 1, 1717. (Addressed) To Mr. James Anderson, Post Master 
 General of Scotland, Edinburgh. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 MURDER OF COMMISSIONER CAYLEY.* 
 
 [As this murder was one of the most inexplicable that ever happened 
 in Scotland, and as Sir Walter Scott has alluded to an incident that 
 occurred to the murderess after her escape, in his romance of Peveril, 
 (Works, Vol. xxviii, p. 70,) the particulars collected here together 
 will not be deemed void of interest. It is proper to mention, that 
 the popular belief seems to have been, that Kello had attempted to 
 violate the lady, and that in defence of her chastity she had shot 
 the "gallant gay Lothario." In a "ninth" set of lines, which 
 may be found amongst the MSS. in the Advocates Library, but 
 which are too coarse for insertion here, this is assumed throughout. 
 It is very doubtful if the lady had so good an excuse ; but the reader 
 can judge for himself. 
 
 The account given by Sir Walter in his notes shall be first inserted 
 then the printed precognition, which is exceedingly rare the only 
 copy presently known being that belonging to C. K. Sharpe, Esq. 
 who, with his usual kindness, has allowed it to be reprinted then 
 some extracts from the public journals ; next, a letter to Colonel 
 Patrick Vansf of Barnbarrock, from William M'Dowal, brother of 
 the Laird of Freuch ; and lastly, some verses from a MS. recently 
 purchased at the sale of the library of George Chalmers, Esq. the 
 author of Caledonia. 
 
 It may be observed, that Sir Walter was mistaken in asserting that 
 Cayley came down as a Commissioner on the forfeited estates; he 
 was one of the Commissioners of the Customs, and received his ap- 
 
 See Elegy, page 202. Another copy has since turned up in the 
 library of George Chalmers, Esq. 
 
 f Colonel Vans' second wife was Freuch *s daughter. 
 J See Beaton's Political Index, Vol. ii, p. 133. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 271 
 
 pointment on the 20th December 1714,alongst with William Culli- 
 ford and Humphrey Brent, Esquires.] 
 
 1. SIR WALTER SCOTT'S ACCOUNT. 
 
 " She was a young woman of extreme beautyi who had been mar- 
 ried to an old man, a writer, named M'Farlane. Her situation, and 
 perhaps her manners, gave courage to some who desired to be account* 
 ed her suitors. Among them were a young Englishman, named Cay- 
 ley, who was a Commissioner of Government upon the estates forfeited 
 in the Rebellion 1715. In 1716, Mr. Cayley visited this lady in her 
 lodgings, when they quarrelled, either on account of his having offered 
 her some violence, or as another account said, because she reproached 
 him with having boasted of former favours. It ended in her seizing 
 upon a pair of pistols, which lay loaded in a closet, her husband in- 
 tending to take them with him on a journey. The gallant Commis- 
 sioner approached with an air of drollery, saying, " What, Madam, 
 do you intend to performe comedy ?" " You shall find it a tragedy," 
 answered the lady, and fired both pistols, by which Commissioner 
 Cayley fell dead. 
 
 She fled and remained concealed for a certain time. Her claim of 
 refuge in Swinton House I do not know it arose probably from some 
 of the indescribable genealogical filaments which connect Scotish fa- 
 milies. A very small cause would even at any time have been a rea- 
 son for interfering between an individual and the law. 
 
 Whatever were the circumstances of Mrs. Macfarlane's case, it is 
 certain that she returned and lived and died in Edinburgh, without 
 being brought to trial. Indeed, considering the times, there was no 
 great wonder ; for to one strong party, the death of an English Com- 
 missioner was not a circumstance to require much apology. The 
 Swintons, however, would not be of that opinion, the family being of 
 Presbyterian and Whig principles."* 
 
 * Vol. xxviii, p. 93. 
 
272 APPENDIX TO 
 
 2. A COPY OF THE PRECOGNITION TAKEN IN PRE- 
 SENCE OP SIR JAMES STEWART, HIS MAJESTY'S 
 SOLICITOR, AND ARCHIBALD MACAULAY, ONE OF 
 THE PRESENT BAILIES OF EDINBURGH, IN THE 
 CASE OF MRS. MACKFARLAIN, AND THE DECEAST 
 MR. CAYLEY. WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS IN MRS. 
 MURRAY'S VINDICATION. HUMBLY OFFERED TO 
 THE CONSIDERATION OF THE PUBLICK. PRINTED 
 IN THE YEAR 1716. SMALL 4TO. 
 
 THE PREFACE. 
 
 The town has been already entertained with several different ac- 
 counts of the tragical story which happened on Tuesday the 2d of 
 October last, between the deceast Mr. Cayley and Mrs. Mackfarlain. 
 People have also endeavoured from probabilities and conjectures, to 
 find out the motives that could induce a woman, so contrary to the 
 nature of her sex, to murder a gentleman with so many circumstances 
 of cruelty ; which matter seems still to be pretty much in the dark, 
 and in all appearance must remain so, since Mr. Cayley's death pre- 
 vents the publick's receiving any certain information of I hat affair, 
 but what proceeds from Mrs. Mackfarlain herself. 
 
 She was sensible that the deed she had committed was almost 
 without a precedent, and nothing but a notion that she had done it in 
 defence of her chastity could induce the virtuous of either sex to think 
 of her without horror and detestation. This was therefore the colour- 
 ing she and her friends have endeavoured with so much pains to put 
 upon it ; and as this lady in every part of the business seems to have 
 stuck at nothing to carry her point, a circumstantiate story was art- 
 fully contrived, importing, that Mr. Walter Murray's wife had in- 
 vited her to drink tea at her house the Saturday preceding, and that 
 after having thus entised her into Mr. Cayley's company, she locked 
 the door and left her exposed for the space of two hours to his rude 
 attacks upon her chastity, vainly imagining to have supported her own 
 reputation at the expense of that of another, who has for so many 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 273 
 
 years maintained the character of a virtuous woman, without the least 
 imputation. 
 
 Mrs. Murray might reasonably expect from the part she has hitherto 
 acted in the world, that no body would believe her capable of so 
 abominable an action, at least without a greater authority than Mrs. 
 Mackfarlain's assertion, which she hopes will not be much regarded in 
 this case, by those who are acquainted with both their characters. 
 There is however no other foundation for this malicious story, which 
 reflects so highly on Mrs. Murray's honour and virtue, which after a 
 full enquiry into that matter, and after a judicial examination of her- 
 self, her daughter, her servant, and her neighbours, is proved to be so 
 very calumnious and false, that Mrs. Mackfarlain was not so much as 
 within Mrs. Murray's door that day, as will appear from the Precog- 
 nition hereunto adjoined, which Mrs. Murray has thought fit to pub- 
 lish in her own vindication. 
 
 The reader will be pleased likewise to observe, from the Precogni- 
 tion, that Mrs. Mackfarlain received a present of a hare from Mr. 
 Cayley on the Munday thereafter, for which she return'd him thanks 
 and her service, and was visited by Mrs. Murray on the Tuesday : 
 Neither of which could have happen'd, if Mrs. Macfarlain had been ill 
 used the Saturday before by Mr. Cayley with Mrs. Murray's knowledge 
 or consent, and much more, if it had been by her contrivance, as has 
 been so falsly and maliciously reported. 
 
 As to some facts upon which a good deal of stress has been laid, with 
 very little reason ; such as, her denying Mr. Cayley was at home to*Mr. 
 Mackfarlain, when he really was ; and a noise that was heard in her 
 house several hours after Mr. Cayley and she were gone out of town. 
 She does not think it worth while to take any notice of them ; since, 
 as to the first, a gentleman always has the privilege of being deny'd at 
 home when he gives orders for it, which he did that day ; and for the 
 second particular, it is of no manner of importance. 
 
 It is not Mrs. Murray's intention, by anything she has offered to the 
 publick, to load Mrs. Mackfarlain further than was necessary in her 
 own vindication ; and to dissipate these false and malicious reports, 
 which have been so injurious to her. 
 
 Having therefore justify'd her innocence, she gives nothing to her 
 resentment ; but begs leave to observe, that the attack Mrs. Macfarlain 
 has made upon her reputation, is equally malicious with the one she 
 made upon Mr. Cayley's life ; tho', she thanks God, it has not proved 
 
 T 
 
274 APPENDIX TO 
 
 so successful. Mrs. Murray, however, can freely forgive her for it; 
 and will no longer detain the reader with any observation of her's ; but 
 recommend to his perusal the precognitions hereunto annexed. 
 
 PRECOGNITION I. ! 
 
 EDINBDKGH, OCTOBER 25, 1716. 
 
 The which day, in presence of Archbald Macauly one of the present 
 Magistrates of the City of Edinburgh, and the Right Honourable Sir 
 James Stewart, his Majesty's Sollicitor ; compeared Magdalen Keill, 
 spouse to Walter Murray, merchant in Edinburgh, who being examined 
 by them in presence of Cornelius Cayley, brother to the deceast Cap- 
 tain Cayley, one of the Commissioners of the Customs, and seve- 
 ral others, judicially declares, that the said Captain Cayley having 
 been abroad late on Friday the 28th of September last, the de- 
 clarant went out to her shop before the defunct got out of bed 
 on the Saturday morning, and about nine a'clock the defunct sent 
 for the declarant, who having come down and drank some tea, she 
 returned to her shop, where she remained till one a clock mid- 
 day ; that she then came down and dined with the defunct ; that hav- 
 ing returned to her shop a little after two a clock, Mr. Mackfarlain 
 about four a clock came to the shop, and asked the declarant if she 
 had seen his wife, who he said was abroad, and at the same time 
 ask<jd if the defunct was gone out of town ; to which the declarant 
 answered, You know he always goes out in the morning. And fur- 
 ther declares, that to the best of her knowledge, Mrs. Mackfarlain was 
 not in the declarant's house all that day, and that she did not see her 
 that day but in her own house, where the declarant went up to her 
 betwixt eleven and twelve before noon, where she stay'd only a very 
 little, and Mr. Mackfarlain going out while the declarant was there, 
 she followed him so soon, that she overtook him at the foot of the 
 stair; and declares, that she went out of town in coach with the 
 defunct to his house in the country, about five a clock at night, and 
 that she did not see Mrs. Mackfarlain till the Tuesday thereafter 
 about mid-day, the declarant having heard that Mrs. Mackfarlain had 
 been twice calling for her on the Monday before, when she was in the 
 country, and that Mrs. Mackfarlain did not say any thing to the de- 
 clarant in relation to the defunct, except that she told her that the de- 
 funct had sent her an hare on the Munday before. The declarant 
 
SCOT1SH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 further says, that the reason why she gave so an ambiguous answer 
 to Mr. Mackfarlain, when he on the Saturday asked at her if Mr. 
 Cayley had gone out of town, was because the defunct had chid her 
 at dinner for having told Colonel Guest's servant in the forenoon that 
 he was not out of town. Declares, when she went to the shop on the 
 Saturday afternoon, she left her daughter in her house. And this is 
 the truth. 
 
 MAGDALEN KEILL. 
 
 ARCHBALD MACAULAY, Baillie. 
 
 Elizabeth Murray, daughter to Walter Murray, Merchant in Edin- 
 burgh, being examined ut intus, declares, that she went to her father's 
 shop on the Saturday the 29th day of September last, about two a 
 Clock in the Afternoon, having been at home the whole forenoon, 
 and that she remained in the said shop till a little before three, that 
 a gentlewoman calling for her mother at the shop, she came down to 
 the house, and sent up her mother to her, and that the declarant re- 
 mained in the house from that time till about four a clock, that she 
 went out with a young gentlewoman a comrade, before which time the 
 servant-maid, who was gone abroad for barley and other necessaries, 
 was returned to the house. And declares, that all that day, neither 
 before nor after noon, did she see or hear of Mrs. Macfarlain's being 
 in the house, nor does she believe she was there for that day ; and de- 
 clares, that after, or about five a clock, the declarant went to the 
 country with the defunct and her mother, and this she declares to be 
 truth. 
 
 ELIZABETH MURRAY. 
 
 ARCH. MACAULAY, Bailie. 
 
 Anne Mackairter servitrix to the said Walter Murray within design- 
 ed, being examined ut intus, declares, that on Saturday the 29th of 
 September last, she was in her master's both forenoon and afternoon, 
 except some few short errands that she went after dinner, she left her 
 mistress and the defunct in the house ; and that when she returned 
 from the second errand, which might have been about a quarter of an 
 hour, she found her mistress' daughter and a comrade in the house, 
 the defunct being at home ; but her mistress having gone to the shop, 
 that about four a clock her mistress' daughter having gone abroad 
 with her comrade, the defunct sent the declarant for some pickles, 
 
276 APPENDIX TO 
 
 saying he would look to the house till her return ; and that according- 
 ly she went, and as she passed the shop told her mistress, that it 
 would be proper for her to go down to the house, seeing there was no 
 body there but the defunct ; and that when she returned, she found 
 the defunct with her mistress in the kitchen, which was in less than 
 half an hour. And declares, that all that day, either before or after 
 noon, Mrs. Macfarlain was not in her master's house to her knowledge, 
 or as she believes ; and that the defunct, her mistress and her daughter, 
 went to the country that night about five a clock at night, and her 
 mistress did not return till the Tuesday thereafter. And this is the 
 truth, and declares she cannot write. And further declares, that be- 
 twixt nine and ten a clock at night, when there was no body in the 
 house save the declarant and children, who were in bed, a servant 
 of Mr. Barclay's came up stairs, and asked what was the reason of the 
 noise they heard below stairs, she desired the servant to come, and see 
 there was no noise in the house, but the noise was from above. And 
 this is the truth. 
 
 ARCH. MACAULAY, Baillic. 
 
 Adam Barclay, Turner in Edinburgh, being examined ut intus judi- 
 cially, declares, that he lodges in the house immediately below Walter 
 Murray, merchant, and that he was at home on Saturday the 29th of 
 September last, and that he was within doors all forenoon, and did 
 not hear any noise from above stairs all that day. Elizabeth Arburth- 
 net his spouse, being also examined, declares that she was not at home 
 till after seven a clock that night ; about or betwixt seven and eight 
 a clock that night, she heard a noise, and sent her servant to enquire at 
 Mrs. Murray's what was the reason of the noise ; and the servant hav- 
 ing gone up stairs, returned and told, that Mrs. Murray and her 
 daughter were gone out to the Inch, and there was nobody in their 
 house but the servant maid and the children going to bed. 
 
 ADAM BARCLAY. 
 
 ELIZABETH ARBURTHNET. 
 
 ARCH. MACAULAY, Baillie. 
 
 Margaret Sutor and Mary Grieve, Servants to the above Declarants, 
 being examined ut supra, adhere to the above declaration, and this 
 they declare to be truth ; and Margaret Sutor declares she cannot 
 write. MARY GRIEVE. 
 
 ARCH. MACAULAY, Baillie. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 277 
 
 William Murray one of the Keepers of the Parliament-House, being 
 examined ut supra, declares, that he lodges on the same plat with the 
 said Walter Murray, being the immediate next door to him, and was 
 at home from one a clock mid-day of the 29th of September last, and 
 declares he heard no noise that whole afternoon in the house of the 
 said Walter Murray, and this is the truth. 
 
 WILLIAM MURRAY. 
 ARCH. MACAULAY, Baillie. 
 
 PRECOGNITION II. 
 
 EDINBURGH, IST NOVEMBER, 1716. 
 
 The which day, in presence of Archibald Mackaulay, one of the 
 present Baillies of Edinburgh, and Sir James Steuart His Majesty's 
 Solicitor, Cornelius Cayley, brother to the deceast Captain Cayley, 
 and several other gentlemen, compeared personally Elizabeth Ar- 
 burthnet, spouse to Adam Barclay, being re-examined judicially, de- 
 clares, that upon Saturday the twenty-ninth of September last, about 
 three a clock in the afternoon, she met Mrs. Mackfarlain coming down 
 her own stairs, as the declarant was going up ; declares, that after she 
 had gone up a pair of stairs further, she looked over the open window, 
 where she saw Mrs. Mackfarlain shake down her cloaths at the little 
 shops at the entry, where she saw her with her face downward the 
 close, but did not know whether she went down or up the close ; nor 
 did she see her go either of these ways. Declares, that to the best of 
 her knowledge she came out of the Tolbooth of Edinburgh after eight 
 a clock at night, and went home a little thereafter ; and hearing a 
 noise from above, she asked her servant what was the matter, and her 
 servants told her, they had heard such a noise for two hours before ; 
 whereupon she sent her servant to see, and enquire after the same at 
 Mr. Murray's ; and this is truth. 
 
 ELJZ. ARBUTHNOT. 
 
 ARCH. MACKAULAY, Baillie. 
 
 Mary Grieve, servitrix to the above declarant, being re-examined 
 ut supra, judicially declares, that on the twenty-ninth of September 
 last, when her mistress came home (as she has above declared) they 
 heard a noise, as the declarant believed, to have been in Mrs. Murray's ; 
 and the above declarant asking about the noise, the declarant answer- 
 
278 APPENDIX TO 
 
 ed, she had heard such a noise for two hours before ; declares the 
 candle was lighted before she heard the noise begin, and that the noise 
 continued for the whole space of two hours, from the time it began, to 
 the time her mistress went to bed ; and this is the truth. 
 
 MARY GRIEVE. 
 
 ARCH. MlcxACLAY, Baillie. 
 
 Basil Dawson, late servant to the deceast Captain Cayley, being ex- 
 amined ut int'is, judicially declares, that on Monday the first day of 
 October last, the deceast Captain Cayley sent in the declarant from 
 his chamber to Mrs. Mackfarlain's at Edinburgh with an hare, and de- 
 sired the declarant to give it her with his service ; and accordingly 
 the declarant carried the hare up to Mrs. Mackfarlain's, and delivered 
 the same to Mary her servant, declares he saw the servant go and ac- 
 quaint her mistress thereof, and saw Mr. Mackfarlain and his spouse 
 at their room door, and heard Mrs. Mackfarlain return her service to 
 Captain Cayley, and thanks for the said hare, and this is the truth. 
 
 BASIL DAWSON. 
 
 ARCH. MACKAULAY, Baillie. 
 
 3. EXTRACT FROM MERCURIUS POLITICUS, BEING 
 MONTHLY OBSERVATIONS ON THE AFFAIRS OF 
 GREAT BRITAIN, WITH THE MOST MATERIAL OC- 
 CURRENCES IN EUROPE, FOR THE MONTH OF OC- 
 TOBER 1716, BY A LOVER OF OLD ENGLAND. 8vo. 
 LONDON. 
 
 PERSONS OF NOTE DEAD THIS MONTH. 
 
 We have very few persons of any note whose exit comes within this 
 month ; but the vacancy is very unhappily supplied by a very strange 
 account of the death of one, viz. Mr. Cayley, one of the Commission- 
 ers of the Customs in Scotland, who has been very unfortunately kill'd, 
 they do not say murther'd, tho' we must declare it in our opinion 
 a murther, nay, a double murther ; first of his person, and then of his 
 reputation. The story being full of very strange incidents, and well 
 worth making publick, we shall give first the account which has been 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 279 
 
 publish'd to the world, and then a particular account of the whole, as 
 it is come to our hands by a letter from a private, but impartial hand 
 in Scotland, and which has never yet been made publick. 
 
 The public accounts are as follow: " That Mr. Cay ley having 
 found means, as has been said, to ingratiate himself into the lady's 
 acquaintance, on Tuesday the 2d of October, when Mr. Macfarlane 
 was abroad, he went at three in the afternoon, and ask'd for Mrs. 
 Macfarlane, the maid shew'd him into a room, and told her lady, who 
 being a little indispos'd, and undress'd, put herself into some better 
 order, and came to hear what he had to say. At first he made an 
 apology for his last rudeness, and seem'd to ask her pardon for it ; 
 but soou after, knowing there was but one maid in the house, and one 
 other gone abroad, both which, 'tis said, he had secured by giving 
 them money, he made a second violent attempt upon her chastity, and 
 met with the same resistance ; and the lady being now more highly 
 provok'd, flew passionately from him into another room, where there 
 was a case of pistols, she returned with one of them in a moment, and 
 presented it at him, bidding him give over his purpose and be gone ; 
 at which he said, What, Madam, d'ye design to act a comedy ? but she 
 reply'd, he would find it a tragedy if he did not retire. Notwith- 
 standing which he attempted again to embrace her ; at which, being 
 arm'd with a noble resolution to defend her honour, she let fly one of 
 the pistols at him, at which, as she herself says, he attempted to draw 
 his sword, but she prevented him ; for fetching the other pistol, she 
 shot him thro* the breast, a little below the left pap, of which wound 
 he immediately dropt down dead. This dispute was so close, that Mr. 
 Caley's shirt was burnt at the sleeves, with the fire of one of the pis- 
 tols, and his cravat, and the breast of his shirt with the fire of the 
 other. Mr. Macfarlane having been sought for, came home about 
 five a clock, who surpriz'd and astonish'd at the sad accident which 
 had happen'd in his family, went immediately and took advice of some 
 of his friends what to do in the affair, who all advis'd him to convey 
 his wife away privately, to prevent her lying in goal (she being three 
 or four months gone with child,) till a precognition should be taken 
 of the matter, and it should appear in its true light; accordingly she 
 walk'd down the High Street, followed by her husband at a little dis- 
 tance, and now absconds. 
 
 The thing continued a profound secret to all, except those con- 
 cern'd in the house, till past ten at night, when Mr. Macfarlane, hav. 
 
280 APPENDIX TO 
 
 ing provided a safe retreat for his wife, return'd, and gave orders for 
 disco vering"it to the Magistrates, who went and view'd the body of the 
 deceas'd, and secur'd the house and maid, and all else who may be- 
 come evidence of the fact; and yesterday the Magistrates sat upon it, 
 and took a precognition of the whole affair, from the depositions of 
 the servants and others who could give any light into it. 
 
 " The deposition of the maid-servant, taken before the Lord Pro- 
 vost and Bailiff, in the presence of Col. Ghest, Mr. Brent, one of the 
 Commissioners of the Customs, and others, sets forth, that at the 
 time aforesaid, John Cayley, Esq. one of the Commissioners of the 
 Customs, came to her master's lodging, and the declarant gave him 
 access, and conducted him to the room where he now lies ; declares, 
 when he came to the lodging there was no person therein except Mrs. 
 Macfarlane, her mistress, Barbara Martine, her servant, who a very 
 little after he came in went out ; and about the hour of four of the 
 clock, the declarant heard a shot, and in a very little thereafter, she 
 heard another shot, as she thought, of a pistol ; and immediately there- 
 after, Mrs. Macfarlane, her mistress, came from her room, and told 
 the declarant that Mr. Caley had been rude with her, and offered to 
 force her, whereupon she had taken occasion to shoot him, and 
 earnestly begg'd the declarant might go and call upon her husband, 
 which the declarant did accordingly, by going to the window on the 
 stair head ; declares, it was above an hour before Mr. Macfarlane 
 could be found, when he came home, met with his spouse in the 
 kitchen ; declares, she heard Mrs. Macfarlane say to her husband that 
 she had revenged herself upon that villain, but cannot be positive as 
 to the other expressions; declares, that Mrs. Macfarlane being sitting 
 in a little closet when Mr. Caley came in, she went to another room, 
 and put on clean linen, and thereafter went to Mr. Caley ; and de- 
 clares, about four of the clock, after the declarant had heard the shot, 
 and Mrs. Macfarlane came out from the room where she had been 
 with Mr. Caley, she saw her linnens abused, and much ruffled, as also 
 her own abused after the same manner ; declares, about four of the 
 clock at night, when the declarant heard the shot, she came from the 
 kitchen to the dining-room, where she met her mistress, and saw, 
 from the room where Mr. Cayley was, and now lies dead, some smoak, 
 and saw a little glance of his corp, and did not see the corp farther 
 till about six at night, that the other servant and the declarant came 
 together to the room, where she saw Mr. Caley lying a corp on the 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 
 
 floor ; and that Mr. Macfarlane and his spouse left the house about or 
 before six at night; declares that no person was allowed, or went to 
 the bed or room where the corp was found, until such time as my 
 Lord Provost and Baillie Mac-Aulay were called for, and came to the 
 room with several other gentlemen, which was about ten at night. 
 And this is the truth. (Signed) MARY LIDDEL. JOHN CAMPBELL. 
 
 The same circumstances are confirm'd by the other maid-servant 
 and the clerks of Mr. Macfarlane, one of which adds, that when Mr. 
 Macfarlane came in, his wife took him by the sleeve, and walked with 
 him to the dining-room, desiring the declarant to follow, and saying, 
 that she wished she had another witness ; and then coming with her 
 husband to the room where the corp lay, Come, and 1 will shew you 
 what I have done to that wretch, or villain, that hath been making an 
 attempt upon my chastity; and Mr. Macfarlane, seeing the corp, 
 sigh'd and said, O woman what have you done ! and desired she might 
 make off with herself, which she did ; and he followed thereafter. Mr. 
 Caley is own'd by the same advices to have been a very fine gentle- 
 man, and much respected by every one, and his death, as well as the 
 manner of it, to be much regretted. Mrs. Macfarlane is a young lady 
 about nineteen or twenty years of age, and much admired for her 
 beauty, and will now be as much celebrated for this rare, but too 
 violent instance of defending her chastity. She is the daughter of 
 Colonel Charles Straiton, a gentleman of great honour, and grand- 
 daughter, by her mother, of Sir Andrew Forrester. 
 
 Here follows a letter, dated from Edinburgh, on the same subject, 
 which is sent by an unknown hand, and which also, without any per- 
 sonal note of ours, we commit to the publick ; every one may judge as 
 their reason and charity guides them ; we desire neither to have part 
 in the reflections on the dead or on the living : 
 
 SIR, In obedience to your importunity in the case of the murther, 
 as you call it, of Mr. Cayley, I have been diligent in my endeavours 
 to inform myself impartially of this unfortunate gentleman's end. 
 It is not possible to give you a fuller account of the facts, than is con- 
 tained in the precognition of the Magistrates, and the depositions of 
 the witnesses, to which I cannot do better than refer you. What I 
 can say, therefore, in the thing, for your satisfaction, must be the ob- 
 servation of impartial people here upon the circumstances, in which I 
 must join my thoughts to those who think the tale does not tell well 
 in the woman's behalf, and that several ways ; and that she had not 
 
 U 
 
282 APPENDIX TO 
 
 only had no sufficient cause for this bloody action, but that much less 
 has she for murthering the gentleman's fame after his death, who has 
 all his life had a quite differing character. It is thought, if she falls 
 into the hands of justice, she will ill defend herself this way, the strict- 
 ness of our laws in such cases also consider'd. However, as you desire 
 me to speak my thoughts impartially, I shall do so without any design 
 to wrong the woman any more than the man ; to which end I shall 
 take the tale as it is published in your printed news, and as is said in 
 publick to be told ; if that be told wrong, then I crave you will amend 
 it. First, it is said, that at one other house in Edinburgh, where this 
 gentleman first met the lady, he offered to be rude to her, and yet it 
 says again, that coming afterwards to her own house, she admitted 
 him to visit her, and came into the room to him ; here, they who 
 object against the conduct of the lady say, that if Vie was rude to her 
 before, why had she not called for help, Mrs. Murray, and several 
 others being, as is said, but in the next room to them ; and why had 
 she not made it known to Mrs. Murray thereafter; and how else shall 
 we know that it is so, seeing she afterwards admitted him to be in a 
 room alone, which, had she been afraid of rudeness, she would not 
 have done ; again, when he came to visit her, and she heard he was in 
 the room, why did she not send him a civil message that she was in- 
 disposed and could not be spoken with ; or why, seeing she would 
 speak with him, did she not order one of her servants, for she had two 
 with her in the house, to stay in the room, or to come in if she called ; 
 and did she not stay with him an hour alone, and call for no help, 
 tho' her two women were near hand ? 
 
 On the other hand, one of the witnesses swears, That being in a 
 closet when Mr. Caley came into her house, she went into another 
 room and put on clean linnen, and thereafter went to him : Why she 
 should put on clean linnen to go to a man ?he had such a horror for, 
 as a virtuous woman would have for a man that attempted her chastity, 
 is yet doubtful ; and whereas the servant swears, That her linnen was 
 very much abused : That expression signifies something which I care 
 not to speak out otherwise than this, that she ought to have called out 
 for help much sooner, and long before she committed the murther. 
 There are other things to be observed anent her discovering it to her 
 husband, (viz.) her words, " That she had revenged herself of the 
 villain ;" neither the laws of God or man allowing any to be instru- 
 ments of their own revenge. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 283 
 
 Again, it seems, that she went from him into another room to fetch 
 pistols, so that if he had been rude to her before, it is evident he did 
 not detain her, or offer to go fiom her any more than she offer 'd to 
 call for assistance ; and as she was gone from him, she might have 
 called officers, and seized on him for a ravishment, in which case her 
 evidence had been good against him. On the contrair, thus to kill 
 (he gentleman, and then say he attempted her chastity, without offer- 
 ing the least circumstance to support the allegation. It seems but a 
 mean thing to prove it upon, neither would it pass in our Courts ; 
 wherefore many think, that as she has been far wrong in doing this 
 cruel thing, she is very right on her own side to fly from justice. I 
 omit going farther in my observes on this, till time gives us a clearer 
 light, but wish Mrs. Murray also may be examined by the Magistrates, 
 to know if what is ailedged in compass of her knowledge, be true. 
 I am, 
 
 SIR, 
 
 Your humble Servant, 
 
 J. Y. 
 
 4. LETTER TO COL. PATRICK VANS OF BARNBAR- 
 ROCH, FROM WILLIAM M'DOWALL, ESQ. 
 
 EDINBURGH, 4-TH OCTOBER 1716. 
 
 SIR, I doubt not you had account, or will soon have, of that tra- 
 gedy acted by Mrs. M'Farland, a wryter's wyfe, (who is a great toast 
 here) upon Commissioner Cayley; it is matter of much discourse 
 here, and creates such various speculations, as I can hardly offer you 
 anything but matter of fact, which was, that upon Tuesday last, he 
 came to her lodging, after three o'clock, where he had often been at 
 cards and tea. She did not appear till she had changed all her 
 cloaths in clean dress, to her very smock ; then she came into a sort 
 of drawing-room, and from that conveyed him into her own bed- 
 chamber. After some conversation there, she left him in it, went out 
 to a closet which lay att some distance from the chamber : She brought 
 in a pair of charg'd pistols, which belonged to Mr. Cayley himself, 
 which Mr. M'Farland her husband had borrowed from him some days 
 before, when he was about to ryde to the country : What furder ex- 
 pressions were on either syde I know not, but she fired one pistol, 
 which only made a slight wound on the shakle-bone of his left hand, 
 
284 APPENDIX TO 
 
 and slanted down through the floor, which I saw. The other she fired 
 in aslant on his right breast, so as the bullet pierced his heart, and 
 stuck about his left shoulder-blade behind. She went into the closet, 
 laid by the pistols, he having presently fallen dead on the floor. She 
 locked the door of her room upon the dead body, sent a servant for 
 her husband, who was in a change house with company, being about 
 four afternoon : He came and gave her what money he had in the 
 house, and conducted her away ; and after he also had absented him- 
 selfe for about a day, he appeared, and afterwards declared before the 
 Lords of Justiciary he knew nothing about it till she sent for him, 
 though some imagine it was a contrivance betwixt them, Mr. Cayley, 
 it seems, having been so foolish as to tell above his bottle, and in coffy- 
 houses, what favours he had from Mrs. M'Farland; and her husband 
 having expressed his jealousy and inclination of revenge, some say, the 
 lady once said to her husband she would execute it herselfe. Some 
 say she was also exasperated by his taking up with some other mis- 
 tresse about the same tyme ; but it is not doubted, but they had been 
 perfectly familiar for more as a year past, and frequently he had 
 her and her husband att his country lodgeing for several days together ; 
 and some say had bestowed upwards of 200 guineas since their acquain- 
 tance in fine presents upon her. I saw his corps after he was cear- 
 cloath'd, and saw his blood, where he lay on the floor for twenty-four 
 hours after he dyed, just as he fell ; so as it was a difficulty to streight 
 him ; so much for both matter of fact and speculation. If your trans- 
 actions of this nature, in your younger days, were again to be repeated, 
 this example wold possibly afford ground of caution, as it will, no 
 doubt, do to such as are yet hott in these pursuits. 
 
 Dear Sir, Adieu.* 
 
 5. VERSES ON THE MURDER OF MR. CAYLEY, FROM 
 MSS. FORMERLY BELONGING TO GEORGE CHALMERS, 
 ESQ. 
 
 Must M'Farlane dye ? Shame to the natione, 
 Because she spotless kept her reputation ; 
 Our heroine must not dye for shame, 
 Who kills in self defence, bears not the blame. 
 
 * Mr. M'Dowall's niece was the second wife of Colonel Vans. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 285 
 
 No Christian laws can fix the guilt upon her, 
 
 Who slew the ravisher to save her honour ; 
 
 And Caylie might have tam'd that dear bought passion 
 
 Till he went home, where horns are more in fashion. 
 
 The fam'd Lucretia sullied much her fame, 
 
 Who stab'd her self when Tarquin should been slain. 
 
 Whereas our heroine, better far, 
 
 Soon cutt the thread of that uncivil warr, 
 
 To lead the English, that for their sweet lives, 
 
 They no more struggle to debauch our wives; 
 
 And that so base an act, and vile communion, 
 
 Is not an article of Brittain's union. 
 
 This hero brave, 
 
 Within this grave, 
 
 When he design'd to try her, 
 
 The heroine shott 
 
 Him on the spot, 
 
 Incens'd with rage and ire. 
 
 The heroine shott, 
 
 Two balls he gott, 
 
 For two he was to give her. 
 
 His stay'd without, 
 
 Ther is no doubt, 
 
 But her's went through his liver. 
 
 3. 
 
 'Twixt Lucrece and Macfarlane are great odds, 
 Tho' both their faults occasion'd were by codds, 
 M'Farlane wiser, rather chus'd to kill 
 The lew'd usurper, than yeeld to his will ; 
 But fool Lucretia, tho' just in her prime, 
 Herself did murder for another's crime. 
 
 In after ages both shall have a name, 
 
 The one for courage, the other for her fame. 
 
 But after all tis very hard to tell 
 
 Which did the fool, or which the guilty fell. 
 
 Both heroines did equal courage shew, 
 
 That stab'd her self, and thto did kill her foe. 
 
286 APPENDIX TO 
 
 IX. 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OF ALEXANDER RO^E, LATE LORD 
 BISHOP OF EDINBURGH.* 
 
 [Taken from a Funeral Sermon, on occasion of his death, by a Pres- 
 byter of the Church, Edinburgh, 1720. Bishop Rose, of the family 
 of Kilravock, was son of Alexander Rose, Prior of Monimusk. He 
 was originally Bishop of Moray, from whence he was translated to 
 Edinburgh in 1687. He died at his sister's house in the Canongate, 
 and was buried at Restalrig.] 
 
 It remains now that I apply the whole that has been said from my 
 text, to the mournful occasion of paying our last respects to the sacred 
 memory of our late Lord Bishop ; the character of whose virtues will 
 give life to all that I have said. Permit me then to refresh your me- 
 mories, and do what honour I can to his ; tho* I must own, his great 
 and good portraiture deserves to be drawn by a more eminent and skil- 
 ful pen. But I shall attempt it, not in a strained and artful way, but 
 in his own sincere, plain and unaffected manner, I am conscious that 
 the draught which I have made of him is rude and imperfect ; but 
 such as it is, it sets out many things, most worthy to be imitated. 
 
 He was a clear instance of many noble virtues, and both a discreet 
 and zealous stickler in promoting them. 
 
 He was a person of good understanding, without haughty opinions 
 and conceit of his own knowledge. He was of a temper very sedate 
 and calm, free to hear, and patient to consider ; he was not rash or 
 precipitant in his determinations, but maturely deliberated, before he 
 pronounced his opinion ; and in weighty matters consulted his brethren, 
 in imitation of the celebrated St. Cyprian, and Theophylact, in 2 Cor. 
 10. Apostol. Can. 34. 
 
 He was a person of true tenderness of conscience during the whole 
 course of his life, and this he evidenced, in refusing to gratify the am- 
 bitious desires of a certain Prince, who tempted him with large prof- 
 
 * See Elegy, page 220. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 287 
 
 fers, if he would engage in his measures. No, no, this generous and 
 loyal subject scorned the solicitation, as contrary to his duty, and the 
 principles of the Church, that condemns resistance of Kings, and whose 
 arms are only Prayers and Tears. It is his great glory and honour, that 
 in a most degenerate age, he shewed his closs adherence to the doctrine 
 of the gospel, in choosing to partake of a suffering, rather than a sinful 
 condition by dishonourable compliances. Thus he was sincere and plain 
 hearted in his speeches and professions ; gentle and affable in his con- 
 versation, which was graced with a noble aspect and a lively mien, and 
 seasoned with pleasant and useful discourses, that could not fail of 
 charming the hearers, and attracting their attention. 
 
 He studied the knowledge of men, and the times as well as books, 
 which rendred him capable of serving the State as well as the Church. 
 He was affable and accessible, particularly to strangers, whom he en- 
 tertained with great civility. He was indefatigable in dispatch of a 
 multitude of affairs ; for the care of the whole Church lay upon his 
 shoulders : He underwent this fatigue, and laborious task with cheer- 
 fulness : but no doubt it wasted his spirits, and shortned his days. 
 He like a skilful pilot governed the Church in the roughest storms. 
 He was dextrous in penning pointed and elegant epistles, that declared 
 the judicious and accurate taste of that noble and great genius : in 
 them you might easily discover the polite stile, and bright strokes of 
 the Christian gentleman and scholar. 
 
 A humility and modest deportment did shine with a peculiar lustre 
 in all the parts of his life. His method of reproving * was so tender 
 and gentle, that (unless in some heinous crimes) he seemed rather to 
 exhort than rebuke, and yet with such majesty as became his Episcopal 
 dignity, and did impress terror upon the offender. His own great 
 candor disposed him to put the best constructions, and to judge the 
 most favourably of all persons and things ; for he -f well knew, that 
 virtue and purity might be blemished, and men's actions misrepresent- 
 ed by malice, envy, or ill-will. The most innocent person, the most 
 sublime piety, the tallest reputation, and the greatest goodness, cannot 
 always defend themselves against the venom of a serpentine tongue. 
 
 He was singularly happy in an even temper, not violenty transported, 
 but only duly affected with whatever happened ; no prosperous acci- 
 
 * Apost. Const. 1. 2, cap. 5, and 9, 1. 7. cap. 19. 
 f Apost. Const. 1. 2, cap. 6. 
 
288 APPENDIX TO 
 
 dents could overjoy, nor cross events immeasurably disturb hitu. Jn 
 the midst of sickness, imprisonment and pinching circumstances, he 
 was patient and resigned. He past over many injuries ; was ready to 
 forgive the greatest, even in those who had robbed him of his pittance, 
 he was ready to do all good offices, even to thosa who had used him- 
 self very ill. 
 
 His merit advanced him to the Episcopal dignity, being educated 
 in the famous University of Oxford, in Baliol College, and afterwards 
 advanced to the Professor of Divinity's chair, first in Glasgow, then in 
 St. Andrews, where he taught with great perspicuity and success. He 
 was well versed in all the polite parts of learning. He was consecrat- 
 ed Bishop of Murray, and from thence translated to the See of Edin- 
 burgh. He had not only the accomplishments of a gentleman, but so 
 universal were his parts, that they were proportioned to every thing 
 And tho' his spirit was made up of smoothness and gentleness, yet he 
 could bear with the harshness and roughness of the schools ; for he 
 was so well versed in their subtilties and distinctions, that upon all oc- 
 casions he could make them serve his purpose ; and this appeared 
 when he presided among us with great dexterity, prudence, and mo- 
 deration. Such was his able skill in primitive literature and casuistical 
 divinity, that he was a rare conductor of souls, and knew how to coun- 
 sel and advise, to solve difficulties, determin cases, and quiet con- 
 sciences. Thus, this wise person shall shine * as the brightness of the 
 firmament, and as the stars, for ever and ever, because he turned many 
 to righteousnes. 
 
 But his religion and virtue was the crown of all other accomplish- 
 ments. A perpetual display of the beauties of religion that shined 
 eminently in him, made his life and conversation a powerful sermon ; 
 for example, has a greater influence than precept, tho' he was not want- 
 ing in successfully labouring in word and doctrine; and so was worthy 
 of double honour. He was known in his profession, unspotted in his 
 life ; so that his very enemies could not but own, that he was a good 
 man, and had a good name, that is more precious than ointment. He 
 was active and laborious in his charge, bold and resolute in opposing 
 seducers, and daring to rebuke and look vice in the face, tho' never 
 so potent and illustrious : These were his robes and maces, his escut- 
 chions and high titles of honour; these he valued beyond all wordly 
 
 * Dan. 12, 3. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 289 
 
 interest and grandeur. His religion was pure and undefiled. An air 
 of piety, and a spirit of true devotion appeared in his performing of 
 divine worship, in which he was serious, fervent and frequent. He 
 often celebrated the sacrament of the Lord's Supper ; was upon all oc- 
 casions, sometime above six times in a forenoon, ready to administer 
 confirmation. He was pathetick in his exhortations to the sick. He, 
 by his example and advice, promoted the liturgy of the church, that is 
 now used over all the kingdom. As for the devotion of his heart, 
 when he appeared among you in publick worship, how easily might 
 you observe a spirit greatly and piously affected ? how fervent in holy 
 desires ? how affectionate in praises and thanksgivings ? He was gene- 
 rous and charitable beyond example, so that he freely communicated 
 of his own morsel for the relief of the miserable. He was so remark- 
 ably temperate and abstemious from meat and sensual delight ; and so 
 far from indulging the body, that he burdened it with more severity 
 than his friends thought it could well bear. In him the poor have lost 
 their relief, the distressed their advocate, the clergy their guide, his 
 domesticks and relations a father; but the greatest loss is to the 
 Church and State. Methinks I already see a great many perplex 'd by 
 their doubts, sinking under their wants and misfortunes ; who knew 
 before where to apply for counsel in their difficulties, for support in their 
 pressures, for redress in their grievances. Tho' our high priest Aaron 
 is taken from us as a punishment for our sins, and of whom the world 
 was not worthy ; yet I hope, that God will, upon our sincere penitence, 
 visit us in mercy, and make Aaron's rod blossom, and bring forth 
 Priests to the Lord, whose lips may preserve knowledge to the people. 
 In the present afflicted posture of our affairs, we have the greatest 
 reason to pray and hope, that the Divine Providence would vouchsafe 
 to send other good, learned, and able labourers in his vineyard that is 
 trodden down by foxes and wild boars, to follow his pious steps, and 
 carry on the same good work ; so that in God's own good time, our 
 Sion may be delivered from the hands of its enemies, and phoenix like, 
 rise out of its fire and ashes, more glorious and beautiful ; or like 
 gold tried in the furnace, more pure and refined ; that we may laud 
 and magnify his glorious Majesty in the beauty of holiness, for his 
 wonderful works towards us the children of men. 
 
 In the mean time, I fervently wish and pray, that our pious bishop's 
 counsels, may be followed, in relation to unity and peace, which he 
 continually urged as the bond of perfection, and the pillar of the 
 
 V 
 
APPKNDIX TO 
 
 church, net to he shaken without its utter ruin in those parts. May 
 we all then be stedfast and constant unto the end, that we may attain 
 a crown of glory. 
 
 A life thus regularly conducted, a soul thus piously framed, with a 
 full dependence on God, and a true faith in ourjRedeemer, might bid 
 defiance to the worst of temporal evils, and to death it self. He had 
 some warnings and alarms about the desolation of his frail tabernacle, 
 from many fits of sickness. At length, it pleased the Almighty to 
 transport him into bless. Now, alas ! (who can refrain from drop- 
 ping a tear ;) his silver locks, that were graceful, are laid in the dust ; 
 now, the beautiful and odoriferous rose (that adorn'd the mitre, and 
 was the greatest ornament of our church,) is dropt into the grave, and 
 mingled with the earth. Tho his exit was sudden, yet not unexpected, 
 or unprovided by surprize. For a well spent life is a preparation, 
 that makes death never too soon to a good Christian, who has (like 
 him) his lamp trimmed and flaming with the oil of charity and good 
 works, that will administer an abundant entrance into the mansions of 
 glory, thro' the merits of Jesus Christ. 
 
 X. 
 
 INSCRIPTIONS IN THE FAMILY AISLE IN ABERCORN 
 CHURCH, UPON THOMAS DALYELL OF THE BINNS, 
 AND HIS LADY, JANET BRUCE.* 
 
 [Printed as relative to the parents of General Dalyell, on whom the 
 elegy occurs at page 38.] 
 
 Mrs. Dalyell, according to Crawford, page 133, was a natural daughter 
 of Edward, first Lord Bruce of Kinloss ; but in the first edition of 
 Douglas, p. 236, she is represented as " first daughter " of the 
 marriage between Lord Bruce and Magdalen Clerk, daughter of 
 
 * Above the former are the arms of Dalyell, and of the latter the 
 arms of Bruce. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 291 
 
 Alexander Clerk of Balbirnie. In the new edition by Wood she is 
 omitted altogether, and Lord Bruce and his Lady are stated to 
 have had only one daughter, Christian, born 28th December 1595, 
 who married, 10th April 1608, William second Earl of Devonshire.* 
 If Janet was 61 years of age in 1634, she must have been born in 
 1573 
 
 1 
 
 ^fh il?'lw -AY; i.ifoJfemn* eiilT 
 
 NON MIHI SED ALIIS. 
 
 l"*mi "oanA'wdni'j 
 What was Mortal 1 of Thomas 
 
 Dalyell of Binnes lyeth here. 
 He was descended of the aun- 
 cient race of the Lo s of Dalyell; ji (> 
 Now Earles of Carnwath. Hee left 
 Successours of his Virte- 
 ous Fortunes a Sonne and a Daw 
 -ghter marled to Williame 
 Drummond of Rickertoune. 
 After 69 yeeres Pilgramage 
 On Earthe, He was removed 
 To his rest in Heaven The 
 10 Day of Februarie 
 Anno 1642 
 
 " She is described, in a letter from the Earl and Countess of Arun- 
 del to the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lodge's Illustrations, III, 85 J, (4 to 
 Edition^, as " a pretty red-headed wench." Her fortune was 7000, 
 which was encreased by the King to 10,000, a large fortune for 
 those days. The lady seems to have been forced upon the gentleman, 
 who, perhaps, had no taste for red hair, as he refused the offer in the 
 first instance, but was reconciled to it by his father telling him, that as 
 Lord Bruce of Kinloss was well favoured by the Queen, his son's re- 
 fusal would make him the worse by 100,000. She was, when mar- 
 ried, only four months beyond twelve years of age. 
 
APPENDIX TO 
 
 2. 
 
 Here [Rest the Reli]ques 
 of Janet Bruce Wyfe to Thomas 
 Dalyell of Binns, who when 
 She had lived 61 years changed 
 This transitorie lyfe with that 
 Blessed and Eternal, the 1 Dec 
 ember Anno 1634 
 
 Within the closure of this narrow grave 
 Lye all those graces a good wyfe could have 
 Bot on this marble they shall not be read 
 For then the Living Envye would the Dead 
 
 T. D. Maritus Moerens. P. 
 
SCOTISH ELEGIAC VERSES. 293 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 Anderson, James, Letter to, respecting Lord Foun- 
 
 tainhall, . . . .;, 269 
 
 Anstruther, Sir James, of Airdrie, Advocate, 31 
 
 Sir William, of that Ilk, . 175 
 
 Archbishop of Glasgow, James Law, . 3 
 
 . Saint Andrews, James Sharpe, 10 
 
 Areskine, Lady Elizabeth, Lady Napier, ,-/< 81 
 Argyle, Archibald, Duke of, . . 148, 267 
 Athole, Catherine, Dutchess of, . . 158 
 John, Duke of, . . ; ., 251 
 
 Belhaven, John Hamilton, Lord, 162, 164, 166 
 
 John, Third Lord, . . 228 
 
 Bishop of Edinburgh, Rev. Alexander Rose, 220, 286 
 
 Orkney, Andrew Bruce, . 93 
 
 Rosse, Alexander Young, . 43 
 
 Salisbury, Doctor Gilbert Burnet, 210 
 
 Blair, William, Minister at Dumbarton, . 6 
 
 Bowhill, John Murray, Lord, . . 208 
 
 Brand, Mr., Student of Philosophy, . 218 
 
 Bruce, Andrew, Bishop of Orkney, 93 
 
 Buccleugh, Mary, Countess of, : ?. 126 
 
 Burnet, Doctor Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Salisbury, 210 
 
 Calder, Rev. Robert, ... 239 
 
294 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cayley, Commissioner, 202, 270-284 
 
 Charles the Second, . 54 
 
 Cockburu, Major William, . . 32 
 
 Crawford, Sir John, of Kilbirny, .J . 1 
 
 - William, Earl of, Lord Lindsay, . 99 
 Crechton, Rev. William, . . . 180 
 
 Cromarty, George, Earl of, . , 206 
 
 Dalrymple, Sir David, Bart, of Hailes, . 231 
 
 Dalziel, General Thomas, of Binns, . 38, 290 
 
 Delape, Rev. William, . . 227 
 
 Douglas, Anne, Lady Elcho, . . J12 
 
 Drummond, Cap. Geo., . . . 225 
 Drummond and Stobhall, James, Earl of Perth, Lord, 51 
 
 Dunbreck, Captain Charles, . . 216 
 
 Dunlop, William, Principal of Glasgow University, 1 1 
 
 Edinburgh, Alexander Rose, Lord Bishop of, 220, 286 
 
 Gilbert Rule, Principal of the College of, 127 
 
 Elcho, Lady Anne, . . .112 
 
 Falconer, Sir David, Lord President, . 42 
 
 Sir James, of Phesdo, . . 151 
 
 Fisher, Thomas, Merchant, . 185 
 
 Forquhar, (Forfar,) Earl of, ... 212 
 
 Fountainhall, Sir John Lauder, Bart., of, 84, 269 
 
 Lady Lauder, of, . . 188 
 
 Fraser, Sir Alexander, of Doores, . 13, 16, 257 
 
 Glasgow, James Sharpe, Archbishop of, . 3 
 
 William Dunlop, Principal of University of, 110 
 
 Gosford, John Wedderburn of, . 67, 69 
 
INDEX, 295 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Haddow, Lieut. Thomas, f& . fti'S t i 114 
 
 Halyburton, David, Laird of Pitcur, ' 1 ', 71 
 
 Hamilton, Anne, Dutchess of, 'ij.ic'.Ojiw ().,M 214 
 
 Rev. John, . . ,< 187 
 
 John, Lord Belhaven, . ,f I .!b 162 
 
 Lord John, of Balhaven, ' <r;n > 164, 166 
 
 John, third Lord Belhaven, .-, V ,o 228 
 
 Robert, Lord Pancaitland, 255 
 
 Hamiltoun. Lord Basil, ji* <'. 129, 131, 133 
 
 Harcarse, Sir Rodger Hog, Lord, -M 1 . 107 
 Hog, Sir Rodger, Lord Harcarse, . . 107 
 
 Hume, Sir David, of Crossrig, ?'^>il th^l 160 
 
 Kello, (Cayley) Commissioner, CUo 202, 270-284 
 King Charles the Second, . . 54 
 
 - William the Third, , ;. v/^i t* .ye 141 
 Kinnoul, George, Earl of, Lord Chancel lor, 7 
 
 Kirkton, Rev. James, v i~/v^i \ 'K\ 95 
 
 -,V.; . ;M :-lT .V f >/I ,C< 
 
 Lauder, Sir John, of Fountainhall, Bart., . 84, 269 
 - Lady, of Fountainhall, A.JO t ^rn 188 
 Law, James, Archbishop of Glasgow, ; ^H 3 
 
 Lee, Lady Lockhart, younger of, .vf ^ x 48 
 
 Leven, Anne, Countess of, . . 136, 138 
 
 Lindsay, William, Earl of Crawford, Lord, * ;<;; 99 
 Lockhart, Lady, of Lee, younger, . . 48 
 
 Lundin, James, of that Ilk, . ,,. u 105 
 
 M'Dowall, William, Letter from, to Col. Patrick 
 
 Vans, . . ., J . 283 
 M'Kenzie, Sir George, of Rosehaugh, ;>;.!/, 78 
 . Sir George, Earl of Cromarty, vjr 206 
 
296 INDEX. 
 
 PACE 
 
 Master-ton, Francis, Apothecary, . . 97 
 
 Meldrum, George, Professor of Divinity, . 1 70 
 
 Melvil, Captain George, of Crescents-hall, . 103 
 Milne, Umphrey, . . . .87 
 
 Mitchell, John, .... 241 
 
 Monteith, George, Merchant in Edinburgh, . 36 
 Montrose, James, Lord Marquess of, . . 24 
 
 - Lady Christian, Marchioness of, . 173 
 
 Murray, John, Lord Bowhill, . 208 
 Mrs. Elizabeth, . . . 247 
 
 Napier, Lady Elizabeth Areskine, Lady, . 81 
 
 - Thomas, Lord, ... 56 
 Nisbet, William, of Dirleton, . .236 
 
 Orkney, Andrew Bruce, Bishop of, 93 
 
 Pancaitland, Robert Hamilton, Lord, . . 255 
 
 Paterson, Rev. Thomas, . . . 253 
 
 Perth, James, Lord Drummondand Stobhall, Earl of, 51 
 Pitcairne, Doctor Archibald, . . 197, 200 
 
 Pitcur, David Halyburton, Laird of, . 71 
 
 Pringle, George, of Torwoodlee, . . 74 
 
 Queensberry and Dover, Dutchess of, 168 
 
 Raith, Alexander, Lord, . . 90 
 Ramsay, Andrew, Remarks on the Sacra Poemata of, 261 
 Sir Andrew, of Abbotshall, 63 
 
 - Gilbert, . . 72, 265 
 Reath, Alexander Lord, 90 
 Riddel, Sir John, of that ilk, . . 204 
 
INDEX. 297 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Robertson, Thomas, Baillie of Edinburgh, 60, 263 
 
 Ronald, Duncan, Director-Depute of Chancery, 120 
 Rose, Alexander, Lord Bishop of Edinburgh, 220, 286 
 Rosse, Alexander Young, Lord Bishop of, . 43 
 
 Rothes, John, Duke of, Lord High Chancellor, 28 
 
 Margaret, Countess of, . . 124 
 
 Rule, Gilbert, Principal of the College of Edinburgh, 127 
 
 Saint Andrews, James Sharpe, Archbishop of, . 10 
 Salisbury, Doctor Gilbert Burnet, Lord Bishop of, 210 
 Scheills, Rev. Alexander, . . .115,118 
 
 Sharp, Sir William, of Stonniehill, . . 77 
 
 Sharpe, James, Archbishop of Saint Andrews, 10 
 
 Shaw, Sir John, of Greenock, . . .144 
 
 Shields, Rev. Alexander, . ., 115,118 
 
 Southerland, George, Earl of, . .146 
 
 Stairs, John, Earl of, . . 152,154,268 
 
 Stewart, Sir James, Lord Advocate, 192, 194, 196 
 
 Strathnaver, William, Lord, . . . 223 
 
 Stuart, Sir James, of Goodtrees, . 192. 194, 196 
 Sutherland, George, Earl of, . . 1 46 
 
 Tullibardine, John, Marquis of, . .178 
 
 Webster, Rev. James, . . . .242 
 
 Wedderburn, John, of Gosford, . 67, 69 
 
 Wemyss, David, Earl of, ... 21 
 
 Wilkie, Rev. Thomas, . . .183 
 
 William the Third, . . .141 
 
 Young, Alexander, Lord Bishop of Rosse, . 43 
 
ALEX. LAURIE & CO. PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY. 
 
 
PKEPAKING FOR PUBLICATION, 
 v. 
 
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 VI 
 
 THE STAGGERING STATE OP THE SCOTS 
 STATESMEN, from 1550 to 1650, by SIR JOHN SCOT 
 of Scotstarvet, with a CONTINUATION to the year ] 750. 
 Illustrated with curious Notes, Biographical Sketches, 
 and an Introductory Notice, by W. TURNBULL, ESQ. 
 Advocate. 
 
VII. 
 
 MONASTICON SCOTIA. 
 PART I. 
 
 Chartularium Domus Sancte Trinitatis Nuncupatus 
 Hospitalis de Soltre. 
 
 ** Of this great national work, the publication of which has been 
 undertaken by Mr. Stevenson, a Prospectus will speedily be 
 printed. It is the desire of Mr. S. to produce the book in a 
 mariner worthy both of the subject, and of the patronage of 
 that literary portion of the community to whose favour he is 
 already so much indebted, and which he now has the honour 
 to acknowledge. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 MUSICAL NOTES ON SCOTLAND, BY SIR JOHN 
 GRAHAM DALYELL, BART. Illustrated by Twenty-four 
 plain and coloured plates. 
 
 IX. 
 
 REQUESTS ET PIECE pour Milord Compte d'Aran, tou- 
 chant la restitution du DUCHE DE CHASTELTERAULT, 
 1685, with Notes, by W. TURNBULL, ESQ. Advocate. 
 
 X. 
 
 NOTES FROM THE BOOKS OF ADJOURNAL, 
 from 1625 to 1670, with Observations Illustrative of the 
 State of Scotland during that period. 
 
 XI. 
 
 THE GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 HOUSE of LESLEY, from Martin of Clermont's MSS. 
 and other inedited sources, with Notes and Illustrations. 
 
 XII. 
 
 THE MEMORIALS OF THE FAMILY OF SPOT- 
 TISWOODE OF SPOTTISWOODE, by FATHER 
 RICHARD AUGUSTINE HAY. Including the POEMS 
 OF COL. SIR HENRY SPOTTISWOODE, with Il- 
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