ON PEG NICHOLSON.. PEG NICHOLSON was a good bay mare, As ever trode on airn; But now she's floating down the Nith, And past the Mouth o' Cairn. Peg Nicholson was a good bay mare, Peg Nicholson was a good bay mare, For Solway fish a feast. Peg Nicholson was a good bay mare, And much oppressed and bruised she was ; ODE TO LIBERTY. [In a letter to Mrs. Dunlop, the poet says:-The sub. ject is LIBERTY: You know, my honoured friend how dear the theme is to me. I design it an irregu lar Ode for General Washington's birth-day. After having mentioned the degeneracy of other kingdoms I come to Scotland thus]: THEE, Caledonia, thy wild heaths among, Beneath that hallowed turf where WALLACE • Margaret Nicholson, the maniac, whose visitations very much alarmed George the Third for his life. In naming their steeds, the poet and his friend Nicol seem to have had a preference, in the way of doing honour, of course, for the worthies who had used freedom with both priest and king. SONNET, I, modestly, fu' fain wad hint it, BIRTH-DAY OF THE AUTHOR, ON HEARING A SING on, sweet thrush, upon the leafless bough, Sits ineek content with light unanxious heart, Riches denied, thy boon was purer joys, It would be kind; And while my heart wi' life-blood dunted EXTEMPORE, TO MR. SE, ON REFUSING TO DINE WITH HIM, AFTER HAV- PANY, AND THE FIRST OF COOKERY, 17th No more of your guests, be they titled or not, Who is proof to thy personal converse and wit, TO MR. S-E. WITH A PRESENT OF A DOZEN OF PORTER. O HAD the malt thy strength of mind, POEM, SENT TO A GENTLEMAN WHOM HE HAD OFFENDED. THE friend whom wild from wisdom's way, (Not moony madness more astray) Who but deplores that hapless friend? Wine was th' insensate frenzied part, POEM ON LIFE, ADDRESSED TO COLONEL DE PEYSTER, My honoured colonel, deep I feel ADDRESSED TO MR. MITCHELL, COLLECTOR OF Surrounded thus by bolus pill, EXCISE, DUMFRIES, 1796. And potion glasses. Poor man, the flie, aft bizzes by, Soon heels o'er gowdie! in he gangs, And murdering wrestle, But lest you think I am uncivil, I quat my pen; ADDRESS TO THE TOOTH-ACHE. My curse upon your venom'd stang, When fevers burn, or ague freezes, But thee-thou hell o' a' diseases, Aye mocks our groan! Adown my beard the slavers trickle; Were in their doup. |O' a' the num'rous human dools, The tricks o' knaves or fash o' fools, Where'er that place be, priests ca' hell, Thou, TOOTH-ACHE, surely bear'st the bell, O thou grim mischief-making chiel, That gars the notes o' discord squeel, 'Till daft mankind aft dance a reel In gore a shoe-thick ; Gie a' the faes o' SCOTLAND'S Weel A towmond's Tooth-Ache. TO ROBERT GRAHAM, Esq OF FINTRY, ON RECEIVING A FAVOUR. I CALL no goddess to inspire my strains, Thou orb of day! thou other paler light! EPITAPH ON A FRIEND. AN honest man here lies at rest, A GRACE BEFORE DINNER O THOU, who kindly dost provide [THE Contributions were poured so copiously upon Dr. Currie that selection became a duty, and he put aside several interesting pieces both in prose and verse, which would have done honour to the Poet's memory: But besides these there were other pieces extant, which did not come under the Doctor's notice: All of them, both of the rejected and discovered description, have since been collected and published by Mr. Cromek, whose personal devotion to the Poet, and generally to the poetry of his country, rendered him a most assiduous collector. The additional pieces of poetry so collected and published by Cromek, are given here. The additional songs and correspondence, taken from the Reliques and his more recent publication, "Select Scottish Songs," will each appear in the proper place.] And lastly, streekit out to bleach XII. May never wicked fortune touzle him! He canty claw! ELEGY ON PEG NICHOLSON.. PEG NICHOLSON was a good bay mare, As ever trode on airn; But now she's floating down the Nith, And past the Mouth o' Cairn. Peg Nicholson was a good bay mare, Peg Nicholson was a good bay mare, Peg Nicholson was a good bay mare, And much oppressed and bruised she was; ODE TO LIBERTY. (Imperfect). [In a letter to Mrs. Dunlop, the poet says:-The sub. ject is LIBERTY: You know, my honoured friend how dear the theme is to me. I design it an irregu lar Ode for General Washington's birth-day. After having mentioned the degeneracy of other kingdoms I come to Scotland thus]: THEE, Caledonia, thy wild heaths among, Beneath that hallowed turf where WALLACE lies! • Margaret Nicholson, the maniac, whose visitations very much alarmed George the Third for his life. In naming their steeds, the poet and his friend Nicol seem to have had a preference, in the way of doing honour, of course, for the worthies who had used freedom with both priest and king. |