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Poems on several subjects

Nicol, Alexander

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TO THE HONOURABLE JAMES HALYBURTON of Pitcur, Esq; Member of Parliament of Orkney and Shetland, and Colonel of the Third Regiment of Foot-Guards, &c.
  
PREFACE.
  
To the Author, on his Collection of Miscellany Poems.
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NATURE without ART.
  
An Account of the Author, being an Epistle to the Right Honourable Susanna Countess of Strathmore, in the Year 1727; but newly revised and corrected, with some Circumstances then omitted.
  
An Introduction to a Wedding SONG. To the Right Honourable the Lord ------.
  
The ODE.
  
A POEM, inscribed to the Right Honourable the Earl of Morton, on his accepting the former Ode, &c.
  
The DREAM.
  
On the Death of the Honourable Henry Crawfoord of Monorgan, who died March 1731.
  
The young Man's Litany.
  
The young Woman's Litany in Choice of an Husband.
  
To the Right Honourable, the Lord Gray, upon his sending me Mr Ramsay's Poems.
  
To two GENTLEWOMEN.
  
An ACROSTIC.
  
Another ACROSTIC.
  
LOVE's CURE.
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A Collection of Scots Songs, being new Words adapted to old Tunes.
 I. 
SONG I.
 II. 
SONG II.
 III. 
SONG III. TIMBER STAIRS.
 IV. 
SONG IV. The poor Prentice.
 V. 
SONG V. Few good Fellows when Jamie's awa'.
 VI. 
SONG VI. The Pease Straw.
 VII. 
SONG VII. My Love she is the Ring-leader
 VIII. 
SONG VIII. The Summer Evening.
 IX. 
SONG IX.
 X. 
SONG X. O'er the Muir to Meggy.
 XI. 
SONG XI. The Leacher's Lament.
 XII. 
SONG XII. The amorous Shepherd.
 XIII. 
SONG XIII. The ADMIRATION.
 XIV. 
SONG XIV. The COMMENDATION.
 XV. 
SONG XV.
 XVI. 
SONG XVI. The COMPLAINT.
 XVII. 
SONG XVII. The Auld Goodman.
 XVIII. 
SONG XVIII. The FIDELITY.
 XIX. 
SONG XIX. The forlorn MAID.
 XX. 
SONG XX. The BANKS of TAY.
  
An Epitaph on that puissant Duke of Berwick, Great Marshal of France, who, at the siege of Phillipsburgh, viewing the trenches, had his head shot off by a cannon ball, in the year 1734.
  
CHRIST's KIRK on the GREEN.
  
An Epistle to Mr P---, one of his Majesty's Officers of Excise, on his ridiculing my Verses.
  
A Letter to J--- B--- an old Batchelor, persuading him to marry.
  
Written by a Gentleman upon seeing some of my Verses.
  
My ANSWER.
  
An Epistle to Mr Allan Ramsay.
  
Said on WRITING.
  
An Epistle to a Friend newly married, against the will of his Wife's Friends.
  
To the Laird of ABERCAIRNIE.
  
Upon our jolly Change-Keeper leaving the place.
  
A Tale of two Brothers, and their Posterity.
  
The AUTHOR's Wish.
  
On FORTUNE.
  
Upon the fair Sex.
  
PROVERBS, Chap. xxxi. Verse 10.
  
The honest Country-man's Meditation, as he was humming it over alone in Words at Resting-time.
  
Thirty Riddles, with their Expositions.
  
A POEM, shewing the Original, Antiquity, Beauty, and Glory of Masonry; also its Progress, Improvements, and Usefulness; with a Description of the Mason's Lodge. All which is concluded with an Ode, sung to the tune of, The free and accepted Mason. To which is prefixed, instead of a Preface, a Poem on the printed Pamphlet.
  
A POEM on Masonry.
  
The Masons Lodge.
  
The ODE.
  
On receiving a Compliment from the Right Honourable the Lord Kinnaird.
  
An ELEGY on auld Use and Wont
  
An ELEGY on Johnie Galla'.
  
An EPISTLE, from Mr D--- L--- Schoolmaster at Kinnaird, to Alexander Nicol Schoolmaster at Collace, February 3d 1749; on seeing my last book, called Nature without Art.
  
Alexander Nicol's Answer to the foregoing Epistle, February 6th 1749.
  
James Ratcliff's Retreat from the Prison of Edinburgh, Monday 23d of July 1739, he being to be hanged the Wednesday after:
  
A SAPPHIC ODE.
  
A SONG, Tune Allan Water.
  
A POEM on R--- H--- of South-Ballo.
  
ACROSTIC.
  
A Remark on the Poverty of Poets.
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The Complaint of a Lark directed to a great Lion: A Fable; occasioned by another Lion being influenced by some evil Speaker, to suspect the honesty of the Lark.
  
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The MORAL.
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The Cat and the Ape. A Fable.
  
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The MORAL.
  
On seeing Smith and Craig's bantering Poems, anent the building of a School-house at Glenshie.
  
An EPISTLE to Mr Robert Smith Schoolmaster at Kinnaird, upon his saying he would not stay in the Place.
  
Mr Smith's ANSWER.
  
Another EPISTLE to Mr Robert Smith.
  
The PETITION of Alexander Nicol. Schoolmaster at Collace, to the Honourable Sir William Nairn of Dunsinnan Baronet.
  
An EPITAPH on Alexander Robertson of Struan.
  
An ACROSTICK.
  
To the Memory of the Honourable George Hay of Leys, Esq
  
On Captain Balnave's being dangerously sick of a Fever at the time he should have been married; inscribed to his Lady afterwards.
  
On the City of DUNDEE.
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The BROKEN LAIRD REPAIR'D; OR, The DYVOUR turn'd a THRIVER:
 I. 
CANTO I.
 II. 
CANTO II.
 III. 
CANTO III.
 IV. 
CANTO IV.
 V. 
CANTO V.
  
Sung by Miss JENNY.
  
On FORTUNE.
  
A PASTORAL between Colin, Willie, and Deavy, upon Baledgarno's Marriage.
  
VENUS's JOURNEY. A POEM inscribed to Mr Ogilvie of Inchmartine, on his Marriage.
  
On Mrs Ogilvie's Chariot-wheel sinking on the Brink of the River Spey.
  
To the Right Honourable the Lord Kinnaird, on his commencing Master of Masons, &c.
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NATURE without ART.
  
An Invocation to the heavenly Muse.
  
Forty five Wonders; or, an Imitation of a Pamphlet of moral sayings, called, A Book of Fives, or five and forty Wonders.
  
Alphabetical Verses on the Life of MAN, being eight Verses annexed to each Letter.
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The four Seasons of the Year compared to the four Ages of Man's Life, viz. Infancy, Childhood or Youth, Manhood, and old Age.
 I. 
I. WINTER.
 II. 
II. SPRING.
 III. 
III. SUMMER.
 IV. 
IV. Autumn, or Harvest.
  
A Meditation at the Communion-table.
  
On the Fall of Man.
  
To the holy Trinity, on the Redemption of Man.
  
A Meditation for a Traveller.
  
Upon the WORLD.
  
A Meditation for a Fast-day before the Communion.
  
A Lamentation, &c.
  
The contented Christian, or the Christian's Content.
  
A Soliloquy for an unregenerate Sinner.
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A BUNDLE OF FLOWERS FOR CHILDREN:
  
To my young Reader.
  
The First Chapter of Genesis.
  
A Meditation on the Second Chapter of Genesis.
  
VERSES upon the most remarkable Men and Women mentioned in the BIBLE.
  
[Methuselah liv'd to the greatest age]
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REMARKS.
 I. 
[I.]
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
  
Fifty Golden Verses.
  
An ACROSTIC.
  
An ACROSTIC.
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An Epistle, or New-year's Gift, to a young Merchant in Perth, January 1st 1751.
  
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POSTSCRIPT.
  
The Brevity of Human Life.
  
The Eighth Chapter of Solomon's Proverbs.
  
The Love of Christ, An Hymn.
  
An Hymn on Death.
  
Hymn for a Fellowship Meeting.
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THE CHILD's COMPANION; IN A NATURAL DIALOGUE BETWIXT A Child and One of riper Years: Useful for Young Ones.
  
To my young Reader.
  
An Advice to Children. By another Hand.
  
The CHILD's COMPANION, &c.
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KING SOLOMON's BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES, IN METRE.
  
On the BOOK.
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King Solomon's Book of Ecclesiastes, in Verse.
 I. 
CHAP. I.
 II. 
CHAP. II.
 III. 
CHAP. III.
 IV. 
CHAP. IV.
 V. 
CHAP. V.
 VI. 
CHAP. VI.
 VII. 
CHAP. VII.
 VIII. 
CHAP. VIII.
 IX. 
CHAP. IX.
 X. 
CHAP. X.
 XI. 
CHAP. XI.
 XII. 
CHAP. XII.

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CHAP. VII.

[1]

A good name is more preferable far
Than precious ointments, ne'er so costly, are:
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So is the day wherein we come to die
To be preferr'd to our nativity.

2

The house of mourning, better far go there,
Than to the house of feasting to repair:
For that's the end of all men, when they part;
Yea, and the living lays it to his heart.

3

Grief better is than laughter certainly;
For oft the heart is bettered thereby.

4

The wise man's heart the mourners house frequent;
But fools with mirth are always well content.

5

Better to hear the wise rebukes and rules,
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.

6

As crackling thorns beneath a pot, so be
Fools laughter: this is also vanity.

7

Oppression surely makes a wise man mad;
And gifts destroy, and make the heart more bad.

8

Better's the ending of a thing than the
Beginning thereof; also so is he,
That's patient in his spirit, better far
Than they whose spirits proud and lofty are.

9

Let not thy sp'rit to anger soon make haste;
For passions always in fools bosoms rest.

10

Say thou not, what could be the certain cause
The former time than now far better was?
For thou dost not with wisdom thus enquire
Concerning this too curious desire.

11

Wisdom is good with heritage; and they
That see the sun, are profited thereby.

12

For wisdom is, for certain, a defence;
And so is money in another sense:
But this is wisdom's great excellency,
That who hath knowledge, he gets life thereby.

13

The work of God consider, and take heed;
For who'll make straight what he hath crooked made?

14

Be joyful while in your prosperity;
But then, consider, in adversity,
That God hath set these two in opposition,
To th'end that man should here find no fruition.
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15

All things I've seen, and marked carefully,
In my short life and days of vanity;
The just to perish in his righteousness,
The wicked's life prolong'd in wickedness.

16

Be not too good; thyself too wise not make:
Why shouldst thou spoil thyself for ruin's sake?

17

Be not too wicked; neither foolish be:
Before thy time why shouldst thou love to die?

18

'Tis good that thou shouldst take fast hold of this;
Slip not thine hand thine former hold to miss:
For who fears God, tho' in the greatest thrall,
Shall come triumphant forth out of them all.

19

One man by wisdom stronger is, by far,
Than ten stout men that in the city are.

30

For on the earth there's not a just man's lot,
That ever doth what's good, and sinneth not.

21

Take thou no heed to ev'ry word you hear,
Lest servants chance to curse thee in thine ear.

22

For thou art conscious to thyself thou hast
Oft cursed others, tho' not full exprest.

23

All this I prov'd by wisdom; said, I'll be
Wise; but, alas! it was too far from me.

24

That which is far off, and is very deep,
What man is he can find it out to keep?

25

I did apply mine heart to search and know,
And seek by wisdom cause of things below;
To know the folly and the wickedness
Of foolishness, and of most men's madness:

26

And lo! I find more bitter far than death,
The wicked woman's filthy noxious breath;
Whose heart is snares, yea, and her very hands
Are nets and traps, invincible strong bands.
Who pleaseth God, from her he shall 'scape free;
But sinners, they by her shall taken be.

27

The preacher saith, Lo! this I have found out,
In counting one by one to solve the doubt:

28

Which yet my soul seeks with all care of mind;
But, in my search, alas! I cannot find:
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One man among a thousand have I found;
But not a woman all the world around.

29

Lo! this I found, that God made man upright;
But man in new inventions takes delight.
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