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University of Virginia Library

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.

To the Author, on his Collection of Miscellany Poems.

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I.

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 ------.

A POEM, inscribed to the Right Honourable the Earl of Morton, on his accepting the former Ode, &c.

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.

Another ACROSTIC.

A Collection of Scots Songs, being new Words adapted to old Tunes.

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.

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.

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.

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 SONG, Tune Allan Water.

A POEM on R--- H--- of South-Ballo.

A Remark on the Poverty of Poets.

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.

The Cat and the Ape. A Fable.

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.

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.

The BROKEN LAIRD REPAIR'D; OR, The DYVOUR turn'd a THRIVER:

Sung by Miss JENNY.

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.

II.

NATURE without ART.

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James Ratcliff's Retreat from the Prison of Edinburgh, Monday 23d of July 1739, he being to be hanged the Wednesday after:

A SONG.

I

I as in bedlam, was confin'd
A prisoner in chains;
And unto death I was design'd,
Had I not taken pains.

105

I saw the hour of death approach
Unto me very nigh:
But now I'm free of that reproach;
That cursed death I fly.

II

Farewell, prison-house, I now
No more in you remain;
Ye iron fetters all adieu,
I think the day's my ain:
Farewell ye magistrates, and all
In fair Edina's town;
I value not, nor never shall,
Your judgment, sword or gown.

III

But be advis'd by me, I pray,
Your prison better watch,
Upon the next comes in your way,
Since I have made dispatch.
Since I'm out of your confines, I
Rejoice and bless the night,
Wherein I had the liberty
To take my farewell flight.

IV

Tence now, ye sullen fears of death!
I'm now beyond the pow'r
Of that call'd justice; and my breath
It cannot now devour.
In mercy Heaven grants respite
To some that's doom'd to die;
The which with praises I'll requite,
While I triumphing fly.

V

Grass-market is not now my dread,
Nor yet the fatal tree:
It surely is the place of blood,
But so 'tis not to me.
Let murderers and perjurers
Have still it in their due;

106

But let stout-hearted pilferers
Their liberties pursue.

VI

I never did the poor oppress,
But those that had to spare,
I thought it no unrighteousness
The same with them to share.
But many landlords in the land
Oppress with tyranny
The poor; and yet they safer stand
Than gen'rous knaves like me.

VII

Dalgliesh, that dog, no doubt would have
His trade still going on;
He thought to send me to my grave;
For pity he has none.
But now, I think, he's mumpt of me,
And may go hang himself:
I'll triumph o'er him and the tree,
Had I some little pelf.

VIII

But now I have not time to stay
To tell you all my mind;
Lest I should by too much delay
Your tyranny more find.
Let magistrates and judges both
With anger gnaw their nails:
It is best-sailing, by my troth,
When wind fills up the sails.