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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.

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

I.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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 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.

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

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

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.

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II.

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.

II.

III.

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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I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

Fifty Golden Verses.

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An Epistle, or New-year's Gift, to a young Merchant in Perth, January 1st 1751.

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.

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King Solomon's Book of Ecclesiastes, in Verse.

I.

II.

III.

CHAP. III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

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CHAP. III.

[1]

To ev'ry thing a season is assign'd,
Time to each purpose under heav'n design'd:

2

Time to be born, and eke a time to die;
A time to plant, and time to pluck there be:

3

A time to kill, a time to heal; also
A time to build, a time to overthrow:

4

A time to weep, a time to laugh may chance;
A time to mourn, a time also to dance:

5

A time there is to gather stones full fast,
A time also the same away to cast;
Time to embrace another, time again
When from embracing we must needs refrain:

6

A time to get, a time to lose; there may
Be time to keep, and time to cast away:

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7

A time to rent, a time to sew; and eke
A time of silence, and a time to speak:

8

A time to love, a time to hate may be;
A time of war, a time of peace, we see.

9

What profit hath his labours to him brought,
Wherein he oft so eagerly hath wrought?

10

I've seen the travel God hath given to men,
To exercise them constantly therein:

11

He in his time made all things beautiful,
And in their heart he makes the world to rule:
So that no man the work of God can find
Out from beginning thereof to the end.

12

In them I know there is no good to choice,
Save man through life do good, and so rejoice:

13

And that each man should eat, drink, and enjoy
The good of all wherein he doth employ
His hands or mind at home, or yet abroad;
And this for certain is the gift of God.

14

Whate'er God doth, I know for certainty
Shall be for ever to eternity:
Nought thereto can be added, neither can
Ought therefrom be diminished by man:
And what God doth, he doth it that men may
Fear constantly before him night and day.

15

What's been, is now; and that which is to be,
Hath been; and God requires what's past we see.

16

Yea, and I saw below the sun the place
Of judgment just, that there was wickedness:
Who to the place of righteousness repair,
Will shortly see iniquity is there.

17

I in my heart said, God shall surely be
Judge both of good and bad of all degree:
For there's a time for ev'ry work assign'd,
And for each purpose by our God ordain'd.

18

I in my heart perceiv'd the state of men,
And wish'd that God might manifest them plain;
And that they may perceive, and clearly see
That they are beasts, and thereby humbled be.

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19

For what befals the sons of men, likewise
Befalleth beasts, and so alike both dies:
They've all one breath; man hath no pre'm'nency
Above a beast, for all is vanity.

20

Into one place all go, both beasts and men:
For dust they are; to dust they turn again.

21

Who knows man's spirit that doth upward go;
The sp'rits of beasts descend to earth below?

22

There's nothing better in this world, I see,
Than that a man rejoice and merry be
In his own works; for that's his portion sure:
What follows him there's none can him assure.