biomea

Hist Div

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P381B

1906

NDER PENNECUIK, M. D.,

NDER PENNECUIK, Merchant

WILLIAM BROWN

EDINBURGH

1906 J

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THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

From the Library of CHARLES DONALD O'MALLEY

1907 - 1970

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WRITINGS OF ALEXANDER PENNECUIK, M.D., and ALEXANDER PENNECUIK, Merchant

BY

WILLIAM BROWN

Reprinted from Vol. VI. of the Publications of The Edinburgh BibHographical Society

EDINBURGH MCMVI

I

I,

WRITINGS OF ALEXANDER. PENNECUIK, M.D., AND ALEXANDER PENNECUIK, MERCHANT.^

By WILLIAM BROWN.

ALEXANDER PENNICUIK, M.D., was born in 1652. He clainned descent, through his father, from the Pennicuiks of that ilk, and, through his mother, from the Murrays of Philiphaugh, Selkirkshire.

His father, who had served as surgeon to General Bannier in the Swedish Wars, and later as Surgeon-General to ' the auxiliary Scots Army in England,' in 1646 purchased the estate of Newhall, near Penicuik ; but his wife having inherited the property of Romanno, in Peeblesshire, he, in later life, selected that as his chief place of residence. He lived to the mature age of ninety.

The writer of the Memoir prefixed to the edition of our author's works published at Leith in 181 5, is said to have been Robert Brown, a subsequent owner of Newhall. He concludes, both from the social position of the younger Pennecuik and from references in his Poems, that he must have travelled or resided abroad in his youth ; but during his father's declining years and after his decease, his house was at Romanno, and from that centre he practised his profession. Mr A. D. Murray, who contributed an interesting notice of him to the Transactiotis of the Hawick Archcsological Society, in August 1863, therein states that he practised ' in Edinburgh through the greater part of his life ; ' but, although he may have begun there, and paid the metropolis occa- sional professional visits, there are his own statements and expressed pre- ferences for his country life against such a conclusion.

His well known Description of Tweeddale, with appended poems, first appeared in 171 5, and although separate poems included in that volume had seen the light earlier, they were evidently issued by others without his authority. His words on the subject are sufficiently definite, for in his Dedicatory Epistle to William Earl of March, he says : ' To the following Treatise My Lord, I have subjoined a few pleasant and select poems, at the importunity of several Ingenious Gentlemen, my Friends ; which were never before published, or at

' Read January 8th, 1903.

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least with my consent or knowledge, and if any of them has been printed, its owing to surreptitious and False coppies.'

In his topographical work he had the aid of John Forbes, advocate, son of Sir David Forbes, who in 1703 had purchased Newhall, which the elder Pennecuik had gifted to a daughter on her marriage. John Forbes, who was a friend of Allan Ramsay, was doubtless a sympathetic helper ; but the doctor had laid a sound foundation for his Descriptwn, for, as he says, his ' employ- ment as physician ' had obliged him ' to know and observe every corner ' of Tweeddale for over thirty years. And the result of these observations was not hastily given to the public, for Archbishop Nicholson had perused the MS. in some form or other in 1702.

The doctor's death took place in 1722, in his seventieth year. I shall now describe the various editions of his works, in so far as I have been able to trace them, merely observing that until a comparatively recent date the publications of Dr Pennecuik and of Pennecuik the merchant were mingled indiscriminately in the Catalogues of the British Museum and of the large Edinburgh Libraries ; but that they have now been fairly well separated, and have been enumerated in the Dictionary of National Biography by Mr G. A. Aitken, the contributor of the articles on these writers.

The first volumes to be dealt with are those which contain the collected works, and among these that of 171 5 takes precedence alike as the editio princeps and as suggesting a rather curious bibliographical question, to which I shall presently refer.

I may mention, in passing, that during my examination of copies, I came upon a very tall one, in its original calf binding, inscribed by a con- temporary hand, ' For Sir John Clerk of Pennecuik,' and bearing in a later, but still an early handwriting this note, explanatory of the initials on the title — ' N.B. Dr Pennecuick of Newhall Romanno. A good sort of man tho. a very bad poet.'

The first point to which I would call attention is the 'Advertisement' of a map, which does not seem to have appeared. It is announced on the page facing the poetical section of the book, in the following terms : — ' Kind reader. You are intreated not to take offence, that the Map of Tzueeddale is not yet ready to be insert in the Books, as was promised in the Proposals, by reason of M^ Adair's Indisposition and Unability to Travel, being confin'd to his Chamber by a severe Gout : He it was that we pitcht upon as the best

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and fittest Geographer for the particular Survey of this County, which he undertook and intends to perform, whenever his Hands and Feet are again rcndrcd capable to serve the Shire for that purpose, in order to a more exact Map than any that has been drawn of it hitherto.' It is evident from this that a prospectus or preliminary advertisement had been issued. A map was added to the reissue of 1815, accompanied by the Description which Captain Armstrong appended to his map of the county in 1775.

My curiosity was first aroused in regard to this book by observing that a rather coarse poem, named ' Corinnae Concubitus, out of Ovid, done by the Author at the age of 18,' appeared in its index, but was replaced in the text by a poem on the Union of England and Scotland ; and, again, by the discovery of the displaced effusion in both text and index of an edition of the poems alone, as issued in 1762.

This reprint is described in the preface to the Works, published in 1815, as 'a mean edition ... so incorrect as to do great injustice to the author' ; but the presence of this poem — originally intended for inclusion in 171 5, as shown by its place in the index of that date — raises the question of the exact relation of the two issues. That they had something in common typographically, closer examination confirms. For while the pages frequently differ, they sometimes do not vary even in the smallest particular, and hardly ever do so after page 53. In fact, after most careful comparison, I have found beyond that page only a slip in a catchword, and a correction on page 64, where the word ' Bean ' appears properly as ' Beam ' in the 1762 volume.

It is impossible to chronicle here the very curious differences between the two in the earlier pages of the poems, but one may be mentioned. The poem immediately before ' Corinnse Concubitus ' is, like it, rather coarse ; and a marginal note to the 1762 issue connects with it the name of a notorious local clergyman. No such note exists in that of 171 5.

I have no absolute proof of the existence of the sheets of 1762 in 171 5 ; but it appears not improbable, from what has been stated, that they were, wholly or in part, in type then.

Beyond the edition of 171 5, I have found none embracing the whole Works except that of 181 5, published at Leith, with a prefatory Life of the author.

Allibone names others in 1720, 1769, etc. ; but clearly he is mixing

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up the productions of the two Pennecuiks. The Dictionary of National Biography names an issue of 1875 5 t)ut I have failed to find it, and Mr Aitken admits that its existence is doubtful.

In now submitting a list of volumes and separate pieces, I do so in full consciousness that other items must be in existence, although the author's known objection to publication would probably render their circulation limited. Any additions to either of the lists given in this paper will be welcome.

I begin then with the editions of the collected Works.

A Geographical, Historical Description of the Shire of Tweeddale. With a Miscel- lany and Curious Collection of Select Scottish Poems. By A. P., M.D. [3 lines of Latin Poetry.]

Edinburgh, Printed by John Moncur. mdccxv.

Small 4to. Title and Dedication, 4 leaves without signature. Description of Tweeddale, A — E in fours ; 2 double starred leaves (bearing Appendix, Advertisement, and Poem to the author, by Alex. Pennicuik, the merchant). The Poems, A — S in fours, S'' being blank, as shown in the presentation copy mentioned above.

A Collection of Curious Scots Poems, on the following subjects, viz [here follows a list of poems] To which is added the Marriage of Belphegor, a Translation of Matchiavel. By Alex. Pennycuik.

Edinburgh, Printed in the year 1762.

Small 4to. The author's poems begin immediately after title on Ai, and run to R3 ; R4 and S are filled by the Marriage of Belphegor and the Index, all as in the 1715 issue ; S4 is blank. All preliminary matter is omitted.

The Works of Alexander Pennecuik Esq of New-Hall. M.D. ; containing the Description of Tweeddale, and Miscellaneous Poems. A New Edition, with copious Notes, forming a Complete History of the County to the Present Time. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of D": Pennecuik, and a Map of the Shire of Peebles, or Tweeddale.

Leith, Printed by and for A. Allardice ; A. Constable & Co., Manners & Miller, W. Blackwood, and Oliphant, Waugh & Innes, Edinburgh ; Brash & Reid, Glasgow ; A. Elder, Peebles; and Longman & Co. London. 1815.

8vo. Half title, map (on thick paper), title, preface, and contents, in all 6 leaves, i. to xii. ; memoir, B and C ; text, D— 2E, which has one leaf only, text finishing on verso.

Caledonia Triumphans : A Panegyrick To the King.

Edinburgh, Printed by the Heirs and Successors of Andrew Anderson, Printers to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1699.

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Folio broadside (i7i x 14 inches), headed by the Arms of the Darien Company, printed in three columns, and thus ending —

' No mercenary thouglit, or base design Of servile Flatt'ry made those verses mine.

By a Lover of Caledonia and the Muses.' There is a copy in the Advocates' Library, but the arms and the words ' Caledonia Triumphans ' have been cut off. It bears in contemporaiy handwriting ' D. Pennecook of Romana In Tweedell.' Dr Laing describes it in the first volume of his Fugitive Scottish Poetry, and correctly stales that it is not included in the published works as issued in 1715. It appears as No. 84 in the Darien Bibliography {see page 42).

Caledonia Triumphans. A Panegyrick to the King.

Folio broadside (13 x 9 inches), printed in two columns.

Another issue of the preceding number. It is in the Advocates' Library, where it appears without coat of arms, imprint, or date ; but these may have been removed, as it has evidently been larger than the volume of broadsides in which it is bound up. It is No. 85 in the Darien Biblio- graphy (see page 42), and the date there ascribed to it [1699] is probably correct.

The Tragedy of Gray-Beard or the Brandybotle of Kinkegolaw : With an Answer to M": Guild's Vindication of the Brandy-Bottle of Kinkegolaw, which is not here mentioned. Being the Tragedy of the Duke de Alva, Alias Greay-beard, or the Complaint of the Brandy Bottle, lost by a poor Carriour by falling from the Handle, and found by a Company of the presbitry of Peebles near to Kinkegolaw, as they returned from Glasgow, immediately after they had taken the Test. Printed in the Year 1700.

8vo. 8 pages in all. A satirical tract. It is to be found on page 7 of the 17 15 issue of Pennecuik's works, and the British Museum owns a reprint of it, executed in the facsimile style adopted by Dr David Laing in his Fugitive Scottish Poetry, by whom it may possibly have been issued, as the paper used is also similar to his.

To his Highness the Prince of Orange, the Humble Address and Supplication of the Parishioners and Inhabitants of Linton, Submetropolitan of Twedale. [1689].

Large folio broadside. It contains many local allusions. It is stated in the Dictionary of iVattonal Biography \.ha.i it first appeared in Watson's Scots Poems m l^o6 (i.e., in the first issue of Part I. ), but the editor of the Glasgow reprint of that collection correctly states that it first appeared in 1689.

Lintoun Address to his Highness the Prince of Orange. [This last word in decora- tive capitals.]

Edinburgh. Printed by. James Watson. 17 14.

Folio broadside (about 24 x 18 inches), in 2 columns, headed 'Prologue' and 'Epilogue,' with adornments in centre between the columns. This issue is in the British Museum.

An Address to His Majesty King George by the Author of the Lintoun Address. Edinburgh : Printed by James Watson, one of the printers to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. 1714.

Folio liroadside (about 30 x 24 inches), in bold type. It is in the British Museum. The poem is included in the volume of 1715.

'"il /U'

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The following items should also be mentioned : — The Interlocutor : a Comedy, of one act, in verse. Ascribed to Alexander Pennecuik, M.D.

Edinburgh printed by J. Morren. Cowgate. 1803.

i2mo, ill Chapbook form, printed on paper of 1802. It consists of 12 leaves in all, viz., Title, with Dramatis Persotuc on the verso, 9 pages of text, and a final blank page. The scene is laid in the inn at Peebles, and of the three characters, the first is named ' Sir John, A Knight, Just- Ass of Peace, and Sheriff Depute of the County of Peebles.' To his name is appended this footnote — ' See a Letter to a Knight, who shot at the Author's doves, and killed them on the Dovecot-head, among Dr Pennecuik's poems.' The Poem referred to is found on page 133 of the 1715 volume, and in it Sir John is addressed as ^J2tst Ass of Peace.' That the doctor wrote The Interlocutor his admirers will be loath to allow. It is sad rubbish, and far even from his poetic standard.

Comic Poems of the Years 1685, and 1793 on Rustic Scenes in Scotland at the times to which they refer : with explanatory and illustrative notes. Edinburgh. Printed for the Booksellers. 181 7.

8vo. A volume published anonymously by Robert Dunmoor Craufurd Brown of Newhall.

In it he includes Pennecuik's Panegyrick upon The Royal Army in Scotland, and adds to it a supplement named Lintoun Green. He also includes The Weapon-shoiving, which is taken from Armstrong's Companiofi to his map of Tweeddale, and appears in the notes to the 1815 edition of Pennecuik's Works.

Brown again reprinted these and other items in the new edition of his own works (originally issued in three 8vo vols, in 1830), which he published in five vols. 8vo in 1832. The notes in these volumes also contain many references to Pennecuik.

Of the second Alexander Pennecuik comparatively little seems to be known, although his name is familiar as the author of An Historical Account of the Blue Blanket and of Streams from Helicon. He was a nephew of the earlier poet, and claims, on the title of the former of these two works, that he is a ' Burgess and Guild-brother of Edinburgh.' He is sometimes designated 'Gentleman,' sometimes 'Merchant,' on his other title-pages. He was writer of the Verses to Dr Pennecuik which form an introduction to the poetical section of that author's volume of 171 5, where he signs himself ' Al. P. Mercator Edinburgensis ' ; and he addresses the Doctor as his ' friend,' when reproducing that poem in his own volume, named Streams from Helicon. He seems to have been a man of education and parts, but of dissipated habits, and the notice of him, which we find in Wilson's (Claudero's) Miscellanies, runs as follows, the lines being from a poem entitled Farewell to the Muses

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and Aid d Reekie^ in which the poet henceforth abjures poetry, and says that

he will strive —

' To shun the fate of Pennycuik, Who starving died in turnpike-nuik ; (Tho' sweet he sung with wil and sense, He like poor Claud, was short of pence).'

' He was buried,' says Chalmers the antiquarian, ' in Greyfriars Churchyard on the 28th of November 1780.'

I have seen no definitely confirmatory evidence, but in connection with the Trial of Nicol Muschet of Boghall in 1720 for the murder of his wife in the Duke's Walk, and the ' Last Speech and Confession ' published by the culprit in January 1721, I find that he accuses a certain 'Alex. Pennycuik, at present in the Abbey,' of having had a part in his criminal designs, and I suspect that the poet was the man referred to.

There is in the possession of Mr Fairley an interesting broadside in which a denial is given by one Alex. Pennecuik to Boghall's accusations, with a reply appended by the prisoner just before his execution, and, if I am right, part of this broadside must be added to the list of our author's productions. A second copy of this sheet is in a valuable volume of such items owned by Mr Cowan, and it is there accompanied by a copy of TJie Confession. I quote the parts of it which are of most interest. It is headed

A Gentleman's Letter to the Laird of Boghall, The Day before his Execution, With Boghall's Answer.

Sir Edinburgh Jan. 5th \1%\

I'm loath to interrupt your Meditations, in the last Hours of Life, from Eternal Objects; But the Stain of being imprisoned, as accessory to your Wife's Murder ; the Desire of having my Innocence clear'd, and the Slander of the World stopt, makes it necessar I conjure you to do Justice to my Character. . . .

I would likewise give you my Advice with respect to Others, mentioned in your Declaration : Charity obliges me to believe, no dying Person would be guilty of so horrid a Crime, as to palm upon the World a Volume of Lies : But your drawing a Vail of Silence over the Names of certain Persons, known to be deep in your Secrets, inclines the World to believe, that either you conceal the Truth, or the rest of your Assertions are Forgeries ; . . .

I speak this as the real Thoughts of my Heart ; not to conciliate Favour to myself: I give you open Defiance. I can hold up my face, and say,

Hie niurus aheneus esto,

Nil conscire tibi, nulla palescere culpa.

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I have always had a tender Respect for you since the Commencement of our Friendship : I wish to God you had followed my Advice ; if you had, your days might have been long in the Land of the living. That you may have a Comfortable Death, and Assurance of future Glory, is the ardent prayer of, Sir, Your SouV s ivell-wisher,

To the Laird of Boghall. Alexander Pennecuik.

Boghall's Answer.

Sir, Edinburgh Prison House, ya«. 5th lyfy

I Received yours, wherein I am sensible, you (according to your former Affection) have given me your wholsome Advice, to prepare for Death, upon the Confines of which I now stand, by relating Fact of every Person in the least accessory to any of these horrid contrivances intended so frequently against the Defunct, which, I bless God for it, I have done in all clearness, before yours came in my Hand. You very well know you was in Baillie Smith's, which, in relation of other Things, I could not escape to mention ; in doing of which, to the outmost of my knowledge, I have done neither you nor any other Injustice, as I am to Morrow to appear before the Supreme Judge ; being all from, Sir Your humble Servant

To Mr Alexander Pennecuik. Ni. Muschett.

N.B. The Originals are in the Lord Solicitor s LLands.

Pennecuik was dissipated ; and the Laird of Boghall, who was also a man of position, and who acknowledges to having been led astray by bad company, may have had him among his boon companions. That it was he who was so accused seems the more likely when we find a poetical effusion in Latin, appended to Muschet's Confession, thus titled —

' Carmen acrosticum in Nicolaum Mushet, Ab amico quodam conscriptum,'

in which the acrostic forms the words, ' Nicolaus Mushet a morte redemtus.' Who so likely as Pennecuik to produce this ? For that he had some

acquaintance with Latin comes out here and there in his volumes, as, for

instance, in the classical allusions which adorn his preface to The Blue

Blanket.

If this acrostic is his handiwork, wc have in this connection a letter

and a poem from his pen ; and there is yet a third, if another item in Mr

Cowan's volume is by him, namely, an

Elegy on the Death of Nicol Muschet of Boghall : written, at the Desire of his Friends.

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Folio broadside (about 15x9 inches). In two columns. It records the culprit's career in rhyme which may be sampled in the climax thus touchingly expressed —

'At last, with Satan, who had form'd the Plot, lie leads her to the Fields, and Cuts her Throat.' After which he fittingly observes —

' I've plac'd his Sins in such a glaring Light, To make the Mercies of the Lord shine bright. . . . Thus I've perform'd the Office of a Friend, Recorded his lewd Life, and pious End.'

These lines seem to have the peculiar literary flavour of Pennecuik the

merchant, who could, in one of his serious attempts, thus refer to a lady's

tears —

' Ah, have I pow'r to speak Susanna Cries ! And Beauty blubbers from her Modest Eyes.'

Before proceeding to give a list of the publications which I have been able to trace, I may call attention to the fact that George Chalmers, in his preface to his edition of Allan Ramsay's Works, published in two volumes 8vo in 1800, makes more than one reference to this author, naming him as a rival of the greater poet, and possibly the author of The Flight of Religions Piety from Scotland, upon account of Ramsay's lewd books. To show his rivalry, he appends the following lists of ' Poems on similar subjects ' by the two authors : —

By Ramsay. Elegy on John Cupar, Kirk-Treasurer's Man; 17 14.

The last Speech of a wretched Miser.

On the Royal Company of Archers marching, &c. ; 4th August 1724.

The Nuptials, a Masque, on the Mar- riage of his Grace James Duke of Hamil- ton and Brandon, &c.

An Ode Sacred to the Memory of Ann Duchess of Hamilton and Brandon, etc.

Prologue spoken by Mr Anthony Aston the first night he acted in Winter 1726.

By Pennecuik.

Elegy on Robert Forbes, Kirk- Treasurer's Man.

The Picture of a Miser; written of George Herriot's Anniversary ; 3rd June 1728.

Panegyric on the noble Company of Bowmen, &c. nth May 1726.

A Pastoral on the Nuptials of his Grace James Duke of Hamilton, &c. with the Lady Ann Cochran, Daughter of the Right Hon. John Earl of Dun- donald ; solemnised 14th Feb. 1723.

The Heavenly Vision ; sacred to the Memory of Ann Duchess of Hamilton.

Prologue to the Beggars' Opera, when first acted in the Tennis-court at Holy- rood-house, 1728.

In a footnote Chalmers adds that the editor oi Ancient Scottish Poems

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(1786) confounded the two Pennecuiks, and he quotes from him a report that the doctor had given Ramsay the plot of The Gentle Shepherd. In it he also says, as before stated, that the merchant poet was buried in Greyfriars' Churchyard, and adds that his name appears on the burial register as Alex- ander Pencook.

Some remarks of David Herd, in a letter to George Paton which appears in Letters from TJiovias Percy, D.D., afterzvards Bishop of Droviore [and others], to George Paton, Edinburgh, 18^0, must also be mentioned, along with the notes of the editor of that volume, James Maidment, for in them will be found (on pages 104-8), not only interesting references to some of Pennecuik's publications, but the following note from Mr Maidment's pen. It appears along with the statement that Watts has overlooked our poet in his Bibliotheca, and it is accompanied by a list of his works, ' believed to be accurate,' but only embracing six items.

'There is in the Advocates' Library (Jac. V. 8.20.) a MS. in 4to called " The Whole Works of Alexander Pennecuik, Gent, volum 2d." It com- mences at page 215. Upon the boards is written, " Edinburgh, January 1759. Ex dono viduae J. Graham, Bibliopegi cum altero volumine." The first volume is not in the Library ; and it is not known in what way, or at what time the Faculty of Advocates became possessed of the second one. There can be little doubt that the greater part of the manuscript is in the hand- writing of Pennecuik. The first poem, which is addressed " to my Honoured Uncle, Alexander Pennecuik of Romanno, M.D. upon the publication of his Miscellany Poems," occurs, with many alterations, in the Strea7)is from Helicon, p. 61 ; but a great proportion of the contents never seems to have been printed. One portion is evidently written by some other person — perhaps by Graham, the Bookbinder, and consists partly of " Adversaria " and partly of transcripts. It is the same handwriting as a folio volume of "Adversaria" in the Advocates' Library, erroneously ascribed to Sir Robert Sibbald.'

This manuscript I find to be of small 4to size, and somewhat carefully described in one of the MS. Catalogues of the Library. The enumeration of the pages runs on to 337, and upon 338 is a list of 16 names, including that of a City Bailie, which is headed ' List of ye persons who are furnished with my weekly paper.' (This may have been the periodical, E?iteriaimnent for the Curious, referred to at the end of this paper.) Twenty additional and

127

unnumbered leaves, which have at one time been folded and docketed, have been roughly sewn into the volume between pages 326 and 327. In the paged section all the poems are not in one handwriting, nor on one size of paper. The original handwriting reappears after the section referred to by- Mr Maidment as being possibly Graham's, and includes an Index to the poems.

I shall now enumerate the volumes published by Pennecuik, not in strictly chronological order, for some are undated, but beginning with his better known books, and reserving to the end those of which I have only heard, and of which, therefore, I cannot give full and accurate descriptions.

Streams from Helicon : or Poems on Various Subjects ; in three parts. By Alexander Pennecuik Gent. [Quotation, 2 lines from Ovid.] [Ornament.] Edinburgh : printed by John Mosman and Company. Anno 1721.

8vo. Title, t2 — 4, A — O in eights, P — P4. There is also a 'second edition,' dated 1720, which is the same book exactly, except that the title has been altered to admit the words, ' The Second Edition,' and ' Enter'd in Stationer's Hall,' and to permit the imprint to become ' Printed for the Author, London, 1720,' or ' Edinburgh : Printed by John Mosman and Company for the Author: Anno. 1720.' That both editions — or all three, if one so pleases to enumerate them — are really of one impression is perhaps emphasised by the fact that the titles to Sections 2 and 3 of the book, which are included in the enumeration of the pages, but are imprint-bearing, are always of Edinburgh, and dated 1720 right through, and that the Advocates' Library copy, which is well preserved in comtemporary calf, has had its first title removed, the London one having been pasted in. The Signet Library copy — a London one — has not had its title tampered with.

A word in passing as to the last of the three sections into which this book is divided. It again reminds us of the Muschet Trial, which occurred at this very time, for it links the author with the precincts of Holyrood, where, Boghall states, that his friend Pennecuik is residing in 1720. While touching upon this, I may point out that one of Pennecuik's poems named in Ramsay's volume was penned for a play first acted at Holyrood House in 1728.

The next volume that calls for notice is the writer's important work on the Blue Blanket, by which he is probably best known.

An Historical Account of the Blue Blanket : or, Crafts-Men's Banner. Containing the Fundamental Principles of the Good Town, with the Powers and Prerogatives of the Crafts of Edinburgh &c. By Alexander Pennecuik, Burgess and Guild-Brother of Edinburgh. [Quotation from Psalm LX. verse 4 and Gen. iv. verse 22]

Edinburgh, printed by John Mosman and Company, and sold by him [sic] and the Author. 1722.

8vo. A — K in eights, the title (printed in red and black), dedication and preface included. It is in the Signet Library. This book has been reprinted several times. The second edition

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appeared in 1780, and included the Arms of the Incorporations. It was reprinted in 1826, in the volume entitled, The Constitution of the City of Edinburgh, where the editor has appended a few notes, and the said Arms, taken, he says, from Maitland's History of the City. It was also reprinted in Bailie Colston's book on the Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh, published in 1891.

Britannia Triumphans, in Four Parts; Part i. Pan a Pastoral. Part 2. Magnalia. Part 3. Panegyrick on the Royal Family. Part 4. Genethliacons, or the Saphick Muse. Sacred to XXVIII. May; the Anniversary for the High and Mighty Prince's Birth George Lewis [Titles follow here, and Latin quotations.]

Edinburgh, printed by John Mosman and William Brown for the Author, and sold by the said Wm. Brown and John Martin. 17 18. [Price 4 pence.]

8vo. 12 leaves. The tract is in the British Museum. It bears on its half-title, ' Poems on the Royal Family,' and is dedicated to the Earl of Haddington. The volume is anonymous, but the Dictionary of National Biography attributes it to Pennicuik the merchant ; and its date, dedication, and the recurrence of Mosman's name as publisher confirm this attribution. Maidment's copy, with cuttings inserted, was lot 2781 in his sale catalogue. The price is printed on title as above.

Corydon and Cochrania, a Pastoral on the Nuptials of the High and Potent Prince, His Grace James Duke of Hamilton, Chatelherault and Brandon, &c. with the Lady Anne Cochran, Eldist Daughter of the Right Honourable John Earl of Dundonald, &c. Solemniz'd February 14, 1723. By. A P. Gent. [8 lines from Dryden's State of Innocence?^

Edinburgh. Printed and sold by William Adams Junior, at his Printing House in Carubber's Close. Price 2d 1723.

Small 4I0. Title and il pp., verso of page 11 blank. To this description, supplied from the Mitchell Library copy by the kindness of Mr Barrett, has to be added that the title in that copy is defective, and the colophon has supplied the imprint.

Rome's Legacy to the Kirk of Scotland ; or the Rise and Progress of Stools of Repentance. A Satyr. The Second edition with various Additions. Of all the plagues with which Mankind is curs'd Ecclesiastick Tyranny's the worst.

Free-Born Englishman.

By an En.iinent Hand.

Printed for the Author. 1724.

Post 8vo. 6 leaves including title, verso of last leaf blank. I have not traced the first edition, unless the next item should yet prove to be it.

Rome's Legacy, to the Kirk of Scotland.

8vo. 4 leaves, in Chap Book style, without date or anything further on front page. The British Museum Catalogue suggests 1730 as date, with a query.

Groans from the Grave : or Complaints of the Dead, against the Surgeons for raising their bodies out of the Dust. [No title.]

129

Small 4to, 4 pages. There is a P.S. which reads thus—

' Let none believe this Satyr is design'd against those learn'd preservers of Mankind the Sons of Gallen, to whose skill we owe, next to Heav'n the greatest blessings here below.' In a note of W. B. D. D. Turnbull in 1837, addressed to Jas. Maidment, he states that in his copy the 9th line of page 4 has the word ' surgeon ' omitted, and a blank line substituted, above which the word ' chirurgeon ' is written by the same hand as penned the following note, which he states is in his copy.

' This was published at Edinr 13 March 1725 by Alex. Penicuik on occasion yt ye chirurgeon lads in ys city had lately opened several graves in and about ys place and raised up yr dead bodys.' It is in the British Museum.

A Collection of Poet Pennicuicke's Satires on Kirkmen, &c.— Rome's Legacy to the Kirk of Scotland: a Satire on the Stool of Repentance. Together with the Cameronian Crucifix ... At the desire of several gentlemen in Town and Country. Printed in the year 1744.

The Dictionary of National Biography does not state the number of parts issued. In the British Museum there is only a pamphlet of 6 leaves post 8vo, of a Chap Book appearance. It is the first part only, and contains four poems, although eight are named on title. The subject matter is often coarse.

A compleat Collection of all the Poems wrote by that famous and learned poet Alex. Pennecuik. To which is annexed some Curious Poems by other Worthy Hands. [8 lines of poetry.] Part I. Edinburgh, R. Drummond.

Post 8vo size, but A— R in 4s. The British Museum has a copy, 136 pages. It has for catch- words ' Part III.' on last page. It is undated. The year 1750 is added in the Catalogue, but with a query. On the back of title is this advertisement—

' It is hop'd, those who have a mind to take out this collection, will do it with all expedition, to let the undertaker know, what Number of the other parts to cast off. Price 8d. each part, fine paper, and 6d. coarse, stitched in blue.'

The Dictionary of National Biography gives the number of parts issued as six, but on turning to the letter of David Herd above referred to we have the following statement, which seems to refer to the same book, although the title slightly differs : ' A Collection of all the poems wrote by that famous and learned Poet, Alexander Pennecuik, Edinburgh, printed and sold by R. Drummond in Swan Close. No date. I have part ist and 2nd of this ; the second ends with the Catchword Part III. These I got a long while ago from George Reid, who said he had them from James Reid, bookseller at Leith, and that this R[obert] Drummond, who, it seems, stood in the pillory, and died of grief before the [year] 1755, is taken notice of by Hugo Amot in his History of Edinburgh.' , ,. , ,

This volume includes, as Penicuik's, the poem A Pi I for Pork Eaters, published separately by James Watson in 1705, as a quarto of 6 leaves. (See Vol. I. of Laing's Fugitive Scottish Poetry for reprint.) It is also ascribed to him in the Dictionary of National Biography, presumably from the British Museum Catalogue, but the latter has now been corrected on my calhng attention to Dr Laing's note to the poem in the Fugitive Scottish Poetry, in which he says, ' This poem was printed, i2mo Edinburgh N.D. in A Compleat Collection (naming the volume under discussion), but this was a spurious edition, long after Pennecuik's death. The author really was Forbes of Disblair.'

130

A Collection of Scots Poems on Several Occasions, By the late Mr. Alexander Pennecuik, Gent, and others [quotation of 4 lines from the Earl of Roscommon's poems]

Edinburgh, Printed for James Reid Bookseller in Leith. 1756.

i2mo. A — N in sixes; O 2 leaves, of which the last is an Advertisement of Books, Plays, Poems, Sec, sold by Reid.

Described by Mr Barrett from the Mitchell Library Copy which lacks one leaf (? a half-title) of sheet A.

Herd says, in the letter above mentioned — ' In a list of books printed at Edinburgh for James Reid, bookseller at Leith, 1755 ; annexed to my copy of the Fair Circassian, there is mentioned Pennecuik's Poems,' and adds that it may possibly be the issue by Drummond which is there referred to, but it was probably an announcement of Reid's own issue of 1756. Herd goes on to relate that Reid was drowned in Leith Harbour.

A Collection of Scots Poems [exactly as above] Edinburgh: printed for J. Wood Bookseller. 1769.

i2mo. Title, A — N in sixes. Described from the Mitchell Library Copy, in which sheet N has only 5 leaves, the last, ' probably blank,' says Mr Barrett, being lost.

Herd remarks in his letter to Paton that ' Wm. Wood ' (son of John Wood, Bookseller), ' informs me that the Collection in 1769 — your copy I last saw — was printed for Coke, more than half a century Bookseller in Leith,' and it is, therefore, possible that copies may exist with that imprint.

A Collection of Scots Poems [exactly as above]

Edinburgh : printed for A. Angus and Son, Booksellers in Aberdeen. 1769.

Post 8vo. Title i leaf. A — N in sixes. Described from a copy, which is the property of Mr John A. Fairley. It lacks N 6, but as N 5 bears the word /im's, it is probably a blank leaf. It is a tall copy.

A Collection of Scots Poems on Several Occasions by the late Mr. Alexander Pennecuik Gent, and others.

Glasgow, printed by Alex. Buchanan, bookseller, above the Cross. 1787.

Post 8vo size. A — H in fours. This favourite collection, so often reprinted, includes ' Rome's Legacy,' and ' The Presbyterian Pope ' (named on Part I. of the 1744 issue, but not in that volume), ' Merry Tales for the lang Nights of Winter,' &c. It contains several pieces issued in the spurious Edinburgh issue of Drummond, mentioned above. Among the 'Others' are Ramsay's 'Elegies on Maggy Johnston,' and on ' Lucky Wood,' and ' Lucky Spence's Last Advice.'

As the first edition of Robert Burns' Poems appeared in 1786, and the First Edinburgh Edition, issued under the auspices of the Caledonian Hunt, saw the light in 1787, it is possible that the in- terest in poetry thus awakened had something to do with this Glasgow reprint.

There is another item mentioned by Mr Aitken in the Dictionary of National Biography, of which I have a description by the kindness of Mr Fortescue of the British Museum, but, as it bears so early a date, I fear to follow the ascription of it to Pennecuik the merchant without fuller investi- gation. It is titled as follows : —

131

A Pastoral Poem sacred to the Memory of the Honourable Lord Basil Hamilton In prose or verse 'tis seldom that we can Paint to the life the frailty of a man. by A. P.

Edinburgh, printed in the year 1701. Post 8vo. 8 pages, including title.

It has been mentioned that Chalmers names The Flight of Religious Piety as a satire on Ramsay, and states his suspicion that Pennecuik was its author. The British Museum places it under his name ; I do not know upon what authority. Its description is here appended :

The Flight of religious Piety from Scotland, upon the account of Ramsay's lewd books, &c, and the Hell-bred Play-house Comedians, who debauch all the Faculties of the souls of our rising generation.

Post 8vo. 8 leaves. It resembles a Chap-book. At page 9 is found ' A looking glass for Allan Ramsay,' where we learn that 'he has been instrumental in ensnaring others,' and at page 15 we have ' The dying words of Allan Ramsay,' ending ' Exit Allan Ramsay.'

It only remains to name a few publications which I have as yet been unable to trace, but of which any information will be welcome.

Flowers from Parnassus. 1726.

This is not in any of the four great Edinburgh Libraries, nor in the Mitchell LiVjrary in Glasgow. It is named by the Dictionary of National Biography and by Allibone.

Entertainment for the Curious.

A periodical begun by Pennecuik under that title, or rather, if we accept AUibone's description, under that of 'Poems revived: the Blyth Man's Banquet, or an Entertainment for the curious.' He adds ' 8vo Edinburgh 1734, printed shortly before the originator's death ; ' but as Pennecuik died in 1730, there is clearly some mistake, unless it remained unpublished during the interval. That it exists is certain, as the following editorial note by Maidment to Herd's letter to Paton proves: ' Entertainments (sic) for the Curious, 6 parts, very scarce. There was a copy in Herd's Library with MS notes by him, which was purchased by Mr Blackwood, and in his sale catalogue for 1812 (together with the ensuing article,) is priced at ^2. 2.'

And lastly, the separate Poems named in the quotation given above from Chalmers' edition of Ramsay's Poems, save the one already described. These having been prepared for special occasions are almost sure to have been issued individually.

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