n, and, the minister sent for to pray for
direction and assistance in answering the letter, which was opened in
a solemn manner. It contained the following lines,

The Kirrimorians and Forforians met at Muirmoss,
The Kirrimorians beat the Forforians back to the cross,
[2]Sutors ye are, and sutors ye'll be
T----y upon Forfar, Kirrimuir bears the gree.

By this innocent piece of mirth he revenged himself on the town of
Forfar. As our author was a great cavalier, and addicted to the King's
party, he was forced by the reformers to send men to the army which
fought against the King, and his estate lying in three different
counties; he had not occasion to send one entire man, but halves, and
quarters, and such like fractions, that is, the money levied upon him
as his share, did not amount to the maintaining one man, but perhaps
half as much, and so on through the several counties, where his
estates lay; upon this he wrote the following verses to the King.

Of all these forces, rais'd against the King,
'Tis my strange hap not one whole man to bring,
From diverse parishes, yet diverse men,
But all in halves, and quarters: great king then,
In halves, and quarters, if they come, 'gainst
thee,
In halves and quarters send them back to me.

Being reputed a malignant, he was extremely harrassed by the
prevailing party, and for his verses and discourses frequently
summoned before their circular tables. In the short account of his
life written by himself, he says, 'that he never endeavoured to
advance his fortune, or increase such things as were left him by his
parents, as he foresaw the uncertainty and shortness of life, and
thought this world's advantages not worth struggling for.' The year
1649, remarkable for the beheading of Charles I. put likewise a period
to the life of our author: Upon hearing the dismal news that his
Sovereign's blood was shed on a scaffold, he was so overwhelmed with
grief, and being worn down with study, he could not overcome the
shock, and though we find not that he ever was in arms for the King,
yet he may be said, in some sense, to have fallen a sacrifice to
his loyalty. He was a man of fine natural endowments, which were
cultivated by reading and travelling; he spoke the Italian, Spanish,
and French languages as well as his mother tongue; he was a judicious
and great historian, a delicate poet, a master of polite erudition,
a loyal subject, a friend to his country, and to sum