h Dialect," Edinburgh, 1805, 2 vols. 12mo.
This publication, which was well received, contains some lyrical
effusions that entitle the author to a respectable rank among the modern
cultivators of national poetry; yet it is to be regretted that a deep
admiration of Burns has led him into an imitation, somewhat servile, of
that immortal bard.

At Traquair Mr Nicol continued to devote himself to mental improvement.
He read extensively; and writing upon the subject of his studies was his
daily habit. He was never robust, being affected with a chronic disorder
of the stomach; and when sickness prevented him, as occasionally
happened, from writing in a sitting posture, he would for hours together
have devoted himself to composition in a standing position. Of his prose
writings, which were numerous, the greater number still remain in MS.,
in the possession of his elder son. During his lifetime, he contributed
a number of articles to the _Edinburgh Encyclopaedia_, among which are
"Baptism," "Baptistry," "Baptists," "Bithynia," and "Cranmer." His
posthumous work, "An Essay on the Nature and Design of Scripture
Sacrifices," was published in an octavo volume in the year 1823.

Mr Nicol was much respected for his sound discernment in matters of
business, as well as for his benevolent disposition. Every dispute in
the vicinity was submitted to his adjudication, and his counsel checked
all differences in the district. He was regularly consulted as a
physician, for he had studied medicine at the University. From his own
medicine chest he dispensed gratuitously to the indigent sick; and
without fee he vaccinated all the children of the neighbourhood who were
brought to him. After a short illness, he died on the 5th of November
1819. Of a family of three sons and three daughters, the eldest son
predeceased him; two sons and two daughters still survive. The elder
son, who bears his father's Christian name, is Professor of Civil and
Natural History in Marischal College, Aberdeen, and is well known as a
geologist. Mrs Nicol survived her husband till the 19th of March 1845.

BLAW SAFTLY, YE BREEZES.

Blaw saftly, ye breezes, ye streams, smoothly murmur,
Ye sweet-scented blossoms, deck every green tree;
'Mong your wild scatter'd flow'rets aft wanders my charmer,
The sweet lovely lass wi' the black rollin' e'e.
For pensive I ponder, and languishin' wander,
Far frae the sweet rosebud on Quair's windin'