in less than a week after his arrival, he was suddenly seized with illness, and almost immediately expired.  His remains were interred in the churchyard of Longside; and the flock to which he had so long ministered placed over the grave a handsome monument, bearing, on a marble tablet, an elegant tribute to the remembrance of his virtues and learning.  At the residence of Bishop Skinner, he had seen his descendants in the fourth generation.

Of Mr Skinner’s songs, printed in this collection, the most popular are “Tullochgorum,” “John o’ Badenyon,” and “The Ewie wi’ the Crookit Horn.”  The whole are pervaded by sprightliness and good-humoured pleasantry.  Though possessing the fault of being somewhat too lengthy, no song-compositions of any modern writer in Scottish verse have, with the exception of those of Burns, maintained a stronger hold of the Scottish heart, or been more commonly sung in the social circle.

TULLOCHGORUM.

I.

Come gie ’s a sang, Montgomery cried,
And lay your disputes all aside,
What signifies ’t for folks to chide
For what was done before them: 
Let Whig and Tory all agree,
Whig and Tory, Whig and Tory,
Whig and Tory all agree,
To drop their Whig-mig-morum;
Let Whig and Tory all agree
To spend the night wi’ mirth and glee,
And cheerful sing alang wi’ me
The Reel o’ Tullochgorum.

II.

O Tullochgorum ’s my delight,
It gars us a’ in ane unite,
And ony sumph that keeps a spite,
In conscience I abhor him: 
For blythe and cheerie we’ll be a’,
Blythe and cheerie, blythe and cheerie,
Blythe and cheerie we’ll be a’,
And make a happy quorum;
For blythe and cheerie we’ll be a’
As lang as we hae breath to draw,
And dance, till we be like to fa’,
The Reel o’ Tullochgorum.

III.

What needs there be sae great a fraise
Wi’ dringing dull Italian lays? 
I wadna gie our ain Strathspeys
For half a hunder score o’ them;
They’re dowf and dowie at the best,
Dowf and dowie, dowf and dowie,
Dowf and dowie at the best,
Wi’ a’ their variorum;
They’re dowf and dowie at the best,
Their allegros and a’ the rest,
They canna’ please a Scottish taste,
Compared wi’ Tullochgorum.

IV.

Let warldly worms their minds oppress
Wi’ fears o’ want and double cess,
And sullen sots themsells distress
Wi’ keeping up decorum: 
Shall we sae sour and sulky sit,
Sour and sulky, sour and sulky,
Sour and sulky shall we sit,
Like old philosophorum? 
Shall we sae sour and sulky sit,
Wi’ neither sense, nor mirth, nor wit,
Nor ever try to shake a fit
To th’ Reel o’ Tullochgorum?

V.