Minstrelsy of the Scottish border - National Library of Scotland

132 MlNSTllELSY OF
THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST.
PAIIT SECOND.
The following verses, adapted to tlie ancient air of the
Plowers of the Forest, are, like the elegy which jjrecedes
them, the production of a lady. The late Mrs Cockburn,
daughter of Rutherford of Fairnalie, in Selkirkshire, and
relict of Mrs Cockburn of Ormiston (whose father was
Lord-Justice-clerk of Scotland,) was the authoress. Mrs
Cockburn ha^ been dead but a few years.* Even at an
age, advanced beyond the usual bounds of humanity,
she retained a play of imagination, and an activity of in-
tellect, which must have been attractive and delightful
in youth, but was almost preternatural at her period of
life. Her active benevolence, keeping pace with her
genius, rendered her equally an object of love and ad-
miration. The editor, who knew htr well, takes this
opportunity of doing justice to his own feelings ;
« Edition of 1803.
and