[A composite volume : containing The ballads and songs of Ayrshire ...

;
JAMIE TAMSON.
But since fortune's sae unkin',
He an' I, man, he an' I, man,
Maun just hope that we will fin',
By an' by, man, by an' by, man,
Plappier days, when care shall fling,
Mad to see, man, mad to see, man,
Bards triumphant on the wing,
Rich an' free, man, rich an' free, man.
Then, wha lives in yon town
Jamie Tamson, Jamie Tamson
;
Wi' a garlan' on his crown,
Strong as Samson, strong as Samson
Great in counsel, at the pen ;
Leal an' canty, leal an' canty
Great, the first, an' best o' men,
Stow'd wi' plenty, stow'd wi' plenty.
The late John Kennedy, author of " Fancy's Tour with the Genius
of Cruelty," and other poems, wrote these lively verses on James
Thomson, a well known worshipper of the muse in Kilmarnock.
Thomson, whose father was a respectable tanner in that town, received
a classical education, with a view to the ministry. He was induced,
however, on account of delicate health, to give up his clerical
prospects, and enter into partnership with his father.
Soon after he engaged in business, he married Helen Bruce, a
young lady with whom he became acquainted during the years he
attended College, and who was governess in the family of Mungo
Fairlie, Esq. of Holmes. She possessed little or no fortune, but in
personal attractions and graces of mind, was superior to the generality
of her sex. To him she bore five children. It was not his lot,
however, to enjoy her society for a very lengthened period ; for,
while yet in the prime of life, she was seized with an illness which
occasioned her dissolution.
In the year 1803 or 1804, when Britain was threatened with invasion,
the loyal inhabitants of Kilmarnock, like those of many other
towns of Scotland, formed themselves into a military body, under the
name of the Kilmarnock Sharpshooters, or Rifle Volunteers. In the