1838-39. THE FAIR DEMANDS A SONG. 183 



A fuller account of the origin of the verses is given to Miss 

 Abernethy, a lady whose acquaintance he made in the begin- 

 ning of his student life, through her nephew, Dr. Niven. An 

 intimacy then sprang up with the family at Willow Grove, 

 which each later year became more close and tender. Miss 

 Abernethy was truly a second mother to George, but the affec- 

 tion on both sides was usually hidden under a guise of fun of 

 the most exuberant kind, he representing himself in sportive 

 reference to the difference of years between him and his ma- 

 tronly correspondent as her devoted swain. The repetition of 

 facts given in previous letters, will, we trust, be pardoned, for 

 the sake of the new dress in which they appear. 



" Thursday, Uth Nov. 1839. 



" DEAREST JESS, I send you the long promised verses at 

 last, which you may well before this have Despaired of ever 

 seeing ; but not even a chemist can refuse when the ' fair de- 

 mands a song/ I have spared my own words by quoting these 

 from Cowper, but remembering that you are not a reader of that 

 poet's ' Task,' I foresee a chance of my quotation being misap- 

 plied. For while I am using ' fair' as an adjective, in referring 

 to my dearest Jess ! she may be thinking of ' fair' as a substan- 

 tive (that is, as she told me in Penicuik, the ' name of a person, 

 place, or thing'), signifying the collection of men, and women, 

 and beasts, and roly-poly pins, that assembled at the afore- 

 mentioned town, and so expect me to celebrate the glories of 

 the Penicuik fair. Truly that fair did demand a song ; but did 

 it not receive it from the improvising lips of Ehyming Willie, 

 since dead and become immortal? and was he not rewarded 

 with a dole of bread and cheese ? which is more, perhaps, than 

 Rhyming Wil(lie)son may receive for his labours. So that, hav- 

 ing seen to the rightful application of my quotation, by which 

 I thought to have saved myself the coining of some delicate 

 compliment ; and, after all, I have had to dedicate nearly a page 

 to avoid its recurring as a slander, or implied but unfulfilled 

 promise on my own head ; I may make a stride forward, to- 

 wards the blotting and blearing of the great expanse of fail- 

 white paper, which stands waiting for hieroglyphics. If I have 



