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A Forgotten Bard of the Border. By T. Craig-Brown, 

 F.S.A., Selkirk. 



In these days of new monuments to Hogg and centenary- 

 glorification of Riddell, Borderers cannot be accused of 

 neglecting their own poets ; yet some there were who, leaving 

 verses worthy to live, are now well nigh forgotten. Perhaps in 

 these Proceedings it may be permitted to raise a little shrine to 

 the memory of one who well deserved remembrance, but of 

 whom not one living Borderer in a hundred (perhaps a 

 thousand!) seems to have any knowledge. 



It was five and sixty years ago that there issued from the 

 Blackwood Press an unpretentious little volume entitled *' The 

 Vale of Esk and other Poems," by Wm. Park, of Eskdalemuir. 

 About two hundred pages are occupied by over thirty pieces 

 of various length, theme and metre, the volume being dedicated 

 to Major General Sir John Malcolm of Burnfoot. Prompted by 

 filial piety, Park appends three elegies by his father, of whom 

 he gives a brief biography. It was rather a remarkable career. 

 Born at Lambhills in Annandale on New Year's Day of 1762, 

 the elder Park received a good education, and early in life 

 became secretary to the Governor of West Florida, a Johnstone 

 of Westerhall. Entering the navy, he served his time as a 

 midshipman on board a frigate of the West India Squadron, his 

 wit and vivacity endearing him to his brother officers, the Duke 

 of Clarence then also midshipman, among them. From the 

 royal sailor he received a pledge of friendship which might have 

 served him well had he lived until the Duke's accession to the 

 throne. Paid off without prospect of re-employment (he had 

 satirized a tyrannical bashaw of a captain who commanded the 

 ship) Park was induced by Sir James Johnston to undertake 

 the management of an estate in Grenada. But to be overseer 

 of slaves ill accorded with his feelings, and he obtained a 

 situation in the customs. The salary attached to this post, with 

 the profits of a newspaper of which he became proprietor, 

 promised soon to place him in easy circumstances ; but the re- 

 bellion of the French inhabitants in 1795 upset all; and he fell, 

 while yet in his thirty-third year, bravely leading a charge 

 against the insurgents. He left an only child, the author of 

 " The Vale of Esk," who seems to have inherited little from his 



