Broadside entitled 'The Last Words of Bonny Heck, a famous grey-hound in the shire of Fife'

Commentary

This mock elegy begins: 'ALas, alas, quo' bonny Heck, / On former days when I reflect! / I was a Dog much in respect / For doughty Deed: / But now I must hing by the Neck / Without Remeed.' No publication details are given.

This piece, written from the viewpoint of a greyhound who has had a glorious career in coarsing but now finds himself on the scrapheap, was written by William Hamilton of Gilmerfield (c.1665-1751). This 'best Dog in the East Nook Coast' (East Fife) is to be hung. Though 'not too old', his usefulness is gone. Even today, many greyhounds are put down or abandoned for precisely this reason. The poem highlights the dog's good temperament and his devotion to his master, and seems to be saying it is wrong to terminate the its life.

Allan Ramsay (1684-1758) modelled his famous mock elegy, 'Lucky Spence's Last Advice', on this piece. The National Library of Scotland also holds a broadside of that poem in its collection.

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