Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Harp of Renfrewshire

to observe that a new edition of the volume is in the press. Mr.
Stevenson has recovered several unpublished manuscripts over
which Motherwell, in his introduction to the Haiy, mourns as
irretrievably lost. Francis Sempill held the office of Sheriff-
Depute of Renfrewshire.
James M'Alpie.
The question as to the authorship of the volume claiming to be
the production of James M'Alpie, Sheriff-Substitute of Renfrew-
shire, and other ingenious hands, will probably never be ac-
curately solved. The following is the title page : — •
"CERTAIN CURIOUS POEMS written at the close oe
THE XVIITH AND BEGINNING OF THE XVIIITH CENTURY, ON A
VARIETY OF SUBJECTS, LOCAL AND POLITICAL, PRINCIPALLY FROM
THE PEN OF MR. JAMES M'ALPIE, SHERIFF- SUBSTITUTE OF REN-
FREWSHIRE, ANNO MDCXCIV, WITH A FEW PIECES BY OTHER
INGENIOUS HANDS."
This little book, of which only thirty copies were printed, was
given to the world in 1828, by W. M. — initials that do not dis-
guise the editorial responsibility, while they are supposed by
many to cover, not editorial responsibility alone, but authorship
as well. That Motherwell was in the habit of introducing his
own productions to the world under the shield of some obscure
name is well known, aud is made manifest in another portion of
this work. His alleged discovery of the manuscripts of M Alpie
is described with minuteness of detail worthy of Poe, or of "the
marvellous boy who perished in his prime." But this very minute-
ness is of itself suspicious, and we have little hesitation in placing
on record our own conviction that for the poems Motherwell
is himself responsible. The volume is so scarce that we have
been led to embody the greater portion of the contents in these
pages.
Ebenezer Pichen
published a volume entitled Poems and Epistles, in 1788. He
was born in Paisley about the year 1769 or 1770, and attended
classes for several years in the University of Glasgow. His first
work was published during his student career, when he was above
eighteen years of age. He became a schoolmaster at Falkirk
about 1791, and on the I4th April in that year he delivered a
speech in blank verse on the comparative merits of Allan Ramsay
and Robert Ferguson, espousing the side of Ramsay. Ferguson's