Inglis Collection of printed music > Printed music > Songs of Scotland prior to Burns

418 SONGS OF SCOTLAND.
In all that I write I '11 thy judgment require ;
Thy wit shall correct what thy charms did inspire.
I '11 kiss thee and press thee till youth is all o'er,
And then live in friendship, when passion 's no more.
What appears as the first draught of this amatory lyric was
printed in the Scots Magazine for November 1747, and subse-
quently in the Charmer, 175 1, with the signature 'A. W r.'
The person here hinted at was a notable evangelical divine and
leader in the church-courts through all the middle years of the
last century, the Rev. Alexander Webster. Previous to his death
in 1784, he had been for the greater part of his life minister of
the Tolbooth Church, Edinburgh, where he gathered about
him a congregation of special zeal and faithfulness in Calvinistic
convictions, who came to be commonly recognised as the
Tolbooth Whigs. The great fact of his life was his organ-
isation of the scheme of a Fund for the Widows of Ministers
of the Scotch Kirk — a most beneficial institution. One of
inferior moment, but still remarkable, was his leading the per-
secution against those of his brethren who had been concerned
in bringing forward the tragedy of Douglas. Powerful evan-
gelical preaching, imm ense capacity for claret, strong head
for calculations, opposition to theatricals, good-fellowship over
corporation and presbyterial dinners, were the somewhat incon-
gruous characteristics of Alexander Webster. It is but another
oddity in so strange a composition, that he should have written
so erotic an effusion as his Lines. The legend on that subject
is that, acting as black-foot for a friend who was in love with a
lady of rank, he unexpectedly made a favourable impression on
the fair one himself, and was consequently inspired with this
song breathing gratitude as well as love. The lady, who became
Dr Webster's wife, was Mary Erskine, daughter of Colonel
John Erskine (brother of Alva) by Eupheme, sister of Thomas,
eighth Earl of Dundonald. She was born in 1715, and died
in 1766.