after their marriage, was the most severe trial which he seems to have
experienced. In a Latin elegy, he gave expression to the deep sense
which he entertained of his bereavement. In 1807, his son, Bishop
Skinner, having sustained a similar bereavement, invited his aged father
to share the comforts of his house; and after ministering at Longside
for the remarkably lengthened incumbency of sixty-five years, Mr Skinner
removed to Aberdeen. But a greater change was at hand; on the 16th of
June 1807, in less than a week after his arrival, he was suddenly seized
with illness, and almost immediately expired. His remains were interred
in the churchyard of Longside; and the flock to which he had so long
ministered placed over the grave a handsome monument, bearing, on a
marble tablet, an elegant tribute to the remembrance of his virtues and
learning. At the residence of Bishop Skinner, he had seen his
descendants in the fourth generation.

Of Mr Skinner's songs, printed in this collection, the most popular are
"Tullochgorum," "John o' Badenyon," and "The Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn."
The whole are pervaded by sprightliness and good-humoured pleasantry.
Though possessing the fault of being somewhat too lengthy, no
song-compositions of any modern writer in Scottish verse have, with the
exception of those of Burns, maintained a stronger hold of the Scottish
heart, or been more commonly sung in the social circle.




TULLOCHGORUM.


I.