How happy I, had she been mine,
Or I been Roy of Aldivalloch!
Roy's wife, &c.

Her hair sae fair, her e'en sae clear,
Her wee bit mou' sae sweet and bonnie!
To me she ever will be dear,
Though she's for ever left her Johnnie!
Roy's wife, &c.




ROBERT COUPER, M.D.


Dr Couper was born in the parish of Sorbie, in Wigtonshire, on the 22d
of September 1750. His father rented the farm of Balsier in that parish.
With a view towards the ministry in the Scottish Church, he proceeded to
the University of Glasgow in 1769; but being deprived of both his
parents by death before the completion of the ordinary period of
academical study, and his pecuniary means being limited, he quitted the
country for America, where he became tutor to a family in Virginia. He
now contemplated taking orders in the Episcopal Church, but on the
outbreak of the War of Independence in 1776 he returned to Britain
without fulfilling this intention. He resumed his studies at Glasgow
preparatory to his seeking a surgeon's diploma; and he afterwards
established himself as a medical practitioner in Newton-Stewart, a
considerable village in his native county. From this place he removed to
Fochabers, about the year 1788, on being recommended, by his friend Dr