Excerpt from Fortha's Lyrics and Other Poems: With a Descriptive Account of South Queensferry and Its Surroundings HE deference due to the public in presuming to come before them as an author, seems to me to require an apology, viz., that although the Descriptive Matter and Poems have not the polish of the man of letters, or the refinement of a highly-cultivated mind, yet they may pos sess a something in their sentiment, or teach a moral in their aim, that may be both instructive and amusing, -may be an incentive to the young to cultivate a habit of study in their youth, which may in individual cases lead to great results in after years. Let me press this upon the attention of my youthful readers. There is nothing I regret so much as having to a great extent neglected my studies in my youthful years. I may have done wrong in so presuming to come before the public; but whether or not remains to be seen. I have been advised to do so by a large circle of friends and acquaintances who, because they admired my pieces them selves, thought, I daresay, that every one else would do the same; but, as the Scotch proverb has it, The proof 0' the pudding is the precin' o't. I now lay before the reader my musings on the work-stool, in the solitude of the lonely woods, in the silent glen, or in my old arm-chair when the wife and weans were snugly locked in the arms of Morpheus, - very many of them written on the spur of the moment, and hurried off to the news papers before they were properly revised. Therefore I solicit the reader to give my volume a fair and candid perusal. Be not too hard in your criticisms; consider the position of the writer, viz., an all-but illiterate working shoemaker; yet that any good it contains may be carefully selected, stored up, and made profitable, is the sincere wish of the author, and therein lies his chief and great reward. The reader must understand that nearly all the pieces of poetry in this volume were published in the local journals, and very many of them written in connection with South Queensferry and its neighbourhood. The introductory matter, descriptive of Queensferry and its glorious surroundings, I hope may amuse as well as instruct. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 edition. Excerpt: ... But, Dickie lad, what needs I speak, that blithe an' happy blink Declares as plain as words can tell my laddie winna think. Ah, mother, ye misjudge yer boy, ye say my happy smile Betokens that I never think o' a' yer care an' toil; Fain would I ease yer mind o' care, see the evening o' yer life Spent 'mid the calm o' sweet repose, free frae worldly strife, Back tae the scenes o' former years, when ye led my little feet In summer hours through balmy bowers tae mony a quiet retreat Roon' Gallendean, through mossy green, o'er hill an' flowery dell, O'er ripplin' burn, 'mong beds o' fern, an' by the Warren Well; To Barnbougle Castle grey, wi' its ruined baronial ha', Where human voice is seldom heard, or human fit tae fa'. Noo, can ye say I never think? wha cood visit scenes sae vast An' never try tae lift the veil an' peep intae the past? Think! yes I think, an' memory is busy while I write, Giein' time an' place an' form tae scenes o' childhood bright. When my first pair o' breeks I got, nae king was half sae prood, As I gazed upon my stately form, full twa fit sax I stood; An' weel I mind the tailor's nip I got frae ilka boy, As in a crood they gethered roon tae see my corduroy; Close by the schule the auld hoose, wi' a' its buts an' bens, The garden trees, the honey bees, the rabbits, an' the hens; The auld yew tree wi' poisonous fruit, aye warned weel tae dree; My chief companions, Charlie C. an' rattlin' Jamie G.; On the Forth the stately ships that sailed baith up an' doon, Looked glorious frae the bonnie braes behind Queensferry toon. Ten summer suns had scarce yet shone upon my youthfu' heid, When I was torn frae scenes like these tae help tae work for breid, Tae mix in city's din an' strife, among a heartless throng, Nae mair tae...

William Sharp (1855-1905) conducted one of the most audacious literary deceptions of his or any time. Sharp was a Scottish poet, novelist, biographer and editor who in 1893 began to write critically and commercially successful books under the name Fiona Macleod. This was far more than just a pseudonym: he corresponded as Macleod, enlisting his sister to provide the handwriting and address, and for more than a decade "Fiona Macleod" duped not only the general public but such literary luminaries as William Butler Yeats and, in America, E. C. Stedman. Sharp wrote "I feel another self within me now more than ever; it is as if I were possessed by a spirit who must speak out". This three-volume collection brings together Sharp’s own correspondence – a fascinating trove in its own right, by a Victorian man of letters who was on intimate terms with writers including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Walter Pater, and George Meredith – and the Fiona Macleod letters, which bring to life Sharp’s intriguing "second self". With an introduction and detailed notes by William F. Halloran, this richly rewarding collection offers a wonderful insight into the literary landscape of the time, while also investigating a strange and underappreciated phenomenon of late-nineteenth-century English literature. It is essential for scholars of the period, and it is an illuminating read for anyone interested in authorship and identity.

This book connects a detailed analysis of Irn-Bru’s brand identity over time to theories of national identity, consumer studies, and banal nationalism. It situates the commercial history of Barr’s Irn-Bru in a transnational context and shows how Irn-Bru has become a symbol of Scotland through processes of rewriting, reframing and institutionalized forgetting, linking the consumption of what began as a trans-national generic product to a specific national community. As such, Leishman presents a longitudinal, cross-disciplinary approach to analysing branding and advertising as multi-modal forms of discourse, in order to underline the role of commercial, non-state actors and popular consumerism in the phenomenon of banal nationalism. It will be of interest to students and scholars researching nationalism, consumption, and Scottish studies.