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 their power repressed the feuds of the inferior clans, and presented a formidable front to the incursions of England; and they were recollected only as the preservers of social order, and the defenders of their country. The composition of this drama is one of the latest tributes of popular opinion to the name of Douglas; for the choice of the subject was suggested by the traditions of Clydesdale.

The poem "Clyde" seems to have been the favourite production of our author, and the composition, in the correction of which he bestowed the greatest labour. "Nethan," the original sketch which he expanded into "Clyde," consists of 626 verses. The versification is generally feeble, the rhymes often incorrect, and the disposition of the topics injudicious: It has all the stiffness, as well as the incorrectness of a first production.

"Clyde," the second form which it assumed, in the edition of 1764, extends to above 1000 lines, and in this edition to nearly double that number. Even in its present form, it never received the finishing hand of the author, whose engagement with the Magistrates of Greenock prevented him from completing it. The manuscript which has been chiefly used in