FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ The motto alludes to the Author returning to the stage repeatedly after having taken leave.]
2 (return)
[ This very curious poem, long a desideratum in Scottish literature, and given up as irrecoverably lost, was lately brought to light by the researches of Dr Irvine of the Advocates’ Library, and has been reprinted by Mr David Laing, Edinburgh.]
3 (return)
[ Vol. ii. p. 167.]
4 (return)
[ Like the Hermit, the Shepherd makes havock amongst the King’s game; but by means of a sling, not of a bow; like the Hermit, too, he has his peculiar phrases of compotation, the sign and countersign being Passelodion and Berafriend. One can scarce conceive what humour our ancestors found in this species of gibberish; but “I warrant it proved an excuse for the glass.”]
5 (re
