RIDDELLS OF GLEN-RIDDELL, SCOTLAND.
83
How can ye charm, ye flowers, with all your dyes?
Ye blaw upon the soil that wraps my friend;
How can I to the tuneful strain attend?
The stream flows round the untimely tomb where Riddell lies.
Yes, pour, ye warblers, pour the notes of woe!
And soothe the virtues weeping o'er the bier;
The man of worth who has not left his peer,
Is in his narrow house forever darkly low.
The spring again with joy shall others greet,
Me memory of my loss will only meet."
Capt. Walter Riddell (4), second son of Walters (3), of Glen-
Riddell and Newhouse, and his wife Annie Riddell, who was heiress of
her father, Robert Riddell, the second Laird of Glen-Riddell, became
possessed by purchase of "Woodley Park,"* near Dumfries. He married
Maria Woodley,† a lady of poetical gifts and accomplishments, who wrote
* The following extract was forwarded to me by the Rev. C. C. Culpeper, rector
of Christ's Church, Nichola Town, St. Christopher Island, and should settle the
question as to the maiden-name of the wife of Walter Riddell, of Woodley Park,
Dumfrieshire: "1790. Walter Riddell, of the Island of Antigua, Gentleman, and
Maria Woodley, of the Parish of Christ's Church, Nichola_Town, Spinster, were
married by licence, the 16th day of September, 1790, by me, Joseph Barnes." Wit-
nessed as a correct extract from the register of Christ's Church, Nichola Town,
by Horatio W. A. Douglas, schoolmaster. — Author.
+ Burns having been a frequent and welcome guest at the house of Mrs. Riddell,
of Woodley Park, is said, on one occasion, when under the influence of wine he had
taken at her table, and the alluring charms of his fair hostess' conversation and
manner, to have so far forgot himself as to attempt to kiss her, an indignity,
however, which she punished by the withdrawal of her friendship. During the con-
tinuance of this coldness, which lasted nearly two years, he weakly gave way to
his wrath and wounded pride in two or three lampoons and other satirical effu-
sions, which were not to his credit; but ultimately a kindlier feeling possessed
him, under the influence of which he composed a song and sent it to Mrs. Riddell
as a kind of peace-offering. To her honor, be it said, she replied to his song in a
similar strain of poetic license, which she did to soothe his ruffled feelings, and
help to heal the breach that kept them separated; and having the magnanimity to
forgive his insult, they ultimately became thoroughly reconciled. He, at another
time, took offence because she seemed to pay more attention to some officers in the
company than to the poet, who had a supreme contempt for "epauletted puppies"
as he delighted to call them; and while under the influence of this offence he sat-
irized Mrs. Riddell in the following "stinging epitaph":-
"Here lies now a prey to insulting neglect,
Where once was a Butterfly gay in life's bloom;
Want only of wisdom denied her respect,
Want only of goodness denied her esteem."
He also gave vent to his feelings in the following "Monody on Mrs. Riddell,
Famed for Her Caprice":
"How cold is that bosom which folly once fir'd!
How pale is that cheek where the rouge lately glistened!
How silent that voice which the echoes oft tired,
How dull is that ear that to flattery so listened!
If sorrow and anguish await,
From friendship and dearest affection removed,
How doubly severe, Maria, thy fate!
Thou diest unwept, and thou livedst unloved.
Loves, graces, and virtues, I call not on you,
So shy, grave, and distant, ye shed not a tear;
But come, all ye offspring of Folly so true,
And flowers let us cull for Maria's cold bier.
