Elegy on Peg Nicholson



Peg Nicholson was a good bay mare, 
As ever trod on airn; 
But now she's floating down the Nith, 
And past the Mouth o' Cairn. 

Peg Nicholson was a good bay mare, 
And rode thro' thick and thin; 
But now she's floating down the Nith, 
And wanting even the skin. 

Peg Nicholson was a good bay mare, 
And ance she bore a priest; 
But now she's floating down the Nith, 
For Solway fish a feast. 

Peg Nicholson was a good bay mare, 
An' the priest he rode her sair ; 
And much oppress'd and bruis'd she was, 
As priest-rid cattle are.

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About this work

This is an elegy by Robert Burns. It was written in 1790 and is read here by Gary Lewis.

More about this elegy

Peg Nicholson was the horse of William Nicol, and following her death in 1790, Burns sent this elegy to him along with a covering note.

"That d-mned mare of yours is dead. I would freely have given her price to have saved her: she has vexed me beyond description... I refused fifty-five shillings for her... I fed her up and had her in first order for Dumfries fair; when four or five days before she was seized with an unaccountable disorder of the sinews."

It is possible that Peg was named after Margaret Nicholson, a woman who had tried to stab George III in 1786.

Ralph McLean

Themes for this elegy

farming nature death

Selected for 21 November

On this day 1218 a Papal Bull of Honorious III affirmed the independence of the Catholic Church in Scotland. For the Bishop of Dunkeld, Dr John Geddes, Robert Burns had enormous regard. And by persuading the Scots Colleges, or seminaries, on the continent to subscribe to the Edinburgh Edition, Dr Geddes did more than anyone to promulgate the works of Burns in Europe. In today's selection the blind, literally priest-ridden horse provides a metaphor for unquestioning faith and uncomplaining compliance.

Donny O'Rourke

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