O fickle Fortune, why this cruel sporting? Why thus torment us poor sons of day? Nae mair your smiles can cheer me, nae mair your frowns can fear me, For the flowers of the forest are a’ wade away.
Alison Cockburn Quotes
I’ve seen the smiling of Fortune beguiling, I’ve felt all its favours and found its decay; Sweet was its blessing, kind its caressing, But now it is fled, fled far, far away.
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| Birth: | 8th October, 1712 |
| Death: | 22nd November, 1794 |
| Nationality: | Scottish |
| Profession: | Poet |
About
Alison Cockburn also Alison Rutherford, or Alicia Cockburn was a Scottish poet, wit and socialite who collected a circle of eminent friends in 18th century enlightenment Edinburgh including Walter Scott, Robert Burns and David Hume. Born at Fairnilee House, in the Scottish Borders, between Galashiels and Selkirk, she was the daughter of Robert Rutherfurd of Fairnalee. She married an impoverished advocate, Patrick Cockburn of Ormiston in 1731. In 1765 she published her lyrics to the traditional Border Ballad the Flowers of the Forest beginning "I've seen the smiling of Fortune beguiling". She was an indefatigable letter-writer and a composer of parodies, squibs, toasts and "character sketches", then a favourite form of composition. The "Flowers of the Forest" however is considered the only thing she wrote that possesses lasting literary merit.
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