Note 111 — Chapter VIII · OF PREPOSITIONS.
Reading edition
“For blithesome Sir John Barleycorn Had sae allur’d them i’ the morn, That, what wi’ drams, and mony a horn, And reaming bicker, The ferly is, withouten scorn, They wauk’d sae sicker.” Mayne’s Siller Gun.
This animated little poem will be read with no common pleasure by every admirer of the Scottish muse. In felicity of description the author is not inferior to Burns, while in delicacy of humour he may claim the superiority.
This preposition is supposed by Mr. Gilchrist to be derived from forth, or rather to be a different form of that word. See his “Philosophic Etymology,” a work exhibiting considerable ingenuity and philological knowledge, combined with many fanciful and unphilosophical opinions.