Mure, Sir William

(1594-1657)

   This Scottish poet was the third successive owner of Rowallan, Ayrshire, with the same name and title. His mother was Elizabeth Montgomerie, sister of Alexander Montgomerie (see entry). Probably educated at Glasgow University, he became a member of the Scottish parliament in 1643 and fought with the Royalists against the Parliamentarians. He was wounded at the Battle of Marston Moore just outside York in July 1644, but by August he was at Newcastle. The title became extinct in 1700. His piety found expression in his poetry and in particular, his paraphrase of many of the Psalms. A complete edition of his works was edited by William Tough for the Scottish Text Society in 1898 and is held in the special editions section at Edinburgh University. He was also an accomplished lute player. Some of his poems: "A Spiritual Hymn," "Dido and Aeneas," "Doomsday Containing Hells Horror and Heavens Happiness," "Sonnet. To the Blessed Trinity," "The Cry of Blood, and of a Broken Covenant," "The Power of Beauty," "The True Crucifix for True Catholics," "To the Royal Majesty of King Charles the II."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Encyclopedia of Britain. Bamber Gascoigne. London: Macmillan, 1994. Sir William Mure's lute nook is held in the special collections section of Edinburgh University. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Companion to Scottish History. Michael Lynch, ed. Oxford University Press, 2001. The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse 1509-1659. David Norbrook, ed. Penguin Books, 1992. Tours of Scotland, My Native Homeland, Biography of Sir William Mure (http://www.fife.50megs.com/sir-williammure.htm).