Epitaph for William Nicol (1744 – 1797)

Ye maggots, feed on Nicol’s brain,

For few sic feasts you’ve gotten;

and fix your claws in Nical’s heart,

For deil a bit o’ t’s rotten.

 

Raymond Lamont- Brown: Scottish Epitaphs. Cahmbers, Edinburgh, 1990

William Nicol was a friend of Robert Burns. The poet named oone of his sons after the highly intelligent Edinburgh schoolmaster. The Latin scholar seems to have been as talented as he was vain, and Burns seems to have enjoyed his wit and wickedness of mind.