Elizabeth Riddell, born in 1792. Died at the age of two years.
James Glencairne, born in 1794, died in 1865.
Maxwell, born in 1796, died at the age of two.
It will be seen that the poet was the father of quite a number of children, some of whom lived to a ripe old age. Whether he was the father of any more children I am sure I don't know. If he was, almost any Scot will know it and can tell you more about it than I can. Bobbie was a very handsome man and was greatly admired by almost everyone, including the ladies. Some of his poems would lead one to believe that, like Byron,
He was unskilled to cozen,
And shared his love among a dozen.
but that may be mere poetic license. Poets, you know, have an eye for the beautiful, whether it be in landscape scenery, flowers, architecture, painting, statuary, the human form or what not. At any rate "Puir Rabbie" was the daddy of the children whose names I have given, for that is a matter of history. To show that the poet loved a joke himself, no matter on what subject, I here quote a little rhyme of his gotten off on a friend named James Smith who lived at Mauchline:
Lament him, Mauchline husbands a'
He aften did assist ye;