Robert Sempill

Robert Sempill (born c. 1595—died c. 1665) was a Scottish poet who first used the metre that became the standard form for the Scottish humorous elegy. The son of the poet Sir James Sempill of Beltrees, he was educated at the University of Glasgow. He wrote the elegy “The Life and Death of Habbie Simson, the Piper of Kilbarchan” (1640). This humorous poem in Scots was included by James Watson in his Choice Collection (1706),...