Robert Aytoun of the first Scots to write in standard English. His major work was "Diophantus and Charidora". "Inconstancy Upbraided" is perhaps the best of his short poems. He is credited with a little poem, "Old Long Syne", which probably suggested Robert Burns's famous "Auld Lang Syne". He is also the author of a ballad called "Bothwell" about the battle fought by James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell with the border reiver, John Elliot of Park, also known as Little Jock Elliot or Little Jock of the Park. The ballad recounts how Bothwell, in attempting to arrest Little Jock Elliot, suffers life-threatening
Bonnie Charlie is generally sung (like "Auld Lang Syne") as a "first verse and chorus". Also like "Auld Lang Syne", the song has acquired a more general use: it was sung by Canadians, for instance, in honour of George VI in 1939; by Australians as a farewell to then-Princess Elizabeth in 1946; and by Elizabeth II's "Scottish subjects" in 1953. It was sung by an Australian choir to the departing athletes at the closing ceremonies of the Melbourne Summer Olympic Games in 1956, as seen in the 'Olympiad' documentary series by Bud Greenspan. American golfer, Bobby Jones, was serenaded out of St