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
America the Beautiful the namesake of the Shining Sea Bikeway, a bike path in Bates's hometown of Falmouth, Massachusetts. The phrase is similar to the Latin phrase """" ("From sea to sea"), which serves as the official motto of Canada. "Purple mountain majesties" refers to the shade of the Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which inspired Bates to write the poem. Lynn Sherr's 2001 book "America the Beautiful" discusses the origins of the song and the backgrounds of its authors in depth. The book points out that the poem has the same meter as that of "Auld Lang Syne"; the songs can