'I was astonished at the luxuriousness of his [Allan Cunningham's] fancy. it was boundless; but it was the luxury of a rich garden overrun with rampant weeds. he was likewise then a great mannerist in expression, and no man could mistake his verses for those of any other man. I remember seeing some imitations of Ossian by him, which I thought exceedingly good; and it struck me that that style of composition was peculiarly fitted for his vast and fervent imagination. When Cromek's "Nithsdale and Galloway Relics" came to my hand, I at once discerned the strains of my friend, and I cannot describe with what sensations of delight I first heard Mr Morrison read the "Mermaid of Galloway", while at every verse I kept naming the author'.