Pindar: The Complete Works of Peter Leslie, the Lochgelly Poet

Pindar - The Complete Works of Peter Leslie is organised in three sections: Autobiography of a Private Soldier (published in 1877 by the Fife News in Cupar, Fife), giving an account of his life from birth (1836) until he came back from the army (1877); Random Rhymes (published in 1893 by Fife News), which is an anthology of his poems edited by The Rev. A.M. Houston, B.D., minister of Auchterderran; and, lastly, a collection of Pindar's poems and songs gathered from The Cowdenbeath & Lochgelly Times & Advertiser (1895 to 1897) by James Campbell. As most of the pieces that appeared in local newspapers have not previously been included in any book, this is the first time that the complete works of Peter Leslie have been published.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTSPreface by James Campbell 1Introduction by Alex Westwater 3Part IAutobiography of a Private SoldierCHAPTER I: Birth - School Days - In theMine - Enlistment 15CHAPTER II: Embarks for India - Paddy M'Cann -Discourses on Songs and Sings anIrish one - A Scotch Song -Lands at Calcutta 20CHAPTER III: Joins another Regiment in India -March of 1100 Miles - The MajesticWonders of Nature - Soldiering inIndia and Opportunities forIntellectual Culture 29CHAPTER IV: Baptism of Fire - Attack and Defeatof Savages on the North WesternFrontier - Tardy Recognition byGovernment 35CHAPTER V: March Across Country to Calcutta -Voyage Home, and Arrival inEdinburgh 39CHAPTER VI: Experiences in Edinburgh -The Guard-Room - Walking Sentryat the Castle and at Holyrood Palace 45CHAPTER VII: Cork - The Irish Girls - Woundedin the Heart - Visit to a RomanCatholic Chapel 53CHAPTER VIII: A Gallant Captain - The FenianOutbreak - The Irish Lasses 59CHAPTER IX: Mitchelstown - Helen 65CHAPTER X: In Love - Soldiers' Wives - Takinga Prisoner to Cork - A MostUnfortunate "Spree," with itsHumiliating Consequences 71CHAPTER XI: Cork - Last Visit 79CHAPTER XII: Dublin 82CHAPTER XIII Embarking and Sailing for Gibraltar- Description of the Rock andMilitary Arrangements 89CHAPTER XIV: New Year's Night 97CHAPTER XV: New Year's Night Continued - MilitaryDuty in Gibraltar - How the Rockcame into British Possession 105CHAPTER XVI: Sieges of Gibraltar 113CHAPTER XVII: The Fortress of Gibraltar - Farewellto the Rock 121CHAPTER XVIII: Arrival in Malta - Its "Lions 127CHAPTER XIX: The Valletta Opera House - The SpaciousHarbours of Malta - Two ImposingCatholic Processions 132CHAPTER XX: Mankey Bouffe's Love Difficulty 137CHAPTER XXI: The Primitive State of Agriculture inMalta - A Royal Birth - The Catacombsof Citta Vecchia - St Paul's Bay,the Place where the Apostle Landed 143CHAPTER XXII: The Soldier's Pay 149Part IIRandom RhymesPreface by Rev. A.M. Houston, B.D., Editor, 1893 1581.My Auld Cronies 1592.Jeanie Roy 1603.The Collier Lad 1614.Our Brothers 1625.My Auld Sweethearts 1636.Bella o' the Manse 1657.Clunes Green Braes 1668.The Kirk o' Auchterderran 1689.A Ramble Round Lochleven 16910.Smiling June 17211.My First Regiment 17312.The Young Sodgers Sang 17513.Burns' Anniversary, 1891 17614.Mary, The Sweet Pride o' Lochgelly 17715.To Henry Hunter, Lochgelly 17816.In Memory of Hannah Thomson 17917.The Widow's Lament For Her Son 18018.Maggie o' Lochgelly 18119.Scott's Centenary at Lochgelly 1871 18220.The Wanderer's return 18321.Epistle to William Bethune 18522.The Last of His regiment 18723.Recollections of Childhood 18824.Lochgelly Brass Band 18925.Epistle to Henry Cook 19126.To a Mosquito 19827.Little Bobby (The Poet Dog) 19928.The Dying Soldier's Farewell to His Mother 20029.Drookit Stour 20130.Smiling July 20331.Epistle to J. Baxter, Lochgelly 20432.Isabel 20533.The Drucken Miner 20734.Lines on the Reception of my Mothers' Portrait 21035.The Auld Kirk 21136.I Fondly Cherish 21337.Sir Peel Teel 21438.To a Wee Bird 21639.Auld Betty Hunter 21740.A New Year's Epistle to Sergeant-Major Campbell 21841.A Lost Life 22042.Acrostic - Robert Burns 22443.Five Robins 22544.The Bailie's Fareweel to the Schoolboard 22745.Acrostic - Dr Nelson 22846.Our Toon 22847.Acrostic - In Memoriam - Robert Bain 23048.Acrostic - 'The Fife News' 23149.New Year's Epistle to Sergeant DonaldFerguson, Kinross 23150.The Night I Left Cartmore 23551.Epitaphs 23652.Epigrams 23653.My Native Land 23854.Our Jamie Come Hame 24055.Jeanie Munro 24156.Bob Mill, The Carrier Lad 24357.My Mither's Auld Hearthstane 24458.The Lass o' Pitkinnie 24559.My Little Toony 24560.The Rose o' Dunnikier 24661.Johnnie Yach, The Young Recruit 24762.My Pithead Lassie 24963.Auld Launcherhead 25064.Burns' Birthday, 1879 25165.The Seventy-an'-One 25366.A Canty Glass 25467.The Melodies o' Hame 25568.Nora Killeen 25769.Teenie Bain 25870.The Banks o' Clune 25971.Mary, The Flower o' Fermoy 26072.The Lass o' Cuparha 26173.Maggie Kippen 26274.The Flower o' Balgedie 26375.Farewell to Lochgelly 26476.My Ain Dear Wife 26577.Teenie Waukinshaw 26678.A Kiss 26779.My Auld Companions 26880.Private Thomson's Christmas Resolution 26981.In Memoriam - Henry Hunter 27082.To a Bereaved Mother 27183.My Auld Knapsack 27284.Lochgelly No More, 1958 27485.Lochgelly Again, 1879 275Part IIIUnpublished Poems byJohn PindarPreface by Collector James Campbell 2781.Pindar's New Year Address to the BrawLasses and Lads o Bonny Lochegelly 2792.My Auld Pick Shaft 2813.To Jenny on Her Marriage Day 2824.Three Acrostics - Ferguson, Hemens and Clare 2835.The Bonny Lass o' Grainger Street 2846.Oor Poet's Natal Day 2857.Epistle to a Dear Friend 2868.Summer Comes Again 2899.Lines Kindly Addresses to Mrs Elspeth Erskine,On Her Eighty-Second Birthday, 27th May, 1895 29010.The Hame Owre the Sea 29211.The Doonfa' o' Cooperha 29412.The Renovation of the Old Road 29613.The Pithead Lassies 29914.The Bonnie Lass o' Colquhally 30015.The Drunken Wife 30116.The Hills o' the Clune 30317.Craving a Son for His Mother's Debt 30418.Auchterderran 30419.The Lassie o' the Moor 30520.Susan o' Dunnikier 30621.Cora 30722.Happy Noo, Jeanie 30823.A Mither's Advice 30924.Lines Kindly Addressed to Mr Alexander Hugh 31025.The Old Cot in Plantation Street 31226.Lines to Mr Charles Wilkie 31327.The Lass o' Cowdenbeath 31428.In Memoriam - Cecilia Burgess 31529.Our Wee Pet Lamb 31630.The Pleasures o' Childhood 31731.A Memory 31832.Going for a Soldier 31933.Epistle to Treasurer A. Hugh 32234.The Age of My Brave Regiment 32435.My Wee Stumpie Wean 32636.The Young Soldier's Return 32737.The Lasses o' Lochgelly 32838.The Lass o' Contel Raw 32939.Epistle to Colour - Sergeant W. Anderson 33040.Isabel 33241.Scotch Poets 33342.Evening 33443.The Sodger Laddie 33444.The Flower o' Craigederran 33545.Socialism 33646.Song Dedicated to my Bonnie Lassie Kate 33747.The Lomond Hills 33848.My False Love 33949.Song Dedicated to my Anna Williamson 34050.Lines to my Critic 24151.Christian Martyrs 34252.You'll Remember Me 34253.My Gallant Regiment 34354.Lines to Agnes Hunter 34455.Vale o' My Childhood 34456.My Ain Loving Lassie 34557.Teenie 34658.Be Kind to the Birdies 34759.Our Councillors Nine 34860.Lines Dedicated to John Simpson 35061.The Days That's Awa 35062.To Mary 35163.The Lady Killer 35264.Charge of the Dry Brigade 35465.The Guileless Lassie 35566.Epigram 35667.My Bonnie Irish Kate 35768.The Four Tub Brae 35869.Acrostic Arranged in Alphabetical Order 25970.To the School Board Electors 36071.Nelly o' Cowdenbeath 36272.Auld Cuddy Neil 36473.The Heroines of Burns' Sangs 36574.The Queen's Diamonds Jubilee 36675.Jemima 36876.Epigrams 36977.A Loyal Acrostic 37078.My Alphabet o' Bonny Lasses 37179.Lochgelly Jubilee Bonfire 37280.Dandy Jo 37581.Maggie o' Inchga' Mill 37682.Katie o' Torbane 37783.The Drunkard's Wail 37884.Time Flies 379APPENDIX

About the Author :
Pindar was born in auld Launcherhead; an old Raw that was demolished many years ago. They were then the eldest houses in Lochegelly. His mother was a farm servant at Dothan Farm, and she later married David Baxter, one of the oldest families in Lochgelly, who was grandfather of the well-known Lochgelly Baxter family who have been closely identified with instrumental music in the town. The late David Baxter, whom I can recall from boyhood playing his beloved coronet round about Cartmore Braes, was a half-brother. Two other brothers were also soldiers. His real name, or at least the name under which he joined the army was Peter Leslie. The pen name of Pindar was doubtless suggested by his reading acquaintance with John Walcott, who wrote satires and lampoons round the end of the eighteenth century under the pseudonym of Pindar, or it may have suggested itself from the French poet Pindar. In Lochgelly he was never known by any other name than Pindar. He never married though he had many a romance. He early showed a taste for rhyme and literature though he had not much of an early education. In his book "The Autobiography of a Private Soldier" he state that he was born in the beautiful village of Glendale, which of course is Lochgelly. he was well known as John Pindar ,(Peter Leslie) "The Lochgelly Poet"