A double noose thou on thy neck dost pull, For writing treason, and for writing dull... I will not rake the dunghill of thy crimes, For who would read thy life who reads thy rhymes?

About twenty years ago, under the apprehension of cholera, committees of the most influential inhabitants of the county of Moray were formed to enforce a more complete cleansing of its towns and villages, and to induce the cottagers to remove their dunghills or dung-pits from too close a proximity to their doors or windows.