Mary Oxlie

Introduction

Mary Oxlie, a shadowy figure about whom little is recorded, is known from a single striking commendatory poem To William Drummond of Hawthornden (beginning From an untroubled mind should Verses flow) published in the 1656 edition of his Poems. Although it has been speculated that the presentation manuscript of the poem might well have been among Drummond's papers (most of which are now in the National Library of Scotland) no manuscript text has yet come to light.

Peter Beal