From lessening an aged parent's woes.

"The filial piety of Tannahill is strikingly apparent from this effusion, but the inferiority of the lines to any of his Scottish songs shows how little at home he was in English. His mother outlived him thirteen years. Though Tannahill had occasionally composed verses from a very early age, it was not till after this time that he attained to anything beyond mediocrity. Becoming acquainted with Mr. R. A. Smith, a musical composer, the poet applied himself sedulously to lyrical composition, aided by the encouragement and the musical taste of his friend. Smith set some of his songs to original and appropriate airs, and in 1807 the poet ventured on the publication of a volume of poems and songs, of which the first impression, consisting of 900 copies, were sold in a few weeks. It is related that in a solitary walk on one occasion

and he used to say he was more pleased at this evidence of his popularity, than at any tribute which had ever been paid him. He afterwards contributed some songs to Mr. George Thomson's Select Melodies,' and exerted himself to procure Irish airs, of which he was very fond. Whilst delighting all classes of his countrymen with his native songs, the poet fell into a state of morbid despondency, aggravated by bodily weakness, and a tendency to consumption. He had prepared a new edition of his poems for the press, and sent the manuscript to Mr. Constable, the publisher; but it was returned by that gentleman, in consequence of his having more new works on hand than he could undertake that season. This disappointment preyed on the spirits of the sensitive poet, and his melancholy became deep and habitual. He burned all his manuscripts, and sank into a state of mental derangement. Returning from a visit to Glasgow on the 17th of May, 1810, the unhappy poet retired to rest; but 'suspicion having been excited, in about an hour afterwards it was discovered that he had stolen out unperceived. Search was made in every direction, and by the dawn of the morning the coat of the poet was discovered lying at the side of the tunnel of a neighbouring brook, pointing out but too surely where his body was to be found.' Tannahill was a modest and temperate man, devoted to his kindred and friends, and of unblemished purity and correctness of conduct. His lament- ̧ able death arose from no want or irregularity, but was solely caused by that morbid disease of the mind which at length overthrew his reason. The poems of this ill-starred son of genius are greatly inferior to his songs. They have all a commonplace artificial character. His lyrics, on the other hand, are rich and original both in description and sentiment. His diction is copious and luxuriant, par. ticularly in describing natural objects and the peculiar features of the Scottish ndscape. His simplicity is natural and unaffected; and though he appears to have possessed a deeper sympathy with nature than with the workings of human feeling, or even the passion of love, he is often tender and pathetic. His 'Gloomy Winter's now awa'' is a beautiful concentration of tenderness and melody."-Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit." vol. ii. pp. 490-91.

RICHARD GALL.

Richard Gall, born 1776, died 1800. He

was contemporary with Tannahill, and possessed a kindred taste of song writing.

JOHN MAYNE.

"John Mayne, author of the 'Siller Gun,' 'Glasgow,' and other poems, was a native of Dumfries; born in the year 1761, and died in London in 1836. He was brought up to the printing business, and whilst apprentice in the Dumfries Journal' office, in 1777, in his sixteenth year, he published the germ of his Siller Gun' in a quarto page of twelve stanzas. The subject of the poem is an ancient custom in Dumfries, called 'Shooting for the Siller Gun,' the gun being a small silver tube presented by James VI. to the incorporated trades as a prize to the best marksman. This poem Mr. Mayne continued to enlarge and improve up to the time of his death. The twelve stanzas expanded in two years to two cantos; in another year (1780) the poem was published-enlarged to three cantos-in Ruddiman's Magazine;' and in 1808 it was published in London in four cantos. This edition was seen by Sir Walter Scott, who said (in one of his notes to the 'Lady of the Lake') 'that it surpassed the efforts of Fergusson, and came near to those of Burns.' In 1836 the Siller Gun' was again reprinted with the addition of a fifth canto. Mr. Mayne was author of a short poem on 'Halloween,' printed in 'Ruddiman's Magazine' in 1780; and in 1781 he published at Glasgow his fine ballad of Logan Braes,' which Burns had seen, and two lines of which he copied into his Logan Water.' The Siller Gun' is humorous and descriptive, and is happy in both. The author is a shrewd and lively observer, full of glee, and also of gentle and affectionate recollections of his native town and all its people and pastimes. The ballad of Logan Braes' is a simple and beautiful lyric, superior to the more elaborate version of Burns. Though long resident in London (as proprietor of the Star' newspaper), Mr. Mayne retained his Scottish enthusiasm to the last; and to those who, like ourselves, recollect him in advanced life, stopping in the midst of his duties, as a public journalist, to trace some remembrance of his native Dumfries and the banks of the Nith, or to hum over some rural or pastoral song which he had heard forty or fifty years before, his name, as well as his poetry, recalls the strength and permanency of early feelings and associations." -Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit." vol. ii. pp. 492

93.

SIR ALEXANDER BOSWELL.

"Sir Alexander Boswell, born 1775, died 1822, the eldest son of Johnson's biographer,

was author of some amusing songs, which are still very popular. 'Auld Gudeman, ye're a Druchen Carle,' 'Jenny's Bawbee,' Jenny Dang the Weaver,' &c., display considerable comic humour, and coarse but characteristic painting. The higher qualities of simple rustic grace and elegance he seems never to have attempted. In 1803 Sir Alexander collected his fugitive pieces, and published them under the title of Songs chiefly in the Scottish Dialect.' In 1810 he published a Scottish Dialogue, in the style of Fergusson, called 'Edinburgh, or the Ancient Royalty; a Sketch of Manners, by Simon Gray.' This sketch is greatly overcharged. Sir Alexander was an ardent lover of our early literature, and reprinted several works at his private printingpress at Auchinleck. When politics ran high, he unfortunately wrote some personal satires, for one of which he received a challenge from Mr. Stuart, of Dunearn. The parties met at Auchtertool, in Fifeshire: conscious of his error, Sir Alexander resolved not to fire at his opponent; but Mr. Stuart's shot took effect, and the unfortunate baronet fell. He died from the wound on the following day, the 26th of March, 1822. He had been elevated to the baronetcy only the year previous."-Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit." vol. ii. p. 494.

ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.

"Allan Cunningham, born 1785, died 1842. This poet, novelist, and miscellaneous writer, was born of comparatively humble parentage in Dumfries-shire. He began life as a stonemason; but his early literary ability was such that, being introduced to Cromek, the editor of Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song,' and undertaking to procure contributions to that work, he sent to the Editor, as genuine remains, compositions of his own. Cromek had slighted some original pieces shown to him as the production of Cunningham, and in retaliation, the young poet presented him with fabricated antiques.' These form the bulk of Cromek's collection. The cheat was long unsuspected; but the suspicious sagacity of the Ettrick Shepherd and others, especially Professor Wilson (see Blackwood's Magazine,' Dec., 1819), ultimately demonstrated the imposition, much to the reputation of the real author.

"Mr. Cunningham repaired, in 1810, to London, and obtaining an appointment of trust in the sculptor Chantrey's studio, he settled himself here for life. In this congenial position of comfort and independence, he possessed opportunities for the employment of his active pen, and for intercourse with men of kindred genius. His warm heart, his honest, upright, and independent character, attracted the affectionate esteem and respect

of all who enjoyed his acquaintance. He died in London in 1842.

"His larger works are, the Maid of Elvar,' a species of epic in Spenserian stanzas, illus. trative of Dumfries-shire in days of yore; and Sir Marmaduke Maxwell,' a wild tumultuous collection of Border superstitions. His reputation rests chiefly on his smaller pieces, which are airy, natural, and intensely Scotch; vigorous and even splendid in their higher moods, affectingly pathetic in their softer strains. His novels, 'Paul Jones,' &c., are full of glittering description, and exaggerated and unnatural character." Scrymgeour's "Poetry and Poets of Britain," p. 436. See Allibone's "Crit. Dict. Eng. Lit.;" D. M. Moir's "Poetical Literature of the Past HalfCentury;" S. C. Hall's "Book of Gems."

JAMES HOGG.

James Hogg, born in Ettrick Vale, Selkirk. shire, 1770, died 1835, known better as the "Ettrick Shepherd." His school was the mountain's side, where he kept the cattle and sheep. His education was scanty; but a quick and retentive memory, great natural gifts, and a fine appreciation of the wondrous scenes around him, called up the slumbering muse, and in 1801 he published a small volume of songs. "The Mountain Bard" followed in 1807. Soon afterwards he left his occupation and resided at Edinburgh, supporting himself entirely by his pen. The "Queen's Wake" (1813) brought him into very favourable notice. It was followed by "Mador of the Moor," "Winter Evening Tales," &c. Hogg's chief delight was in legendary tales and folk lore. Fancy, rather than the description of life and manners, is the prevailing character of the poet's writings. A modern critic says-" He wanted art to construct a fable, and taste to give due effect to his imagery and conceptions. But there are few poets who impress us so much with the idea of direct inspiration, and that poetry is indeed an art unteachable and untaught.' -See Shaw's "Hist. Eng. Lit.; " Beeton's "Dict. Univ. Biog.;" Maunder; Chambers' Cyc. Eng. Lit."

WILLIAM TENNANT.

"William Tennant, born at Easter-Anstruther, Fife, 1785; died 1848; a Scotch poet, who studied for a short time at the University of St. Andrews. He was so unfortunate as to lose the use of his feet while still young. Unaided, he taught himself German, Portuguese, Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldaic, and other languages. After spending many years as a schoolmaster and classical teacher, he, in

1835, received the appointment of professor o Oriental languages in the University of St Andrews. He wrote three dramas, exhibiting considerable poetical power; the well-known poem of Anster Fair,' The Life of Allan Ramsay,' and other works."-Beeton's "Dict. Univ. Biog." See D. M. Moir's "Poetical Literature of the Past Half-Century."

WILLIAM MOTHERWELL.

"William Motherwell, born 1798, died 1835, poet and journalist; when a youth, obtained a situation in the sheriff clerk's office at Paisley. where he continued for many years. In 1827 he published an interesting and pleasing collection of ballads, entitled 'Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern; ' and was afterwards successively editor of the 'Paisley Magazine,' 'Paisley Advertiser,' and the Glasgow Courier.' In 1833 was published a collected edition of his own poems, some of which possess a pathos and an intensity of feeling seldom equalled. These qualities are strikingly exhibited in his 'Jeanie Morrison,' and 'My heid is like to rend, Willie,' an address by a dying girl to her lover; while his success in imitating the old mystic ballad is well exemplified in the Ettin Lang of Sillerwood,' 'Holbert the Grim,' and other pieces. Some years after his death, a monument to his memory was erected by subscription in the necropolis of his native city, Glasgow."-Beeton's "Dict. Univ. Biog." See Chambers's "Cyc. Eng. Lit."

ROBERT NICOLL.

"Robert Nicoll, born in Perthshire, 1814; died 1837; a Scotch poet, the son of parents in humble circumstances, and whose efforts at self-education were pursued under the most disadvantageous circumstances. At the age of twenty-one he produced a small volume of poems, which became exceedingly popular, and passed through several editions. He shortly afterwards obtained the post of editor of the 'Leeds Times,' which, under his control, was more than tripled in its circulation. His prose writings consisted, for the most part, of political articles contributed to the before-mentioned print, and were marked by strongly liberal sentiments and a clear, energetic style. His health, which had always been frail, and was probably shattered by his youthful studies, gave way after he had been engaged upon his editorial duties about a year; and he removed to Edinburgh, where he died almost as soon as he had reached manhood." -Beeton's "Dict. Univ. Biog."

ROBERT GILFILLAN.

Robert Gilfillan, a native of Dunfermline, has written songs marked by much gentle and kindly feeling, and a smooth flow of versification, which makes them eminently suitable for being set to music.-See Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit.," vol. ii.

WILLIAM LAIDLAW.

"William Laidlaw is son of the Ettrick Shepherd's master at Blackhouse. All who have read Lockhart's Life of Scott,' know how closely Mr. Laidlaw was connected with the illustrious baronet of Abbotsford. He was his companion in some of his early wanderings, his friend and land-steward in advanced years, his amanuensis in the composition of some of his novels, and he was one of the few who watched over his last sad and painful moments. 'Lucy's Flittin'' is deservedly popular for its unaffected tenderness and simplicity. In printing the song, Hogg added the last four lines to 'complete the story."-Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit.," vol. ii. p. 507.

JAMES HISLOP.

"James Hislop was born of humble parents in the parish of Kirkconnel, in the neighbourhood of Sanquhar, near the source of the Nith, in July, 1798. He was employed as a shepherd-boy in the vicinity of Airsmoss, where, at the gravestone of a party of slain Covenanters, he composed the striking poem, 'The Cameronian's Dream.' He afterwards became a teacher, and his poetical effusions having attracted the favourable notice of Lord Jeffrey, and other eminent literary characters, he was, through their influence, appointed schoolmaster, first on board the Doris, and subsequently the Tweed man-of-war. He died on the 4th December, 1827, from fever caught by sleeping one night in the open air upon the island of St. Jago. His compositions display an elegant rather than a vigorous imagination, much chasteness of thought, and a pure but ardent love of nature."-Chambers' "Cyc. Eng. Lit.," vol. ii. p. 508.

WILLIAM AYTOUN.

"William Aytoun, author of 'Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers,' was a member of the Edinburgh bar, but never, we believe, devoted himself to any extent to the severer duties of his profession. He was long, however, one of the standing wits of the Parliament House, as the law courts of Edinburgh are locally

denominated. He succeeded Mr. Moir as Professor of Literature and Belles Lettres in the university of Edinburgh, where his lectures-full of pith, energy, and distinguished by fine literary taste-were in great vogue. Professor Aytoun was for some years one of the chief contributors to Blackwood's Magazine,' and few numbers appeared from which his hand was absent. At the time of the railway mania he flung off a series of papers, -the first entitled, 'How we got up the Glen Mutchkin Railway,' descriptive of the doings in the Capel Court of Edinburgh and Glasgow; papers which for broad, vigorous humour, and felicitous setting forth of genuine Scotch character, are almost unrivalled. Under the nom de guerre of Augustus Dunshunner-then first adopted the professor frequently contributed pieces of off-hand criticism on books and men to 'Blackwood,' taking especial delight in showing up what he conceives to be the weak points of the Manchester school; and, humorous though the general tone of the papers be, hesitating not to dash headlong at piles of statistics intended to prop up the fallen cause of protection. Aytoun's politics, as may be inferred from his sole work published in an independent form, the 'Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers,' were high Tory, or, rather, they amount to a sort of poetic and theoretical Jacobitism, which finds vent in enthusiastic laudation of the Marquis of Montrose and the Viscount Dundee, as models of Scottish heroes. The ballads in question are strongly tinged by deep national feeling, and remind the reader of Macaulay's 'Lays of Ancient Rome:' and, from the more picturesque nature of the subject, are, perhaps, even still more highly coloured. Edinburgh after Flodden,' the Death of Montrose,' and the Battle of Killiecrankie,' are strains which Scotchmen will not willingly let die. Professor Aytoun married one of the daughters of Professor Wilson, otherwise Christopher North.""Men of the Time." See Allibone's "Crit. Dict. Eng. Lit."

elegance of thought, a profusion of glowing imagery, and a vigorous manly spirit that do him honour both as a man and a Christian minister."-" Excelsior," p. 50.

SYDNEY YENDYS.

"Rome has been the subject of many a song of triumph and many a note of woe-in her youth, when she sat upon the seven hills like a new-fledged eagle, sunning herself in the eye of heaven; in her full maturity, when she waved her wings above the universe, and went forth conquering and to conquer ; in the autumn of her splendour, when the clouds began to close-when the long-baffled waves, with steady march, rolled on to cover her; and when, her energies exhausted, her power paralyzed, she tottered on her base, and fell from the foremost place in the firmament, like Lucifer the morning star.

sings

'Hail to the Grand Asylum,

Hail to the hill-tops seven!

Hail to the fire that burns for aye,

Macaulay

And the shield that fell from Heaven!' He tells us of the dauntless courage and the high resolve, the love of country and the love of home, the affection that burnt like a Vestalflame in a Roman's heart and the blood that ran like fire along a Roman's veins; how the mystic horseman fought in the battle by the Lake Regillus, and how good Horatius kept the bridge in the brave days of old. We hear from Bulwer how Rienzi ruled and how he fought and how he fell, and how all Rome itself was the funeral pile of the last of the Roman Tribunes. Byron, in verses as magnificent and melancholy as the ruins he celebrates, gives us the last act of the mighty drama, the diadem dashed down, the sceptre snapped, the 'royalty in ruins:' while Shelley, with a spirit as ethereal as the moonlight, wanders among the shattered battlements and fallen fanes, and touches with his sad and solemn beauty, like flowers upon a warrior's grave, the hoary vestiges of the Imperial City. And now we have another poet discoursing upon the same theme, but striking a different string. Up for the Cross and Freedom!' The eye is not for ever closed in death, the soul is not for ever departed: it is there yet-it livesit breathes. The sun ye thought had looked his last upon you from the weeping west shall gather up his glories once again, and flash with all the splendour of his prime. Ye thought that Liberty was lost, the toy of fools, the sport of fiends, the fancy-haunting dream of shackled men: but lo! a beaconfire in the distance; it spreads from mount to mount, from height to height, and the red flame flings a lustre on the midnight heavens, and lights up on the earth faces sad, but stern

and resolute; and in the shadow of the buildings that encircled their illustrious forefathers, upon the soil where the Cæsars trod, and beneath the firmament that canopied the Cæsars' kingdom, they swear that Rome shall yet be free.

"Vittorio Santo goes forth as a Missionary of Freedom; devotes himself to the task of rousing up his countrymen, and inciting them to shake off the Austrian yoke. And, depend upon it, before a man surrenders himself thus unreservedly to a noble cause, he must count the cost. No holiday game will life be to him, no gentle transit down the stream of Timeno pleasant dwelling with the eyes and smiles of happy children round himno joyful greeting of kinsfolk- -no tranquil resting at the close of life among his old familiar scenes-no peaceful gathering of his ashes to his fathers when his day is done. He must up and arm himself for a conflict such as few can stand. He must bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things.' His must be the forty years' sojourn in the wilderness, to catch at last, perchance, but a glimpse of the promised land afar off. He must be content to sit in the gate and be the heathen's jest, silent and self-possessed.' He must count upon the curses of the world, the flippancy, the carelessness, the cold contempt of those he would arouse; the deadly sickness of a bleeding heart, a baffled hope, an enter. prise abortive. He must be 'all things to all men he must till the barren soil, that yields as harvest naught but thorns and briars; he must see the flame of enthusiasm leap up and then die out in darkness, like a midnight rocket from a sinking ship; he must expect to find his passionate appeals fall dead-profitless as dew upon the desert; he must lead on the forlorn hope and perish in the breach; he must be the scapegoat doomed to bear the labour and the toil, the fastings, the footwanderings,' the fearful weight of thought and care and anxious expectation.

"The world considers such a character a fool. Who, say they, but a madman would sacrifice ease, comfort, respectability, for the sake of following the phantom of a distempered brain; a visionary good which never can be grasped. The world has set up images of clay and fallen down and worshipped them, and the smoke of ten thousand sacrifices has gone up like a frowning cloud, and hangs between earth and heaven, shutting out the blessed light. And when one rises who will only bow before the sacred presence of the Truth; one with deep vision to detect the counterfeit, and a loud prophet-voice to give his spirit utterance,-when he smites down the idol, and standing on its reeking ruins, bids its blinded votaries shake their fetters off-he has to undergo Vittorio Santo's perils and to share Vittorio Santo's doom.

"But to the Poem, which is a record of the Missionary of Freedom as he pursues his