from facts which every one knew, required a higher philosophical genius than that of Stuart, and since the more accurate researches of Hallam and Meyer, the book has fallen into disuse. In 1779, he published "Observations concerning the Public Law, and the Constitutional History of Scotland, with occasional remarks concerning English Antiquity." To a diligent man, who would have taken the trouble of investigating facts, there would here have been a very tolerable opportunity of attacking Robertson, at least on the score of omissions, for his constitutional views are very imperfect; Stuart, however, had no more facts than those which his adversary provided him with, and he contented himself with deducing opposite opinions. As there was a real want of matter sufficient to supply anything like a treatise on the subject—a want scarcely yet filled up-this work was still more vague and sententious, than that on the general history of Europe. A sentence towards the commencement is very characteristic of the author's habits of thought. “An idea has prevailed, that one nation of Europe adopted the feudal institutions from another, and the similarity of fiefs in all the states where they were established, has given an air of plausibility to this opinion. It is contradicted, however, by the principles of natural reason, and by the nature of the feudal usages and, if I am not mistaken, it receives no real sanction from records or history." Thus, his own opinions on "the principles of natural reason," and on "the nature of the feudal usages," were to him of more importance than "records or history." In 1780, he published his "History of the establishment of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland," commencing in 1517, and ending in 1561; and in 1782, "The History of Scotland, from the Establishment of the Reformation till the death of queen Mary." Both these works are said by those who have perused them, to be written with the view of controverting the opinions of Dr Robertson. In 1785, Stuart was at the head of "The Political Herald and Review, or a survey of Domestic and Foreign Politics, and

a critical account of Political and Historical Publications." In this work we frequently meet the flowing sentences of Stuart, especially in papers relating to Scotland, of which there are several. It is a curious circumstance that, especially in letters of animadversion addressed to individuals, he has evidently endeavoured to ingraft the pointed sarcasm of Junius on his own slashing weapon. One of these, " An Address to Henry Dundas, Esq., treasurer of the Navy, on the Perth Peerage," is with some servility signed "Brutus." This work extended, we believe, to only two volumes, which are now rather rare.

In London, Stuart seems to have suffered most of the miseries of unsuccessful authorship, and to have paid dearly for talents misapplied.

In the life of Dr William Thomson, in the Annual Obituary for 1822, there is the following highly characteristic notice of his life and habits at this period: Although the son of a professor, and himself a candidate for the same office, after a regular education at the university of Edinburgh: yet we have heard his friend assert, and appeal to their common acquaintance, Dr Grant, for the truth of the position, that, although he excelled in composition, and possessed a variety of other knowledge, yet he was actually unacquainted with the common divisions of science and philosophy. Under this gentleman, as has been already observed, he (Dr Thomson) composed several papers for the Political Herald, for which the former, as the ostensible editor, was handsomely paid; while the latter received but a scanty remuneration. But it was as a boon companion that he was intimately acquainted with this gentleman, who was greatly addicted to conviviality, and that too in a manner, and to an excess which can scarcely be credited by one who is acquainted with the elegant effusions of his polished mind. The Peacock.' in Grays-Inn lane, was the scene of

their festivities, and it was there that these learned Doctors, in rivulets of Burton ale, not unfrequently quaffed libations to their favourite deity, until tho clock informed them of the approaching day."

His constitution at length broke down, and he took a sea-voyage to the place of his nativity for the recovery of his health, but died of dropsy, at his father's house, near Musselburgh, August 13, 1786, aged forty-four.

T

TANNAHILL, ROBERT, a very popular writer of Scottish songs, was born in Paisley on the 3rd of June, 1774. He was the son of James Tannahill, a weaver of silk gauze there, who originally came from Kilmarnock, and Janet Pollock, the daughter of a farmer near Beith. Both parents were much respected for their intelligence and worth; the mother, in particular, was a woman of very general information, and exemplary conduct in life. Their family consisted of six sons and one daughter; Robert being the fourth child. At his birth, one of his legs was deformed, the foot being considerably bent, and the leg smaller than the other. During his boyhood, he was much ashamed of his crooked foot, and took every opportunity, when alone, to try and straighten it with his hand. In this manner, by constant application, he brought it into a proper position; but the leg always continued smaller than its fellow, and, to hide this deformity, he generally wore upon it two or more pairs of stockings. The deception succeeded so well, that few of his companions knew that the one leg differed from the other; nor did he suffer much inconvenience from it, being able to join in the dance, or afternoon excursion, without betraying any lameness, although in long journeys it generally failed him. When at school, he began to distinguish himself by writing verses. These were generally upon some odd character about the place, or upon any unusual circumstance that might occur, After school-hours, it was customary for the boys to put riddles to each other, or, as they called it, to speer guesses." Robert usually gave his in rhyme; and a schoolfellow, to whom we are indebted for some of the particulars of this memoir, remembers one of them to this day. It was as follows:-

My colour's brown, my shape's uncouth,

On ilka side I hae a mouth;
And, strange to tell, I will devour

My bulk of meat in half an hour.

This riddle, on being solved, turned out to allude to the big, brown, unshapely nose of a well-known character, who took large quantities of snuff.

From the school, where he was taught to read, write, and cast accounts, Tannahill was sent to the loom. About this time, the weaving of cotton was introduced into Paisley; and the high wages realized by it, induced parents to teach their children the trade at an early age, so that their apprenticeships were generally finished by the time they reached fifteen or sixteen. The flow of money, which persons thus so young could command by the exercise of a flourishing handicraft, led to the early marriages for which Paisley was then noted; and no town at the time abounded in more merrymakings, or presented a more gay and thriving community._Education was widely diffused amongst the inhabitants, who were remarkable for the intelligent and active interest they took in public affairs. The weaving population could always afford a weekly half-holiday for cultivating their gardens or rambling into the country. Tannahill participated in the general prosperity. Dancing parties and rural excursions were frequent

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among the young people of both sexes, and in these he often joined. He then formed many of those poetical attachments, which he afterwards celebrated in song. It was in such meetings, and such excursions, that he first saw "Jessie the flower o' Dumblane,”—first heard the song of the “mavis" from the "Wood of Craigielee," and first breathed the fragrant "broom" of the "Braes o Gleniffer."

While at work, it was his custom to occupy his mind with the composition of verses. To his loom he attached a sort of writing-desk, by which he was enabled, in the midst of his labours, to jot down any lines that might occur to him, without rising from his seat. In this way, some of his best songs were composed. He had a correct ear for music, and played the flute well; and whenever a tune greatly pleased him, it was his ambition to give it appropriate words of his own. It has been said in most of the notices of his life, that from his fourteenth to his twenty-fourth year, he wholly neglected the muse; but this is a mistake. He seldom allowed many days to pass without composing some song or copy of verses, which it was his custom to read to one or two only of his intimate acquaintances. The first poem of his which ap peared in print, was in praise of Ferguslee wood; a wood which was one of his favourite haunts, and which often in the summer evenings rang to the notes of his flute. The lines were sent to a Glasgow periodical, and obtained immediate insertion, accompanied with a request for further favours. This was the more gratifying to the young poet, as in one or two previous endeavours at publication, he had been unsuccessful; and from this period he continued, for two or three years afterwards, to send occasional contributions to the Glasgow papers. After his apprenticeship had expired, he removed to the village of Lochwinnoch, about nine miles from Paisley, where he continued to work at the loom for some time. It may be worth mentioning, that Alexander Wilson, the poet and future American ornithologist, was at this time also weaving in the same village. He was by some years the senior of Tannahill; and the latter, being then unknown to fame, had not the fortitude to seek his acquaintance, although he greatly admired the pieces by which Wilson had already distinguished himself.

About the year 1800, some of the figured loom-work, for which Paisley was famed, was beginning to be manufactured in England, and it was reported that great wages were to be had there for weaving it. Tempted by the report, or more probably by a desire of seeing the country, Tannahill left Paisley for England, accompanied by a younger brother. They went away without informing their parents, who, they rightly supposed, would have put a stop to the journey, as their circumstances in Paisley were too comfortable to justify a change. They were both at this time in the strength and buoyancy of youth; they were both also of industrious habits, of excellent dispositions, and of modest manners. They travelled mostly on foot, often stepping out of the way to view the curiosities of the country, until they reached Preston, which they had marked as the limit of their journey. They found, however, that nothing but plain work was woven there; and while Robert went forward to Bolton, to inquire after figured work, his brother took lodgings at Preston, in the house of an old woman of the Roman catholic persuasion. At Bolton, Robert found

It disturbs the fancy to know, that, although Tannahill wrote all his love-songs under the inspiration of some particular object, in this case the girl was neither a Jessie, nor was she from Dumblane. The words were originally written to supplant the old doggerel song, "Bob o' Dumblane,"-hence the title. Tannahill never was in Dumblane,-never, indeed, beyond the Forth, and knew no person belonging to Dumblane; yet the guards of coaches, and others, hesitate not to point out the very house in Dumblane in which Jessie

was born.

-

plenty of employment of the desired description: but his brother, notwithstanding the superior wages to be made there, remained at Preston all the time he resided in England, being constrained to do so by the kindness of his old landlady, in whom he found a second mother. The two brothers, though thus separated, did not forget each other. Being much attached, they frequently met half-way between Preston and Bolton, and spent a few hours together: they also frequently wrote home to their parents an account of their welfare. Their stay in England lasted two years, and was only cut short by receiving intelligence of the fatal illness of their father. They hurried home without delay, and arrived in time to receive his dying blessing. After that event, they did not choose to return to England. The younger brother married, while Robert took up his abode with his mother, and till his death continued to be a comfort to her. His filial affections were at all times strong, and through life he honourably discharged the duties of an affectionate son.

It may be proper here to advert to a very erroneous impression which prevails respecting his worldly circumstances. In most of the notices taken of him, he is represented as leading a life of privation, and as fulfilling all that is supposed to be connected with the poet's lot in regard to penury. But so far from this being the case, his means were always above his wants. The house in which his mother resided was her own, and she was not only herself comfortably situated, but was enabled, by indulging in little charities, to add somewhat to the comforts of others. Such, also, was the state of trade at the time, that Robert could command good wages without extreme labour, and though more than one respectable situation, as foreman or overseer, was offered him, he chose to continue at the loom, because, by doing so, his time was more at his own disposal, and his personal independence greater. He had no wish to accumulate money; but long before his death, he lodged twenty pounds in the bank, with the express intention that it should go to defray the expense of his funeral, and this sum was found untouched when his melancholy decease took place, a circumstance which of itself proves the unfounded nature of the reports regarding his poverty and destitution.

Soon after his return from England, he had the good fortune to become ac quainted with the late Mr R. A. Smith, a gentleman of distinguished talent as a composer, who set to music and arranged some of his finest songs. He also formed an intimacy with several other individuals possessed of good judgment in musical matters, such as, Mr James Barr of Kilbarchan (composer of the tune of Craigielee,') Mr Andrew Blaikie, engraver, Paisley, and Mr James Clark, master of the Argyle Band. These gentlemen, and several others, were of service to him in improving his taste for composition, and in encouraging him in his love of song. His own manners were so retiring, and his reliance on himself so small, that, without the assurances of friendship, he probably would never have been induced to give to the world many of those pieces which have made his name known.

It

The first edition of his "Poems and Songs" appeared in the year 1807. was very favourably received by the public, the previous popularity of several of his songs tending to make it sought after. But the author speedily came to regret that he had so prematurely given it to the world. Errors and faults he now detected in it, which had before escaped him, and he began assiduously to correct and re-write all his pieces, with a view to a second edition. He continued also to add to the number of his songs, and in these reached a high degree of excellence. Some of them, indeed, may be pronounced to be the very perfection of song-writing, so far as that consists in the simple and natural expression of feelings common to all. The extensive popularity which they at

tained indicates how universally were felt and understood the sentiments which they recorded. It is gratifying to know, that the poet was in some measure a witness of his own success, and lived to hear his songs sung with approbation both in hall and cottage. In a solitary walk, on one occasion, his musings were interrupted by the voice of a country girl in an adjoining field, who was singing by herself a song of his own

"We'll meet beside the dusky glen, on yon burnside;"—

and he used to say, that he was more pleased at this evidence of his popularity than at any tribute which had ever been paid him.

But his celebrity as a song writer brought its annoyances. Visitors of every description broke in upon his daily labours; an adjournment to the tavern was often the result, and acquaintanceships were formed too frequently over the bowi. Tannahill at no time was addicted to liquor, but the facility of his nature prevented him from resisting the intrusions of idle and curious people, and the very character of the pieces for which he was distinguished led to convivialities, for how could the merits of a song be tested without the flowing glass? This was the more to be pitied, as the slightest irregularity injured him. His constitution was never strong. His father, his sister, and three brothers had alt died of consumption, and he himself was often troubled with a pain in the chest, which was increased by working too hard. For some time before his lamentable end, he was observed frequently to fall into a deep melancholy. His temper became irritable, he was easily agitated, and prone to imagine that his best friends were disposed to injure him. His eyes were observed to sink, his countenance got pale, and his body emaciated. His whole appearance, in short, indicated a breaking up of his mental and bodily powers. The second edition of his Poems, which he had prepared for the press, was offered about this time to Mr Constable of Edinburgh for a very small sum, but was unfortunately declined. This tended still farther to depress him, and he came to the resolution of destroying everything which he had written. All his songs, to the amount of one hundred, many of which had never been printed, and of those printed all had been greatly corrected and amended, he put into the fire; and so anxious was he that no scrap of his should be preserved, he requested his acquaintances to return any manuscript which they had ever got from him. Of the immediate circumstances connected with his death, we have received the and following account. The day previous to that event, he went to Glasgow, displayed there such unequivocal proofs of mental derangement, that one of his friends, upon whom he called, felt it necessary to convoy him back all the way to Paisley, and to apprize his relations of the state of his mind. Alarmed at the intelligence, his brothers, who were married, and resided at different parts of the town, hastened to their mother's house, where they found that he had gone to bed, and as it was now late, and he was apparently asleep, they did not choose to disturb him, hoping that by the morning he would be better. About an hour after leaving the house, one of the brothers had occasion to pass the door, and was surprised to find the gate that led to it open. On further investigation, it was found that Robert had risen from bed, and stolen out, shortly after their departure. Search was now made in every direction, and by the

An exception must here be made in favour of Mr James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, who, much to his own credit, and the credit of Tannahill, made a pilgrimage to Paisley, with the express purpose of seeing him. They spent one happy night together, and, next morning, Tannahill convoyed him half-way on the road to Glasgow. On parting, Tannahill, with tears in his eyes, said, "Farewell! we shall never meet again! Farewell] I shall never see you mere!" a prediction which was too truly verified.