. At the age of eight he
became a pupil in the grammar school, having already made some
proficiency in classical learning. During the first session of
attendance at the University, he gained two prizes and a bursary on
Archbishop Leighton's foundation. As a classical scholar, he acquired
rapid distinction; he took especial delight in the dramatic literature
of Greece, and his metrical translations from the Greek plays were
pronounced excellent specimens of poetical composition. He invoked the
muse on many themes, and occasionally printed verses, which were
purchased by his comrades. From the commencement of his curriculum he
chiefly supported himself by teaching; at the close of his fourth
session, he accepted a tutorship in the island of Mull. There he
prosecuted verse-making, and continued his translations from the Greek
dramatists. He conducted a poetical correspondence with Hamilton Paul;
and the following lines addressed to this early friend, and entitled "An
Elegy written in Mull," may be quoted in evidence of his poetical talent
in his seventeenth year. These lines do not occur in any edition of his
works:

"The tempest blackens on the dusky moor,
And billows lash the long-resounding shore;
In pensive mood I roam the desert ground,
And vainly sigh for scenes no longer found.
Oh, whither fled the pleasurable hours
That chased each care, and fired the muse's powers;
The classic haunts of youth, for ever gay
Where mirth and friendship cheer'd the close of day,
The well-known valleys where I wont to roam,
The native sports, the nameless joys of home?
Far different scenes allure my wondering eye:
The white wave foaming to the distant sky;
The cloudy heavens, unblest by summer's smile;
The sounding storm that sweeps the rugged isle,
The chill, bleak summit of eternal snow,
The wide, wild glen, the pathless plains below,
The dark blue rocks, in barren grandeur piled,
The cuckoo sighing to the pensive wild!
Far different these from all that charm'd before,
The grassy banks of Clutha's winding shore:
The sloping vales, with waving forests lined;
Her smooth blue lakes, unruffled by the wind.
Hail, happy Clutha! glad shall I survey
Thy gilded turrets from the distant way!
Thy sight shall cheer the weary traveller's toil,
And joy shall hail me to my native soil."
He remained at Mull five months; and subsequently be