ey occupied
we have not learned; but young Hume is remembered as being a quick,
intelligent, and most affectionate boy, eager, industrious,
self-reliant, and with an occasional dash of independence that made him
both feared and loved. He might have been persuaded to adopt almost any
view, but an attempt at coercion only excited a spirit of antagonism. To
use an old and familiar phrase, "he might break, but he would not bend."

About this period (1822 or 1823), when irritated by those who had
authority over him, he suddenly disappeared from home, and allied
himself to a company of strolling players, with whom he associated for
several months. He had an exquisite natural voice, and sung the melting
melodies of Scotland in a manner seldom equalled. With the itinerant
manager he was a favourite, because he was fit for anything--tragedy,
comedy, farce, a hornpipe, and, if need be, a comic song, in which
making faces at the audience was an indispensable accomplishment. His
greatest hit, we are told, was in the absurdly extravagant song, "I am
such a Beautiful Boy;" when he used to say that in singing one verse, he
opened his mouth so wide that he had difficulty in closing it; but it
appears he had neither difficulty nor reluctance in closing his
engagement. Getting tired of his new profession, and disgusted with his
associates, poorly clad and badly fed, he slipped away when his
companions were fast asleep, and returned to London. Here, weary and
footsore, he presented himself to a relative, who received him kindly,
and placed him in a position where by industry he might provide for his
necessities.

In 1827, he obtained a situation with Forbes & Co. of Mark Lane, the
highly respectable agents for Berwick & Co. of Edinburgh, the celebrated
brewers of Scotch ale. His position being one of considerable
responsibility, he was obliged to find security in the sum of L500,
which he obtained from the relative who had always stood his friend. But
such was his probity and general good conduct, that his employers
cancelled the security, and returned the bond as a mark of their
appreciation of his integrity and worth.

About this period it was that he first gave utterance to his feelings in
verse. Impulsive and impassioned naturally, his first strong attachment
roused the deepest feelings of the man, and awoke the dormant passion of
the poet. The non-success of his first wooing only made his song the
more vehement for a while, but as