ther contracted a
second marriage when Alexander had reached his thirteenth year; and it
became necessary that he should prepare himself for entering upon some
handicraft employment. He became an apprentice to his brother-in-law,
William Duncan, a weaver in his native town; and on completing his
indenture, he wrought as a journeyman, during the three following years,
in the towns of Paisley, Lochwinnoch, and Queensferry. But the
occupation of weaving, which had from the first been unsuitable to his
tastes, growing altogether irksome, he determined to relinquish it for a
vocation which, if in some respects scarcely more desirable, afforded
him ample means of gratifying his natural desire of becoming familiar
with the topography of his native country. He provided himself with a
pack, as a pedlar, and in this capacity, in company with his
brother-in-law, continued for three years to lead a wandering life. His
devotedness to verse-making had continued unabated from boyhood; he had
written verses at the loom, and had become an enthusiastic votary of the
muse during his peregrinations with his pack. He was now in his
twenty-third year; and with the buoyancy of ardent youth, he thought of
offering to the public a volume of his poems by subscription. In this
attempt he was not successful; nor would any bookseller listen to
proposals of publishing the lucubrations of an obscure pedlar. In 1790,
he at length contrived to print his poems at Paisley, on his own
account, in the hope of being able to dispose of them along with his
other wares. But this attempt was not more successful than his original
scheme, so that he was compelled to return to his father's house at
Lochwinnoch, and resume the obnoxious shuttle. His aspirations for
poetical distinction were not, however, subdued; he heard of the
institution of the _Forum_, a debating society established in Edinburgh
by some literary aspirants, and learning, in 1791, that an early subject
of discussion was the comparative merits of Ramsay and Fergusson as
Scottish poets, he prepared to take a share in the competition. By
doubling his hours of labour at the loom, he procured the means of
defraying his travelling expenses; and, arriving in time for the debate
in the _Forum_, he repeated a poem which he had prepared, entitled the
"Laurel Disputed," in which he gave the preference to Fergusson. He
remained several weeks in Edinburgh, and printed his poem. To Dr
Anderson's "Bee" he contri