Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/148

494 Besides his history, Dougal wrote many other poems and songs, some of which, though little known, are highly graphic. They would form a pretty large volume, hut it is hardly probable that in this fastidious age any attempt will be made to collect them.

GRAHAME,, the author of "The Sabbath" and other poems, was born in Glasgow on the 22d of April, 1765. He was the son of Mr Thomas Grahame, writer in that city, a gentleman at the head of the legal profession there, and who held a high place in the esteem of his fellow citizens for strict integrity and many amiable qualities. His mother was a woman of very uncommon understanding ; and it may be well supposed, that the young bard owed much of that amiable disposition which distinguished him in after-life, to the mild and benevolent tuition of his parents. From them also he imbibed those ultra-liberal opinions on politics, which, on the first breaking out of the French revolution of 1789, found so many supporters in this country, and which Mr Grahame no doubt adopted under a sincere impression that the diffusion of such opinions was likely to benefit the human race. He was educated at the grammar school and university of Glasgow. At this time his father possessed a beautiful villa on the romantic banks of the Cart, near Glasgow, to which the family removed during the summer months; and it is pleasing to remark the delight with which James Grahame, in after years, looked back upon the youthful days spent there. In the " Birds of Scotland," we have the following pleasing remembrances, which show that these days were still green in his memory :

James Grahame eminently distinguished himself both at school and college; and we have an early notice of his poetical genius having displayed itself in some Latin verses, which, considering his age, were thought remarkable for their elegance. At this period he was noted among his companions for the activity of his habits, and the frolicsome gayety of his disposition; his character, however, seems to have undergone a change, and his constitution to have received a shock, in consequence of a blow inflicted in wantonness on the back of his head, which ever afterwards entailed upon him occasional attacks of headache and stupor; and there seems to be little doubt, that this blow was ultimately the cause of his death. After passing through a regular academical course of edu-