Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/297

Rh WATT,, M.D., the author of the , and of several medical treatises, was born in May, 1774. possessed a small farm, called Muirhead, in the parish of Stewarton, Ayrshire, whioh had belonged to the family for several generations, but which was sold shortly after his death, in 1810. with his elder brothers, was employed, during his boyhood, in attending school, and in assisting his father in the management of the farm. His early life, it would seem, was subject to considerable hardships, and afforded few opportunitics for cultivating his mind. In a letter of his now before us, written a short time before his death, we find the following notanda of his early years, prepared at the request of a friend. English school, to which he was sent at the age of five or six, and where be learned to read, write, and count, the narrative proceeds:-

“About the age of thirteen, I became a ploughboy to a farmer in a neighbouring parish. After this, I was sometimes at home, and sometimes in the service of other people, till the age of seventeen begun to acquire a taste for reading, and spent a good deal of my time in that His father, Jobn Watt, Robert was the youngest of three sons; and, After recording his recollections of an Before this age, I had The books I read were such as I found about my father's house ; among way. which I remember the "Pilgrim's Progress," " The Lives of Scotch Wor- thies," &c. things, had manifested itself early, in various forms. great ambition was to be a chapman; and it was long before the sneers of my friends could drive me from this favourite project. It was the sane spirit, and a wish of doing something for myself, that made me go into the service of other farmers. A spirit for extending my knowledge of the country, and other When very young, my I saw more than I did at home, and I got money which I My father's circumstances were very limited; but they could call my own. were equal, with his own industry, to the bringing up of his family, and putting them to trades. trade greatly to being farmer's servants. " With a view to extend my knowledge of the country, I went with a party into Galloway, to build stone dykes. On getting there, however, the job which we had expected was abandoned, on account of some difference taking place between the proprietor of the land and the cultivator; and we went to the neighbourhood of Dumfries, where our employer had a contract for making part of the line of road from Sanquhar to Dumfries. During my short stay in Galloway, which was at Loch Fergus, in the vicinity of Kirkcudbright, I lodged in a house where I had an opportunity of reading some books, and saw occasionally a newspaper. and learn more, and made me regret exceedingly my short stay in the place. " On our arrival at Dumfries, we were boarded on the farm of Ellisland, in the possession of Robert Burns. recently occupied became our temporary abode. This was only for a few days. I was lodged, for the rest of the summer, in a sort of old castle, called the Isle, from its having been at one time surrounded by the Nith. While at Ellisland, I formed the project of going up to England. This was to be accomplished by engaging as a drover of some of the droves of cattle that continually pass that way from Ireland and Scotland. My companions, however, disapproved of the project, and I "During the summer I spent in Dumfriesshire, I had frequent opportunities of seeing Burns: but cannot recollect of having formed any opinion of him, except a confused idea that he was an extraordinary character. While here, I read Burns's Poems; and, from an acquaintance with some of his relations, I

This was his great wish. I remember he preferred a This enlarged my views, increased the desire to see The old house which he and his family had gave it up.

IV.