Autobiographical Notes. 175 



particularly the doctrine of predestination. Incidentally, he 

 grew warm on literary subjects. He was also full of anecdote, 

 so that a night at Urr manse was an occasion of which any man 

 might be proud. 



I have always liked to visit man.ses, and I have always cul- 

 tivated the society of clergymen. They are a noble class of 

 men, intelligent, liberal, and lively, given to ho.spitality, of inde- 

 pendent mind, and of sound principles. They mix the gay and 

 the grave most agreeably, preferring, on the whole, the former 

 to the latter. That parish is blest that has a good and judicious 

 clergyman. He forms a link between the high and the low under 

 his professional care. He is an example to all parties, promotes 

 proper sympathies and sentiments, and the beneficial influence 

 of his character pervades the whole community. 



Having resolved to return to College in November, 1811, 

 I resigned mv engagement in Buittle, trusting to succeed in Edin- 

 burgh. With this view I had letters of introduction from Mr 

 Murray to Profe.ssor Christison, Professor David Ritchie (Logic), 

 to Mr Crawford, chaplain, Edinburgh Castle; and to Mr Grier- 

 son, Writer to the Signet. To this last gentleman I had also a 

 letter from his niece, Mrs Grierson of Logan, the wife of one of my 

 constituents. By all these gentlemen I was well received, but 

 by none so cordially as by Mr Grierson, who recognised me as 

 a relative. He was a bachelor, and visits to him were therefore 

 the more informal. He had been a friend of Robert Burns, 

 and had, besides, mixed with the best society. Being from the 

 Glenkens, he was fond of his native Galloway. I breakfasted 

 with him every Sundav morning from the time I was made known 

 to him till I left Edinburgh to become a family tutor in Wig- 

 townshire, in May, 1815. 



My first employment in Edinburgh was got through Mr 

 Grierson. This was in January, 1812, when I was engaged to 

 give lessons to the only son of William Hagart, wine merchant ; 

 my fee being ^5 per two months, or ^30 annually. This 

 engagement lasted till September of the same year, when my 

 pupil was placed at Closeburn Academy. When I was in- 

 formed that my services were to be no longer required I was 

 thunderstruck and alarmed. Here I was in the midst of 

 strangers, without any spare cash and without a home, either 



