388 



HALKOUU. 



life. Ills education was very limited, niul he was 

 apprenticed at an curly age to a weaver. Yet we 

 HIV told that, while still a mere youth, he taught a 

 school tor sevenil years in his native parish. At 

 twenty-six, he became clerk to a merchant and man- 

 ufacturer in Arhroulli, and marrieil in the ensuing 

 year. His earliest attempts in compo-ilion were 

 made at the age of twelve ; tlie periix! of life, when 

 Pope and Cowley first hean to scribble, aiul when 

 almost all men of genius seem to show some spark- 

 lings of what they are afterwards to be. He con- 

 tributed occasional verses at a somewhat maturer age 

 to the newspaper stylet! the British Chronicle, to Dr 

 Anderson's " Bee," and to several provincial miscel- 

 lanies Some years after his removal to Arbroath, 

 he commenced business in partnership with the widow 

 of his employer, after whose death, in 1800, he as- 

 sumed another partner. The business was soon after 

 m.uch extended, in consequence of the firm having 

 become government-contractors for supplying the 

 navy with canvas. Still, under the pressure of his 

 avocations, he continued to cultivate his talent for 

 poetry. In a few years he was enabled by his suc- 

 cess in business to purchase a considerable quantity 

 of property. His life now passed in an uninterrupted 

 course of commercial prosperity, domestic pleasure, 

 and literary recreation. He also kept up a corres- 

 pondence with some of the literary men of the capital, 

 which was to him a source of much pleasure. In 

 1814, he removed to Trottick, within two miles of 

 Dundee, to assume the management of a branch of 

 a London house, which liad long transacted business 

 on a large scale, and which, for many years, had been 

 extensively connected with his own firm. This step 

 was unfortunate. In the ensuing year, so remarkable 

 for calamity in the commercial world, the house in 

 which he had embarked his fortunes was suddenly 

 involved in bankruptcy. He now accepted a depen- 

 dent situation, as manager of a manufacturing estab- 

 lishment at Balgonie in Fife, the emoluments of 

 which were barely sufficient to support a family con- 

 sisting of a wife, two sons, and three daughters. 

 Here he continued three years. He was at length 

 induced, in 1818, to remove to Edinburgh, princi- 

 pally on account of his children, who were now ar- 

 rived at that age when it was necessary to fix them 

 in the particular walks of life which might be deemed 

 most suitable. Here, in the course of a few months, 

 he began to experience the approaches of general 

 paralysis. His face and speech became affected, and 

 he was seized with a particular sensation in the head. 

 In June, 1819, he was obliged to relinquish his em- 

 ployment, and in October, he for the last tune set 

 his foot upon the ground. 



For ten years after this period, Mr Balfour spent 

 his days in a wheel-chair, from which he could not 

 rise without assistance, and devoted himself entirely 

 to literature. In 1819, he published a novel, called 

 " Campbell, or the Scottish Probationer," which was 

 favourably received. At the close of the same year 

 he edited the poetical works of his deceased friend 

 Richard Gall, with a biographical preface. About 

 the same time he became a contributor of tales, 

 sketches, and poems, concerning Scottish rural life, 

 to Constable's Edinburgh Magazine ; a work of 

 which, in this capacity, he formed one of the chief 

 literary supporters, till its close in 1826. Most of 

 these articles are of eminent merit, painting the 

 homely manners of Scotland with a mixture of truth, 

 humour, and pathos, that has never been equalled, 

 and forming, in the mass, a most valuable historical 

 record of what they refer to. One poetical series } 

 was entitled " Characters omitted in Crabbe's Parish I 

 Register," which werd of such uniform excellence, that ' 

 they were supposed by many to be real contributions by 



(lie Knglish poet. The notice wish which they were 

 honoured, induced the author to re-publish them in 

 1825, in the shape of a volume. Mr Balfour in IK.o, 

 published a volume under the title of ( 'ontemplal ion 

 and other Poems." In 1823, he beau to contribute 

 novels to the Minerva 1'ress; his first offering was 

 in three volumes, and entitled, "The Foundling 

 of Glenthorn, or the Smuggler's Cave." lie con- 

 tributed about the same time to " The Cale- 

 donian Magazine," and " Literary Olio," published 

 at Dundee. In the year 1827, through the inter- 

 vention, it is believed, of Mr Joseph Hume, M. P., 

 who presented a number of Mr Balfour's work- to 

 the premier, Mr Canning, a treasury donation of one 

 hundred pounds was obtained for this unfortunate 

 son of genius, to whom the gift was not less honour- 

 able than to those who so generously dispensed it. 

 The latest considerable work of Mr Balfour was a 

 novel, entitled " Highland Mary," in four volumes. 

 It is written with great simplicity and taste, and, a-. 

 a story, is replete with a mournful pathos. He con- 

 tinued to the last to contribute to the periodical 

 works of the day. He died on the 12th Sept. 182<J. 

 After his death a posthumous volume of his Remains 

 was published, under the title of " Weeds and \\ 'ild- 

 flowers." 



BALFOCR, Sir Andrew, Bart, M. D. ; an eminent 

 botanist, physician, and general benefactor to his 

 country, was the fifth and youngest son of Sir Michael 

 Balfour of Denmilne in Fife, and was Ixmi at that 

 place on the 18th January, 1630. He prosecuted 

 his studies in the university of St Andrews, where he 

 took his degree of A. M. Quitting the university 

 about the year 1650, he removed to London, where 

 his medical studies were chiefly directed by the cele- 

 brated Harvey, by Sir Theodore Mayerne, the distin- 

 guished physician of king James I., and various other 

 eminent practitioners. He afterwards travelled to 

 Blois in France, and remained there for some time, 

 to see the botanic garden of the Duke of Orleans, 

 which was then the best in Europe, and was kept by 

 his countryman Dr Morison. Here he contracted a 

 warm friendship for that great botanist, which con- 

 tinued unimpaired while they lived. From Blois he 

 went to Paris, where for a long time, he prosecuted 

 his medical studies with great ardour. He complet- 

 ed his education at the university of Caen, from 

 which he received the degrees of bachelor and doc- 

 tor of physic, on the 20th of September, 1 661. Re- 

 turning to London soon afterwards, Dr Balfour was 

 introduced to Charles II., who named him as the 

 most proper person to attend the young earl of Ro- 

 chester on his continental travels. After an absence 

 of four years, he returned with his pupil in 1667. 

 During their tour he endeavoured, and at that time 

 not without some appearance of success, to recall that 

 abandoned young nobleman to the paths of virtue, 

 and to inspire him with the love of learning. Ro- 

 chester himself often acknowledged, and to bishop 

 Burnet, in particular, only three days before his 

 death, how much he was bound to love and honour 

 Dr Balfour, to whom, next to his parents, he thought 

 he owed more tlian to all the world. 



On returning to his native country, Balfour settled 

 at St Andrews as a physician. But his merit was too 

 conspicuous to suffer him to remain long there. In 

 the year 1670, he removed to Edinburgh, where he 

 immediately came into great practice. Here, among 

 other improvements, he prosecuted the manufacture 

 of paper, and was the means of introducing that val- 

 uable art into the country though for many years it 

 remained in a state of complete, or nearly complete 

 dormancy ; the people deriving stationary articles 

 of all kinds from Holland. Adjoining to his house, 

 he had a small botanic garden, which he furnished 



