10 DICK'S DOMINIE. CHAP. n. 



reading, he read everything he could lay hands on. 

 He was fond of fun and sport, and, like all strong 

 and active boys, he sometimes got into scrapes. When 

 he infringed the rules of the school, the master gave 

 him a number of verses to commit to heart. But he 

 learnt them so quickly and recited them with such ease, 

 that the task was found of no use as a punishment, 

 and then, on any further indiscretion being committed, 

 the master resorted to the last extremity the Taws !* 



In a letter to Hugh Miller, Dick afterwards said, " My 

 auld dominie used to say that I had a good memory. 

 Every morning, in his introductory exercise, before the 

 business of the day began, he used to pray that teacher 

 and scholars might all be taught, and that discipline 

 might be followed with obedience." 



Eobert had a great talent for languages. He learnt 

 Latin so quickly that his master recommended Mr. Dick 

 to send him to "college, with the object of educating him 

 for one of the learned professions. Such was his inten- 

 tion, when an event occurred which prevented its being 

 carried into effect. 



This was Mr. Dick's second marriage. It occurred 

 in 1821, when Eobert was ten years old. Mr. Dick 

 married the daughter of Mr. Knox, the brewer at Cambus, 

 whose premises he inspected. As the excise regulations 

 did not permit of his surveying the premises of a relative, 

 he was removed to Dam's Burn, a hamlet at the foot of 

 the Ochils, where he inspected the whisky distillery of 



* The Taws, a thick leather strap about three feet long, cut into tails 

 at the end. 



