aT a oe ee ere 
" talents; and where 
- the school, he passed 
which he attended for five consecutive sessions, during 
_$tances, which combined to 
“Was admitted to holy orders by 
7 
GRAHAME. 
wammar school of his native city, where he was dis- 
yguished more for playfulness, than for brifliancy of 
e evinced a disposition to frolic- 
some sprightliness, which gave little promise of the 
thoughtful and retired character of his manhood. From 
to the university of Giasgow, 
the two last of which he studied the theory of law and 
government under the celebrated Professor Millar, from 
whom he imbibed that enthusiastic love of freedom, 
and that warm attachment to the constitution of his 
country, i the ular part, which formed a 
Srangeiaktog febecee in his character through life. This 
attachment to the cause of freedom, induced him at first 
to take a warm interest in the success of the French 
revolution, and led him at a later period of his life, with 
honourable consistency, to express his detestation of that 
spirit of aggrandisement, which marked the conduct of 
too many of its abettors ; and especially of the military 
_ despot, who availed himself of the misfortunes of the 
country that cherished him as her adopted son, to de- 
stroy her liberties, and desolate the fairest portion of 
e When i 
n the anxious period arrived, at which it was ne- 
cessary for him to fix on a ession, Grahame would 
have the simple and unostentatious duties and 
the humble emoluments of the Scottish church ; but he 
suffered his own choice to be overruled by the persua- 
sions of his friends, who fancied that they could foresee 
or secure more certain success for him in the law. Af- 
ter receiving some professional instruction from his fa- 
ther at Glasgow, he was indentured, in his twentieth 
year, as an apprentice to his cousin Mr Lawrence Hill, 
writer to the signet in Edinburgh, in 1784. It was 
about the time of his passing writer to the signet in 
1791, that he had the misfortune to lose his father ; a 
misfortune which sunk the more deeply into his feeling 
heart, from the circumstance of his absence on that 
occasion. The consolations of religion were at this 
time peculiarly salu’ to his wounded spirit, and his 
desire for the clerical office returned ; but he again 
yielded to the arguments of his friends, who urged 
the obstacles that his now presented against his 
entering the Scottish church, in consequence of the 
‘of previous study required, a circumstance which 
also appeared to them a barrier to his preferment in the 
dvurel of England. He acted for some years as a wri- 
ter to the signet, and advocate in 1795. Though 
his professional knowledge ‘was extensive, and his law 
papers were ably written, there were various circum~ 
ent him from attaining 
a conspicuous station at the | Want of relish for the 
minute and tedious details of the practice of the law, 
and a bad state of health, were the principal obstacles ; 
‘and probably these were the chief causes of his seeking 
relief in poetical composition. 
‘He was most happily married in 1802, to Miss 
Graham, the eldest daughter of Mr Graham, writer in 
Annan, and town-clerk of that burgh; and in the en« 
dearments of domestic life, which no man could enjoy 
“with a truer relish, he found a never-failing solace amid 
the cares of business, and the growing infirmities of his 
delicate constitution. In 1808, hisd ining health made 
him resolve to retire from the bar, and _at last to adopt 
the profession, to which his mind had adhered with con- 
stancy from his earliest years.. A'fter some abortive at- 
“tempts to obtain ordination in the English church, he 
* ishep of Nor- 
889 
wich in May 1809, and soon entered on the curacy 
of Shipton, in Gloucestershire. -He found his new du- 
Grahame, 
James. 
ties easy and pleasant; but family reasons compelled “~*~ 
him in a short time to abandon them, and return to 
Scotland. After various changes, which are too unim- 
— to be recorded in a work of this nature, he was 
nally settled in 1811, as curate ree of Sedge 
field, in the neighbourhood of the city of Durham, His fi- 
re was tall, and his features striking, and hissermons, 
ifnotanimated, were interesting and earnestly impressive. 
His benevolent and ardent concern for the poor and afflict- 
ed of his flock, secured for him an interest in their hearts, 
which, however, he was not to be permitted long to re~ 
tuin. Severe headach, to which he had been occasionally 
subject from his early years,and which materially injured 
his memory and other mental faculties, increased consi- 
derably about this time ; and the disease had now made 
an alarming Progress, which was soon to rob his flock of 
their-pastor, his family of their best friend, and the world 
of a poet, who combined the sublime chords of David’s 
harp, with the simplest melody of the sylvan pipe. In 
August 1811, he returned on a visit to Scotland ; and 
on the 14th of September, he expired in the house of 
his elder brother at Whitehil), near Glasgow, in his 
47th year. His ashes rest in the sepulchre of his fa~ 
thers. His afflicted widow, who was absent at the time 
of his death, and occupied with the duties of her family, 
was little prepared for this severe trial. She soon after 
fell into bad health, and died in the year 1815, leavi 
a son and two daughters to bewail the early loss of 
their parents. 
Kindness and sympathy for every thing that could feel, 
were among the strongest characteristics of Grahame's 
mind ; aud those local attachments, perhaps we may 
call them local prejudices, which find a place in every 
mind of sensibility, were deeply rooted.in his. We do 
not think it will be necessary to apologize for mention- 
ing, in a memoir of this amiable man, a little trait which 
strongly marks this feeling. When he was journeying 
on horseback-towards his native Scotland, he asked of 
a peasant the name of a stream, which he associated 
with many tender recollections of times gone by, mere- 
ly that he might have the delight to hear that name re- 
ted in the native accent, from which he had been 
fately estranged. One of the tenderest passages in his 
Georgics, refers to this circumstance : 
«‘ How pleasant came thy rushing silver Tweed 
Upon my ear, when, after roaming long 
In southern plains, I’ve reached thy lovely bank ! 
Flow bright, renowned Sark !, thy little stream, 
Like ray of columned light chasing a shower, 
Would cross my homeward path; how sweet the sound, 
When I to hear the Doric tongue’s reply, 
Would ask thy well-known name?” Page 180. 
Grahame was early addicted to versification ; but 
his first acknowledged production from the press, was 
the oft attempted theme of “Mary Queen of Scots,” 
in the form of a tr This is a long and desultory 
drama, little careful of Aristotle’s unities, and is sprink~ 
led with rather too much of the Scottish phraseology ; 
et:it shews so deep and genuine a sympathy, so 
high an admiration for the sufferings and virtues of the 
ill-fated queen, and contains some such tender images, 
as to give it a claim on the public attention, indepen- 
dently of its dramatic merit. It has amused us to ob- 
serve also, how his chivalrous enthusiasm and warm na- 
tionality seem to have gained such an ascendency over 
his mind, as to have. made him forget the political max- 
