20 
MEMOIR OF 
During the term of his indenture, he paid every 
attention to his master's interest, though he lost no 
opportunity of indulging in the perusal of such 
books as he could procure. To his short tuition 
under Mr. Barlas may in part be traced the bent 
which his young mind acquired for literature, and 
which laid the foundation of his future fame as a 
Naturalist and a Poet ; while, to the same cause, 
the distaste and reluctance with which ho com- 
pleted his apprenticeship may, in some measure, be 
ascribed. On the expiry of his apprenticeship he 
wrote upon his indenture * the following lines, 
which at once betray that distaste, and show that 
at the age of sixteen he had attempted the composi- 
tion of verses : 
“ Bet kent to a’ the warld in rhyme, 
That wi’ right mickle wark an’ toil, 
For three lang years I’ve sert my time, 
Whiles feasted wi’ the hazel oiL” — August, 1782. 
He now commenced the laborious and mono- 
tonous task of journeyman weaver, which he pro- 
secuted for about four years, partly in Paisley and 
partly in the neighbouring parish of Lochwinnoch, 
to which his father had removed. But higher feel- 
ings often bore the mastery over his anxiety to 
perform his allotted labour, and led him to indulge 
his romantic fancy in rambling among the fine rural 
scenery with which the district abounds. 
* This document is still preserved, being in the possession 
of Mr. James Clark, thread-manufacturer, Paisley. 
