WILLIAM MOTHERWELL.

WILLIAM MOTHERWELL was born in Glasgow, October 13, 1797. His father was a merchant. A few years later the family removed to Edinburgh, and in 1805 William became a pupil At this school, in the of William Lennie. summer of 1807, he first met Jane Morrison, the heroine of his famous poem. She was the daughter of a brewer at Alloa, and is described by her teacher as a pretty girl, with light-brown hair, dark eyes, and a sweet and gentle expression.

In 1823 she married John Murdoch, merchant, and in 1829 was left a widow, with three children. She never met Motherwell in after-life, and did not know that his poem referred to her until several years after it was published. It is said that he made the first draft of the poem when he was fourteen years old, and all his life he was working upon it, altering, adding, and polishing.

He finished his education in the High School of Edinburgh and the Grammar School of Paisley, and in his fifteenth year became a clerk in the office of the sheriff-clerk of Paisley. He at

JEANIE MORRISON.

I'VE wander'd east, I've wander'd west,
Through mony a weary way,
But never, never can forget

The love o' life's young day!
The fire that's blawn on Beltane e'en
May weel be black gin Yule:
But blacker fa' awaits the heart

Where first fond luve grows cule.

O dear, dear Jeanie Morrison,

The thochts o' bygone years
Still fling their shadows owre my path,
And blind my een wi' tears;
They blind my een wi' saut, saut tears;
And sair and sick I pine,
As memory idly summons up

The blythe blinks o' langsyne.

'Twas then we luvit ilk ither weel,

'Twas then we twa did part;

Sweet time-sad time! twa bairns at schule, ·
Twa bairns, and but ae heart!
'Twas then we sat on ae laigh bink,

To leir ilk ither lear;

And tones, and looks, and smiles were shed,
Remember'd evermair.

tended the Latin and Greek classes in the University of Glasgow, and in 1819 was appointed Sheriff-clerk-depute for the county of Renfrew.

Motherwell had made verses when a boy, and in 1818 he contributed some to a sort of annual published at Greenock. In 1819 he edited "The Harp of Renfrewshire," a collection of songs, and in 1827 he published "Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern," which has become a standard work. In 1828 he started the Paisley Magazine, which lived but one year, and at the same time he beIn 1830 he removed to Glasgow came editor of the Paisley Advertiser, a Conservative paper. and took editorial charge of the Courier. He first collected his poems into a volume, under the title "Poems, Narrative and Lyrical," in 1832. He died suddenly, of apoplexy, on the 1st of November, 1835.

Motherwell was a small man, but well formed and muscular, with a large head. He was a good boxer and fencer, and had a strong liking for military exercises. Some of his martial lyrics are among the finest in the language. Of his pathetic poems there is but one opinion.

I wonder, Jeanie, aften yet,
When sitting on that bink,

Cheek touchin' cheek, loof lock'd in loof,
What our wee heads could think.
When baith bent doun owre ae braid page,
Wi' ae buik on our knee,

Thy lips were on thy lesson-but
My lesson was in thee.

Oh, mind ye how we hung our heads,
How cheeks brent red wi' shame,
Whene'er the schule-weans, laughin', said
We cleek'd thegether hame?
And mind ye o' the Saturdays

(The schule then skailt at noon)
When we ran aff to speel the braes-
The broomy braes o' June?

My head rins round and round about,
My heart flows like a sea,

As ane by ane the thoughts rush back
O' schule-time and o' thee.
Oh, mornin' life! oh, mornin' luve!
Oh, lichtsome days and lang,
When hinnied hopes around our hearts
Like simmer blossoms sprang!

Oh, mind ye, luve, how aft we left
The deavin' dinsome toun,