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, The love o' life's young day! Where first fond luve grows cule. O dear, dear Jeanie Morrison, The thochts o' bygone years 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, · To leir ilk ither lear; And tones, and looks, and smiles were shed, 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, Cheek touchin' cheek, loof lock'd in loof, Thy lips were on thy lesson-but Oh, mind ye how we hung our heads, (The schule then skailt at noon) My head rins round and round about, As ane by ane the thoughts rush back Oh, mind ye, luve, how aft we left |