About the Book
Excerpt from Poems and Lyrics: Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect IT is said that at one time not fewer than seven cities strove for the honour of having been Homer's birth-place. Now, although it is rather unlikely that, say half-a-century hence, as many parishes in auld Caledonia will arise, each claiming me for its son; still, being a man of peace, I am most desirous to prevent the barest possibility of such unseemly squabbles ever taking place on my account, and have resolved to inform my own age, at least, of the spot where I was born. This will serve a double purpose first, as a sort of Preface (to me always a great bore) to this my fourth volume; and second, it will satisfy the curiosity of a few patrons, who are longing for information on this very important point. Hear it, then, and be glad, thou winding Glazart, ye towering sheep-clad Hills, thou bonnie Glen, and far-famed Clachan, in whase Auld Kir I was kibsened. Hear it, I say, all of you, and be glad; for, though not coevals, we are caparishioners. Soberly, however, and not to be tediously exact, I was born in The Blue Raw, Milton of Campsie, Stirlingshire, on the 17th N ovem ber, 1825. My parents belonged to the agricultural class, and, in order to improve their condition, they, along with my bardship, then a shaveling of five years' growth', a younger brother, and a trifle of weel bain'd gear, removed from Campsie to the north-west quarter of Glasgow, where my worthy father began business as cow feeder, to which he subsequently added that of carter. And here I may observe that, until overtaken, through an accidental burning, by the physical debilities with which I am now, and ever must be, aflicted, viz., an all but total want of eye-sight, and a hand badly maimed, my chief occupation was that of a carter, although, when a youth, I for a short time blew the bellows and wielded the fore hammer to Burnewin, and afterwards wrought for a considerable period at boiler-making in one of our large city establishments. As to school education, my advantages were very favourable; but I grieve to say I did not avail myself of them as I ought to hose. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
