orlds is o'er us.
Spring leans to us across the sea
With affluent caressing,
And autumn yet shall crown our toil
With many a fruitful blessing.
Then why should we despair in spring,
Who braved out wintry weather?
Let monarchs rule, but we shall sing
And journey on together.
You mourn that we are born so poor--
I would not change our treasure
For all the thorn-concealing flowers
That strew the path of pleasure.
God only searches for the soul,
Nor heeds the outward building;
Believe me, friend, a noble heart
Requires no aid of gilding.
Then never let us pine in spring,
We 've braved out wintry weather,
We yet may touch a sweeter string
When toiling on together.
What though our blood be tinged with mud,
My lord's is simply purer;
'Twill scarce flow sixty years, nor make
His seat in heaven surer.
But should the noble deign to speak,
We 'll hail him as a brother,
And trace respective pedigrees
To Eve, our common mother.
Then why should we despair in spring,
Who braved out wintry weather?
Let monarchs rule, while we shall sing,
And journey on together.
WILLIAM B. C. RIDDELL.
A youth of remarkable promise, William Brown Clark Riddell, was the
youngest son of Mr Henry Scott Riddell.[12] He was born at Flexhouse,
near Hawick, Roxburghshire, on the 16th December 1835. In his seventh
year he was admitted a pupil in John Watson's Institution, Edinburgh,
where he remained till 1850, when, procuring a bursary from the
governors of Heriot's Hospital, he entered the University of Edinburgh.
During three sessions he prosecuted his studies with extraordinary
ardour and success. On the commencement of a fourth session he was
seized with an illness which completely prostrated his physical, and
occasionally enfeebled his mental, energies. After a period of
suffering, patiently borne, he died in his father's cottage, Teviothead,
on the 20th July 1856, in his twenty-first year.
Of an intellect singularly precocious, William Riddell, so early as the
age of seven, composed in correct and interesting prose, and produced in
his eighth year some vigorous poetry. With a highly retentive memory he
retained the results of an extended course of reading, begun almost in
childhood. Conversant with general history, he was familiar with the
various systems of philoso
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