he pastoral office in the united parishes of Broughton,
Glenholm, and Kilbucho, in Peeblesshire. Amidst due attention to his
clerical duties, he still found leisure to engage in literary pursuits,
and continued to contribute to the public journals both in prose and
poetry. Of the poet Burns he was an enthusiastic admirer; he was
laureate of the "Burns' Allowa' Club," and of the Glasgow Ayrshire
Friendly Society, whose annual meetings were held on the Bard's
anniversary; and the odes which he composed for these annual assemblages
attracted wide and warm admiration. He therefore recommended himself as
a suitable editor of the works of Burns, when a new edition was
contemplated by Messrs Wilson and M'Cormick, booksellers in Ayr. In the
performance of his editorial task, he was led, in an attempt to palliate
the immoralities of Burns, to make some indiscreet allusions respecting
his own clerical brethren; for this imprudence he narrowly escaped
censure from the ecclesiastical courts. His memoir, though commended in
_Blackwood's Magazine_, conducted by Professor Wilson, was severely
censured by Dr Andrew Thomson in the _Christian Instructor_.

The pastoral parish of Broughton was in many respects suited for a
person of Hamilton Paul's peculiar temperament and habits; in a more
conspicuous position his talents might have shone with more brilliancy;
but, after the burst of enthusiasm in his youth was past, he loved
seclusion, and modestly sought the shade. No man was less conscious of
his powers, or attached less value to his literary performances.[73] Of
his numerous poetical compositions each was the work of a sitting, or
had been uttered impromptu; and, unless secured by a friend, they were
commonly laid aside never to be recollected. As a clergyman, he
retained, during a lengthened incumbency, the respect and affection of
his flock, chiefly, it may be remarked, from the acceptability of his
private services, and the warmth and kindliness of his dispositions. His
pulpit discourses were elegantly composed, and largely impressed with
originality and learning; but were somewhat imperfectly pervaded with
those clear and evangelical views of Divine truth which are best
calculated to edify a Christian audience. In private society, he was
universally beloved. "His society," writes Mr Deans, "was courted by the
rich and the poor, the learned and the unlearned. In every company he
was alike kind, affable, and unostentatious; as a com