t occupation at Bolton in
England. Returning to Paisley in the spring of 1802, he was offered the
situation of overseer of a manufacturing establishment, but he preferred
to resume the labours of the loom.

Hitherto Tannahill had not dreamt of becoming known as a song-writer; he
cultivated his gift to relieve the monotony of an unintellectual
occupation, and the usual auditor of his lays was his younger brother
Matthew, who for some years was his companion in the workshop. The
acquaintance of Robert Archibald Smith, the celebrated musical composer,
which he was now fortunate in forming, was the means of stimulating his
Muse to higher efforts and of awakening his ambition. Smith was at this
period resident in Paisley; and along with one Ross, a teacher of music
from Aberdeen, he set several of Tannahill's best songs to music. In
1805 he was invited to become a poetical contributor to a leading
metropolitan periodical; and two years afterwards he published a volume
of "Poems and Songs." Of this work a large impression was sold, and a
number of the songs soon obtained celebrity. Encouraged by R. A. Smith
and others, who, attracted by his fame, came to visit him, Tannahill
began to feel concerned in respect of his reputation as a song-writer;
he diligently composed new songs and re-wrote with attention those which
he had already published. Some of these compositions he hoped would be
accepted by his correspondent, Mr George Thomson, for his collection,
and the others he expected would find a publisher in the famous
bookselling firm of Constable & Co. The failure of both these
schemes--for Constable's hands were full, and Thomson exhibited his
wonted "fastidiousness"--preyed deeply on the mind of the sensitive
bard. A temporary relief to his disappointed expectations was occasioned
by a visit which, in the spring of 1810, he received from James Hogg,
the Ettrick Shepherd, who made a journey to Paisley expressly to form
his acquaintance. The visit is remembered by Mr Matthew Tannahill, who
describes the enthusiasm with which his brother received such homage to
his genius. The poets spent a night together; and in the morning
Tannahill accompanied the Shepherd half-way to Glasgow. Their parting
was memorable: "Farewell," said Tannahill, as he grasped the Shepherd's
hand, "we shall never meet again! Farewell, I shall never see you more!"

The visit of the Ettrick Bard proved only an interlude amidst the
depression which had per