special element, which seemed to be gathered from the classic scenes in which he was reared. It is not too much to say that his manner and language (quaint to a degree) were a living, embodied personification of the genius of the place, as pictured in the pages of the immortal Pastoral of Ramsay. Gifted with musical powers and some inspiration from the Muses—which, however, not often saw the light—these were fostered in his wanderings amid the lovely scenes, o'er moor and fell, whither his daily vocations led. And with such characteristics, added to his stores of local lore and story, and knowledge of bird, beast, and fossil, it may be gathered how entertaining were the "cracks" in the homesteads he visited, and how much these would be looked forward to and welcomed. And not less so were those in the cosy home in the "Bield,"[1] to which many a one of kindred spirit specially pilgrimaged. Evidence of this was ample from the large gathering from all parts to his resting-place with his "forbears" in Linton's auld kirkyaird."
Thus far the newspaper of 1906; and a correspondent who knew
the family writes under date March 18, 1912, "Alexander Forrester
Farquharson (the subject of the foregoing notice) was born on
Sept. 26, 1836, and was named Forrester after the minister of West
Linton Parish. He was the son of Andrew Farquharson, mole
catcher and small Farmer, and Isabella Cairns, both natives of the
Carlops district who lived there at a house called Lonely Bield.
Alexander lived in the same house, and followed his father's occupation.
His son died lately and the mother has now left the House."
From this somewhat meagre account we may gather that the whole
of his life was spent in Nature's lonely places
"up on the mountains, in among the hills"
and in this respect he resembles Allan Ramsay who drank in the poetry of Nature when a boy at Leadhills high up on the Crawford moor in Lanarkshire, where hills, glens, and burns, with birds and flowers and ever-changing skies were his to watch and study and take delight in, at the impressionable season of boyhood; whereby Nature herself laid the foundations of his poetic fancies. And this opportunity to walk with Nature came also to Farquharson, in even a greater measure than it did to Ramsay; for he, like Burns, lived and laboured in the country after he had grown to manhood. But Farquharson had not so good an education as the other two, nor did it fall to him, as it did to them, to have at the outset of his career books put into his hands which directed his attention more especially to poetry. Thus, what the selection of English Songs, which he called his Vade mecum, did for Burns, Watson's collection of Scottish poems did for Ramsay, and among these, notably, one by Robt. Semphill
- ↑ Or "Shelter," which, from its name, "Lonely Bield," was probably far from any other human habitation.
