Professor Blackie at thirty-five.
From a Photograph.
Weeks I wait, months I wait, years all in vain I wait,
Ei Du mein lieber first fee, when wilt thou appear?
The soldier and sailor they dash on and splash on,
And, sure of their pay, scour the land and the sea;
But we peak and pine here, and long, long years pass on
Before our eyes blink at our first guinea fee.
Give a fee, &c.
The Church is an Eden of violets and roses,
The Bishop its Adam from drudgery free;
The big burly priest on his soft down reposes,
While we still must fag on, and cry, "Give a fee!'
Give a fee, &c.
The quack he sells wholesale his pills universal,
And straight waxes richer than sagest M.D.,
But we still must con o'er the same dull rehearsal,
And leave one or two old stagers for to pocket the fee!
Give a fee, &c.
Some men who can worship the star that's ascendant,
One speech from the hustings whips up to the sky;
But I, who in all things am most independent—
Except in my purse—in the mud here I lie.
Give a fee, &c.
Here sit I, all frozen; my youth's glowing visions
See-saw, like a Chinese Joss, or a Turkish Cadi.
I seek for no learning beyond the Decisions,
And my soul's proud ideal is a bright guinea fee.
Give a fee, &c.
My cheeks they are yellow, my hair it is grey, sir;
Mine eyes are deep sunk in my head, as you see;
I feel life's sear Autumn when scarce past its May, sir,
And still I am waiting my first guinea fee!
Give a fee! give a fee! give a fee!
O force me no longer to cry, "Give a fee!"
1834.
The Professor in a kilt.
From a Pen-and-ink Sketch by his Brother-in-law.
"Finally," he said, "at the age of thirty, I found my talents for the bar were small, so I gave it up. In 1841 I was appointed to the newly-formed chair of Latin Literature in Marischal College, Aberdeen." The world knows his work and his successful efforts to better the condition of his fellow-creatures too well for the subject to call for lengthy remark here. His books are extensively read, the two which have had the largest sale being "Self-Culture" and "Life of Burns." His metrical translation of Goethe's "Faust" was done in four months; his "Homer and the Iliad," which occasioned much research, took altogether ten years to complete, but was only worked at as a summer recreation. One of the triumphs of his life was that of founding the Celtic Chair in the University of Edinburgh. Here is the story:—
