Grampian Club > Leaves from my autography

96 LEAVES FROM MV AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
and introduced him to the leading parishioners. Be-
fore leaving Dunfermline I had been invited to pre-
pare a work in connection with Airthrey Spa, and,
relieved of ministerial duty, I undertook the task.
Resolving that the work should embrace a series of
tours, from Bridge of Allan as a centre, I visited
every spot of interest from Lochleven to Lochlomond,
and from the heights of Torwood to the crags of
Drummond Castle. The work appeared in the
autumn of 1851, with the title, "A Week at Bridge
of Allan." The first edition sold at once, and six
editions were subsequently called for.
On the recommendation of Professor Hill of Glas-
gow, I obtained a temporary appointment to a chapel
at Carnoustie, a marine resort on the coast of Forfar-
shire. My engagement at Carnoustie continued one
year, and though suffering some of the discomforts
which attend missionary labours, I experienced in the
neighbourhood a kind and generous hospitality.
During the summer of 1852, I find from daily
entries in my diary that I had entered upon a wide
and varied course of reading. I was privileged with
access to a public library at Dundee, of which my
uncle was librarian. I earned at Carnoustie eighty
pounds, which, with twenty pounds obtained in con-
nection with my work on Bridge of Allan, enabled
me to subsist sixteen niunths witlunit contracting
debt.
I resolved to devote myself wholly to literature.