Stray leaves from the portfolios of Alisander the seer, Andrew Whaup, and Humphrey Henkeckle

THE AUTHOR’S LIFE.
IX.
former connection with the “ Spirit of the Union.” He was
accordingly apprehended on the 8th of April, and lodged in
Glasgow Bridewell, where he was confined like a felon for
eleven days. During that period he was examined by a
Sheriff Bruce, as to his supposed connection with the ad¬
dress, but of course without affording any ground for a
charge. Solitary confinement was then the order of the
day; and deprived of the liberty of seeing or hearing others,
he was determined to hear himself. He accordingly
sang^ “ wi’ a* his birr” from morning till night, and from
evening till morning; and as a punishment, he was removed
into a back cell, less comfortable, but where his singing
would be less heard. During his confinement, and while
suffering keenly at the treatment he so unmeritedly re¬
ceived, he wrote with his pencil upon the wall of his cell,
the piece entitled, “ Lines written in Bridewell.”
In 1821, through the friendship of Mr George Rodger
—then manager of the extensive works of Henry Monteith
and Co.—our Poet was enabled to leave the loom for a
less laborious situation in that'establishment, as an inspector
of the printed cloth—which situation he continued to hold
till the year 1832.
In 1822, when George the Fourth visited Edinburgh,
our Poet’s wit and pungent satire were called forth in an
admirable song, “ Sawney, now the King’s come.” A
copy of this having been sent by some of his friends to the
London Examiner, it was published in that paper with
some laudatory remarks. The publication reached Edin¬
burgh on or about the day of the king’s arrival. Sir
Walter Scott, having written a piece to welcome his
majesty, beginning “Carle now the King’s come,” the
coincidence of their appearance and measure gave the
greatest annoyance to the “ Great Unknown,” who it is
well known used every possible exertion to discover the
author.
We ought not to omit stating, that in 1823, he was
among the first to call the public attention to the encroach-
2 b