my mistress from seven o'clock in the morning until nine at night, and I must
therefore write when others sleep." His means of intellectual improvement
were greatly facilitated by the kindness of a friend, who lent him his ticket to
the Perth Library, and the books which he especially selected for study were
such as showed the serious cast of his mind : they were "Milton's Prose Works,"
"Locke's Works," and several of the writings of Jeremy Bentham, the last of
which became his chief favourites. And that he was studying to purpose, the
following extract from a letter to his mother will sufficiently attest: "I look
upon the earth as a place where every man is set to struggle and to work, that
he "may be made humble and pure-hearted, and fit for that better land to
which earth is the gate. I think, mother, that to me has been given talent; and, if so, that talent was given to make it useful to man. I am determined
never to bend to the storm that is coming, and never to look back on it after it
has passed. Fear not for me, dear mother; I feel that, whether I be growing richer or not, I am growing a wiser man, which is far better."
On finishing his apprenticeship, Nicoll repaired to Edinburgh; but not finding employment there, he opened a circulating library in Dundee, for which undertaking his affectionate mother lent him 20 to her an absolute fortune the raising of which must have involved her in trying difficulties, but which he gave himself no rest until he had repaid. It was the year 1835, the year in which he became "of age," and by the character as well as amount of his labour, he soon showed how conscious he was of the duties of full-grown manhood. He became an extensive contributor to the newspapers of the liberal party in Dundee; he delivered political lectures; he made speeches at public meetings. It will be seen from these that he was an enthusiastic politician, as well as a devout believer in the fact that everything g'ood in government can be made better still. But that species of intellectual labour by which he will be best and longest known, and with which we have most to do, consisted, of poetry, of which he published a volume, under the title of "Songs and Lyrics." The chief faults of these were, that they were written in many cases in the Scottish dialect, of which he had not full mastery and that his language, when impassioned, overflowed into redundancy. Had he lived longer, it is probable that a more matured experience would have induced him to abandon the former, and correct the latter error. Even as it is, however, these poems are admirable, considering that they were written at such an early period: they strike those key- notes of the heart which matured age cannot always reach, but to which old age as well as youth can gladly listen. Indeed, the character and spirit of his poesy, so gentle, so thoughtful, and devout, and withal so imbued with deep truthful feeling, are perhaps best embodied and illustrated in the following extract:—
"The green leaves waving in the morning gale—
The little birds that 'mid their freshness sing—
The wild-wood flowers, so tender-ey'd and pale
The wood-mouse sitting by the forest spring—
The morning dew the wild bee's woodland hum,
All woo my feet to nature's forest home.
"There I can muse, away from living men,
Reclining peacefully on nature's breast—
The wood-bird sending up its God-ward strain,
Nursing the spirit into holy rest!
Alone with God, within this forest fane,
The soul can feel that all save Him is vain.
