⟨misfortune⟩,” says Gilbert, “We could only oppose hard labour, and the most rigid economy. We lived very sparingly. I doubt not but the hard labour and sorrow of this period of life, was in a great measure the cause of that depression of spirits, with which Robert was so often afflicted through his whole life afterwards.
About a year after this period, their old school-master, Mr Murdoch having established himself in the town of Ayr, Robert for some time attended him there, and learned a little of English grammar, Latin, and French, In the meantime, he read with great avidity every book chance threw in his way. The removal of the family to Lochlea took place when Burns was in his sixteenth year; a little before which period, according to his own account, he “First eommitted the sin of rhyme.” In one of his epistles he says:—
........
“I mind it weel, in early date,
When I was beardless, young, and blate—
E’er then a wish, I mind its power,
A wish that to my latest hour
Shall strongly heave my breast:
That I, for poor auld Scotland’s sake,
Some useful plan or book could make.
While at Lochlea, Robert and his brother were employed by their father and received £7 each a year. Robert was remarkable for his personal
