He was most happily married, in 1802, to Miss Graham, the eldest daughter of Mr Graham, writer in Annan, and town-clerk of that burgh ; and in the endearments of domestic life, which no man could enjoy with a truer re lish, he found a never-failing solace amid the cares of bu siness, and the growing infirmities of his delicate constitu tion. In 1808, his declining health made him resolve to retire from the bar, and at last to adopt the profession to which his mind had adhered with constancy from his ear liest years. After some abortive attempts to obtain ordi nation in the English church, he was admitted to holy or ders by the Bishop of Norwich, in May 1809, and soon entered on the curacy of Shipton, in Gloucestershire. He found his new duties easy and pleasant ; but family reasons compelled him in a short time to abandon them, and return to Scotland. After various changes, which are too unim portant to be recorded in a work of this nature, he was finally settled in 1811, as curate of the parish of Sedge field; in the neighbourhood of the city of Durham. His figure was tall, and his features striking, and his sermons, if not animated, were interesting and earnestly impressive. His benevolent and ardent concern for the poor and afflict ed of his flock, secured for him an interest in their hearts, which, however, lie was not to be permitted long to retain. Severe headach, to which lie had been occasionally sub ject from his early years, and which materially injured his memory and other mental faculties, increased consider ably about this time ; and the disease had now made an alarming progress, which was soon to rob his flock of their pastor, his family of their best friend, and the world of a poet, who combined the sublime chords of David's harp with the simplest melody of the sylvan pipe. In August 1311, he returned on a visit to Scotland ; and on the 14th of September he expired, in the house of his elder brother at Whitehill, near Glasgow, in his 47th year. His ashes rest in the sepulchre of his fathers. His afflicted widow, who was absent at the time of his death, and occupied with the duties of her family, was little prepared for this severe trial. She soon after fell into bad health, and died in the year 1815, leaving a son and two daughters to bewail the early loss of both their parents.
Kindness and sympathy for every thing that could feel, were among the strongest characteristics of Graharne's mind ; and those local attachments, perhaps we may call them local prejudices, which find a place in every mind of sensibility, were deeply rooted in his. We do not think it will be necessary to apologize for mentioning, in a memoir of this amiable man, a little trait which strongly marks this feeling. When he was journeying on horseback to wards his native Scotland, he asked of a peasant the name of a stream, which he associated with many tender recol lections of times gone by, merely that he might have the delight to hear that name repeated in the native accent, from which he had been lately estranged. One of the ten derest passages in his Georgics, refers to this circum stance : "How pleasant came thy rushing, silver Tweed, Upon my ear, when, after roaming long In southern plains, I've reacli'd thy lovely bank ! Flow bright, renowned Sark ! thy little stream, Like ray of columned light chasing a shower, Would cross my homeward path ; how sweet the sound, When 1, to hear the Doric tongue's reply, Would ask thy well-known name !" Page 180.
Grahame was early addicted to versification ; but his first acknowledged production from the press, was the oft attempted theme of " Mary Queen of Scots," in the form of a tragedy. This is a long and desultory drama, little
careful of Aristotle's unities, and is sprinkled with rather too much of the Scottish phraseology ; yet it skews so deep and genuine a sympathy, and so high an admiration for the sufferings and virtues of the ill-fated queen, and contains some such tender images, as to give it a claim on the public attention, independently of its dramatic merit. It has amused us to observe also, how his chivalrous enthu siasm and warm nationality seemed to have gained such an ascendency over his mind, as to have made him forget the political maxims which he had learned at Glasgow in the school of Millar, as well as those anti-catholic feelings which he had imbibed in his early years. This was a favourite pro duction with the author, but not with the public ; and he republished it with very considerable alterations in a 12mo edition of his poems, in two volumes, which appeared in 1807. His next considerable publication in the order of time, and indeed the poem by which his fame is most like ly to be established, is " The Sabbath." The day of so lemn universal rest, presented peculiar attractions to a soul feelingly alive to the beauties of nature, to the impul ses of benevolence, and to the sublime emotions of piety. In Scotland especially, where the duties of that day are still perhaps more decently and religiously observed than in any other part of the Christian world ; where the pause from painful toil and frivolous pleasure is more strik ing; and where even those who do not feel its purest joys, partake by sympathy and association in its reflected influ ence ; the theme could scarcely fail to be a popular one. In short, we are inclined to think, that the subject admits of the highest poetical embellishments which language can furnish, with the additional interest which truth must al ways claim over fiction. The antiquity of the Sabbath ; the authority by which it was appointed ; the cause of its institution, first as a memorial of the creation of the world, or rather of that part of the system of the universe with which we are connected, as proceeding from the hand of the Almighty, and as leading us to acts of adoration and praise ; the manner in which it was solemnly enacted, amid the stupendous displays of divine power on Mount Sinai ; the jubilee, or year of deliverance, as connected with this wonderful institution ; then the change from the seventh to the first day of the week, on account of the completion of man's redemption, by the resurrection of Christ ; and lastly, its direct and indirect moral influence, its actual and progressive benefits conferred on society, and the prospect of the Sabbath of rest and joy in the realms of endless blessedness ;—all these present a combination of grand and affecting topics and images, which are worthy of the high est powers of the noblest poet, and which indeed render it less difficult to find materials, than to select from the abundance that presses on hib attention. If Grahame has not attempted to give that kind of unity to his subject of which it would have admitted; if he contents himself with a less ambitious flight, he has, at least, felt the inspiration of his sacred theme, and, by a series of tender and affect ing pictures, simply and naturally combined, and derived chiefly from the customs and history of his native land, and from scriptural allusions and associations, has produc ed a work which renders his name conspicuous, not only among the poets, but among the benefactors of his country.