A man of elegant and varied accomplishments, and one of the most
eloquent public-speakers of the age, James Dodds was born in 1815, in
the county of Roxburgh. He was at first intended by some influential
friends for the Church, and proceeded through part of the College
curriculum, but some changes occurring, he ultimately devoted himself to
the study of law. Probably his ambition was for the Bar; but overruling
circumstances led him, about twelve years ago, to enter on the
profession of parliamentary solicitor in London, in which he has met
with much success.
From his youth a devoted student, he has, amidst the exigencies of
business, sedulously kept up his literary pursuits. He has produced no
independent work, but has largely contributed, both in prose and verse,
to the periodicals. Among these contributions, a series of poems,
chiefly ballads on incidents connected with the times of the Covenant,
which appeared in several of the Edinburgh magazines, about thirteen
years since, attracted much attention. One of these lays we have
transferred to the present work. Mr Dodds has lately prepared a series
of lectures on the fifty years' struggle of the Covenanters, which will
probably be presented to the public. He has evinced a deep interest in
the cause of raising a national monument to Sir William Wallace, and
has, under the auspices of the Central Committee, addressed public
meetings on the subject in many of the principal towns.