Stuart Lewis, the mendicant bard, was the eldest son of an innkeeper at
Ecclefechan in Annandale, where he was born about the year 1756. A
zealous Jacobite, his father gave him the name of Stuart, in honour of
Prince Charles Edward. At the parish school, taught by one Irving, an
ingenious and learned person of eccentric habits, he received a
respectable ground-work of education; but the early deprivation of his
father, who died bankrupt, compelled him to relinquish the pursuit of
learning. At the age of fifteen, with the view of aiding in the support
of his widowed mother, with her destitute family of other five children,
he accepted manual employment from a relation in the vicinity of
Chester. Subsequently, along with a partner, he established himself as a
merchant-tailor in the town of Chester, where he remained some years,
when his partner absconded to America with a considerable amount,
leaving him to meet the demands of the firm. Surrendering his effects to
his creditors, he returned to his native place, almost penniless, and
suffering mental depression from his misfortunes, which he recklessly
sought to remove by the delusive remedy of the bottle. The habit of
intemperance thus produced, became his scourge through life. At
Ecclefechan he commenced business as a tailor, and married a young
country girl, for whom he had formed a devoted attachment. He
established a village library, and debating club, became a diligent
reader, a leader in every literary movement in the district, and a
writer of poetry of some merit. A poem on the melancholy story of "Fair
Helen of Kirkconnel," which he composed at this period, obtained a
somewhat extensive popularity. To aid his finances, he became an
itinerant seller of cloth,--a mode of life which gave him an opportunity
of studying character, and visiting interesting scenery. The pressure of
poverty afterwards induced him to enlist, as a recruit, in the Hopetoun
Fencibles; and, in this humble position, he contrived to augment his
scanty pay by composing acrostics and madrigals for the officers, who
rewarded him with small gratuities. On the regiment being disbanded in
1799, he was entrusted by a merchant with the sale of goods, as a
pedlar, in the west of England; but this employment ceased on his being
robbed, while in a state of inebriety. Still descending in the social
scale, he became an umbrella-maker in Manchester, while his wife was
employed in some of the manufactories. Some other odd and irregular
occupations were severally attempted without success, till at length,
about his fiftieth year, he finally settled into the humble condition of
a wandering poet. He composed verses on every variety of theme, and
readily parted with his compositions for food or whisky. His field of
wandering included the entire Lowlands, and he occasionally penetrated
into Highland districts. In his wanderings he was accompanied by his
wife, who, though a severe sufferer on his account, along with her
family of five or six children, continued most devoted in her attachment
to him. On her death, which took place in the Cowgate, Edinburgh, early
in 1817, he became almost distracted, and never recovered his former
composure. He now roamed wildly through the country, seldom remaining
more than one night in the same place. He finally returned to
Dumfriesshire, his native county; and accidentally falling into the
Nith, caught an inflammatory fever, of which he died, in the village of
Ruthwell, on the 22d September 1818. Lewis was slender, and of low
stature. His countenance was sharp, and his eye intelligent, though
frenzied with excitement. He always expressed himself in the language of
enthusiasm, despised prudence and common sense, and commended the
impulsive and fanciful. He published, in 1816, a small volume, entitled
"The African Slave; with other Poems and Songs." Some of his lyrics are
not unworthy of a place in the national minstrelsy.