The author of "Woodnotes of a Wanderer," John Ramsay, was born at
Kilmarnock in 1802. With a limited school education, he was early
apprenticed in a carpet manufactory in his native place. He afterwards
traded for some years as a retail grocer. During his connexion with the
carpet factory, he composed some spirited verses, which were inserted in
the _Edinburgh Literary Journal_; and having subsequently suffered
misfortune in business, he resolved to repair his losses by publishing a
collected edition of his poetical writings, and personally pushing the
sale. For the long period of fifteen years, he travelled over the
country, vending his volume of "Woodnotes." This creditable enterprise
has been rewarded by his appointment to the agency of a benevolent
society in Edinburgh.