James Ballantine, one of the most successful of living Scottish song
writers, was born in 1808 at the West Port of Edinburgh. Of this
locality, now considerably changed in its character, but still endeared
to him by the associations of his boyhood, he has given a graphic
description in a poem, in which he records some of the cherished
recollections of the days when amid its "howffs," and "laigh"
half-doored shops he "gat schulin' and sport." He lost his father, who
was a brewer, when he was only ten years old, and, being the youngest of
the family, which consisted of three daughters and himself, his early
training devolved upon his mother, who contrived to obtain for her
children the advantage of an ordinary education. James Ballantine must,
however, be considered as a self-taught man. Beyond the training which
he received in early life, he owes his present position to his own
indefatigable exertions.
By his father's death, the poet was necessitated, while yet a mere boy,
to exert himself for his own support and the assistance of the family.
He was, accordingly, apprenticed to a house-painter in the city, and
very soon attained to considerable proficiency in his trade. On growing
up to manhood, he made strenuous exertions to obtain the educational
advantages which were not within his reach at an earlier period of life,
and about his twentieth year he attended the University of Edinburgh for
the study of anatomy, with a view to his professional improvement. At a
subsequent period he turned his attention to the art of painting on
glass, and he has long been well-known as one of the most distinguished
of British artists in that department. At the period Mr Ballantine began
his career as a glass-painter, the art had greatly degenerated in
character; and the position to which it has of late years attained is
chiefly owing to his good taste and archæological researches. When the
designs and specimens of glass-painting for the windows of the House of
Lords were publicly competed for, the Royal Commissioners of the Fine
Arts adjudged those produced by Mr Ballantine as the best which were
exhibited, and the execution of the work was intrusted to him. A few
years ago he published a work on stained glass, which has been
translated and published in Germany, where it retains its popularity. Mr
Ballantine has thus never allowed his literary pursuits to interfere
with the exercise of his chosen avocations; "he has," in the words of
Lord Cockburn, "made the business feed the Muses, and the Muses grace
the business."
Although Mr Ballantine began at a very early age to woo the Muse, some
of his most popular pieces having been produced about his sixteenth
year, he made his first appearance in print in the pages of "Whistle
Binkie." In 1843 his well-known work, "The Gaberlunzie's Wallet," was
published in monthly numbers, illustrated by the late Alexander Ritchie.
This production was enriched with some of his best lyrics. His second
work, "The Miller of Deanhaugh," likewise contains a number of songs and
ballads. In 1856 Messrs Constable & Co., of Edinburgh, published an
edition of his poems, including many of those which had been previously
given to the world. This volume contains the happiest effusions of his
genius, and will procure him a prominent place in his country's
literature. Mr Ballantine is the poet of the affections, a lover of the
beautiful and tender among the humbler walks of life, and an exponent of
the lessons to be drawn from familiar customs, common sayings, and
simple character.