Alexander Maclagan was born at Bridgend, Perth, on the 3d of April 1811.
His father, Thomas Maclagan, was bred to farming, but early abandoning
this occupation, he settled in Perth as a manufacturer. Unfortunate in
business, he removed to Edinburgh, with a young family of three
children; the subject of the present memoir being the eldest. Catherine
Stuart, the poet's mother, was descended from the Stuarts of
Breadalbane, a family of considerable rank in that district. At the
period of his father's removal to Edinburgh, Alexander was only in his
fifth year. Not more successful in his pursuits in Edinburgh, where
three additional children were born to him, Thomas Maclagan was unable
to bestow upon his son Alexander the liberal education which his strong
natural capacity demanded; but acquiring the common rudiments of
knowledge at several schools in the Old Town, he was at the early age of
ten years taken thence, and placed in a jeweller's shop, where he
remained two years. Being naturally strong, and now of an age to
undertake more laborious employment, his father, rather against the
son's inclinations, bound him apprentice to a plumber in Edinburgh, with
whom he served six years. About this time he produced many excellent
drawings, which received the approbation of the managers of the
Edinburgh School of Design, but the arduous duties of his occupation
precluded the possibility of his following his natural bent. His
leisure time was chiefly devoted to the cultivation of literature. So
early as his thirteenth year he entered the Edinburgh Mechanics' Library
as a member; and from this early age he dates his taste for poetry.
In 1829, while yet an apprentice, Maclagan became connected with the
_Edinburgh Literary Journal_, edited by Mr Glassford Bell. As a
contributor to that publication, he was introduced to the Ettrick
Shepherd, Professor Wilson, William Tennant, and William Motherwell, who
severally commended his verses. On the expiry of his apprenticeship he
worked for some time as a journeyman plumber. He was married in his
eighteenth year; and he has three surviving children. In 1831, he
commenced on his own account, in a shop at the head of the Mound,
Edinburgh; but finding he had inadequate capital, he proceeded to London
in quest of employment in some managing department of his trade. In the
metropolis he was well received by Allan Cunningham, and was, through
his recommendation, offered an appointment under Mr Cubitt, the well
known builder. A strike among Mr Cubitt's workmen unfortunately
interfered with the completion of the arrangement, and the poet, much
disappointed, returned to Edinburgh. He now accepted an engagement as
manager of a plumbery establishment in Dunfermline, where he continued
two years. He afterwards devoted himself to literary and educational
pursuits.
In 1841, Maclagan published a collected edition of his poems, which
immediately attracted the favourable notice of Lord Jeffrey. He invited
the poet to his residence, and on many occasions proved his benefactor.
On the publication, in 1849, of another volume, entitled, "Sketches from
Nature, and other Poems," the critic wrote to the poet in these words,
"I can remember when the appearance of such a work would have produced a
great sensation, and secured to its author both distinction and more
solid advantages." Among the last written of Lord Jeffrey's letters, was
one addressed to Mr Maclagan in regard to the second edition of his
Poems. Shortly after his patron's death, the poet found a new friend in
Lord Cockburn, who procured for him a junior clerkship in the office of
the Inland Revenue, Edinburgh. This situation proved, however, most
uncongenial; he found himself unsuited to the practice of lengthened
arithmetical summations, and he resigned his post under the promise of
being transferred to another department, more suitable to his habits. In
1851 he was, by a number of his admirers, entertained at a public dinner
in the hall attached to Burns' Cottage, and more lately he received a
similar compliment in his native town. Considerate attentions have been
shewn him by the Duchess of Sutherland, the Duke of Argyle, the Rev. Dr
Guthrie, and other distinguished individuals. In the autumn of 1856 he
had conferred on him by the Queen a small Civil List pension.
Mr Maclagan's latest publication, entitled, "Ragged and Industrial
School Rhymes," appeared in 1854, and has well sustained his reputation.
Imbued with a keen perception of the beautiful and pleasing, alike in
the natural and moral world, his poetry is marked by refinement of
thought, elegance of expression, and an earnest devotedness. In social
life he delights to depict the praises of virtue. The lover's tale he
has told with singular simplicity and tenderness.