James Scadlock, a poet of considerable power, and an associate of
Tannahill, was born at Paisley on the 7th October 1775. His father, an
operative weaver, was a person of considerable shrewdness; and the poet
M'Laren, who became his biographer, was his uterine brother. Apprenticed
to the loom, he renounced weaving in the course of a year, and
thereafter was employed in the establishment of a bookbinder. At the age
of nineteen he entered on an indenture of seven years to a firm of
copperplate engravers at Ferenize. He had early been inclined to
verse-making, and, having formed the acquaintance of Tannahill, he was
led to cultivate with ardour his native predilection. He likewise
stimulated his ingenious friend to higher and more ambitious efforts in
poetry. Accomplished in the elegant arts of drawing and painting,
Scadlock began the study of classical literature and the modern
languages. A general stagnation of trade, which threw him out of
employment, checked his aspirations in learning. After an interval
attended with some privations, he heard of a professional opening at
Perth, which he proceeded to occupy. He returned to Paisley, after the
absence of one year; and having married in 1808, his attention became
more concentrated in domestic concerns. He died of fever on the 4th July
1818, leaving a family of four children.
Scadlock was an upright member of society, a sincere friend, a
benevolent neighbour, and an intelligent companion. In the performance
of his religious duties he was regular and exemplary. Desirious of
excelling in conversation, he was prone to evince an undue formality of
expression. His poetry, occasionally deficient in power, is uniformly
distinguished for smoothness of versification.