THE STORY OF A STRANGE LIFE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 716, 8 September 1870, Page 4

THE STORY OF A STRANGE LIFE.

+ A recent number of the Fifesh : re Advertiser tells the tale " of a man whose life has been in many respects an extraordinary one. His name was William Finlay, and he died in a Glasgow poorhouse. He was born in the Carse of Gowrie, his father being. a well-to-do farmer there. While Finlay was a lad, his father removed to a farm iv the neighbourhood of Coupar- Angus, and sent his son to be apprenticed to a solicitor in that place. While serving his apprenticeship he began to show traits of character, some of which were to be admired, others, to be deprecated. He began to show a Btrong desire for literary and scientific knowledge, and a by no means common aptitude for their cultivation. But he also began to show a desire for drink, which never left him, and which has certainly blasted a useful life. At this time the Chartist movement was in full vogue, and Finlay threw himself into it with all. the energy of an ardent nature. It : /was then the powers he possessed began to be developed. His oratory surprised all who heard it; and on one occasion, in Dundee, where he had been preaching in a church three Chartist Sermons, his eloquence moved his audience to such a pitch that when he pronounced the 'iAmen' at. the conclusion of one of them, he-was greeted "with a perfect storm of applause. The, ladies of Coupar- Angus also presented him-with; a w.atch. and chain about this time;' in appreciation of his talents. His 'life at this time .is best -told in the following [.stanza/from one of his own poems, published about three, years ago— '.I bore ,the. r gree' \n-. spacious halls— In spenes of revelry. and d,in; . I. led the van in drunken brawls; I took the chair imcourts^of sin. When science «hed resplendent rays, . And.literary.jplendour, shone, . '. . Aroun,d my.headJ (wined, the bays, And claimed the laurels as my own.' 'Ifhis cpoem was ,origina ! ly -inscribed on the trails 'of .-F-rt Lafayette 'Prison, America, »where he was a> military: prisoner. He afters wards-went ■: to ■ Dvmdeey:where :he .-Bet up- itf business ton.hißiawn account as a solicitor, i^nA-soon succeeded sin ;an extensive i«nd nr^ry. 1 influential* business;; But, after -a shortv;tinie of success/ be,- through again taking itothi* drinking habits,- had to decamp. He .» came .back again ?to GouparAngus, and/allied .himself to a atrong.temperance . movement -which was then rising there, and.cantinued to be a moving, spirit in it forborne time, but .he again 1 fell ; and after going* about the ;«hoeraaker3' '«hops in town until bo>had;acquired some knowledge of the opemi i v part of the trad c, he left for America (about-26 .^ears-cago) in -a ship; commanded rby.an old schoobfellow df his-own. Afer arriving therc-his- life was a moat- chequered one-tnow. the ; orator -adclr«ssing ia brilliant •assembly .in "NewiYork, now the tramp begging fora pieco-df bread, mow the candidate ior State honours in Chicago; again the prisoaer in ;,the'Jiaelyodaageon. At one time sailor, .at another --time, soldier. Jie -was through all tl»e;Mei:oan war, either on sea or land, and on the Confederate aide he^vrent through -the l late war. :He -was then in iAmerica for about 23 jears, amiduring-that timehadwandered, through', thogreater part dfi that rgreat.- continent. , He^was a daring, fearless? charaeter^and by his^Beditious con4u«t rendered ■•• himself so • obnoxious to the Goy«conaent that -.they, > about ;three years ago^Bent him- home-to- ScotJand. iHe arrived in -iLivcrpoolj^and soon :mmie hiawaycto Conpar,rnuch broken. down. He; soorr again kft, having noipeac* to remain in one place, 4nd since that'timaihe has been>wandering 4bout through Scotland, -lecturing on 'Ethnology,'.'Agricultural 1 Chemistry,' 'Slavery,' ') Temperance,' &a, inrtbe Btreets. Although ragged, and anything but prepossessing,: he seldom failed to attract nn audience and caise considerable sums of money.' He was almost invariably at the conclusion, or shortly after, iipprehended as drunk and

-disorderly, and- lodged in gaol; and thus he continued wandering about until, his death, after about a week's illness, where we have stated. In his written lectures, the treatment of the subject is clear and perspicuous, ably and logically argued, and of very chaste composition. His poetical genius was also of an uncommon order. He could write acrostics on given subjects on the spot. Some of his temperance melodies are excel ent; and we believe several of his sooga arc published in a collection of Scottish songs called c Whistle Binkie.' He was possessed of an extraordinary memory, remembering, after he came back from America, the mest minute incidents that had occurred before he went away. He could also repeat speeches, word for word, he had delivered 30 years before. "We believe he was known in almost every city and town in Scotland."