I imagine the first question anyone will ask is what is a column called "Scottish Flotsam". I guess we will have to begin with what is "flotsam". Among the definitions of the word are "things washed ashore" or "miscellaneous trifles". Well, we believe you can find some great treasure on the ocean shore. But -- you will never know what you will find or its value. So we decided that is what this column is - flotsam. We wanted a place to put things that didn't fit anywhere else and might be of interest. Each item could be a column itself and might be some day but for now it will be the flotsam, which washes our way.

Robert Tannahill
1774 - 1810

Poet, flautist and song-writer. Born in Paisley, the son of a weaver, he received a good education for the time. At the age of 12, Tannahill became an apprentice to his father. He taught himself to play the flute and began to compose songs as he worked. Inspired by Robert Burns' work Tam o' Shanter, Tannahill walked to Alloway Kirk in 1794 and spent time visiting the localities connected with the poet.

An economic down-turn caused him to move to Bolton (England) in 1799, but he returned to Paisley in 1801 on hearing of the illness of his father. He set up one of the first Burns' Clubs in the town in 1805. Tannahill's first and only publication, Poems and Songs (1807), proved popular, selling out within weeks. His best known songs are perhaps "The Braes o' Balquhidder", "Braes o' Gleniffer", "O are ye sleepin, Maggie" and "Jessie the Flower o' Dunblane".

Tannahill enjoyed the theatre, attending regularly in Paisley and occasionally travelling to Glasgow. Gaining recognition throughout Scotland, he was visited by James Hogg (1770 - 1835), the 'Ettrick Shepherd', in 1810.

Prone to depression, when a second set of poems were rejected first by a Greenock publisher and then by Archibald Constable in Edinburgh, Tannahill drowned himself in the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal. He is remembered by a statue in his home town and the Paisley Tannahill Club still meet in the house in Queen Street where he was brought up.

http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/people/famousfirst1214.html

It is time to stop combing the library but we can not quit without some quotes from Quotable Scots another great History bookshelf resident. Let's see what quotes we can find.

Epitaphs

Ludh an spioraid, dol timcheall na drochair

The way of the ghost, going round the bridge

You can find more articles in the archive under Scottish Flotsam.