We are
surprised at the prose style of Robert; that of Gilbert need
surprise us no less; even William writes a remarkable letter
for a young man of such slender opportunities. One anecdote
marks the taste of the family. Murdoch brought TITUS
ANDRONICUS, and, with such dominie elocution as we may
suppose, began to read it aloud before this rustic audience;
but when he had reached the passage where Tamora insults
Lavinia, with one voice and "in an agony of distress" they
refused to hear it to an end. In such a father and with such
a home, Robert had already the making of an excellent
education; and what Murdoch added, although it may not have
been much in amount, was in character the very essence of a
literary training. Schools and colleges, for one great man
whom they complete, perhaps unmake a dozen; the strong spirit
can do well upon more scanty fare.
Robert steps before us, almost from the first, in his
complete character - a proud, headstrong, impetuous lad,
greedy of pleasure, greedy of notice; in his own phrase
"panting after distinction," and in his brother's "cherishing
a particular jealousy of people who were richer or of more
consequence than himself:" with all this, he was emphatically
of the artist nature. Already he made a conspicuous figure
in Tarbolton church, with the only tied hair in the parish,
"and his plaid, which was of a particular colour, wrapped in
a particular manner round his shoulders.
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