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MESTON, WILLIAM, an
ingenious and learned poet of the eighteenth century, was born in the parish
of Mid-Mar, Aberdeenshire, about the year 1688. His parents were in humble
circumstances, but, by submitting to privations themselves, they contrived
to give their son a liberal education. Having acquired the earlier rudiments
of learning at a country school, he was sent to the Marischal college,
Aberdeen, where he made such proficiency, that, on the completion of his
studies, he was elected one of the doctors of the high school of New
Aberdeen. In this situation he continued for some time, discharging its
duties with an assiduity and talent which procured him much respect and
considerable popularity as a teacher. While thus employed, his reputation
and qualifications attracted the notice of the noble family of Marischal,
and he was chosen to be preceptor and governor to the young earl, and his
brother, the celebrated Marshal Keith. Of this trust he acquitted himself so
well, that, on the occurrence of a vacancy in 1714, in the office of
professor of philosophy in Marischal college, he was appointed to it through
the influence of the countess Marischal. This office he also filled with
great ability, and with universal approbation; but he was permitted to
retain it only for a very short time. In the following year, 1715, the civil
war broke out, and Meston, adhering to the political principles of his
patrons, lost his professorship. To compensate this deprivation, he was made
governor of Dunotter castle, by the earl Marischal; a singular enough change
of profession, but sufficiently characteristic of the times.
After the battle of
Sheriffmuir, Meston, with several others of his party, fled to the hills,
where they skulked till the act of indemnity was passed, when they returned
to their homes.
During the time of his
concealment, Meston composed, for the amusement of his companions, several
of those humorous poetical effusions which he has entitled Mother Grim’s
Tales, and which were published in Edinburgh in 1767. Steady to his
political principles, he refused, after his return, to yield obedience to
the new dynasty, and thus cut himself off from every chance of being
restored to his former appointment; an event which might otherwise have
taken place. In these circumstances, destitute of employment, and equally
destitute of the means of subsistence, he accepted an invitation from the
countess Marischal to reside in her family, and availed himself of her
hospitality till her death; contributing largely to the entertainment
of all her guests by his wit, and by the exercise of a singularly happy vein
of pleasantry which he possessed.
On the death of the countess,
Meston was again left destitute, and for some years continued in very
straitened circumstances. At the end of this period he opened an academy at
Elgin, in conjunction with his brother, Mr Samuel Meston, who was eminently
skilled in the Greek language. For some years the academy throve well, and
yielded its teachers a comfortable living. Meston gave instructions in all
the branches of learning taught at universities, became popular as a
teacher, and by his assiduity acquired the unlimited confidence of his
employers. His success, however, in place of operating as an incitement to
further exertion, seems to have thrown him off his guard. Always of a social
disposition, he now became a thorough-paced boon companion; and betook
himself with a devotion and cordiality to his book, his bottle, and his
friend, which was wholly incompatible with his success as a teacher. The
consequence was, that in a few years the academy fell so much away that he
gave it up, and removed to Tureff, a village on the northwest limits of
Aberdeenshire, to which he had been invited by the countess of Errol, who
knew and appreciated his talents. From this lady Meston received, after his
removal, much kindness. She allowed him the use of the family lodging in the
village rent-free, and sent him many presents from time to time to better
his housekeeping. The academy also succeeded well, and continued to improve
during several years, until an unfortunate occurrence suddenly terminated
its existence.
Two of Meston’s young
gentlemen having quarrelled while playing at shuttle-cock, one of them drew
a knife and stabbed the other in the breast. The wound was not fatal, but
the parents of the other children became alarmed for their safety; and
though no blame whatever could attach to the master in what had happened,
they were all removed, and poor Meston was left without a pupil.
Driven from Tureff, Meston
went next to Montrose, where he attempted to open another academy, but
without success. From Montrose he removed to Perth, and here found some
employment in his profession of teaching, but was in a short time afterwards
taken into the family of Mr Oliphant of Gask as a private preceptor. In this
situation he remained for several years, when, falling into a bad state of
health, he resigned it, and removed to Peterhead for the benefit of its
mineral waters. The unfortunate poet was now once more reduced to utter
destitution, with the aggravation of a debilitated frame and failing
constitution. For this luckless hour he had made no provision. With the true
spirit of a poet, he had always entertained a most sublime contempt for
money, and for all habits of economy; spending to-day what he had acquired
to-day, and boldly leaving to-morrow to provide for itself. The comforts,
however, which he was unable to procure for himself in his sickness, were
liberally supplied to him by a generous friend. His old patroness, the
countess of Errol, furnished him with every necessary and comfort which his
infirmities and forlorn condition required, even to the fitting out of his
apartment. Finding no benefit to his health from his residence at Peterhead,
he removed to Aberdeen, where he died in the spring of 1745, and was buried
in the Spittal churchyard of Old Aberdeen.
Meston was esteemed one of
the best classical scholars of his time. He was also an excellent
mathematician. As a poet his fame is now reduced to very narrow limits. His
poetry is, we believe, scarcely known to the present generation; and yet it
would seem to merit a better fate, were it not perhaps for its grossness and
indelicacy. He was a slavish imitator of Butler in style and manner; and it
is not improbably owing to this circumstance, which necessarily excluded
originality, that his otherwise clever poems have so soon sunk into
oblivion. But though a copyist of style and manner, Meston had a genius of
his own, and that of a pretty high order. In many instances his poetry
exhibits scintillations of wit and humour not inferior to the brightest in
the pages of Hudibras. A volume of his poems, containing The Knight, Mother
Grim’s Tales, and several other miscellaneous pieces, was published, as
already noticed, in Edinburgh in 1767, and this is, we believe, all that
remains of Meston, a man of very considerable genius, and "a fellow of
infinite jest." |
