Robert, the author of The Course of Time, was born at Moorhouse, in the parish of Eaglesham in Renfrewshire, in 1798, and received his elementary education at the school of Mearns. His characteristic love of learning displayed itself when he was still a rough rustic boy, hoeing and weeding in his father's fields. From that time it was his chief ambition to train himself for being a literary man, and especially a poet. While preparing for the university at the parish school of Fenwick, he gave his days and nights to the Latin language and to English poetry. While studying at Glasgow college, between 1817 and 1822, he kept the great authors ever standing as models before his mind's eye. His master-passion assumed a more decided form when he had taken the degree of Master of Arts, and had become a theological student in the United Secession Church. He then produced those stories which were afterwards published together under the title of Tales of the Covenanters, and set himself to evolve by degrees the ambitious plan of a great poem. At length, in July 1826, just when he was on the eve of taking license as a preacher, his Course of Time, a poem written in blank verse, and consisting of ten books, was completed. The circumstances attending this work's appearance before the public were very favourable. Blackwood the publisher, to whom it was first sent, submitted the manuscript to the perusal of Professor Wilson. That genial critic discovered its merit immediately, and recommended that it should be printed. Accordingly, the book was published in March 1827, and was at once received as a poem of no ordinary merit. It is true that, to a discriminating eye, the design appeared unwieldy, the execution unequal, the images confused, indistinct, and distorted; and the diction frequently mere empty turgidity. Yet there were many qualities which secured the approbation of a wide circle of readers. Those who were fond of religious verse were delighted to find so much deep piety and orthodox sentiment joined with such a fresh and vigorous genius. Those who indulged in general literature admired the bold and striking imagination, the touches of tender feeling, and the signs of a strong crude power which the author everywhere displayed. The consequence was, that the edition was sold rapidly; the poem was favourably treated by the reviews; and the new poet was even placed by some thorough-going admirers on a level with Dante and Milton. It soon appeared that poor Pollok had purchased fame with his precious life. As his reputation began to increase, his body began to sink. In the course of a few months symptoms of consumption, the effect of his intense mental toil, became apparent. Several eminent and rich patrons rose up to assist him; but their assistance was too late. As a last resource, it was determined to send him to the mild climate of Italy; but his death-stricken frame could not be carried any farther than Southampton. There, on a September morning, six months after the publication of his great poem, he breathed his last; and there a granite obelisk erected over his grave, and bearing an inscription by the late Dr John Brown of Edinburgh, still tells of his untimely fate. The Life of Pollok, by his brother, appeared at Edinburgh in 1843. The twenty-first edition of his Course of Time, beautifully illustrated, was also published by Blackwood in 1857.

POLLIUX. See DIOGENES.