WILLIAM CAMERON.


William Cameron, minister of Kirknewton, in the county of Edinburgh, was
educated in Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he was a pupil of Dr
Beattie, "who ever after entertained for him much esteem." A letter,
addressed to him by this eminent professor, in 1774, has been published
by Sir William Forbes;[3] and his name is introduced at the beginning of
Dr Beattie's "Letter to the Rev. Hugh Blair, D.D., on the Improvement of
Psalmody in Scotland. 1778, 8vo:"--"The message you lately sent me, by
my friend Mr Cameron, has determined me to give you my thoughts at some
length upon the subject of it."

He died in his manse, on the 17th of November 1811, in the 60th year of
his age, and the 26th year of his ministry. He was a considerable writer
of verses, and his compositions are generally of a respectable order. He
was the author of a "Collection of Poems," printed at Edinburgh in 1790,
in a duodecimo volume; and in 1781, along with the celebrated John Logan
and Dr Morrison, minister of Canisbay, he contributed towards the
formation of a collection of Paraphrases from Scripture, which, being
approved of by the General Assembly, are still used in public worship
in the Church of Scotland. A posthumous volume of verses by Mr Cameron,
entitled "Poems on Several Occasions," was published by subscription in
1813--8vo, pp. 132. The following song, which was composed by Mr
Cameron, on the restoration of the forfeited estates by Act of
Parliament, in 1784, is copied from Johnson's "Musical Museum." It
affords a very favourable specimen of the author's poetical talents.