His friend and biographer, Robert Anderson (1750–1830), says that he excelled in classical learning, and made a special study of metaphysics, besides reading widely in general literature.
In 1769 he was presented to a bursary at the University of St Andrews, but soon resigned it, and, returning to Edinburgh next year, entered the theological class.
In 1771 he became tutor to the sons of Major Martin White of Milton, near Lanark.
They reappeared in Robert Anderson's Poets of Great Britain, vol.
; a selection is given in The Works of the British Poets, edited by Thomas Park, vol.