Tannahill, Robert, Scottish poet, born at Paisley; the son of a weaver, was bred to the hand-loom, and with the exception of a two years' residence in Lancashire, passed his life in his native town; an enthusiastic admirer of Burns, Fergusson, and Ramsay, he soon began to emulate them, and in 1807 published a volume of “Poems and Songs,” which, containing such songs as “Gloomy Winter's noo Awa,” “Jessie the Flower o' Dunblane,” “The Wood o' Craigielea,” &c., proved an immediate success; disappointment at the rejection by Constable of his proffered MSS. of a new and enlarged edition of his works and a sense of failing health led to his committing suicide in a canal near Paisley; his songs are marked by tenderness and grace, but lack the force and passion of Burns (1774‒1810).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Tanjore * Tanner, Thomas