Waugh,
Carlyle obtained, by competitive examination at Dumfries, the post of
mathematical master at Annan Academy. Although he had, at his parents'
desire, commenced his studies with a view to entering the Scottish
Church, the idea of becoming a minister was growingly distasteful to
him. A fellow-student describes his habits at this time as lonely and
contemplative; and we know from another source that his vacations
were principally spent among the hills and by the rivers of his
native county. In the summer of 1816 he was promoted to the post of
"classical and mathematical master" at the old Burgh or Grammar School
at Kirkcaldy. At the new school in that town Edward Irving, whose
acquaintance Carlyle first made at Edinburgh, about Christmas, 1815,
had been established since the year 1812; they were thus brought
closely together, and their intimacy soon ripened into a friendship
destined to become famous. At Kirkcaldy Carlyle remained over two
years, becoming more and more convinced that neither as minister nor
as schoolmaster was he to successfully fight his way up in the world.
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