LOWE, John, poet, born near New Galloway, Scotland, in 1750; died in Culpeper county, Virginia, in December, 1798. He was a son of the gardener of Kenmure castle, and was apprenticed to a weaver, but found means to pursue the academical course at Edinburgh, and studied theology while teaching in the family of a gentleman named McGhie, with whose daughter he exchanged vows of affection. He wrote verses descriptive of the scenery of the River Dee and Loch Ken, and was inspired by the death at sea of the lover of a sister of his betrothed to compose a melodious and affecting ballad called " Mary's Dream," by which his fame as a poet has been preserved. Not obtaining a charge in Scotland, he emigrated to this country in 1773, to become a tutor in the family of George Washington's elder brother. He subsequently conducted a boarding-school at Fredericksburg, Virginia, which was at first successful, but eventually failed. Amid new scenes he forgot the lady to whom his faith was pledged, and married an American, but the union was not happy and lie died at the house of a friend, having, it is suspected, taken a dose of laudanum. His poetical compositions were printed in Richard H. Cromek's "Remains of Nithesdale and Galloway Song," with a memoir by Reverend Mr. Gillespie. See also James Grant Wilson's "Poets and Poetry of Scotland" (New York, 1876).