Every leisure moment was now employed in reading one
thing or another. Having to support myself by manual labour, my
time for reading was but little, and to overcome this disadvantage,
my usual method was to place a book before me while at meat, and at
every repast I read five or six pages." The perusal of Locke's
'Essay on the Understanding' gave the first metaphysical turn to
his mind. "It awakened me from my stupor," said he, "and induced
me to form a resolution to abandon the grovelling views which I had
been accustomed to entertain."
Drew began business on his own account, with a capital of a few
shillings; but his character for steadiness was such that a
neighbouring miller offered him a loan, which was accepted, and,
success attending his industry, the debt was repaid at the end of a
year. He started with a determination to "owe no man anything,"
and he held to it in the midst of many privations. Often he went
to bed supperless, to avoid rising in debt. His ambition was to
achieve independence by industry and economy, and in this he
gradually succeeded. In the midst of incessant labour, he
sedulously strove to improve his mind, studying astronomy, history,
and metaphysics. He was induced to pursue the latter study chiefly
because it required fewer books to consult than either of the
others.
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