Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/305

Rh several forms of municipal jurisprudence established in modern Europe;"—these lectures, he says, were to assist gentlemen who did not study professionally, in the understanding of history. Though he devoted much time and study to prepare these lectures, he was afterwards unfortunate in not being able to obtain a sufficient audience to repay him for their composition—they were consequently soon discontinued. A syllabus of the entire course was afterwards published. Still the sums of money he continued to receive from his publishers were amply sufficient to maintain him in a respectable manner, if managed with prudence and discretion; but his unfortunate peculiarity off temper, and extravagant desire of supporting a style of living which nothing but a liberal and certain income would admit of, frequently reduced him to distress, and finally to the jail. He might have long remained in confinement, but that some worthy friends interceded; and, on their suggestion, he engaged himself to write a History of Scotland, for which Messrs Morrisons of Perth were to pay him at the rate of three guineas a sheet, his creditors, at the same time, agreeing to release him for fifteen shillings in the pound, to be secured on two thirds of the copyright; before this arrangement was fully concluded, melancholy to relate, nearly the whole of the first volume of the History of Scotland was written in jail. It appeared in 1793, and one volume of the work was published every year successively, until the whole six were completed. During that period he went on a tour through the western parts of Scotland, and from notes taken on the road, he compiled a work in two volumes octavo, called " A Journey through the Western Parts of Scotland." He also gave to the world, "A Topographical Account of Scotland," "A New and Complete System of Universal Geography," "A Memoir of Robert Burns," besides many contributions to magazines and other periodical works. He was also engaged by Sir John Sinclair, to superintend the publication of his Statistical Account of Scotland. By this time he had acquired great facility in the use of his pen, and, being extremely vain of the versatility of his genius, he flattered himself there was no range in literature, however high, that was not within the scope of his powers. Impressed with these ideas, he made an attempt at dramatic composition, and having some influence with the manager of the theatre, he contrived to get introduced on the stage an after-piece, written, as he says, in great haste, called, "St Kilda in Edinburgh; or, News from Carnperdown;"—but as if to verify the adage, "Things done in a haste are never done well," so it turned out with St Kilda. Being devoid of every thing like interest, and violating in many parts the common rules of decency, it was justly condemned before it reached the second act.

Our author's vanity must have on this occasion received a deep wound, being present m the house at the time;—overwhelmed with disappointment, he flew to his lodgings and confined himself to bed for several days. Still blinded by vanity in the midst of his mental sufferings, he imputed the failure of his play to the machinations of his enemies. He therefore determined on "shaming the rogues" by printing. It is needless to say, it neither sold nor was talked of. The most amusing part of this affair was the mode in which he persisted in forcing his production on the public. We shall present our readers with an extract from his highly inflated preface. It commences with a quotation from Sterne's Tristram Shandy. "The learned bishop Hall tells us in one of his decades, at the end of his Divine Meditations, that it is an abominable thing for a man to commend himself, and verily I think so; and yet, on the other hand, when a thing is executed in a masterly kind of fashion, which thing is not likely to be found out, I think it is fully as abominable that a man should lose the honour of it. This is exactly my situation." In the following he quotes Swift:—"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign—