Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/307

Rh of his last shilling, he seemed altogether devoid of reflection. Then he would betake himself to his work, as an enthusiast in every thing, confining himself for weeks to his chamber, dressed only in his shirt and morning gown, and commonly with a green veil over his eyes, which were weak, and inflamed by such fits of ill regulated study.

In 1806, he addressed a letter to Mr Wilberforce on the justice and expediency of the Slave Trade. He wrote a short system of Chemistry, and a few months previous to his death he published a small work called the Comforts of Life, which, it appears, met with a ready sale.

The last years of his life were spent in the deepest misery. His friends and associates by degrees deserted him; some offended at his total want of steadiness, others worn out by constant importunities, and not a few disgusted at the vanity and envy he displayed on too many occasions; added to all this, his employers found they could place no dependence on his promises, as he would only resume his pen when urged to it by stern necessity, so that he found at last, it was with great difficulty he could procure even a scanty subsistence. Deep in debt, and harassed by his creditors, who were all exasperated at his constant want of faith, he was at last consigned to the jail of Newgate, where he dragged on a miserable existence for many months. From that vile prison he wrote the following pathetic appeal to the Literary Fund, which we derive from a most appropriate source, D'Israeli's "Calamities of Authors."

"Ever since I was eleven years of age I have mingled with my studies the labour of teaching or writing to support and educate myself. During about twenty years, while I was in constant and occasional attendance at the university of Edinburgh, I taught and assisted young persons at all periods in the course of education, from the alphabet to the highest branches of science and literature. I read lectures on the law of nature, the law of nations, the Jewish, the Grecian, the Roman, and the canon law, and then on the feudal law, and on the several forms of municipal jurisprudence established in modern Europe. I printed a Syllabus of these lectures, which was approved; they were as introductory to the professional study of law, and to assist gentlemen who did not study it professionally, in the understanding of history. I translated Fourcroy's Chemistry twice, Savary's Travels in Greece, Dumourier's Letters, Gesner's Idyls in part, an abstract of Zimmerman on Solitude, and a great diversity of smaller pieces. I wrote a journey through the western parts of Scotland, which has passed through two editions; a History of Scotland in six volumes 8vo; a topographical account of Scotland, which has been several times reprinted; a number of communications in the Edinburgh Magazine; many prefaces and critiques. A Memoir of the Life of Burns, which suggested and promoted the subscription for his family, has been reprinted, and formed the basis of Dr Currie's life of him, as I learned by a letter from the Doctor to one of his friends; a variety of jeux d'esprit, in verse and prose, and many abridgments of large works. In the beginning of 1799, I was encouraged to come to London. Here I have written a great multiplicity of articles in almost every branch of literature, my education in Edinburgh having comprehended them all. The London Review, the Agricultural Magazine, the Universal Magazine, the Anti-Jacobin Review, the Public Characters, the Annual Necrology, with several other periodical works, contain many of my communications. In such of these publications as have been received, I can show that my anonymous pieces have been distinguished with very high praise. I have written also a short system of Chemistry, and I published a few weeks since a small work called the Comforts of Life, of which the first edition was sold in one week, and the second edition is now in rapid