Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/277

Rh cember, 1793 His father, William Laing, A.M., was the first who opened an academy for classical education in the new town of the Scottish capital; where he laboured for thirty-two years, and was one of the most popular teachers of his day. His maternal grand-lather, William Gordon, >vas also a teacher of very considerable note, and is known in the schools as the author of a system of geography, a treatise on arithmetic, a translation of the first six books of Livy, &c.

With such a parentage it might naturally have been supposed, that the subject of this memoir was more likely to have spent his days amid the quiet pursuits of literature, than in the bustle of the camp, and amid the din of arms; the appearances of his early years seemed to favour the supposition. Under the tuition of his father, young Laing received the elementary education that was necessary to prepare him for the university, and he was enrolled in the Humanity class at the early age of thirteen years. Previous to this he had acquired a very considerable knowledge of the Latin language, of which he was passionately fond; and the appearances he made in the class then taught by professor Christison, were of so marked a kind as to secure him the very flattering notice of his preceptor; he was held up as a model for the imitation of his fellow students, and there were but few who could entertain any hope of excelling him.

At the age of fifteen Mr Laing entered on the business of active life, having engaged himself as assistant to Mr Bruce, a teacher in Newcastle. In this situation he remained only six months, when he returned to Edinburgh, and entered into company with his father, taking charge of the commercial department of the academy, for which his beautiful penmanship and other acquirements singularly qualified him.

But the time was fast approaching when the subject of our memoir was to exchange the ferula for the sword. In 1809, volunteering was very general in Edinburgh, and young Laing attached himself to a corps then forming. In 1810, he was made an ensign in the prince of Wales' volunteers, and from that period the academy had no more charms for him. In his eighteenth year he abandoned the irksome duties of teaching, and set off for Barbadoes to his maternal uncle, colonel, afterwards lieutenant-general Gordon, through whose kind offices he looked forward to an introduction into the army. At that time colonel Gordon held the office of deputy quartermaster-general in Barbadoes, and on his nephew's arrival he gave him a situation as clerk in his counting house. In this situation Mr Laing repeatedly came in contact with Sir George Beckwith, then at the head of the command of the military on the station, who was so much pleased with the young clerk, and took so deep an interest in his fortunes, as to secure for him unsolicited an ensign's commission in the York light infantry.

But we must hurry over the first years of Laing's service in the army, in order that we may have space to detail the more important passages in his history. Having obtained the ensigncy in the York light infantry, he immediately joined his regiment in Antigua; in two years he was made a lieutenant, and shortly after, on the reduction of the regiment, he was put on half-pay. Dissatisfied with the inactivity consequent on such a measure, as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made, he exchanged into the 2nd West India regiment, and proceeded to Jamaica. Here over exertion in consequence of his discharging the duties of quarter-master-general caused him to suffer much from disease of the liver. He retired to Honduras for the recovery of his health, where colonel Arthur, appreciating his excellence as an officer, detained him with another division of the regiment, and appointed him fort major. His distemper, however, which at first seemed to yield in Honduras, returned with increasing violence, and compelled him to seek relief in the air of his native land, and the sympathies of his relations.