24 MEMOIR OF DR WRIGHT. 



making this purchase arose from an apprehension that 

 the estate might pass into other hands ; by which 

 they might not only lose the medical charge of the 

 Negroes, but he driven from the most lucrative portion 

 of their practice, among the free population of the 

 neighbourhood, — a feeling which Mr Stirling, the 

 superintendant, in his anxiety to serve his two medi- 

 cal friends, suggested, and obtained this mode of re- 

 moving. These efforts were not made, however, with- 

 out involving them in some temporary embarrassment ; 

 but Dr Wright, in a letter dated in September 

 1766, speaks with some confidence of being able, in 

 another year, to extricate themselves out of all their 

 perplexities. " Our business," he adds, " continues to 

 prosper, and, as my friend Steel and I are both of 

 us healthy, obliging and diligent, we hope to retain, at 

 least, if we do not extend, the practice we have already 

 acquired, notwithstanding the numerous competitors 

 who settle in our neighbourhood. Having already 

 discovered something of consequence in the way of 

 our profession, we are not without hopes that hereafter 

 we may be better known in the world." 



In July 1 767, it appears that their Negroes amount- 

 ed to fifteen in number. Some of them were em- 

 ployed in clearing their little plantation. The labour 

 of others was let out to hire ; and this last he de- 

 scribes as the only possible mode of making a fortune 

 speedily, the annual profit being equal to 50 per cent, 

 on the value of the slave. In the mean time, Dr 

 ^Y ^ RI(;HT is never forgetful of his friends at home. 

 With the family of his brother in particular, there 



