36 MEMOIR OF Dli WRIGHT. 



which he was distinguished. By this time, however, 

 he began to experience a yearning desire to return to 

 his native country. It was not exactly that home 

 sickness to which the inhabitants of mountainous re- 

 gions are said to be peculiarly subject, but was com- 

 bined with that strong affection for his parents, which, 

 up to this period, was the master emotion of his mind. 

 " Crieff," he says in a letter to his brother, " you think 

 one of the finest villages in Scotland. I thought so 

 too : but if my ideas are altered on seeing it again, I 

 cannot help that. I hope not, and that I may find 

 the society of the place, and its neighbourhood, so 

 agreeable as to induce me to sit down quietly amongst 

 you. Whether, after an absence of eighteen years, 

 twelve of them of excessive fatigue in this sultry cli- 

 mate, my inclination would lead me, or my ability or 

 strength admit of my practising again at home, I can- 

 not determine till I see you. I cannot come to you 

 till next summer. It is enough that my reasons are 

 good, and cannot be dispensed with. It has given me 

 much concern ; but I must not allow my health or 

 spirits to be affected by it, but endeavour to preserve 

 them to be a comfort to our parents." 



In the following year, he again writes, " I am doing 

 every thing I can to get away from this island. Pray 

 remember me with affection to my father and mother, 

 and help them to keep heart. Remember me also to 

 my sister, and the little strangers. After an absence 

 of nineteen years, my acquaintances in Crieff must be 

 few ; but my memory is strong ; and if a single fea- 

 ture remains unchanged, I shall be able to recall it." 



The adjustment of accounts with their numerous 



