2 MEMOIR OF DIt WRIGHT. 



He was born in the month of March 1735, at Crieff, 

 a village of Perthshire, delightfully situated on the 

 first rise of the Grampians, and, until the abolition of 

 heritable jurisdictions in 1747, a place of some import- 

 ance in this border district, from its having been the 

 seat of the stewartry of Strathearn. 



It does not appear to what circumstances his choice 

 of the medical profession is to be ascribed. The fleets 

 and armies of Great Britain presented at this eventful 

 period, a field of enterprize well suited to his disposi- 

 tion and temperament ; and the early predilection 

 which he discovered for literary pursuits, would pro- 

 bably determine his preference of a learned profession 

 to that of a mere soldier of fortune. The ill-fated de- 

 scent of Prince Charles Edward on the shores of 

 Scotland, and the occupation of the Highland passes 

 in the neighbourhood of Strathearn, by parties of fo- 

 reign troops, under the Duke of Cumberland, whose 

 head-quarters were for some time at Crieff, in the year 

 1746, occurring at a period when the mind is so open 

 to permanent impressions, could hardly fail to inspire 

 a young person, more spirited and better educated 

 than his companions, with a passion for participating 

 in the stirring scenes of the period, and a desire to see 

 the world beyond the boundaries of his native valley. 



It is an old observation, " that when children play 

 at soldiers, war is at hand ;" but, whether it is to be 

 taken as a sign of the times, or as an indication of his 

 own purpose to make some noise in the world, it ap- 

 pears that our young friend was the drummer of his 

 regiment, of which his brother James, about two 



