?6 MEMOIR UT Dlt WRIGHT. 



or inactivity. Some idea may be formed of the dili- 

 gence with which he applied himself to literary pur- 

 suits, from a simple enumeration of his correspondents. 

 A list has been preserved of them, arranged in alpha- 

 betical order. It extends to the extraordinary num- 

 ber of two hundred and sixty, and comprises the great- 

 est names in literature and science in every quarter of 

 the globe. 



In the month of November 1787, Dr Wright re- 

 ceived such a communication from the Secretary at 

 War, proposing his return to the Service, as induced 

 him to go to London, for the purpose of ascertaining 

 the rank and employment which it was proposed to as- 

 sign to him. He undertook the journey with the re- 

 solution of declining the medical charge of a regi- 

 ment. Such an appointment was offered him ; but 

 after several interviews with Mr Surgeon-General 

 Adair, and the Secretary at War, he preserved his 

 resolution, and, after a short visit to Odiham, and a 

 few weeks' stay among his friends in London, he re- 

 turned to Edinburgh, without engaging in the ser- 

 vice. 



It is probable that Dr Wright would never have 

 entertained the proposal, but for a circumstance which 

 reflects the highest credit on all the parties concerned 

 in it. Soon after his second return from Jamaica, he 

 invested the greater part of his fortune in the hands 

 of a gentleman, at that time engaged in mercantile 

 pursuits, without exacting any other security than the 

 personal obligation of the borrower. About this pe- 

 riod, and for some years afterwards, Dr WEIGHT had 



