XXIV 
LIFE OF 
only of those published contain any reference to her ; and there 
can be little doubt that Martha Maclean bore an influence in his 
fits of despondency. In the New World he formed new attach- 
merits, and, had he lived, was to have married Miss Miller, 
daughter of a considerable proprietor in the vicinity of Winterton, 
and whom he appointed his executrix. 
His spirits being roused by the counsels and exertions of his 
friends, he again commenced travelling, still carrying with him the 
pack and poems ; and, as another resource, endeavoured to procure 
some employment by writing for the periodicals of the day. He 
also projected a work, to be edited and conducted by himself, and 
to be called the Paisley Repository. Of this, a prospectus was 
printed and circulated ; but the advice of Mr Crichton and of Mr 
Brodie saved him from farther embarrassment as a publisher. He 
contributed several pieces, in prose and poetry, to the Glasgow 
Magazine , and wrote “ The Solitary Philosopher, ”* as a specimen, 
for the Bee, under charge of Dr Anderson, hoping, by its merits, 
to gain farther employment. The character of the singular being 
who formed the subject of this memoir, — a “ botanist, philosopher, 
naturalist, and physician,” is thus sketched ; and I have transcribed 
a part, as I consider the intimacy of a young man with secluded 
characters, possessing such eccentricities as the philosopher and 
Tippenny Robin, f must have cast their influence over his after 
feelings, and laid the first shade in his love for seclusion. 
* Published first in the Bee , and afterwards in a Collection of Ancient and 
Modern Characters , printed at Paisley in 1805, p. 250. 
•}• This very eccentric character, whom Wilson had discovered during his 
rambles, and frequently visited, was an Irishman, named Robert Carswell, and 
received his nickname from the circumstance of his never accepting more than 
twopence for a day’s work, except during harvest, when he allowed it to be 
doubled. He lived in a small thatched house, at the Kaim, on the Calder ; 
but was very anxious to possess another dwelling, objecting to that in which he 
lived, on account of a loft, which he said prevented his prayers from reaching 
heaven. The inside was very dirty, filled with peats and potatoes, and was, 
never allowed to be swept, unless by himself. He had hoarded up some money, 
which was kept in paper parcels, of a few shillings each, generally scattered 
about the floor, and which, at his death, he bequeathed to the parish poor. His 
dress was a plain plaiding doublet, the waist girt with a rope of straw or tow, 
in the one side of which was always hung the key of his door, and in the other 
3 
