after he had disclosed his secret to the gentleman at whose expence it was carried on, he was dismissed, without obtaining either a share in the business, or a suitable compensation for his services. He was the first in Scotland who adventured in a fire balloon, constructed upon the plan of Montgolfeir. He ascended from Comely Garden, Edinburgh, amidst the acclamations of an immense multitude, and descended at a distance of a quarter of a mile, owing to some unforeseen defect in the machinery. The failure of this adventure deprived him of the public favour and applause, and encreased his pecuniary difficulties. He again had recourse to his pen for subsistence, and amidst the drudgery of writing, and the cares which pressed upon him daily, he exhilarated his spirits, at intervals, with a tune on the Irish Bagpipe, which he played with much sweetness, interposing occasionally a song of his own composition, sung with great animation. A solace of this kind was well suited to the simplicity of his manners, the modesty of his disposition, and the integrity of his character, such as they were before he suffered his social propensities to violate the rules of sobriety. Forgetting his old friends, he associated with discontented persons, and entered into a deliberate exposition of the abuses of government in "A pamphlet on the excise," and more systematically in a periodical publication, entitled, "The Historical Register," which gratified malignity by personal invective and intemperance of language. He was concerned in the wild irrational plans of the British convention, and published "A hand bill addressed to the people," written in so inflammatory a style, as rendered him obnoxious to government. A warrant was issued to apprehend him, and he left his native country and crossed the Atlantic for America, where where he fixed his residence in the town of Salem, in the state of Massachusetts, where he established a newspaper in connection with a printer, which he continued till his death, which happened in the year 1805, in the 58th year of his age. The editor cannot dismiss this note without acknowledging himself greatly obliged by the communications of Dr. Robert Anderson, of Edinburgh. |