himself in life. During his last residence in Scotland in the Summer and
Autumn of 1798, he had formed a matrimonial engagement with the eldest
daughter of Mr. Anderson of Selkirk, with whom he had served his
apprenticeship. He returned therefore to Scotland in the Summer of 1799,
and was married on the 2d of August in that year. This union, which
connected him still more closely with a family with which he had long
lived in friendship, contributed in a high degree to his future comfort
and happiness.

For more than two years after his marriage, he resided with his mother
and one of his brothers, who lived together and carried on the farm at
Fowlshiels. The reason of his continuing there so long a time does not
very distinctly appear, nor is any thing particular related as to the
manner in which he employed himself during this period. The profits of
his publication, and the liberal compensation which he had received from
the African Association for the services rendered to them, had placed
him, for the present, in easy circumstances: and he remained for a long
time altogether doubtful and unsettled as to his future plan of life.
During part of the year 1799 he appears to have been engaged in a
negotiation with government (which finally proved unsuccessful) relative
to some public appointment in the colony of New South Wales. At another
time he had partly determined to look out for a farm; and at last came,
somewhat reluctantly, to the determination of practising his profession,
to which he was perhaps at no time much attached, and which was now
become more irksome from disuse.

The uncertainty in the state of his affairs during this period was much
encreased by the hope, which he constantly entertained, of being sent
out on another expedition, either by the African Association or by
Government. This clearly appears from a letter which he wrote to Sir