a, he
resided in the mansion of his friend, Mr Graham of Gartmore, himself a
writer of verses, as well as a patron of letters; but a difference with
the family caused him to quit this hospitable residence. After passing
some time with his relatives in Argyllshire, he entertained a proposal
of establishing himself in Glasgow, as partner of a mercantile house,
but this was terminated by the dissolution of the firm; and a second
attempt to succeed in the republic of letters had an equally
unsuccessful issue. In Edinburgh, whither he had removed, he was seized
with a severe nervous illness, which, during the six following years,
rendered him incapable of sustained physical exertion. With a little
money, which he contrived to raise on his annuity, he retired to a small
cottage at St Ninians; but his finances again becoming reduced, he
accepted of the hospitable invitation of his friends, Major Spark and
his lady, to become the inmate of their residence of Viewforth House,
Stirling. At this period, Macneill composed the greater number of his
best songs, and produced his poem of "Scotland's Skaith, or the History
of Will and Jean," which was published in 1795, and speedily gained him
a wide reputation. Before the close of twelvemonths, it passed through
no fewer than fourteen editions. A sequel, entitled "The Waes o' War,"
which appeared in 1796, attained nearly an equal popularity. The
original ballad was composed during the author's solitary walks along
the promenades of the King's Park, Stirling, while he was still
suffering mental depression. It was completed in his own mind before any
of the stanzas were committed to paper.

The hope of benefiting his enfeebled constitution in a warm climate
induced him to revisit Jamaica. As a parting tribute to his friends at
Stirling, he published, in 1799, immediately before his departure, a
descriptive poem, entitled "The Links of Forth, or a Parting Peep at the
Carse of Stirling," which, regarded as the last effort of a dying poet,
obtained a reception fully equal to its merits.

On the oft-disappointed and long unfortunate poet the sun of prosperity
at length arose. On his arrival in Jamaica, one of his early friends, Mr
John Graham, of Three-Mile-River, settled on him an annuity of L100
a-year; and, in a few months afterwards, they sailed together for
Britain, the poet's health being essentially improved. Macneill now
fixed his permanent residence in Edinburgh, and, with the proc