original patrimony had been handsomely augmented by his wife's dowry.
But his guardian (a maternal uncle) had proved culpably remiss in the
management of his property, he himself had been careless in pecuniary
matters, and these circumstances, along with others, convinced him of
the propriety of adopting a profession. His inclinations were originally
towards the Scottish Bar; and he now engaged in legal studies in the
capital. In 1815 he passed advocate, and, during the terms of the law
courts, established his residence in Edinburgh. He was early employed as
a counsel at the circuit courts; but his devotion to literature
prevented him from giving his heart to his profession, and he did not
succeed as a lawyer. In 1816 appeared his "City of the Plague," a
dramatic poem, which was followed by his prose tales and sketches,
entitled "Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life," "The Foresters," and
"The Trials of Margaret Lindsay."

On the establishment of _Blackwood's Magazine_, in 1817, Wilson was one
of the staff of contributors, along with Hogg, Lockhart, and others; and
on a difference occurring between the publisher and Messrs Pringle and
Cleghorn, the original editors, a few months after the undertaking was
commenced, he exercised such a marked influence on the fortunes of that
periodical, that he was usually regarded as its editor, although the
editorial labour and responsibility really rested on Mr Blackwood
himself. In 1820 he was elected by the Town-Council of Edinburgh to the
Chair of Moral Philosophy in the University, which had become vacant by
the death of Dr Thomas Brown. In the twofold capacity of Professor of
Ethics and principal contributor to a popular periodical, he occupied a
position to which his genius and tastes admirably adapted him. He
possessed in a singular degree the power of stimulating the minds and
drawing forth the energies of youth; and wielding in periodical
literature the vigour of a master intellect, he riveted public
attention by the force of his declamation, the catholicity of his
criticism, and the splendour of his descriptions. _Blackwood's Magazine_
attained a celebrity never before reached by any monthly periodical; the
essays and sketches of "Christopher North," his literary
_nom-de-guerre_, became a monthly treasure of interest and
entertainment. His celebrated "Noctes Ambrosianae," a series of dialogues
on the literature and manners of the times, appeared in _Blackwood_ from
1822 til