ocured
some employment as a teacher of music; and about the year 1810, one of
his expedients was to give lessons in drawing. He was a man of a fervent
spirit, and possessed of talents, which, if they had been adequately
cultivated, and more concentrated, might have enabled him to attain
considerable distinction; but, apparently aiming at the reputation of
universal genius, he alternately cultivated the study of music, poetry,
painting, and physic. At a more recent period, Sir Walter Scott found
him occasional employment in transcribing manuscripts; and during the
unhappy remainder of his life he had to struggle with many difficulties.

One of his publications bears the title of "Odes and Miscellaneous
Poems, by a Student of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh,"
Edinburgh, 1790, 4to. These lucubrations, which attracted no share of
public attention, were followed by "The Guinea Note, a Poem, by Timothy
Twig, Esquire," Edinburgh, 1797, 4to. His next work is entitled, "An
Introduction to the History of Poetry in Scotland, with Illustrations by
David Allan," Edinburgh, 1798, 4to. This work, though written in a
rambling style, contains a small proportion of useful materials very
unskilfully digested. "A Dialogue on Scottish Music," prefixed, had the
merit of conveying to Continental musicians for the first time a correct
acquaintance with the Scottish scale, the author receiving the
commendations of the greatest Italian and German composers. The work
likewise contains "Songs of the Lowlands," a selection of some of the
more interesting specimens of the older minstrelsy. In 1802 he published
"A Tour from Edinburgh through various parts of North Britain," in two
volumes quarto, illustrated with engravings from sketches executed by
himself. This work met with a favourable reception, and has been
regarded as the most successful of his literary efforts. In 1804 he
sought distinction as a poet by giving to the world "The Grampians
Desolate," a long poem, in one volume octavo. In this production he
essays "to call the attention of good men, wherever dispersed throughout
our island, to the manifold and great evils arising from the
introduction of that system which has within these last forty years
spread among the Grampians and Western Isles, and is the leading cause
of a depopulation that threatens to extirpate the ancient race of the
inhabitants of those districts." That system to which Mr Campbell
refers, he afterwards explain