If, However, He Had At Any Time Formed The Resolution Of Spending The Remainder Of His Days At Home, His Mind Soon Changed; For Soon After, We Find Him Endeavouring, Through Various Channels, To Get His Services Accepted, Either By The Association, Or By Government.

He had frequent communications with his steady friend, Sir Joseph Banks, upon this subject; and no opportunity of qualifying himself still farther for such an expedition was left unimproved.

For two years he seemed not to have fixed upon any determinate course of life; sometimes considering the propriety of renting a form, and occasionally looking out for openings in the medical profession. In the meantime, the profits derived from his Travels secured him from want, and prevented him from proving burdensome to his family. Unknown to them, he seems to have been employing every means to get the master passion of his soul gratified; and he fondly trusted that it would be shortly in his power to add to the discoveries he had already made. He rejected a proposal made to him by Mr. Edwards, to superintend his property in the West Indies, evidently cherishing the hope of being again sent out by the African Association. About this time, the capture of Goree seemed to open a communication with Central Africa, and Park thought it a good opportunity for revisiting that country. He wrote a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, expressing a confident hope of success, provided the countenance of Government were obtained. His proposal was not at that time accepted; and in a letter to Sir Joseph, dated 31st July 1800, he thus writes, - "If such are the views of Government, I hope that my exertions, in some station or other, may be of use to my country. I have not yet found any situation in which I could practise to advantage as a surgeon; and unless some of my friends interest themselves in my behalf, I must wait patiently until the cloud that hangs over my future prospects is dispelled." Evidently he could not reconcile his taste either to farming, or to the dull and wearisome drudgery of a country surgeon's life; in fact, he seemed altogether discontented with his profession. But when he saw that his prospect of employment by the Association was by no means certain, and might be long deferred, he felt that, as an honest man, it was necessary to provide some certain means of support for a wife and family. In October 1801, an opening took place at Peebles, by the decease of one of the two regular practitioners in that town: he settled there, and soon acquired a practice which, if not particularly remunerating, was at least tolerably extensive. He was surrounded by a pastoral, and, in some places, uncultivated district; and had often to make long rides at night along bad roads, to afford aid to those whose poverty did not allow them to make any return for his skill and kindness. The rides of a country surgeon, near an unfrequented district, are dreary and long; "he is at the mercy of all who may demand his assistance within a circle of forty miles in diameter, untraversed by roads in many directions, and including moors, mountains, rivers, and lakes," generally for a very low recompense, and sometimes for none at all.

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