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HERIOT, JOHN.—This
talented and industrious writer in miscellaneous literature, was the son
of the sheriff-clerk in East Lothian, and was born at Haddington, on the
22d of April, 1760. He belonged to a literary family, his elder brother
George having been the author of a poem on the West Indies, and Travels
in Canada. At the age of twelve, the subject of this memoir was sent to
the High School of Edinburgh, from which, after having studied the usual
course, he was transferred to the University of Edinburgh. But whatever
might have been the profession for which he was educated, the plan was
frustrated by domestic misfortune, and the consequent dispersion of his
father’s family. This event obliged him, in 1778, to repair to London,
and afterwards to betake himself to the naval service, by enlisting in
the marines. In this capacity he first served in the Vengeance,
afterwards in the Preston, and finally in the Elizabeth. During these
changes, his experience of a nautical life was chiefly confined to
cruises upon the coast of Africa and the West Indies; but in the
Elizabeth, commanded by Captain Maitland, he saw more active service,
both at Port Royal, and in the engagement of the British fleet,
commanded by Sir George B. Rodney, and that of France under de Guichen,
on the 17th of April, 1780. On this occasion the action was
indecisive; for although the French line was broken, many of the British
captains hung back, from their political dislike to Rodney, because he
was a Tory, so that he was fully seconded by only five or six ships. Of
these the Elizabeth, in which Heriot served as a subaltern officer of
marines, was one; and in the unequal contest, in which his ship bore up
against two of the enemy, he was among the wounded. During the same
year, having exchanged into the Brune frigate of thirty-two guns, he was
exposed off the coast of Barbadoes to that tremendous hurricane of the
10th of October, 1780, by which the island was so fearfully devastated,
and nearly reduced to ruin. So imminent was the danger to which the
Brune was exposed on this occasion, that Heriot ever afterwards
commemorated the return of that day as one of solemn festival and devout
gratitude. After continuing in the service till the peace of 1783, Mr.
Heriot, in consequence of the general reduction, retired with the rank
and half-pay of a first lieutenant, after he had been afloat five years.
On coming ashore, Heriot
found that his life was to be commenced anew. Upon this occasion, his
first proceeding was one of such filial piety as to insure him both long
life and success in whatever career he might select; he mortgaged his
half-pay that he might assist his parents in their reduced
circumstances, although he thereby left himself wholly destitute. Having
learned no regular occupation before he went to sea, and having now
neither time nor means for such a purpose, he proceeded to turn such
scholarship and experience as he had acquired to their best account, by
becoming author; and for several years his life was that precarious
scramble to which authorship is often doomed before it attains its
proper footing. Among his attempts in this way, he wrote a poem entitled
"Sorrows of the Heart," and two novels, one of which, entitled "The
Half-pay Officer," contained an account of several adventures in which
he had been personally engaged; and from the profits of these works he
contrived to subsist nearly two years. His next occupation was that of
journalism, and he was employed in the "The Oracle," until a
misunderstanding with the proprietor occurred, when he removed his
services into "The World," of which he became sole editor. This "World,"
however, was so completely a falling one, that no literary Atlas could
have propped it up; and in a short time he was glad to escape from the
burden. Still it was fortunate that while journalism was now obtaining
that ascendency which the keen and public discussion of great political
questions had occasioned, Heriot, by practice, had become an able
journalist. His support was therefore worth having; and being a staunch
Conservative, and opposed to the over-liberal opinions which the French
revolution had engendered in Britain, it was natural that the officers
of government should secure the services of such an efficient advocate.
Accordingly, one of the secretaries of the Treasury, who admired his
talents, proposed that he should start a daily paper, while two other
influential government functionaries engaged to support it with funds
from their own pockets. Thus assisted, Mr. Heriot, on the 1st of
October, 1792, issued the first number of "The Sun," a daily paper, that
soon outstripped its contemporaries in the rapidity and wideness of its
circulation. Animated by this success, he also started, on the 1st of
January, 1793, a daily morning paper called "The True Briton," and
continued to edit both journals with great success until 1806, when he
was relieved from this oppresive double labour, by being appointed a
commissioner of the Lottery. Even while employed in superintending his
two daily newspapers, he gave, in 1798, a proof of his indefatigable
industry and application, by publishing an interesting account of the
battle of the Nile, drawn up from the minutes of an officer of rank in
the squadron, which passed through several editions.
After this, the career of
Mr. Heriot was one of honour, profit, and comfort. In 1809 he was
appointed deputy-paymaster to the troops in the Windward and Leeward
Islands, where he resided till 1816, and discharged the duties of the
office so much to the satisfaction of the Duke of York, that at his
return to England he was appointed comptroller of Chelsea Hospital. In
this tranquil situation he remained till his death, which occurred on
the 29th of July, 1833. |
