PRINGLE, Thomas, a man distinguished not more for his poetical talents than for his ill-requited worth, was born at Blaiklaw in Teviotdale in 1789, and attended the university of Edinburgh. Lame, friendless, and barely sustaining himself by acting as a clerk in the Register Office of the Scottish capital, the rustic youth set himself to acquire an honourable position in life. His first efforts were made as much from necessity as from inclination in the province of literature. He became a contributor to Albyn's Anthology, and published in the Poetic Mirror a poem entitled "The Autumnal Excursion." The notice which these attempts gained induced him to lay down his clerkship for a time, and to devote all his attention to literary pursuits. He started and conducted the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine, which was soon changed into Blackwood's Magazine. At the same time, he was editing the Edinburgh Star and Constable's Magazine, and publishing a volume entitled The Excursion, and other Poems. His activity, in fact, was in a fair way of securing for him a place in his new profession, until untoward events occurred to drive him to another field of labour. In 1820 Pringle set sail to try his fortune at Cape Colony. He succeeded in gaining the situation of government librarian at Cape Town. He then attempted to eke out his income by establishing an academy, by starting a periodical called the South African Journal, and by undertaking the editorship of The South African Commercial Advertiser. All these enterprises were succeeding most favourably when the despotic intolerance of the governor compelled him to discontinue them, and to repair to Britain in 1826. The life of Pringle only assumed a more gloomy character after his return to London. It is true that in 1827 he obtained the important and congenial position of secretary to the Anti-Slavery Society; but when that association had attained its object and was broken up in 1834, he was again thrown upon the world. All the efforts and influence he could employ to obtain a public appointment were fruitless. An attack of consumption at the same time rendered it absolutely necessary that he should seek a warmer climate. He was actually preparing to return to the Cape when he died suddenly on the 5th December 1834. Pringle's poetical works consist of stray effusions classed under the two heads of African Sketches and Ephemerides. They were published in a collected form, accompanied with a memoir of the author, by Leitch Ritchie, London, 1839.