Sir John Sinclair, happening once to dine in company with Wilkie, asked,
in the course of conversation, if any particular circumstance had led
him to adopt his profession. Sir John inquired, “Had your father,
mother, or any of your relations a turn for painting? or what led you to
follow that art?” To which Wilkie replied, “The truth is, Sir John, that
you made me a painter.”--“How, I?” exclaimed the Baronet; “I never had
the pleasure of meeting you before.” Wilkie then gave the following
explanation:--“When you were drawing up the Statistical Account of
Scotland, my father, who was a clergyman in Fife, had much
correspondence with you respecting his parish, in the course of which
you sent him a coloured drawing of a soldier, in the uniform of your
Highland Fencible Regiment. I was so delighted with the sight, that I
was constantly drawing copies of it; and thus, insensibly, I was
transformed into a painter.”