Fu autore di pittoreschi romanzi di vita scozzese, incentrati sulla trasformazione della rimpianta società rurale in società industriale: Annali della parrocchia (Annals of the Parish, 1821), Gli ereditieri dell'Ayrshire (The Ayrshire Legatees, 1821), Il lascito (The Entail, 1823).
È uno dei numerosi scrittori che sono rivendicati come autore del Canadian Boat-Song.[1]
Opere
Cursory Reflections on Political and Commercial Topics (1812)
The Life and Administration of Cardinal Wolsey (1812)
The Tragedies of Maddelen, Agamemnon, Lady Macbeth, Antonia and Clytemnestra (1812)
Voyages and Travels (1812)
Letters from the Levant (1813)
The Life and Studies of Benjamin West (1816)
The Majolo (2 volumi) (1816)
The Appeal (1818)
The Wandering Jew (1820)
The Earthquake (3 volumi) (1820)
Glenfell (1820)
The Life, Studies and Works of Benjamin West (1820)
Annals of the Parish (1821)
The Ayrshire Legatees (1821)
Sir Andrew Wylie (3 volumi) (1822)
The Provost (1822)
The Steam-Boat (1822)
The Entail (3 volumi) (1823)
The Gathering of the West (1823)
Ringan Gilhaize (3 volumi) (1823)
The Spaewife (3 volumi) (1823)
The Bachelor's Wife (1824)
Rothelan (3 volumi) (1824)
The Omen (1825)
The Last of the Lairds (1826)
Lawrie Todd (1830)
The Life of Lord Byron (1830)
Southennan (3 volumi) (1830)
Bogle Corbet or The Emigrants (3 volumi) (1831)
The Lives of the Players (1831)
The Member (1832)
The Radical (1832)
Stanley Buxton (3 volumi) (1832)
Autobiography (2 volumi) (1833)
Eben Erskine or The Traveller (3 volumi) (1833)
The Ouranoulagos or The Celestial Volume (1833)
Poems (1833)
The Stolen Child (1833)
Stories of the Study (3 volumi) (1833)
Literary Life and Miscellanies (3 volumi) (1834)
A Contribution to the Greenock Calamity Fund (1834)