Background
He was born in London in 1749 of humble parentage.
He was born in London in 1749 of humble parentage.
After an unruly career at school he entered the service of the East India Company at Madras in 1763, but he threw up his position about two years later and became interpreter to Hyder Ali, afterwards serving as a general in his army; subsequently he seryed the nabob of Arcot, whose chief minister he became. Having enriched himself in this capacity, he began a series of travels through India, Persia, Ethiopia and Abyssinia, which earned him the nickname of "Walking Stewart. " About 1783 he returned to Europe, where he cut a curious figure by wearing Armenian dress. He crossed over to America in 1791 and had various adventures, but soon came back to Europe, and made the acquaintance of Wordsworth in Paris and later of De Quincey in Bath. Becoming short of money, he again went to America, where he supported himself by lecturing. Having returned to Europe, Stewart's fortunes began to mend. In 1813 a claim he had made against the nabob of Arcot was settled by the East India Company for £10, 000, and he took rooms in London and settled down to enjoy life, airing his opinions on literature and art. He died on the 20th of February 1822.
After Walking Stewart's travels came to an end around the turn of the nineteenth century, he became close friends with the English essayist and fellow-Londoner Thomas De Quincey, with the radical pamphleteer Thomas Paine, and with the Platonist Thomas Taylor (1758-1835).
In 1792, while residing in Paris in the weeks following the September Massacres, he made the acquaintance of the young Romantic poet William Wordsworth, who later concurred with De Quincey in describing Stewart as the most eloquent man on the subject of Nature that either had ever met. Recent scholarship by Kelly Grovier has suggested that Stewart's persona and philosophical writings had a major influence on Wordsworth's poetry.
