Mickle had various literary failures and minor successes until, while at Forest Hill, he produced his translation of the Lusiad, from the Portuguese of Luís de Camões.

In 1784, he published the ballad of Cumnor Hall, which suggested to Walter Scott the writing of Kenilworth.

He is perhaps best remembered, however, by the beautiful lyric, "There's nae luck aboot the Hoose", which, although claimed by others, is almost certainly his.

In 1781 Mickle married Mary Tomkins, the daughter of his former landlord in Forest Hill, and settled in Wheatley.

[3] His namesake and great-grandson, William Julius Mickle, became a distinguished medical doctor.