A MEETING OF RIVALS 215 



elude from his fugitive letters or from his drawings, as 

 this critic has done, that Wilson was possessed of genius 

 only, and "had nothing else, not even talent and ability." 

 Wilson certainly had a talent for writing and cultivated 

 it with marked success; even his verse was not all of a 

 "despicable mediocrity." In the art of drawing, how- 

 ever, his natural gifts were of a very modest sort, and 

 what he achieved was the result of the most painstaking 

 effort. Of course he was not a finished scholar, as grad- 

 uates from the school of adversity seldom are, but he 

 had a passion for knowledge and the determination to 

 excel. His genius was not fully displayed until a pow- 

 erful motive, the ambition to make known the birds of 

 his adopted land, had possessed his spirit and taxed his 

 powers to their utmost capacity. 



Shortly after he had settled at Gray's Ferry, Wil- 

 son's susceptible nature was touched by another ro- 

 mance, which was again unfortunate for the poet and 

 dreamer, but was probably the making of the ornitholo- 

 gist. Bartram's Botanic Gardens, on the outskirts of 

 Philadelphia, had long been famous for their large and 

 choice collection of native plants, gathered by the inde- 

 fatigable zeal of their worthy founder, John Bartram, 

 Quaker philosopher, traveler, botanist, agriculturalist 

 and nurseryman ; but the fairest flower in the whole col- 

 lection at that time is said to have been Miss Anne 

 Bartram, daughter of John the younger, niece of Wil- 

 liam, who then superintended the "Kingsess Gardens," 

 granddaughter of the founder, and heiress to the estate. 

 To this Quaker maid Wilson addressed a number of his 

 poems, and he interested her in the drawing of birds; 

 on March 29, 1804, he wrote to her uncle: "I send a 

 small scroll of drawing papers for Miss Nancy. She 

 will oblige me by accepting it." This little incident 



