LIFE OF WILSON. xv 



acquainted with the poet Burns, who was now in the zenith of his glory ; and an 

 accidental circumstance brought them together. The interview appeared to be 

 pleasing to both ; and they parted with the intention of continuing their ac- 

 quaintance by a correspondence. But this design, though happily begun, was 

 frusti'ated by an imprudent act of the former, who, in a criticism on the tale 

 of Tam O'Shanter, remarked of a certain passage that there was " too much of 

 the brute" in it. The paragraph alluded to is that which begins thus : 



" Now, Tam, Tam 1 had thae been queans." 



Burns, in reply, observed : " If ever you write again to so irritable a creature 

 as a poet, I beg you will use a gentler epithet than to say there is ' too much 

 of the brute in anything he says or does." Here the correspondence closed. 



From Lochwinnoch Wilson returned to Paisley, and again sought subsistence 

 by mechanical labor. But at this period the result of the French Revolution 

 had become evident by the wars enkindled on the continent ; and their influ- 

 ence on the manufactures of Great Britain, particularly those of Paisley, began 

 to be felt. Revolution principles had also crept in among the artisans, which, 

 superadded to the decline of business, were the means of many being thrown 

 out of stated employment; and the distress of others was not a little aggravated 

 by exactions which, it was supposed, neither policy nor justice ought to have 

 dictated. Hence arose a misunderstanding between the manufacturers and the 

 weavers, which soon grew into a controversy, that awakened the zeal of both 

 parties; and Wilson, incited by principle as well as interest, remained not idle 

 on an occasion which seemed to demand the exercise of his talents for the 

 benefit of the poor and the oppressed. 



Among the manufacturers there was one of considerable wealth and influ- 

 ence, who had risen from a low origin by a concurrence of fortunate circum- 

 stances, and who had rendered himself greatly conspicuous by his avarice and 

 knavery. This obnoxious individual was arraigned in a galling satire, written 

 in the Scottish dialect, which is well known to be fertile of terms of sarcasm 

 or reproach. The piece was published anonymously; and, being suited to the 

 taste of the multitude, was read with eagerness. But the subject of it, stung 

 to the quick by the severity of the censure, sought revenge of his concealed 

 enemy, who, through some unforeseen occurrence, was revealed in the person 

 of Wilson. A prosecution for a libel was the consequence of the disclosure; 

 and our satirist was sentenced to a short imprisonment, and to burn, with his 

 own hands, the poem at the public cross in the town of Paisley. Wilson un- 

 derwent the sentence of the law surrounded by his friends, a gallant and 

 numerous band, who viewed him as a martyr to the cause of honor and truth ; 

 and who, while his character was exalted in their opinion, failed not to stig- 

 matize that of his adversary in all the bitterness of contempt. The printer, it 

 is said, was fined for his share in the publication. 



In the year 1792, Wilson wrote his characteristic tale of " Watty and Meg," 

 the last poem which he composed in Scotland. It was published without a 

 name ; and, possessing considerable merit, was, by many, attributed to Burns. 

 This ascription certainly showed a want of discrimination, as this production 

 displays none of those felicities of diction, none of that peculiar intermixture 



