Alexander Wilson. 



117 



Now ye fair, if ye choose any piece to peruse, 

 With pleasure I'll instantly show it; 



If the pedlar should fail to be favored with sale, 

 Then I hope you'll encourage the poet. 



This second journey brought him noth- 

 ing but bitter disappointment and wounded 

 pride, thoroughly disgusting him with the 

 pack, and convincing him that hawking 

 his poems was no more profitable. An- 

 noyed at the failure of his plans, he re- 

 turned to his native town nearly penniless, 

 and much depressed in spirits, convinced 

 that a packman is a personage whom none 

 esteem, and almost every one despises. 

 He found the general opinion in which 

 packmen were held was " that they are 

 mean-spirited, loquacious liars, cunning 

 and illiterate, watching every opportunity, 

 and using every mean and low art within 

 their power to cheat." He found, too, that 

 for a packman to pretend to be a poet was 

 only to expose himself to ridicule. 



The sale of his poems proving insuffi- 

 cient to provide the necessaries of life, 

 Wilson was obliged to resume the labors 

 of the loom, at which he was tolerably ex- 

 pert, but he worked in a desultory, half- 

 hearted way, and was always in want. 

 This brought on feelings of despondence 

 which affected his health, and gradually 

 reduced him to a very low state. Rousing 

 himself at length, and aided by the kindly 

 counsel and exertions of friends, he again 

 started with pack and poems, and as an ad- 

 ditional resource endeavored to procure 

 some writing for the periodicals of the day. 



He contributed several pieces in prose 

 and poetry to the Glasgow Magazine, and 

 their acceptance brightened his prospects. 

 At this time Wilson wrote the well-known 

 ballad of " Watty and Meg," which was near- 

 ly contemporaneous with Burns's " Tam 

 o' Shanter," and was supposed to be the 

 production of that poet, a supposition 

 which raised Wilson's spirits to a very 

 high pitch; and, shortly afterward, in con- 

 sequence of the Bee refusing to publish 



Wilson's criticism of " Tam o' Shanter," Wil- 

 son sent the manuscript to Burns direct, 

 and received a friendly reply, which led to 

 a subsequent meeting of the two poets, and 

 a pleasant evening at Burns's farm. 



Wilson having been introduced by some 

 of his friends to a debating society at the 

 Edinburgh Pantheon, and having on this 

 first occasion been drawn into an unpre- 

 meditated speech which elicited consider- 

 able applause, he took a regular part in 

 future debates, making all his addresses in 

 poetry. 



In this way he became conscious of 

 the possession of more than average abil- 

 ity, but entirely discouraged by his unsuc- 

 cessful ventures, with a distaste for the 

 loom, with no career open to him, and with- 

 out habits of steady application, his life 

 promised to be a failure. He recognized 

 the necessity of training himself for some 

 steady employment, and being recom- 

 mended to fit himself for the position of 

 mercantile clerk, applied for instruction in 

 the necessary branches of arithmetic, in 

 which he was deficient, and persevered for 

 two days, but on the third day he gave 

 it up. 



Then came the practical result of this 

 roving, unsettled life — he drifted into the 

 companionship of agitators who were favor- 

 ing revolutionary principles, aiid who per- 

 suaded him to write squibs reviling and 

 satirizing the conduct of those who were 

 the most offensive to their views of liberty, 

 or -obnoxious as employers. 



Wilson, thoroughly familiar with all the 

 persons and circumstances, and ready to 

 redress imagined wrongs, was easily pre- 

 vailed on, and wrote a number of poetical 

 squibs, for one of which he was prosecuted 

 and sentenced to imprisonment in the Pais- 

 ley jail, and to burn the manuscript with 

 his own hand. 



Even while the sentence was being car- 

 ried out, he became conscious of his error, 

 and years later he referred to his conduct 



