22 MEMOIR OP 



jestic rivers of the Western Hemisphere. We find 

 him speaking of his feelings and habits, about this 

 time, in the following language : 



" Here oft, beneath the shade, I lonely stray, 

 When morning opes, or evening shuts the day ; 

 Or when, more black than night, stern Fate appears, 

 With all her train of pale, despairing fears, 

 The winding walk, the solitary wood, 

 The uncouth grotto, melancholy, rude ; 

 My refuge there, the attending muse to call, 

 Or in Pope's lofty page to lose them all." 



Wilson having returned to Paisley, wrought along 

 with Mr. David Brodie, afterwards a schoolmaster, 

 in a tizo-loom shop ; and so reserved was the dispo- 

 sition of the man, that nearly three weeks elapsed 

 before the fellow-operatives entered into conversa- 

 tion, and commenced that friendship, which neither 

 time nor distance could obliterate. Brodie being his 

 superior in education, was of much use in Wilson's 

 studies of the Latin classics ; and in addition to 

 these, he at this period perused some of the most 

 esteemed English poets. Much of his time, while 

 working at his dreary task, was taken up with 

 these favourites, and many a broken thread was 

 the consequence. The same acquaintance described 

 him as of a very thoughtful turn of mind, con- 

 stantly thinking aloud, and giving vent to poeti- 

 cal effusions, which his keen imagination applied to 

 the leading incidents of the day, or to the beauties 

 of his last rural ramble. He would often indulge 



