66 



WILSON-WILTSHIRE. 



stitution. When his friends remonstrated with 

 him upon the danger of his severe application, he 

 answered, " Life is short, and without exi-rtioi 

 nothing can be performed." A fatal dysentery at 

 last seized him, which, after a few days' illness, 

 carried him off, upon the twenty-third of August 

 1813, being then only in his forty-eighth year 

 According to the authority of an American gentle- 

 man who was intimate with him, his deatli \VHS 

 accelerated by an incident in singular keeping with 

 the scientific enthusiasm of bis life. While sitting 

 in the house of one of his friends, he happened to 

 see a bird of a rare species, and which he had been 

 long seeking for in vain, ily past the window. He 

 immediately rushed out of the house, pursued the 

 bird across a river, over which he was compelled 

 to swim, shot and returned with the bird, but 

 caught an accession of cold which carried him off. 

 He was buried next day in the cemetery of the 

 Swedish church, in the district of Southwark, Phi- 

 ladelphia, with all the honours which the inhabi- 

 tants could bestow on his remains. The clergy and 

 all the public bodies walked in procession, and wore 

 crape on their arms for thirty days. A simple mar- 

 ble monument was placed over him, stating shortly 

 the place and year of his birth, the period of his 

 emigration to America, and the day and cause of 

 his death. The whole plates for the remainder of 

 the Ornithology having been completed under Wil- 

 son's own eye, the letter-press of the ninth volume 

 was supplied by his friend Mr George Ord, who 

 had been his companion in several of his expedi- 

 tions, as also a memoir of the deceased naturalist. 

 Three supplementary volumes, containing Ameri- 

 can birds not described by Wilson, have been publish- 

 ed by Charles Lucien Bonaparte (fol., 18251828). 

 There have been few instances, where the glow- 

 ing fire of genius was combined with so much strong 

 and healthy judgment, warmth of social affection, 

 and correct and pure moral feeling, as in the case 

 of Alexander Wilson. He is said to have been 

 strikingly handsome in person, although rather slim 

 than robust, with a countenance beaming with in- 

 telligence, and an eye full of animation and fire. 

 His career furnishes a remarkable example of the 

 success which, sooner or later, is the reward of per- 

 severance. It is true he did not attain riches, but 

 upon the possession of these his happiness was not 

 placed. He wished, to use his own words, " to 

 raise some beacon to show that such a man had 

 lived," and few have so completely achieved the 

 object of their ambition. 



WILSON, JAMES, a signer of the American 

 Declaration of Independence, was born in Scotland 

 about the year 1742. His father was a respectable 

 farmer. He studied successively at Glasgow, St 

 Andrew's, and Edinburgh, and then left Scotland 

 for America. He arrived, in 1776, in Philadel- 

 phia, where he was first employed as a tutor in the 

 Philadelphia college and academy, in which capa- 

 city he acquired a high reputation as a classical 

 sc'oolar. In a few months, however, he relinquish- 

 ed that occupation, and commenced the study of 

 the law. At the expiration of two years, he was 

 admitted to the bar, and began to practise, first at 

 Reading, and then at Carlisle. From the latter 

 place he removed to Annapolis, and, in . 778, re- 

 turned to Philadelphia, where he continued to re- 

 side during the rest of his life. He was elected, in 

 1775, a member of congress, and took his seat on 

 the lOtk of May. He was a uniform advocate of 

 the declaration of independence, though ba may 



have thought, perhaps, that the measure was brought 

 forward prematurely : lie voted in favour of it, as 

 well on the first of July, in opposition to the ma- 

 jority of his colleagues from Pennsylvania, as on 

 the 4th, in conjunction with the majority. In 1777, 

 he was superseded in congress, through the influ- 

 ence of party spirit ; but, in 1782, he was again 

 honoured with a seat. In 1779, he received the 

 appointment of advocate-general for the French 

 government in the United States, an office, the 

 duties of which were both arduous and delicate. 

 He resigned it in 1781, in consequence of difficul- 

 ties respecting the mode of remuneration. He con- 

 tinned, however, to give advice in such cases as 

 were laid before him by the ministers and consuls 

 of France, until 1783, when the French transmitted 

 to him a present of ten thousand livres. In 1787, 

 Mr Wilson was a member of the convention which 

 framed the constitution of the United States, and 

 was one of the committee who reported the draught. 

 In the state convention of Pennsylvania, he was 

 principally efficient in causing the constitution to 

 he adopted. He was subsequently a member of 

 the convention which changed the constitution of 

 Pennsylvania, to render it conformable to that of 

 the United States, and, being one of the committee 

 appointed to prepare, was intrusted with the duty 

 of making the draught of the necessary form. In 

 1789, he was appointed, by general Washington, a 

 judge of the supreme court of the United States; 

 and, whilst on a circuit in North Carolina, in the 

 discharge of his functions as such, he died at Eden- 

 ton, 28th of August, 1798, aged about fifty-six 

 years. As a lawyer and judge, Mr Wilson was 

 eminent for talent and integrity. In private life 

 he was courteous, kind, and hospitable, His poli- 

 tical and legal disquisitions are extant in three vo- 

 lumes, and much esteemed. 



WILSON, RICHARD, an English landscape 

 painter, was born at Pineges, in Montgomeryshire, 

 in 1714. After receiving a classical education, he 

 was sent to London, and placed as a pupil with an 

 obscure portrait painter. On leaving his master, 

 he first practised in the same branch of his profes- 

 sion in London, but with no great success. At 

 length he went to Italy, where he occasionally ex- 

 ercised his talents in studies of landscape ; and at 

 Venice meeting with Zuccarelli, that artist per- 

 suaded him to devote himself wholly to the culti- 

 vation of that department of the art in which he 

 attained so much excellence. After staying some 

 time at Rome and Naples, where he acquired great 

 reputation, he returned to England in 1755, and 

 settled in the metropolis. He had for a while much 

 employment ; but he was at length doomed to un- 

 dergo indifference and neglect, and was reduced to 

 solicit the office of librarian to the royal academy, 

 of which he was one of the brightest ornaments. 

 He died in May, 1782. His taste was exquisite ; 

 and whatever came from his easel bore the stamp of 

 elegance and truth. If posthumous fame could com- 

 jensate for contemporary neglect, the fate of Wilson 

 might be considered as fortunate ; for he has been 

 ranked among the greatest artists of modern times. 

 WILTSHIRE; an inland county of England, 

 mving Gloucestershire on the north, Berkshire and 

 Elampshire on the east, Dorsetshire on the south, 

 and Somersetshire and Gloucestershire on the west. 

 The boundaries of the county are very irregular, 

 not following the course of any river. The area 

 of the county is equal to about 1379 square miles, 

 or 882,560 statute acres. 



