HABITS OF STUDY. 133 



midst of his family. Their talking did not interrupt 

 him ; and as Mrs Wilson liked to listen to reading whilst 

 going on with her work, it was not unusual for one of 

 the party to be reading aloud one book whilst he himself 

 was busy writing another. In this way it is remembered 

 that he wrote the whole of his work on Angling, whilst, 

 owing to the accession of a lively visitor, a brisk current 

 of conversation was circulating around him day by day, 

 into which, without any absolute pause in his employ- 

 ment, he dipped occasionally — thus encouraging that 

 cheerfulness in others, which to his own kind spirit was 

 the most quickening music. 



Simultaneously with his encyclopedia articles, Mr 

 Wilson was engaged in a lighter but kindred task. 

 Amongst the various undertakings to which Constable's 

 '•Miscellany" gave rise, and which brought a large supply 

 of sound information within the reach of every reader, no 

 one was more judiciously planned or more conscientiously 

 carried out than " The Edinburgh Cabinet Library." Its 

 object was to give a geographical and historical panorama 

 of the world, taking its chief races and regions one by 

 one. By a wise distribution of labour, superior treatment 

 was secured for every subject ; and the zoology of Africa, 

 India, China, and North America, was contributed by Mr 

 Wilson. 



This chapter on the early days at " Canaan " may be 



