220 BUSINESS, RECREATION ; SUNSHINE, SHADOW. 



and so accurate in describing them, the poet was not 

 much acquainted with books of natural history; and so 

 little of an egotist or pedant was Mr Wilson, that one 

 might have lived with him a century without ever sus- 

 pecting that he had published anything. Conversely, it 

 might be feared that some good naturalists are little 

 acquainted with the poems of Wordsworth. Mr Wilson 

 had an entomological acquaintance of high attainments, 

 who had spent all his days buried in beetles, and who had 

 never heard the name of Sir Walter Scott till Mr Wilson 

 mentioned it to him. 



"Hydal Mount, 14tk March '43. 



" My dear Mr Wilson, — You will almost be at a loss 

 to think what has become of me, I have been so tardy in 

 acknowledging the kind present of your ' Voyage.' If I 

 am not mistaken, I told you that the book would remain 

 at Carlisle till my son William had read it. He was then 

 upon the point of going to Herefordshire, . . , . and 

 various causes have kept him from Carlisle seven weeks, 

 so that I have not long had your book in my possession. 

 But I am now enabled to say, that though I have not 

 read every part of it, it has given me very great pleasure, 

 both on account of the interesting and rarely visited 

 regions you passed through, but also by the manner in 

 which you have described what you saw. Your pages 



