OF WILSON. xv 



means of procuring subsistence, he was frequently reduced to 

 the want of the necessaries of life. 



Wilson, in common with many, was desirous of becoming 

 personally acquainted with the poet Burns, who was now in 

 the zenith of his glory; and an accidental circumstance brought 

 them together. The interview appeared to be pleasing to 

 both; and they parted with the intention of continuing their 

 acquaintance by a correspondence. But this design, though 

 happily begun, was frustrated by an imprudent act of the for- 

 mer, who, in a criticism on the tale of Tarn O'Shanter, re- 

 marked of a certain passage that there was " too much of the 

 brute" in it. The paragraph alluded to is that which begins 

 thus: 



*' Now Tarn, O Tarn! had tliae been queans." 



Burns, in reply, observed: " If ever you write again to so ir- 

 ritable a creature as a poet, I beg you will use a gentler epithet 

 than to say there is too much of the brute in any thing he says 

 or does." Here the correspondence closed. 



From Lochwinnoch Wilson returned to Paisley; and again 

 sought subsistence by mechanical labour. But at this period 

 the result of the French revolution had become evident by the 

 wars enkindled on the continent; and their influence on the 

 manufactures of Great Britain, particularly those of Paisley, 

 began to be felt. Revolution principles had also crept in 

 among the artisans, which, superadded to the decline of busi- 

 ness, were the means of many being thrown out of stated em- 

 ployment; and the distress of others was not a little aggravated 

 by exactions which it was supposed neither policy nor justice 

 ought to have dictated. Hence arose a misunderstanding be- 

 tween the manufacturers and the weavers, which soon grew 

 into a controversy, that awakened the zeal of both parties; and 

 Wilson, incited by principle, as well as interest, remained not 

 idle on an occasion which seemed to demand the exercise of his 

 talents for the benefit of the poor and the oppressed. 



Among the manufacturers there was one of considerable- 

 wealth and influence: who had risen from a low origin by a 



