x ii LIFE OP WILSON. 



pected; it was the vehicle of sentiments which were in unison 

 with his sanguine temperament; he had early imbibed a love 

 of virtue, and it now assumed a romantic cast by assimilation 

 with the high-wrought efforts of fancy, combined with the me- 

 lody of song. 



After an apprenticeship of about five years, Wilson became 

 his own master; and, relinquishing the occupation of weaving, 

 he resolved to gratify his taste for rural scenery, by journey- 

 ing into the interior of the country, in the capacity of a pedler. 

 He was now about eighteen, full of ardour and vivacity; had a 

 constitution capable of great exertion; and a mind which pro- 

 mised resources amid every difficulty. Having been initiated 

 in the art of trading, he shouldered his pack, and cheerfully 

 set out in quest of riches. In a mind of a romantic turn, Scot- 

 land affords situations abundantly calculated to arouse all those 

 associations which the sublime and beautiful in nature inspire. 

 Wilson was an enthusiast; and the charms of those mountains, 

 vallies, and streams, which had been immortalized in song, 

 filled his soul with rapture, and incited some of the earliest ef- 

 forts of his youthful muse. 



To him who would accumulate wealth by trade, the muses 

 must not be propitious. That abstraction of mind from world- 

 ly concerns which letters require, but ill qualifies one to de- 

 scend to those arts, which, in order to be successfully prac- 

 tised, must be the unceasing objects of solicitude and attention. 

 While the trader was feasting his eyes upon the beauties of a 

 landscape, or enditing an elegy or a song, the auspicious mo- 

 ment to drive a bargain was neglected, or some more fortunate 

 rival was allowed to supplant him. From the habit of survey- 

 ing the works of nature arose an indifference to the employ- 

 ment of trading, which became more disgusting at each inter- 

 view with the muses; and nothing but the dread of poverty in- 

 duced him to conform to the vulgar avocations of common life. 



Burns was now the favourite of the public; and from the un- 

 exampled success of this humble son of genius, many aspired 

 io the honours of the laurel, who otherwise would have con- 



