c l xx LIFE OF WILSON. 



conspicuous in after life; a barrenness of invention, a poverty 

 of expression, a deficiency of taste and judgment, are its cha- 

 racteristics. 



The author of the t( Biographical Sketch/' appended to the 

 Selection* above mentioned, says, " We have it from Wilson's 

 acquaintance, that many of the poems he had written were 

 committed to the flames, without a moment's consideration, 

 because the subject had lost its interest with himself." The 

 writer thus gravely accounts for this conduct: " This instabili- 

 ty of conduct was, no doubt, the result of untoward circum- 

 stances, operating upon a mind ardent in the pursuit of some- 



* It appears by the advertisement affixed to this selection, that it " was- 

 made and printed under the direction of a gentleman who has since paid the 

 debt of nature;" and that " it was his intention to give the life of Wilson." 

 If one were allowed to form a conjecture of the abilities of this editor, by the 

 judgment displayed in his choice, one would have no reason to regret that 

 his task was never accomplished. How he could admit such productions as 

 " The Wasp's Revenge," and the " Verses on the Death of a Favourite 

 Spaniel," one may well inquire. 



That Wilson himself entertained a mean opinion of his boyish publication, 

 I am authorised to assert from the circumstance, that, though possessing a 

 copy, he would never allow me to read it, notwithstanding I frequently urg- 

 ed him to grant me this favour. 



An itinerant Scotchman once called upon Wilson's executors, with a re- 

 quest that he might be allowed the privilege of printing an edition of his poems, 

 urging, in justification of the proposition, his peculiar fitness, by his know- 

 ledge of the Scottish dialect, for extending the fame of the author of the Ame- 

 rican Ornithology! It is nev ^ss to add that this poor schemer was dismissed 

 \vith the reply, that the fame o, Wilson did not stand in need of his assistance 



It is much to the honour of the American press, that it has abstained from 

 re-printing the work which, with unfeigned sorrow, I have been compelled, 

 by a sense of duty, to animadvert so severely upon. But I must confess, that 

 when a brother weaver, Robert Tannahill, was introduced to our notice, I 

 trembled for the fate of Wilson. 



As has been stated, Wilson's poem of the " Foresters" was first publish- 

 ed in the Port Folio. Shortly after the decease of its author, a very modest 

 and honest gentleman, living in Pennsylvania, undertook its republication; 

 and actually took out a copy-right for the same. That the poem was re -print- 

 ed needs not excite our wonder; but that its sale should have been monopo- 

 lized by a patent, is a trick of trade well worthy of remark. 



