LIFE OF WILSON. clxxi 



thing yet undefined, or uncertain of the path it should follow, 

 to attain that eminence and independence after which it so ar- 

 dently aspired. " Would it not be a more rational supposition, 

 that, as he advanced in knowledge, he was taught to reject 

 what he could not but be convinced was unworthy of the pub- 

 lic eye? If we may form a conjecture of what was destroyed, 

 by what was sanctioned by his own act of publication, there is 

 certainly no cause to mourn the loss; and one can hardly for- 

 bear wishing that the whole had met a similar fate. 



Of all the poetical productions of Wilson, written while in 

 Scotland, his tale of " Watty and Meg" is the only one that 

 has obtained popularity. In Cromek's (f Select Scottish Songs" 

 it is thus introduced: " The reader is here presented with an 

 exquisite picture from low life, drawn with all the fidelity and 

 exactness of Teniers, or Ostade, and enlivened with the hu- 

 mour of Hogarth. The story excites as much interest as if it 

 had been written in a dramatic form, and really represented. 

 The interest heightens as it proceeds, and is supported with 

 wonderful spirit to the close of the poem. 



66 It must have been in no small degree gratifying to the feel- 

 ings of the author, who published it anonymously, that, during 

 a rapid sale of seven or eight editions, the public, universally, 

 ascribed it to the pen of Burns. The author of < Will and 

 Jean, or Scotland's Scaith,' had the candour to acknowledge 

 to the editor that he was indebted to this exquisite poem for 

 the foundation of that popular performance. " 



This tale is certainly told in a spirited manner; but whether 

 it is entitled to all the encomiums which have been lavished 

 upon it or not, may admit of a question. The incidents are all 

 common-place: a dram-drinking husband seeking refuge, in an 

 ale-house, from a scolding-wife, who pursues him thither, and 

 upbraids him, in no gentle terms, for deserting his home and 

 family, and spending his time and substance among drunken 

 blackguards. A pot companion had advised him to try the ex- 

 periment of threatening to abandon her, in order to bring her 

 into subjection: a scheme which had had a happy effect in 



