42 AI^EXANDER WII^SON : POET-NATURALIST 



mothers who planted the first seeds of greatness in 

 the characters of their sons. She was a good-look- 

 ing, intelligent w^oman, and w^as truly Scotch in the 

 depth and fervor of her religion. For her son she 

 had but one dream, — that dream which is shattered 

 for many a fond mother, — that he should become 

 as religious as herself, and — to quote his owii 

 words — 



"She talked with tears of that enrapturing sight, 



When clad in sable gown, with solemn air, 



The walls of God's own house should echo back his prayer."* 



When Alexander was but a lad of ten the frail 

 frame of his mother gave way and he was left but 

 a dim memory of her to carry with him through 

 his after years. Though young Alexander had been 

 the fifth of six children, yet they had all died in 

 their infancy except two sisters and himself. At 

 the mother's death the three children w^ere all young 

 and it was not long before the father married again, 

 this time a widow, Catherine Urie, nee Brown, who, 

 like himself, had a family of "young hopefuls." 

 That the second wife was a w^oman of pleasant 

 character we may infer from the kind manner in 

 w4iich her step-son ever spoke of her in his letters. 

 Under the stress of his increasing family the pe- 

 cuniary condition of the elder Wilson appears to 

 have become less prosperous. Soon after his sec- 

 ond marriage he is said to have moved to the Towner 

 of Auchenbothie, but how soon w^e are unable to 

 say. In 1782, when William Semple published his 

 continuation of George Crawford's "History of 



* Wilson's "Solitary Tutor." 



