WILSON 'S I^ARLY YEARS IN SCOTLAND 5 1 



is interesting to note, as I am able to do through the 

 kind information of Mr. John Kent of Paisley, that 

 the well-known man of letters, William Sharp, who 

 died only in 1905, and whose authorship of the 

 poems published over the name of "Fiona McLeod" 

 has just become known, was the grandson of Wil- 

 liam Sharp, the local potentate of Wilson's day. 



Wilson was fined £12 13s. 6d., an amount more 

 than he was able to pay, and was told by way of 

 comfort that his prosecutor, Mr. Sharp, "was re- 

 solved to punish him even though at some cost to 

 himself."* When at last he was free again, dis- 

 gusted with his harsh treatment, and with his head 

 full of democratic ideas, he very naturally turned 

 his thoughts toward America, whither so many 

 Scotchmen were emigrating. He loved Scotland 

 with a devotion that never grew dim, no, not even in 

 his later years when his love for his adopted coun- 

 try had reached its warmest stage ; but he saw that 

 it was best for him to seek his fortunes in a new 

 world. What made it harder to leave Scotland, and 

 yet at the same time wiser, was that he loved 

 a lady, — she whom he addressed in his poems as 

 "Matilda," — who "was," to quote his friend, good 

 old Thomas Crichton, "snatched by fortune from his 

 arms." Sir William Jardine says, "We have reason 

 to know that the charms of Matilda McLean, the 

 sister of his friend, Mrs. Witherspoon, had material- 

 ly interfered with his mind's ease." In a new world, 

 however, he could dream the dreams of poetry and 

 realize the dreams of freedom ; in a new world what 

 might he not do ? 



* Wilson was confined in jail for a short time. 



