94 ai,e;xander wilson: poet-naturalist 



reach of the commonaHty; and therefore incon- 

 sistent with our repubhcan institutions." After a 

 serious disputation with Wilson, however, in which 

 Wilson proved him "a greater culprit * * * 

 in erecting a large three-story brick house so much 

 beyond the reach of the commonality, as he called 

 them, and consequently contrary to our republican 

 institutions," this "Solomon of the Bench * * 

 began to show such symptoms of intellect as to 

 seem ashamed of what he said." From here, Wil- 

 son visited Chambersburg and the College at Car- 

 lisle and reached Pittsburg on the 15th of February, 

 1 8 10. The journey, save for its fatigue, was one 

 of great enjoyment to him, and his chief regret was 

 that he could not share it with his friends. At 

 Pittsburg he put his baggage into a little skiff, and 

 on February 23, after writing his farewell and 

 blessing to his Philadelphia friends, he shoved off 

 his boat, which he had named the "Ornithologist," 

 into the ice-encumbered river, for Cincinnati. Not 

 until April 4 did he write from Lexington, Ken- 

 tucky, which was the second stage of his bird- 

 catching expedition. Of his journey on leaving 

 Pittsburg he wrote: 



"Though generally dissuaded from venturing by 

 myself on so long a voyage down the Ohio in an 

 open skiff, I considered this mode, with all its incon- 

 veniences, as the most favourable to my researches 

 and the most suitable to my funds, and I determined 

 accordingly. Two days before my departure, the 

 Alleghany River was one wide torrent of broken 

 ice, and I calculated on experiencing considerable 

 difficulties on this score. My stock of provisions 



