vviIvSon's uterary writings 133 



"The circling nets ilk spider weaves 

 Bent, wi' clear dew-drops hung," 



and the 



"bonnie wee bit Wren, 

 Lone on a fuggy stane," 



are instances of the same fehcity in the use of 

 more uncommon Scotch words. 



Another poem which is an example of Wilson's 

 skill at a different kind of verse is the "Epistle 

 to Mr. William Mitchell," dated from "Lead- 

 hills." Wilson was the author of several excel- 

 lent verse letters that really contain lines of 

 true poetry, but perhaps he never surpassed this 

 one. Its opening lines, 



"Hail ! kind, free, honest-hearted swain. 

 My ne'er forgotten frien' ;" 



strike a chord of lightsome open-heartedness that 

 runs through all eleven stanzas. He tells with an 

 unruffled good-humor a homely story of a ram 

 that butted his pack into the "burn," and the 

 whole letter is as full of brightness as are the 

 "wide muirs" of which it sings, "that spread wi' 

 purple sweep, 



"Beneath the sunny glowe." 



There are two other epistles in the 1790 volume 

 that are especially interesting. They are to An- 

 drew^ Clark, an old friend, and Ebenezer Picken, 

 one of Scotland's very minor poets. The first is 

 full of characteristically strong phrases, and the 

 other, though replete with references to the un- 



