142 ALIJXANDER WII^ON: POE;T-NA'rURAUST 



ner of the day was his manner, and he had not 

 sufficient poetic genius to completely break away 

 from, it; but it was composite rather than the 

 style now of one poet, now another. 



Ten years passed by with scarcely a poem writ- 

 ten. In this period he composed a few exceed- 

 ingly poor songs, such as "Bloomfield," "The 

 Aristocrat's Warwhoop," and "My Landlady's 

 Nose." That some of them were widely reprinted 

 in the newspapers is a commentary on the taste 

 of these editors rather than a proof of the merit 

 of the pieces. "Jefferson and Liberty" is another 

 song of this period. It is superior to the others 

 and is interesting in the light of the relations of 

 esteem and admiration which existed between 

 Jefferson and the author; it also shows the ar- 

 dent love of Wilson for his adopted land. 



It was not until 1800, however, that Wilson 

 really produced anything in America which was 

 worth his while. This was the verse letter to 

 Charles Orr. He did not publish this until it ap- 

 peared greatly altered in the July issue of The 

 Literary Magazine and American Register, under 

 the name of "The Invitation." This poem was 

 followed in the Literary Magazine by "A Rural 

 Walk," "The Solitary Tutor,'" "Lines on Seeing 

 a Portrait of Burns," and one or two others which 

 are not worthy of comparison with those we have 

 named. During this period he published sepa- 

 rately his longest poem, "The Foresters," and in 

 the "American Ornithology," he includes several 

 of his best verses ; these were "The American 

 Blue-bird," "Tlie Osprey," and "The King-bird." 



