INTRODUCTION 



But, as De Quincey says of him, these things 

 grew out of his abundant animal spirits and 

 the needs of a Herculean constitution and 

 left his nature uncorrupted and undegraded. 

 He never lost or outgrew a certain dewy 

 freshness and pristine innocence of childhood 

 that makes him all through his life fit to be 

 typified by the "Young Kit" of the Sporting 

 Jacket. Certainly at Oxford his rather riotous 

 revels and madcap escapades did not prevent 

 his winning distinction as a student. And 

 best of ah 1 he found time for the cultivation 

 of those literary tastes that led him to make 

 the acquaintance of Wordsworth's poetry and 

 to write an admirable letter to the Hermit of 

 Rydal Mount at the time when the reputation 

 of that poet was very much in the making. 



After graduation, Wilson went to live in 

 the Lake Country, at Elleray, there marry- 

 ing and settling down to the leisurely life 

 of a country gentleman with literary tastes. 

 Shortly afterward, through the dishonesty of 



