316 MEMOIR OF JOHN WILSON. 



" I shall try Wordsworth in the same way. I am sure of Southey 

 and of Ed. Irving. I shall limit my list of contributors, and make 

 a better book generally than I have done. I am to have a painting 

 from Wilkie, and one from Newton, and they will be more carefully 

 engraved too. 



"lam glad that your poem has met with such applause here. I 

 have now seen all the other Annuals, and I assure you that in the 

 best of them there is nothing that approaches in beauty to ' Edder- 

 line.' This seems to be the general opinion, and proud I am of it. 

 I remain, my dear friend, yours ever faithfully, 



"Allan Cunningham." 



"27 Belgrave Place Lower, 

 November 19, 1828. 

 " My dear Friend : — I send for your acceptance a large-paper 

 copy of my Annual, with proofs of the plates, and I send it by the 

 mail that you may have it on your table a few days before publica- 

 tion. You will be glad to hear that the book has been favorably 

 received, and the general impression seems to be, that while the 

 Keepsake is a little below expectation, the Anniversary is a little 

 above it. I am told by one in whose judgment I can fully confide, 

 that our poetry is superior, and ' Edderline's Dream' the noblest 

 poem in any of the annuals. This makes me happy ; it puts us at 

 the head of these publications. 



"I took the liberty of writing a letter to you lately, and ven- 

 tured to make you an offer, which I wish, in justice to my admira- 

 tion of your talents, had been worthier of your merits. I hope and 

 entreat you will think favorably of my request, and give me your 

 aid, as powerfully as you can. If you but knew the opposition 

 which I have to encounter, and could hear the high words of those 

 who, with their exclusive poets, and their bands of bards, seek to 

 bear me down, your own proud spirit and chivalrous feelings would 

 send you [quickly] to my aid, and secure me from being put to 

 shame by the highest of the island. One great poet, not a Scotch 

 one, kindly advised me last season, to think no more of literary 

 competition with the Keepsake, inasmuch as he dipt his pen exclu- 

 sively for that publication. I know his poetic contributions, and 

 fear them not when I think on ' Edderline.' 



" I hope you will not think me vain, or a dreamer of unattainable 

 things, when I express my hope of being able, through the aid of 



