LITERARY AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 425 



ceeded through Moray Place to deposit the wretched animal in 

 better keeping than that of its driver. This little episode is delight- 

 fully characteristic of his impulsive nature, and the benevolence of 

 his heart. No weak appeal, through the gossiping columns of news- 

 papers, to humane societies for the suppression of cruelty to ani- 

 mals ; but action on the spot, with instantaneous aid to the op- 

 pressed. Such summary measures, however, are not always taken. 

 Moral courage is required to face bystanders ; and not many would 

 care to be seen with a carter's huge whip, leading a miserable raw- 

 boned old horse through the fashionable streets of Edinburgh. 

 But he despised nothing that was just, even to the meanest of cre- 

 ated things ; and had a supreme contempt for the observance of 

 conventional formalities, when they interfered with good and hon- 

 est feelings of the heart. 



It may seem somewhat strange, as I advance towards the later 

 years of my father's life, that I can relate nothing of foreign travel ; 

 or even of recurring visits to London. Only twice after his mar- 

 riage did he go to the metropolis, and then, not for any lengthened 

 period, nor with the purpose of keeping himself in the world, or 

 gathering gossip from that great whirlpool of tongues. He never, as 

 far as I can remember, at any time thought of or cared to associate 

 his name with circumstances likely to bring him into contact with 

 that huge centre of the world — the first entrance to w T hich he so 

 beautifully describes in his "Recreations," written in 1828; too 

 long to give here, and yet almost too fine to be omitted. But those 

 who do not know it, will do well to learn how a nature such as his 

 was affected, by what scarcely now awakens more than a certain cu- 

 riosity, that ere long takes the shape of blase indifference. I doubt 

 very much if any spirit, even beyond the common mould, ever had 

 such emotions awakened within it as those Wilson felt when, " all 

 alone and on foot," he reached that mighty city, where every sight 

 he saw called up some thought of wonder from the treasures of his 

 ardent mind. 



Here is a portion of his powerful description ; to convey the idea 

 how, without fear yet trembling, he left the world of his dreams, 

 the "emerald caves," the "pearl-leaved forests," and "asphodel 

 meadows," and opened his eyes upon that wh.ich was no longer a 

 shadow. "Now were we in the eddies — the vortices — the whirl- 

 pools of the great roaring sea of life ! and away we were carried, 

 18 



