ALEXANDER WILSON. 



green woodlands and brawling brooks ; and he afterwards loved to 

 contrast them with the glowing lights and majestic rivers of another 

 hemisphere, with forests where 



" The century-living crow, 



Whose birth was in their tops, grew old, and died 

 Among their branches." 



These scenes, and incidents connected with them, are often por- 

 trayed in his poems with considerable beauty and simplicity, and 

 always show that they were the free effusions of what he at the 

 moment felt.* 



About this period his father removed permanently to Auchin- 

 bathie Tower, that he might more easily superintend the different 

 occupations in which he was engaged, and Wilson again betook 

 himself to Paisley, where he wrought in a two-loom room, having 

 Mr Brodie, afterwards schoolmaster at Quarleton, for his com- 

 panion ; and his diffidence was so great, that nearly three weeks 

 elapsed before a regular conversation and acquaintance took place, 

 which, however, ripened into an. ardent friendship that neither dis- 

 tance nor his various pursuits could obliterate. His love for study 

 became now confirmed. Sallust, Virgil, and other Latin authors, 

 and many of the more esteemed English poets, supplied from 

 various sources, were the companions of his loom. Much of his 

 time was occupied in their perusal, and they were the cause of many 

 a broken thread. Brodie, from his better education, being able to 

 appreciate the merits of these authors, soon found the way to the 

 heart of our young enthusiast, and yet expresses his lively pleasure 

 and recollection of the many days which they spent together. He 

 describes him as of a very thoughtful turn of mind, constantly 

 thinking aloud, and giving vent to poetical effusions, which his 

 keen imaginative mind applied to the leading incidents of the day, 

 or to the beauties of his last country ramble. He would often 

 indulge in abstraction, or reverie, and delighted in dreaming ; and 

 such was his pleasure in following his fancies while asleep, that he 

 would frequently go to bed during the day, or at an early hour in 



* The banks of the Calder, near the Loups, furnished the incidents for the 

 Disconsolate Wren, a tale told with great feeling and simplicity, evincing 

 accurate observation of the nature and manners of the birds introduced in it. 



