LIFE OF WILSON. 



was a fatal bias, which all his efforts could not counteract or 

 remove. His friends perceived the danger of his state ; and one 

 in whose friendship he had placed strong reliance, and to whom 

 he had freely unburthened himself, Mr. Lawson, the engraver, 

 became alarmed for the soundness of his intellect.^ There was 

 one subject which contributed not a little to increase his mental 

 gloom, and that was the consideration of the life of penury and 

 dependence to which he seemed destined as the teacher of a 

 country school. Mr. Lawson immediately recommended the re- 

 nouncing of poetry and the flute, and the substituting of the amuse- 

 ment of drawing in their stead, as being most likely to restore the 

 balance of his mind ; and as an employment well adapted to one 

 of his recluse habits and inclinations. To this end, sketches of 

 the human figure, and landscapes, were provided him ; but his 

 attempts were so unpromising that he threw them aside with dis- 

 gust; and concluded that one at his period of life, being near 

 forty, could never succeed in the art of delineation. His friend, 

 Mr. Bartram, now advised a trial at birds ; and being tolerably 

 skilful himself, exhibited his port-folio, which was graced with 

 many specimens from his own hands. The attempt was made, 

 and succeeded beyond the expectation of Mr. Wilson or that of 

 his friends. There was a magic in the employment, which aroused 

 all the energies of his soul ; he saw, as it were, the dayspring of 

 a new creation ; and from being the humble follower of his in- 

 structors, he was soon qualified to lead the way in the charming 

 art of imitating the works of the Great Original. 



* Since the above lias been in type, the following incident has been eommunieatetl to us bj Col. 

 Carr, who had it from Mr. Wilson himself. During the time that the latter labored under great de- 

 pression of spirits, in order to sooth his mind he one day rambled with his gun. The piece by acci- 

 dent slipped from his hand, and in making an effort to regain it the lock w as cocked. At that moment 

 had tlie gun gone off it is more than probable that he would have lost his life, as the muzzle was op- 

 posite to his breast. When Mr. Wilson reflected on the danger which he had escaped, he shuddered 

 at the idea of the imputation of suicide, which a fatal occurrence, to one in his frame of mind, would 

 have occasioned. There is room to conjecture that many have accidentally met their end, whose 

 ,inemories have been sullied by the alleged crime of self murder. 



VOL. IX. F 



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