LIFE OF WILSON 



xxxix 



and letters we might select many passages of much interest to 

 the reader ; but the limits allotted to this memoir will not admit 

 of copiousness of detail ; and we shall content ourselves with two 

 or three extracts. 



" In Hanover, Pennsylvania, a certain Judge H. took upon 

 himself to say, that such a book as mine ought not to be encour- 

 aged, as it was not ivithin the reach of the commonality; and there- 

 fore inconsistent ivith our republican institutions! By the same mode 

 of reasoning, which I did not dispute, I undertook to prove him a 

 greater culprit than myself, in erecting a large, elegant, three-story 

 brick house, so much beyond the reach of the commonality j as he 

 called them ; and consequently grossly contrary to our republican 

 institutions. I harangued this Solomon of the Bench more seri- 

 ously afterwards ; pointing out to him the great influence of sci- 

 ence on a young nation like ours, and particularly the science of 

 Natural History, till he began to show such symptoms of intellect^ 

 as to seem ashamed of what he had said.^^ 



" March 23^/. I bade adieu to Louisville, to which place I 

 had four letters of recommendation, and was taught to expect 

 much of every thing there; but neither received one act of civility 

 from those to whom I was recommended; one subscriber, nor one 

 new bird ; though I delivered my letters, ransacked the woods 

 repeatedly, and visited all the characters likely to subscribe. Sci- 

 ence or literature has not one friend in this place." 



April 25th. Breakfasted at Walton's, thirteen miles from 

 Nashville. This place is a fine rich hollow, watered by a charm- 

 ing, clear creek, that never fails. Went up to Madison's Lick, 

 where I shot three paroquets and some small birds. 



" 2Qth. Set out early, the hospitable landlord, Isaac Wal- 

 ton, refusing to take any thing for my fare, or that of my horse, 

 saying — " You seem to be travelling for the good of the ivorld ; and 

 I camiot^ I ivill not charge you any thing. Whenever you come this 

 way^ call and stay with me^ you shall be ivelcome This is the 



