LIFE OF WILSON. 



xlvii 



vivial circle. And, unlike the majority of his countrymen, he 

 abstained from the use of tobacco in every shape. But as no one 

 is perfect, Mr. Wilson in a small degree partook of the weakness 

 of humanity. He was of the Genus irritabikj and was obstinate in 

 opinion. It ever gave him pleasure to acknowledge error when the 

 conviction resulted from his own judgment alone, but he could not 

 endure to be told of his mistakes. Hence his associates had to be 

 sparing of their criticisms, through a fear of forfeiting his friend- 

 ship. With almost all his friends he had occasionally, arising 

 from a collision of opinion, some slight misunderstanding, which 

 was soon passed over, leaving no disagreeable impression. But 

 an act of disrespect, or wilful injury he would seldom forgive. 



Such was Alexander Wilson. When the writer of this hum- 

 ble biography indulges in retrospection, he again finds himself in 

 the society of that amiable individual, whose life was a series of 

 those virtues which dignify human nature ; he attends him in his 

 wild-wood rambles, and listens to those charming observations 

 which the magnificence of creation was wont to give birth to; he 

 sits at his feet, and receives the instructions of one, in science, 

 so competent to teach ; he beholds him in the social circle, and 

 notes the complacency which his presence inspired in all around. 

 But the transition from the past to the present quickens that an- 

 guish with which his heart must be filled, who casts a melancholy 

 look on those scenes a few months since graced with the presence 

 of one, united to him by a conformity of taste, disposition and 

 pursuit; and who reflects that that beloved friend can revisit them 

 no more. 



It was the intention of Mr. Wilson, on the completion of his 

 ornithology, to publish an edition in four volumes octavo ; the 

 figures to be engraved on wood, somewhat after the manner of 

 Bewick^s British Birds ; and colored with all the care that has 

 been bestowed on the original plates. If he had lived to effect 

 such a scheme, the public would have been put in possession of a 



