LIFE OF WILSON. xv 
acquainted with the poet Burns, who was now in the zenith of his glory ; and an 
accidental circumstance brought them together. The interview appeared to be 
pleasing to both ; and they parted with the intention of continuing their ac- 
quaintance by a correspondence. But this design, though happily begun, was 
frustrated by an imprudent act of the former, who, in a criticism on the tale 
of Tarn O'Shanter, remarked of a certain passage that there was " too much of 
the hrute" in it. The paragraph alluded to is that which begins thus : 
" Now, Tam, 0 Tarn 1 had thae been queans." 
Burns, in reply, observed : " If ever you write again to so irritable a creature 
as a poet, I beg you will use a gentler epithet than to say there is ' too much 
of the hrute in anything he says or does." Here the correspondence closed. 
From Lochwinnoch Wilson returned to Paisley, and again sought subsistence 
by mechanical labor. But at this period the result of the French Revolution 
had become evident by the wars enkindled on the contineut ; and their influ- 
ence ou the manufactures of Great Britain, particularly those of Paisley, began 
to be felt. Revolution principles had also crept in among the artisans, which, 
superadded to the decline of business, were the means of many being thrown 
out of stated employment; and the distress of others was not a little aggravated 
by exactions which, it was supposed, neither policy nor justice ought to have 
dictated. Hence arose a misunderstanding between the manufacturers and the 
weavers, which soon grew into a controversy, that awakened the zeal of both 
parties; and Wilson, incited by principle as well as interest, remained not idle 
on an occasion which seemed to demand the exercise of his talents for the 
benefit of the poor and the oppressed. 
Among the manufacturers there was one of considerable wealth and influ- 
ence, who had risen from a low origin by a concurrence of fortunate circum- 
stances, and who had rendered himself greatly conspicuous by his avarice and 
knavery. This obnoxious individual was arraigned in a galling satire, written 
in the Scottish dialect, which is well known to be feitile of terms of sarcasm 
or reproach. The piece was published anonymously; and, being suited to the 
taste of the multitude, was read with eagerness. But the subject of it, stung 
to the quick by the severity of the censure, sought revenge of his concealed 
enemy, who, through some unforeseen occurrence, was revealed in the person 
of Wilson. A prosecution for a libel was the consequence of the disclosure; 
and our satirist was sentenced to a short imprisonment, and to burn, with his 
own hands, the poem at the public cross in the town of Paisley. Wilson un- 
derwent the sentence of the law surrounded by his friends, a gallant and 
numerous band, who viewed him as a martyr to the cause of honor and truth ; 
and who, while his character was exalted in their opinion, failed not to stig- 
matize that of his adversary in all the bitterness of contempt. The printer, it 
is said, was fined for his share in the publication. 
In the year 1792, Wilson wrote his characteristic tale of " Watty and Meg," 
the last poem which he composed in Scotland. It was published without a 
name ; and, possessing considerable merit, was, by many, attributed to Burns. 
This ascription certainly showed a want of discrimination, as this production 
displays none of those felicities of diction, none of that peculiar intermixture 
