xlii 
LIFE OF WILSON. 
wliicli will make in all about three thousand.* The notes will swell it to a 
tolerable size. 
"The ^ Rural Walh' which I published last summer in the Literary Maga- 
zine, has been lately republished in the Port Folio, "j" with many commendations 
on its beauties. The ' Solitary Tutor' met with much approbation. But I 
reserve my best efforts for the remainder of the ' Foresters.' * * 
" I have not mentioned anything of the sale of the land, nor shall I until 
the business is finally concluded. I shall expect to hear from you at least 
twice yet before you arrive ; and I hope you will make no unnecessary delay 
in returning. As you cut a pretty ragged appearance at present, and want 
something to laugh at, suppose you set your muse to work upon your tatterde- 
maliau dishabille. The former neatness of your garb, contrasted with its pre- 
sent squalidness, would make a capital subject for a song, not forgetting the 
causes. But you are in the dress of the people you live among : you are 
therefore in character. B. had a hat on wlien I was up in your quarter, the 
rim of which had been eaten off, close to his head, by the rats, or, perhaps, cut 
off to make soles to his shoes ; yet it was so common as to escape observation. 
I saw another fellow, too, at the tavern, who had pieces cut out of his hehind, 
like a swallow's tail." 
The spring of the year 1805 gave to the enraptured view of our naturalist 
his interesting feathered acquaintance. He listened to their artless songs ; he 
noticed their habitudes; he sketched their portraits. And, after having 
passed a few months varied with this charming occupation, he again writes to 
the respected inhabitant of the Botanic Garden : 
Union School, July 2d, 180.5. 
"I dare say you will smile at my presumption, when I tell you that I have 
seriously begun to make a collection of drawings of the birds to be found in 
Pennsylvania, or that occasionally pass through it: twenty-eight, as a begin- 
ning, I send for your opinion. They are, I hope, inferior to what I shall pro- 
duce, though as close copies of the originals as I could make. One or two of 
these I cannot find either in your nomenclature, or among the seven volumes 
of Edwards. I have never been able to find the bird Mr. Jefferson speaks of, 
and begin to think that it must be the Wood Robin, though it seems strange 
that he should represent it as so hard to be seen. Any hint for promoting my 
plan, or enabling me to execute better, I will receive from you with much 
pleasure. I have resigned every other amusement, except reading and fiddling, 
for this design, which I shall not give up without making a fair trial. 
" Criticise these, my dear friend, without fear of offending me — this will 
instruct, but not discourage me. — For there is not among all our naturalists 
one who knows so well what they are, and how they ought to be represented. 
In the meantime accept of my best wishes for your happiness — wishes as sin- 
cere as ever one human being breathed for another. To your advice and 
*This poem, as published in the " Port Folio," contains two thousand two hundred and 
eighteen lines. It is illustrated with four plates, two of which were engraved by George 
Cooke of London. 
t For April 27th, 1805. 
