cxiv LIFE OF WILSON. 
mentioned, says, "We Lave it from "Wilson's acquaintance, that many of the 
poems he had written were committed to the flames, witliout a moment's con- 
sideration, because the subject had lost its interest with himself" The writer 
thus gravely accounts for this conduct : " This instability of conduct was, no 
doubt, the result of untoward circumstances, operating upon a mind ardent in 
the pursuit of something yet undefined, or uncertain of the path it should fol- 
low, to attain that eminence and independence after which it so ardently 
aspired." Would it not be a more rational supposition, that, as he advanced 
in knowledge, he was taught to reject what he could not but be convinced was 
unworthy of the public eye? If we may form a conjecture of what was 
destroyed, by what was sanctioned by his own act of publication, there is cer- 
tainly no cause to mourn the loss; and one can hardly forbear wishing that 
the whole had met a similar fate. 
Of all the poetical productions of Wilson, written while in Scotland, his tale 
of " Watty and 3Ieg" is the only one tliat has obtained popularity. In Cromek's 
" Select Scottish Songs" it is thus introduced : " The reader is here presented 
with an exquisite picture from low life, drawn with all the fidelity and exact- 
ness of Teniers, or Ostade, and enlivened with the humor of Hogarth. The 
storj' excites as much interest as if it had been written in a dramatic form, 
and really represented. The interest heightens as it proceeds, and is supported 
with wonderful spirit to the close of the poem. 
" It must have been in no small degree gratifying to the feelings of the 
author, who published it anonymously, that, during a rapid sale of seven or 
eight editions, the public, universally, ascribed it to the pen of Burns. The 
author of ' Will and Jean ; or, Scotland's Scaith,' had the candor to acknow- 
ledge to the editor that he was indebted to this exquisite poem for the founda- 
tion of that popular performance." 
This tale is certainly told in a spirited manner ; but whether it is entitled 
to all the encomiums which have been lavished upon it or not, may admit of a 
question. The incidents are all common-place : a dram-drinking husband seek- 
ing refuge, in an ale-house, from a sculding wife, who pursues him thither, and 
upbraids him, in no gentle terms, for deserting his home and fiimily, and spend- 
ing his time and substance among drunken blackguards. A pot companion 
had advised him to try the experiment of threatening to abandon her, in order 
to bring her into subjection : a scheme which had had a happy effect in taming 
exteiiiling tlie fume of the nutlioi- of the American Oniithology ! It is needless to add 
that this poor selieraer was dismissed with the reply, tluit the fame of Wilson did not 
stand in neeil of his assistance. 
It is much to tlie lioiior of the Ainerican press, that it has abstained from reprinting 
the work, whieli, with unfeigned sorrow, I have been compelled, by a sense of duty, to 
animadvert so severely upon. But I must confess, tluit when a brother weaver, Kobert 
Tannahill, was introduced to our notice, I tremltled for the fate of Wilson. 
As lias been stated, Wilson's poem of the " i'oresters" was first published in the Port- 
Folio. Shortly afrev the decease of its author, a very modest and honest gentleman, living 
in Pennsylvania, undertook its republicatiou ; and actually took out a copyright for the 
same. That the poem was reprinted need not excite our wonder ; but that its sale should 
have been monopolized by a patent, is a trick of trade well worthy of remark. 
