ALEXANDER WILSON. 
35 
landscape, from both of which lie turned with dis- 
gust. At the suggestion of his friend Bartram, he 
made another essay on birds and other objects in 
Natural History, in which he succeeded far beyond 
his anticipations, which probably gave rise to that 
Work iv e have already alluded to, and which turned 
out, and has continued to be, second to none as yet 
given to the world in any country; whether we 
consider the excellence of the illustrations, or the 
masterly manner in which the descriptions are 
written. 
The schome of illustrating the Ornithology of the 
United States, he first divulged to the venerable 
Bartram, who warmly responded to Wilson’s feel- 
ings on the subject, and which was soon after com- 
municated to Mr. Lawson, the engraver of the 
Work, who, although entering into his views also 
with every desire to forward the undertaking by 
his professional labours, yet somewhat damped the 
ardour of our enthusiast by the calculations of the 
expense attendant upon its commercial details and 
probable prospects of remunerative success. In a 
letter to Lawson he writes thus, — “ I never was 
more wishful to spend an afternoon w T ith you. In 
three weeks I shall have a few days vacancy, and 
mean to be in town chief part of the time. I am 
most earnestly bent on pursuing my plan of making 
a collection of all the birds in this part of North 
America. Now, I don’t want you to throw cold 
water, as Shakspeare says, on this notion, Quixotic 
as it may appear. I have been so long accustomed 
