ALEXANDER WILSON, Xvii 
£rr^ f to exchange it for any other which promised 
‘]6edom from personal restraint, and more inter- 
fppUr.^ charms of natare. He thus speaks of his 
S® and habits about this time ; 
^re oft beneath the shade I lonely stray, 
^en morning opes, or evening shuts the day; 
Ur when more black than night stern fate appears, 
'PI ^ train of pale, despairing fears, 
Ihe winding walk, the solitary wood, 
I he uncouth grotto, melancholy, rude ; 
My re^ge there, the attending muse to caU, 
Or in Pope’s lofty page to lose them all. 
of both refinement and elevation; but it may be ques- 
L°cT. ’ 1l promote happiness, 
because the culture necessary to qualify for enioyments 
ot a high and refined order, must always bo attended with 
pain and privation, as it unfits for aU the more ordinary 
Ratifications before those of a congenial nature can be 
amed. With the young rustic poet, this is peculiarly 
^ ^ Ituttcrfly, which some initimely 
of 'i have induced to cast aside the protection 
I Us chrysalis envelopment, and left exposed to every 
mg storm ; clad more elegantly, indeed, but much 
mss securely defended. 
transition-state of the rustic poet, it is not 
rpnsmg that he should frequently sink into fits of deep 
th*^ ’ P<^rchaiice of darkest despondency ; or that 
e sick heart should sometimes try to escape from the 
angs of Its own morbid sensibility, by plunging into 
this too common 
ZL !«««>■« to Ws 
desD "‘‘’t the most 
he language, there is abundant evidence that 
tion, * slightest degree, given to dissipa- 
e utmost that could be charged against him 
