LIFE OF WILSON. cxiii 
If this determination should meet your approbation, and if 
you are willing to encounter the hardships of such a pedestrian 
journey, let me know as soon as is convenient. I think one dollar 
a day, each, will be fully sufficient for our expenses, by a strict re- 
gard, at all limes, to economy.’^ 
The second volume of the Ornithology was published in Janu- 
ary, 1810 ; and Wilson set out for Pittsburg, the latter part of the 
same month, in his route to Neworleans. I trust that no apology 
is necessary for introducing the following letters, addressed to Mr. 
Lawson, into these memoirs, notwithstanding three of them are 
well known to the public, having originally appeared in the Port 
Folio, ^ 
To Mr. ALEXANDER LAWSON. 
Pittsburg, February 2‘2d, 1810. 
“ Dear Sir, 
“From this stage of my Ornithological pil- 
grimage, I sit down, with pleasure, to give you some account of my 
adventures since we parted. On arriving at Lancaster, I waited 
on the governor, secretary of state, and such other great folks as 
were likely to be useful to me. The governor received me with 
civility, passed some good natured compliments on the volumes, 
and readily added his name to my list. He seems an active man, 
of plain good sense, and little ceremony. By Mr. L. I was intro- 
duced to many members of both houses, bull found them, in gene- 
ral, such a pitiful, squabbling, political mob ; so split up, and jus- 
tling about the mere formalities of legislation, without knowing any 
thing of its realities, that I abandoned them in disgust. I must. 
New Series, vols. III, 499. IV, 310. VII, 34. 
2F 
VOL. IX. 
