LIFE OF WILSON. 
civil 
On the sixth of June our traveller reached Neworleans, distant 
from Natchez two hundred and fifty-two miles. As the sickly sea- 
son was fast approaching, it was deemed advisable not to tarry 
long in this place ; and his affairs being despatched, he sailed on 
the twenty-fourth in a ship bound to Newyork, at which place he 
arrived on the thirtieth of July ; and soon reached Philadelphia, 
enriched with a copious stock of materials for his work, including 
several beautiful and hitherto unknown birds.* 
In the newly settled country through which Wilson had to 
pass, in his last journey, it was reasonable not to expect much en- 
couragement in the way of subscriptions. Yet he was not only 
honoured with the names of some respectable individuals ; but 
also received hospitable treatment from several persons, and those, 
too, to whom he had not been introduced. It is a singular fact, 
that from those to whom he had letters of introduction, and from 
whom most had been expected, he received the fewest acts of 
civility. 
The principal events of his journey have been given in his 
letters ; but I might select from his diary many interesting pas- 
sages, if the limits allotted to this memoir would admit of copious- 
ness of detail. 
* The editor of Wilson’s Poems, which were published at Paisley in 1816, gives what 
he states to be an extract from one of our author’s letters to his father, wherein it is said that he 
had travelled through West Florida to Neworleans, and had “ sailed thence to East Florida, fur- 
nished with a letter to the Spanish Governor.” This passage needs explanation. Wilson was 
never either in East or West Florida, but, in the event of his going thither, had provided him- 
self with a letter of introduction from Don Luis de Onis, the Spanish ambassador to the United 
States, to Don Enrique White, governor of East Florida, and another to Don Vincente Folch, 
governor of West Florida. In his passage from Neworleans to Newyork, he merely landed, 
for a few minutes, upon one or two desert islands lying in the Florida Gulf. 
He departed from Philadelphia on the thirtieth of January, 1810; and returned on the se- 
cond of August, of the same year. It is stated in his diary that the total amount of his expen- 
ses, until his arrival in Newyork, was the sum of four hundred and fifty-five dollars. This 
particular is given as a proof of how much may be performed, by a good economist, with slen- 
der means. 
2 R 
VOL. IX. 
