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LIFE OF WILSON. 
I shall now offer some brief Remarks upon those writings of 
Wilson which have fallen under my notice ; and in the perform- 
ance of this task it will become my duty to speak of a work which 
I had hoped would be permitted to lie in oblivion, but which either 
the indiscreet partiality of friends, or the avarice of a publisher, 
has lately dragged forth to the view of the public. From the vol- 
ume which the author published himself, in the year 1791, and 
which is entitled “Poems, Humorous, Satirical and Serious,’’ a se- 
lection was made, and published, in 1816, at Paisley and London, 
under the title of “ Poems chiefly in the Scottish dialect ; by Alex- 
ander Wilson, author of American Ornithology.” When I com- 
menced reading this selection, it was my intention to note its beau- 
ties and defects ; but when I found how greatly the latter predomi- 
nated, it occurred to me that no good could result from a critical 
examination of a work which few would read, which contains no- 
thing worthy of applause, and which, if it has hitherto escaped cri- 
ticism, it is because it has been deemed unworthy of a deliberate 
investigation. 
The early writings of but few authors are worthy of being 
read, except for the purpose of tracing the progress of the mind. 
When one surveys the work in question with this view, one is 
astonished to find no indication of that genius which is so conspi- 
cuous in after life ; a barrenness of invention, a poverty of expres- 
sion, a deficiency of taste and judgement, are its characteristics. 
The author of the “ Biographical Sketch,” appended to the 
Selection"*^ above mentioned, says, “We have it from Wilson’s 
* It appears by the advertisement affixed to this selection, that it “ was made and printed 
under the direction of a gentleman who has since paid the debt of nature and that “ it was his 
intention to give the life of Wilson.’^ If one were allowed to form a conjecture of the abilities 
of this editor, by the judgement displayed in his choice, one would have no reason to regret 
