LIFE OF WILSON. 
cxcm 
Crucirosira^ by an author whose works Wilson had no knowledge 
of; and I have reason to believe that even the generic appellation 
of Curvirostra had been anticipated by a writer on the ornithology 
of the northern parts of Europe. Brisson limited his genus Loxia 
to the Crossbills, and this judicious restriction appears to be now 
sanctioned by all naturalists of authority. 
There is a species of learning, which is greatly affected by 
puny minds, and for which our author entertained the most hearty 
contempt: this is the names by which certain nations of Indians 
designated natural objects. Hence we no where find his work dis- 
figured by those “ uncouth and unmanageable words,” which some 
writers have recorded with a solemnity which should seem to prove 
a conviction of their importance; but which, in almost every in- 
stance, are a reproach to their vanity and their ignorance. Can 
any thing be more preposterous than for one to give a catalogue of 
names in a language the grammatical construction of which has 
never been ascertained, and with the idiom of which one is totally 
unacquainted? Among literate nations it is a rule, which has re- 
ceived the sanction of prescription, that when one would write 
upon a tongue, it is indispensable that one should qualify one’s self 
for the task by a careful investigation of its principles. But when 
the language of barbarians becomes the subject of attention the 
rule is reversed, and, provided a copious list of names be given, it 
is not required of the collector that he should have explored the 
sources whence they are derived : his learning is estimated by the 
measure of his labour, and our applause is taxed in proportion to 
his verbosity. 
The style of Wilson appears to be well adapted to the sub- 
jects upon which he wrote. It is seldom feeble, it is sometimes 
vigorous, and it is generally neat. He appears to have “ under- 
stood himself, and his readers always understand him.” That he 
was capable of graceful writing, he has given us, in the preface to 
his first volume, a remarkable instance, which is one of the hap- 
VOL. IX. 3 C 
