LIFE OF WILSON. 
XV 
means of procuring subsistence, he was frequently reduced to 
the want of the necessaries of life. 
Wilson, in common with many, was desirous of becoming 
personally acquainted with the poet Burns, who was now in 
the zenith of his gloryj and an accidental circumstance brought 
them together. The interview appeared to be pleasing to 
both; and they parted with the intention of continuing their 
acquaintance by a correspondence. But this design, though 
happily begun, was frustrated by an imprudent act of the for- 
mer, who, in a criticism on the tale of Tam O’Shanter, re- 
inarked of a certain passage that there was ‘Hoo much of the 
brute^’ in it. The paragraph alluded to is that which begins 
thus: 
“ Now Tam, O Tam! had tliae been queans.” 
Burns, in reply, observed : “If ever you write again to so ir- 
ritable a creature as a poet, I beg you will use a gentler epithet 
than to say there is too much of the brute in any thing he says 
or does. ” Here the correspondence closed. 
From Lochwinnoch Wilson returned to Paisley; and again 
sought subsistence by mechanical labour. But at this period 
the result of the French revolution had become evident by the 
wars enkindled on the continent; and their influence on the 
manufactures of Great Britain, particularly those of Paisley, 
began to be felt. Revolution principles had also crept in 
among the artisans, which, superadded to the decline of busi- 
ness, were the means of many being thrown out of stated em- 
ployment; and the distress of others was not a little aggravated 
by exactions which it was supposed neither policy nor justice 
ought to have dictated. Hence arose a misunderstanding be- 
tween the manufacturers and the weavers, which soon grew 
into a controversy, that awakened the zeal of both parties; and 
Wilson, incited by principle, as well as interest, remained not 
idle on an occasion which seemed to demand the exercise of his 
talents for the benefit of the poor and the oppressed. 
Among the manufacturers there was one of considerable 
wealth and influence; who had risen from a low origin by a 
