clxii 
LIFE OF WILSON. 
an enthusiastic admirer of the works of creation, but he was 
consistent in research; and permitted no dangers or fatigues to 
abate his ardour, or relax his exertions. He inured himself to 
hardships by frequent and laborious exercise; and was never 
more happy than when employed in some enterprise, which 
promised from its difficulties the novelties of discovery. What- 
ever was obtained with ease, to him appeared to be attended, 
comparatively speaking, with small interest: the acquisitions 
of labour alone seemed worthy of his ambition. He was no 
closet philosopher — exchanging the frock of activity for the 
night-gown and slippers. He was indebted for his ideas, not 
to books, which err, but to Nature which is infallible; and the 
inestimable ti’anscript of her works, which he has bequeathed 
to us, possesses a charm which affects us the more, the better 
acquainted we become with the delightful original. His in- 
quisitive habits procured him from others a vast heterogeneous 
mass of information; but he had the happy talent of selecting 
from this rubbish whatever was valuable. His perseverance 
was uncommon; and when engaged in pursuit of a particular 
object, he would never relinquish it, while there was a chance 
of success. His powers of observation were very acute, and 
he seldom erred in judgment, when favoured with a fair op- 
portunity of investigation. 
Credulity has been aptly termed “ the vice of naturalists;” 
but it may be said, to the honour of our author, that it would 
be difficult to find one less infected with this vice than himself. 
His mind, strongly imbued with common sense, and familiar 
with the general laws of nature, could not be imposed upon by 
appeai’ances; and marvellous narratives, in that science which 
he had so much at heart, were the objects of his decided dis- 
approbation. The ridicule and scorn with which he treated 
the hypothesis of the annual torpidity of swallows are well 
known; and he regarded with equal contempt those tales of the 
fascinating faculty attributed to serpents, which are yet but too 
well adapted to the taste of the multitude to be effectively dis- 
credited. 
