LIFE OF WILSON. 
clxxi 
thing yet undefined, or uncertain of the path it should follow, 
to attain that eminence and independence after which it so ai’- 
dently aspired.” Would it not he a more rational supposition, 
that, as he advanced in knowledge, he was taught to reject 
what he could not but be convinced was unworthy of the pub- 
lic eye? If we may form a conjecture of what was destroyed, 
by what was sanctioned by his own act of publication, there is 
certainly no cause to mourn the loss; and one can hardly for- 
bear wishing that the whole had met a similar fate. 
Of all the poetical productions of Wilson, written while in 
Scotland, his tale of ‘‘Watty and Meg” is the only one that 
has obtained popularity. In Cromek’s “ Select Scottish Songs” 
it is thus introduced: “ The reader is here presented with an 
exquisite picture from low life, drawn with all the fidelity and 
exactness of Teniers, or Ostade, and enlivened with the hu- 
mour of Hogarth. The story excites as much interest as if it 
had been written in a dramatic form, and really represented. 
The interest heightens as it proceeds, and is supported with 
wonderful spirit to the close of the poem. 
“ It must have been in no small degree gratifying to the feel- 
ings of the author, who published it anonymously, that, during 
a rapid sale of seven or eight editions, the public, universally, 
ascribed it to the pen of Burns. The author of ‘ Will and 
Jean, or Scotland’s Scaith,’ had the candour to acknowledge 
to the editor that he was indebted to this exquisite poem for 
the foundation of that popular performance.” 
This tale is certainly told in a spirited manner; but whether 
it is entitled to all the encomiums which have been lavished 
upon it or not, may admit of a question. The incidents are all 
common-place: a dram-drinking husband seeking refuge, in an 
ale-house, from a scolding-wife, who pursues him thither, and 
upbraids him, in no gentle terms, for deserting his home and 
family, and spending his time and substance among drunken 
blackguards. A pot companion had advised him to try the ex- 
periment of threatening to abandon her, in order to bring her 
into subjection: a scheme which had had a happy effect in 
