ALEXANDER WILSON. 
XXXIX 
Red-headed Woodpecker, which he shot, and considered the most 
beautiful bird he had ever beheld. The acquisition of this situa- 
tion, therefore, may be looked upon as the most important era in 
his whole life, — it commenced his acquaintance with the venerable 
Bartram. “ His school-house and residence lay but a short 
distance from Bartram’s botanic garden, situated on the western 
bank of the Schuylkill, — a sequestered spot, possessing attractions 
of no ordinary kind. An acquaintance was soon contracted with 
that venerable naturalist, which grew into an uncommon friendship, 
and continued, without the least abatement, until severed by death. 
Here it was that Wilson found himself translated, if we may so 
speak, into a new existence. He had long been a lover of nature, 
and had derived more happiness from the contemplation of her 
simple beauties, than from any other source of gratification. But 
he had hitherto been a mere novice ; he was now about to receive 
instructions from one, whom the experience of a long life, spent in 
travel and rural retreat, had qualified to teach.”* 
Notwithstanding this improved condition in life, his mind, per- 
haps weakened by his late illness, was ill at rest, still brooding over 
his dependent situation, and, as we learn from his letters to Mr 
Ord, upon circumstances of a private nature, which it would be 
useless to introduce here. So much was he depressed, that his 
anxious friends began even to dread the safety of his understanding; 
and Mr Lawson, the engraver, who enjoyed his confidence, 
succeeded in prevailing upon him, for a time, to lay aside music 
and poetry, in which he indulged during his solitary walks, and to 
give his attention to drawing. He attempted some landscapes and 
sketches of the human figure, but turned from his first trials with 
disgust. At the suggestion of Mr Bartram, he was induced to 
make a second attempt, upon birds and other objects of natural 
history, and in this he succeeded beyond his anticipations. This, 
in some degree, diverted his mind from sadder thoughts, and he 
went on enthusiastically. His school-house, however, occupied 
much of his time. “ The duties of my profession,” he writes, 
“ will not admit me to apply to this study with the assiduity and 
Ord’s Life, p. xxvii. 2d edit. 
