ALEXANDER WILSON. 
lvii 
“ I expect to be in Albany in five days ; and, if the legislature 
be sitting, I shall be detained perhaps three days there. In eight 
days more, I hope to be in Philadelphia. I have laboured with 
the zeal of a knighterrant, in exhibiting this book of mine, 
wherever I went, travelling with it, like a beggar with his bantling, 
from town to town, and from one country to another. I have been 
loaded with praises, with compliments, and kindnesses ; shaken 
almost to pieces in stage-coaches ; I have wandered among strangers, 
hearing the same Oh’s and Ah’s, and telling the same story, a 
thousand times over : and for what ? Ay, that ’s it ! You are 
very anxious to know, and you shall know the whole when I reach 
Philadelphia.” 
To Mr Alexander Lawson. 
“ Albany, November 3 , 1808 . 
“ Dear Sir, — Having a few leisure moments at disposal, I will 
devote them to your service, in giving you a sketch of some 
circumstances in my long literary pilgrimage, not mentioned in 
my letters to Mr Miller. And, in the first place, I ought to thank 
you for the thousands of compliments I have received for my 
birds, from persons of all descriptions, which were chiefly due to 
the taste and skill of the engraver. In short, the book, in all its 
parts, so far exceeds the ideas and expectations of the first literary 
characters in the eastern section of the United States, as to com- 
mand their admiration and respect. The only objection has been 
the price of one hundred and twenty dollars , which, in innumerable 
instances, has risen like an evil genius between me and my hopes. 
Yet I doubt not but when those copies subscribed for are delivered, 
and the book a little better known, the whole number will be 
disposed of ; and, perhaps, encouragement given to go on with the 
rest. To effect this, to me, most desirable object, I have encountered 
the fatigues of a long, circuitous, and expensive journey, with a 
zeal which has increased with increasing difficulties ; and sorry I 
am to say, that the whole number of subscribers which I have 
obtained amounts only to forty-one. 
“ While in New York, I had the curiosity to call on the cele- 
brated author of the Rights of Man. He lives in Greenwich, a 
short way from the city. In the only decent apartment of a small 
vol. i. e 
