CV1 
LIFE OF 
he has left : of his wishes and anxiety for their perfection, there 
can be only one opinion. 
As a poet Wilson is much esteemed by his townsmen, and 
perhaps his writings are there more highly appreciated, from the 
circumstance that many of the characters alluded to are still alive, 
and the scenes and incidents of their young days, which are often 
portrayed, are still vivid on their memories. Such recollection, 
and the retracing of their former companionship, will bear with 
them charms which another generation will not so highly prize, and 
who will judge of his productions with more impartial minds. I do 
not mean, on this account, to despise his poems ; but they will not 
stand in that high place where his most enthusiastic admirers 
station them. They all bear the mark of truth in the manners, the 
scenes, and the incidents which they delineate, and shew most 
correctly the view which their author took of his subject, and the 
feelings with which he was at the moment impressed ; but they were 
avowedly written almost at the moment of conception, without 
bestowing very great care on their composition. He never appears 
really to have studied with a view to a fine poem, or to have 
attended to the rules of the art. He was passionately fond of 
poetry ; and his ear was formed, and style taken, from the favourite 
authors he so constantly perused. If he had devoted himself to 
this branch with the same ardour that he engaged in ornithology, 
and bestowed an equal portion of time on it, he would probably have 
risen to considerable eminence, but it was only his relaxation and 
amusement. It was attended, however, with one advantage, — the 
constant expression of his thoughts in this way gave him a facility 
of description, and flow of language, which destroyed the dry and 
stiff character so often and so unavoidably prevailing in scientific 
works. 
It is 'as an ornithologist that Wilson’s fame will last for after 
ages. There are two classes of naturalists, — who maybe described 
as those who see and study the habits of the living creatures in 
their natural abodes, and describe or figure them under these 
circumstances ; and those who receive the specimens in a state of 
preservation, draw their conclusions from the little they have been 
able personally to observe, and learn the rest of their manners from 
the best authorities in their power. These two methods of study 
O 
