XXVI 
MEMOIR OF 
description, that he usually paid no attention to them ; but 
that, as Wilson was evidently no ordinary man, and also 
a true poet, he would, in that instance, depart from the- 
rule ; and he then entered into a vindication of himself 
and his poems. Shortly afterwards, Wilson went from 
Paisley to Ayrshire to visit Burns. On his return he 
described his interview with Burns in the most rapturous 
terms.” * 
The poem of “ Watty and Meg,” his most successful 
effort, was written early in 1792. Being published 
anonymously, it was universally attributed to Burns. 
Wilson felt this as at once a high compliment, and an 
unconscious acknowledgment of his merit, on the part of 
a, public, which had shewn him so little countenance in 
his avowed productions ; and, for a time, he allowed the 
opinion to spread uncontradicted. “ The originals of 
Watty and Meg,” says the same gentleman who commu- 
nicated the preceding anecdote, “ were a worthy couple 
of Wilson’s acquaintance. When the good dame, repre- 
sented as Meg , read the poem, she exclaimed to her 
husband, ‘ D’ye ken what Sandy Wilson has done?. — he 
has poem'd us 1 ’ ” 
The perception of the ludicrous generally accompanies 
the perception of the sublime. In like maimer, a satirical 
tendency is not unfrequently found conjoined with great 
generosity and tenderness. Of this spirit Wilson partook 
to a certain extent; and in hours of thoughtless and 
exuberant glee, occasionally indulged it for the amusement 
of his friends. Some, however, of darker spirit, as is 
generally believed, instigated Wilson, in an evil hour, to 
write a piece of severe personal satire against a respectable 
individual in Paisley, at whose instance he was prosecuted 
% Cromek gives a different version of this incident, and attributes 
the termination of all intercourse between the two poets to Wilson’s 
ehvy of Burns. This being - shewn to Wilson, by one of his American 
friends, he rebutted the injurious imputation in the most decided 
terms. 
