MEMOIR 
OF 
ALEXANDER WILSON. 
Alexander Wilson, author of American Ornithology , 
was born in Paisley, on the 6th July, 1766. His father 
was a man of sober and industrious habits, of strict honesty, 
and superior intelligence ; highly respected by all who knew 
him, throughout a very long life. It appears to have been 
the father’s intention to give his son a liberal education, 
with the hope, so dear to the heart of the Scottish peasant, 
of seeing him at some future period honoured in being 
appointed to preach the gospel of peace. To this Wilson 
himself alludes, in a poem, entitled the “ Solitary Tutor,” 
written in America, and evidently descriptive of himself : — - 
His parents saw, with partial, fond delight, 
Unfolding genius crown their fostering care, 
And talk’d with tears of that enrapturing sight, 
When, clad in sable gown, with solemn air, 
The walls of God’s own house should echo back his prayer. 
Whether his early years displayed such evident marks 
of genius as to justify anticipations of future eminence, 
cannot now be certainly known : nor is it necessary that 
it should, to account for his father’s intentions. While 
the heart of every parent inclines him to judge favourably 
of his own child, the devout Scottish peasant can form 
no higher prospect, and conceive no greater recompense 
t h 
