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"To the Hon. Wm. M'Dowal, Esq., of Garthland, Member of Parliament:

"May it please your honour,

"A consideration of those amiable virtues that dignify your character-the singular services you have done this part of North Britain, as their faithful representative-and the approbation you were pleased to bestow on these poems at their first appearance, have encouraged me to usher them once more into the world, under the protection of your honour's respectable and much beloved name.

"The heroic virtues of the patriot-the tender feelings of sympathizing pity, and the glowing effusions of gratitude, goodness, and generosity, have ever been the darling themes of the poet. To espouse the cause of suffering innocence, and call forth merit from the solitary gloom of obscurity-to encourage trade to extend commerce-to enable the labouring rustic to see his fields waving with luxuriant plenty, are actions worthy of the best of men, and best of beings. Of these endearing qualities, every tongue confesses you to be possessed, and every heart exults to join in your applause. For these you have the most unbounded acknowledgments, and warmest blessings of your country. These bid me look up to your honour as the fosterer of worth and the friend of genius, and encourage me to lay these juvenile attempts humbly at your feet. They are all the tokens I have to offer, and the only methods by which I can express my sincere affection and deep veneration for your person and distinguished abilities.

"That you may long live to maintain that dignity, and enjoy those honours to which you are so justly entitled as a lover of your country, is the sincere wish and earnest prayer of him who is, with the most profound respect,

"May it please your honour,

"Your honour's much obliged,
"And devoted humble servant,

"ALEXANDER WILSON.

"Seedhills of Paisley, Aug. 22, 1791."

Wilson met with no better success in disposing of this edition than the former; and he never afterwards published another volume of his miscellaneons poems: and twenty-three years elapsed before any other edition did appear.

In 1814, Mr. Robert Smith, bookseller in Paisley, published a collection of the minor poems in one small volume, with little additional matter from what had appeared in the two former editions; however, from the incorrectness of the work, it deserves no notice, save that it contained one or two pieces, American and British, which had been issued by the author in pamphlets.

The third edition appeared in 1816, in one neat volume, under

the title of "Poems by Alexander Wilson, author of 'American Ornithology,' with an account of his life and writings." It was published by Mr. Hugh Crichton, bookseller, Paisley, and edited by Dr. Whyte. The "life of the author," prefixed to the volume, was also undertaken by that gentleman, but he unfortunately dying before the work was far advanced in the press, the article was executed by his partner in business, Dr. Robert Watt, author of the "Bibliotheca Britannica." This edition, though not containing many of Wilson's poems, reflects great credit on the editors-for the correctness and good taste displayed in the selection, and the excellently written memoir of Wilson, forming an introduction to the work.

The next and last volume of his poems, prior to the present one, was a reprint of his largest poem, "The Foresters," published by J. Frazer, bookseller, Paisley, in 1825, which has never, till now, been included in any collection of his poetic writingsowing to its length and the comparative smallness of the editions. The merits of this poem being of a superior order, its insertion must greatly enhance the present work.*

It now remains only to mention the present edition, the most distinguished feature of which is, that it contains the whole of the poems given in the former editions; and is still further enhanced by having a considerable number of poems, never till now included amongst his poetical works. It will also be found to contain the little pieces which appeared in the "American Ornithology," which pieces, to the admirers of our bard, have the peculiar interest of being the latest poetic compositions of their amiable author.

Another great difference of the present from former editions, is its illustration by many critical and explanatary notes. The information embodied in these have been procured with considerable care and trouble, and adds, as no former edition had notes, a feature peculiar to the present work.

We have been indebted to various sources, public and private, and to one individual particularly, the late Mr. Thomas Crichton, to whose memory we feel grateful for the kind services rendered us, a short time before his sudden death. Our note regarding Ebenezer Picken and W. Wotherspoon, are taken, with some alterations, from his Biographical Sketches of Wilson; and to Sir W. Jardine's edition of the "American Ornithology," we owe part of our note to the "Disconsolate Wren." The

It

* We must not forget to include in our list, a little edition, contemporary with our own, and published by John Henderson, of Belfast, as one of his cheap series of the Scottish Poets. contains the whole of Wilson's poems, reprinted from our text, with the present memoir. It is very neatly got up, and withal, cheap; so that the works of our poet may be within the reach of the humblest classes.-ED.

edition of 1816, and Sir W. Jardine's memoir of Wilson, have aided us in our note to the "Laurel Disputed;" and to the "Paisley Magazine," we are obliged for the notes to "A Morning Adventure," and "Elegy on the Unfortunate Tailor," from which work these two notes are partly compiled.

The memoir of Wilson, at present given, has been carefully collated and compiled from the most authentic sources, with scrupulous fidelity to truth; and it will be evident to those acquainted with the life of Wilson, that a great deal of erroneous information, hitherto given respecting his early years, has been swept away, and the most correct account supplied, of that interesting period of his life. This we have been enabled to give, as also the account of his parents, from original information derived from a private source; and the editor hopes, that his sole intention that of presenting an accurate narrative of the poet's life and writings, with but few comments of his own, rather leaving the reader to form his own opinions-has been in some measure realized.

A glossary, explaining the meanings of words peculiar to Wilson, and the language in which most of his earlier productions are written, has been considered necessary for the benefit of the reader. This we have added to the work; but its utility and merits need not be mentioned, as they, being considerable, must be evident to every reader. To Dr. Andrew Crawfurd, of Lochwinnoch, we beg leave to return our grateful thanks, for his valuable services in this department of our editorial labours.

In conclusion, we have only to notice Wilson's miscellaneous prose writings, which, like the poems, are now for the first time collected, with considerable care and trouble. These, we think, add peculiar interest to the present work. They have been gathered from various sources; some from published copies, and a number from the original manuscripts. Such passages as related to anything personal or local, we have endeavoured to explain by marginal notes; and to almost every letter has been added such information as was deemed necessary. The prose "Journal," formerly mentioned, has also been included; and a few verses, by different writers, to the memory of Wilson, likewise added.

The task, which the editor undertook as a labour of love, and which has now been brought to a conclusion, under great difficulties and disadvantages, is with great respect submitted to the public.

PAISLEY, May, 1845.

THE EDITOR.

MEMOIR OF WILSON.

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ALEXANDER WILSON, author of "Watty and Meg," and "American Ornithology," was born in the Seedhills of Paisley, on the 6th of July, 1766;* and was the fifth child of a family of six, all of whom died in their infancy, except two daughters and the subject of this memoir. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary M'Nab, came when very young from her native place, the Row, in Dumbartonshire; and is represented as having been a woman of a superior order, handsome in person, and very enthusiastic in religion: and who probably aided not a little in the elevation of the mind of her son. His father, who bore the same name as himself, was a weaver by trade; and in his better days, possessed a number of looms and employed journeymen. He also, at one period of his life, carried on a small distillery, which he had erected at the foot of the garden attached to his dwelling house, on the banks of the river Cart at Seedhills. He was considered one of the wealthier class of his sphere in life; and was a man of sober and industrious habits, endowed with an active and a sagacious mind, and highly respected by all who knew him, for his strict honesty and superior intelligence. In personal appearance he is said to have greatly resembled his son; being tall, vigorous, inclining to the slender, rather than the athletic, and having a marked intellectual expression of countenance. He came

*The house in which he was born, was some years ago taken down, and another of the same height built in its place; forming one of a row of two-story houses running at right angles with the river Cart. It commanded a fine view of the river below the falls, and overlooked the Hamels-the highest part of a range of rocks or craigs over which the river rushes, forming a beautiful and romantic waterfall. These rocks were a favourite haunt of Wilson, in his boyhood; and are at this day, for the considerable facility which they afford for bathing, a great resort of the youths of Paisley. The house is distinguished from the others by a plain marble tablet, embedded in its front wall, bearing the following inscription :-"This tablet was erected in 1841, by David Anderson, Perth, to mark the birth-place of Alexander Wilson, Paisley Poet and American Ornithologist."

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to Paisley, at an early age, from the place of his birthCampbeltown, in Argyleshire, whither his grandfather had fled from his home, near Lochwinnoch, in Renfrewshire, like many other fugitive covenanters, during the religious persecution in the middle of the seventeenth century. He outlived his eminent son, and died on the 5th of June, 1816, at the venerable age of eighty-eight.

It appears that Wilson, at an early age, was intended by his parents, particularly his mother, for the church; and to their pious intention, he himself, in his poem entitled the "Solitary Tutor," which is certaintly descriptive of himself, alludes in the following pleasing lines:"His parents saw with partial fond delight,

Unfolding genius crown their fostering care,
And talked 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."

Accordingly, with this laudable design in view, the future
poet and ornithologist, attended from an early age the
grammar school of his native town, till about the period
of his apprenticeship to the weaving trade, which was the
principal business of his native place, and for which it is
now so widely famed. But, unfortunately for Wilson, and
his purposed advancement in life, his mother suddenly
died, when he had scarcely attained his tenth year, and
all his prospects of filling that situation to which his
ambition was taught to aspire, and which is so dear to the
heart of the Scottish peasant, were completely overcast.
In the above-mentioned poem, Wilson, in the conclusion
of his beautiful address to Hope, evidently alludes to the
feelings of his amiable mother when on her death-bed-
"Dear smiling Hope! to thy enchanting hand,
What cheering joys, what extacies we owe !
Touched by the magic of thy fairy wand,

Before us spread, what heavenly prospects glow !
Through life's rough thorny wild we lab'ring go,
And though a thousand disappointments grieve.
E'en from the grave's dark verge we forward throw
Our straining, wishful eyes on those we leave,
And with their future fame our sinking hearts relieve!"

His father, being left embarrassed with the charge of a young family-to administer to whose wants required the

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