O DEATH! it's no thy deed I mourn,
Tho aft my heart strings thou hast torn,
'Tis worth an merit left forlorn
Life's ills tae dree,
Gars now the pearly, brakish burn
Gush frae my ee.
Is there wha feel the meltin glow
O sympathy for ithers woe ?
Come, let our tears thegither flow ;
O join my mane !
For Wilson, worthiest of us a,
For ay is gane.
He bravely strave gainst Fortune's stream
While Hope held forth ae distant gleam,
'Till dasht and dasht, time after time,
On Life's rough sea,
He weeped his thankless native clime,
And sail'd away.
The patriot bauld, the social brither,
In him war sweetly join'd thegither ;
He knaves reprov'd, without a swither,
In keenest satire ;
And taught what mankind owe each ither
As sons of Nature.
If thou hast heard his wee bit wren [1]
Wail forth its sorrows through the glen,
Tell how his warm, descriptive pen
Has thrill'd thy saul ;
His sensibility sae keen,—
He felt for all.
Since now he's gane, an Burns is deid,
Ah ! wha will tune the Scottish reed?
Her thistle, dowie, hings its heid,—
Her harp's unstrung,—
While mountain, river, loch, an mead,
Remain unsung.
Fareweel, thou much neglected Bard !
These lines will speak my warm regard,
While strangers on a foreign sward
Thy worth hold dear,
Still some kind heart thy name shall guard
Unsullied here.
M‘Laren, in his life of Tannahill, says—“If memory is to be trusted, the first of his poetical productions that occupied the hands of a printer were his verses on the emigration of a brother bard to America. Alexander Wilson, the gentleman on whom they were written, was a native of Paisley, and author of a volume of Poetry containing many things worthy of the Scottish Muse in the brightest days of her fame. Sent by folly or misfortune to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, he soon distinguished himself as a man of genius and observation. Among other things which gained him the approbation of the inhabitants of that country, was an elegant work on American Ornithology, which, for accuracy of observation and splendour of execution, has never been equalled by any publication in that quarter of the world. He has since paid the debt of Nature, and, like the bard who sung his praise, lives only in the memory of his friends."
Motherwell,in his Essay in the Harp of Renfrewshire, says—“Alexander Wilson was born at Paisley on the 6th of July, 1766; he landed in America on the 14th July, 1794, and died at Philadelphia on the 23rd of August, 1813, while on the very eve of completing one of the most splendid undertakings that hath ever been projected, perhaps, by a single, solitary, friendless, poor, and almost destitute individual. The edition of his poems published at Paisley in 1816 is prefaced with a well-written, though diffuse life of the author, interspersed with critical strictures on some pieces there inserted.
Note by Ramsay.—“Alexander Wilson was born in Paisley in 1766, where he followed the trade of a weaver, and acquired considerable celebrity for his poetical productions. As a graphic description of low life, his ‘Watty and Meg’ has rarely been equalled. Wilson emigrated to the United States in 1794, and died at Philadelphia, in 1813, the victim of intense application to the study of the natural history of the birds of that country. His great work on American Ornithology,—the fruit of ten years spent in unparalleled activity, romantic adventure, and daring research,—forms an imperishable monument to the memory of this extraordinary man.”
The whole of the legal and criminal proceedings, instituted before the Sheriff of Renfrewshire, in 1792, at the instance of William Sharp, manufacturer, Paisley, against Alexander Wilson, weaver in Seedhills, Paisley, were printed in the Scottish Journal, published in 1848, Vol. II, page 228 and page 245. These legal proceedings were the true cause of the Poet's emigration, and we shall as briefly as possible give a narrative of the actions.
In 1792, a dispute between the manufacturers and weavers of Paisley arose ; and somehow or other satirical poetasters are generally found on the side of the operatives, who, instead of attacking the real cause of dispute, very improperly consider it necessary to assail private character. On Tuesday, 22nd May, 1792, Alexander Wilson, a poet of considerable ability, espoused the popular side, and wrote satirical verses upon a leading manufacturer on the opposite side, then town treasurer, chiefly on his private character. Wilson then wrote a letter, enclosing the satirical verses, and sent it to Mr. Sharp, offering it for £5 5s. The gentleman, instead. of parleying with the imprudent satirist, instituted legal proceedings the following day against Wilson to discover the author. Wilson was examined and admitted the letter, but declined to say who had written the verses—although the letter and the verses were in the same handwriting. From what transpired, the Sheriff considered it proper to interdict the publication or circulation of the poem ; but Wilson and his advisers set the interdict at defiance, and the poem was published, and freely circulated. Criminal proceedings at the instance of Mr. Sharp and the fiscal were then instituted against Wilson on 27th June, 1792, for breach of interdict. The defender lodged defences expressing half penitence, instead of making a clean breast of the whole affair. On 22nd July, 1792, Sheriff Orr found the defender guilty of contempt of Court, and granted warrant for his imprisonment for fourteen days, or until he found security for his good behaviour ; ordained him to deliver up all copies of the poem in his possession, and to be examined about said copies ; and, also, to be conducted to the market place of Paisley, and there, with his own hands, commit to the flames the whole copies delivered. Wilson was examined, and admitted the poem was printed at his expense, and sold by James Sclater, stationer ; but all the other questions put to him he declined to answer. On 5th February, 1793, Wilson lodged two copies of the poem, and the Sheriff ordained the defender to be taken to the head of the outer stair of the Tolbooth of Paisley, the following day at 11 o clock forenoon, and “there, with his own hands, to commit to the flames the said two copies of the poem;” and on the. 6th February, the Clerk of Court certified he had handed the two copies to the defender, who, with his own hands, committed them to the flames. On 14th May, 1798, the final interlocutor was pronounced, finding the defender had committed the wrongs charged, fines him in £.5 5s. to the private prosecutor, and £2 12s. 6d. to the Fiscal, and £3 10s. to be paid of expenses ; and granted warrant for imprisoning the defender till these sums were paid.
No man of sensibility, particularly such a rising genius as Wilson, could remain in his native town after having been found guilty of a satirical libel, and compelled to burn his poem at the market place. But at this time, the French Revolution had broken out ; and Wilson, being looked upon with suspicion by the authorities, left Paisley for the United States. This unfortunate son of song in the new country of his adoption tried weaving, teaching, and peddling, to gain a subsistence ; but all these he abandoned, and plunged into the depths of the wild recesses of the American forest, and commenced his distinguished career of ornithologist. We may here remark that Wilson, when a boy, residing in the Seedhills, Paisley, had a taste for drawing and painting domestic fowls and the wild birds in the neighbourhood, and presenting them to his boy companions. We saw several of these juvenile performances lately, and they seemed artistically executed. The genius for drawing and painting was in the boy, and developed in the man. The poverty and privations which he suffered were dreadful ; but he surmounted them with indomitable perseverance. He frequently regretted the effusions of which he had been found guilty, not with a half penitence, for we have seen some of his letters expressing a true and full repentance.
In the year 1841, Mr. David Anderson, sculptor, Perth, was exhibiting in Paisley his statuary group of “Tam o' Shanter and Souter Johnnie” and of “Watty and Meg.” Mr. Anderson expressed his surprise there was nothing indicating the birthplace of Alexander Wilson, the author of “Watty and Meg,” and resolved to erect a marble tablet. The erection having been fixed for 17th August, 1841, the Saint Mirin Lodge, Paisley, and the Alexander Wilson Lodge of Oddfellows of the Manchester Unity, agreed to patronise the fixing of the tablet with a procession of their societies through the town. The procession was joined by the Greenock Lodge, and an immense number of the inhabitants. The Marble Tablet, containing the following inscription, was then duly fixed in the wall with all Masonic honours :—“This Tablet was erected in 1841 by David Anderson, Perth, “to mark out the Birthplace of Alexander Wilson, Paisley, Poet and “Ornithologist.”
The success attending the erection of the Tablet, emboldened the Alexander Wilson Lodge to proceed with the erection of a Monument. The Committee held a meeting on 28th Tune, 1844, and extended the Committee for the purpose of collecting Subscriptions. The Committee had year after year, both here and in America, wrought with the same indomitable perseverance as the Ornithologist himself in his favourite pursuit. The execution of the Monument, a bronze bust of Wilson, was gained by Mr. John Mossman, sculptor, Glasgow, in a competition. A desirable site, however, could not he obtained until all the houses on the east side of Abbey Close were finally removed in 1874 for the amenity of the Abbey. The north-east corner of Abbey Close and Smithhills Street presented the best site to be obtained in Paisley. It was secured, and the Monument erected ; and Thursday, 8th October, 1874, fixed for its inauguration. The Monument Committee, with their friends, met that day ; and in presence of William Holms, Esq., M.P. for the Burgh, and a large concourse of the inhabitants, handed over to the Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council of Paisley, who accepted, the Monument, consisting of a bronze statue of Wilson seven feet six inches high, standing on a pedestal of gray granite of ten feet in height. Wilson is represented leaning against the stump of a tree ; behind him is a gun ; at his feet are a hat and portfolio, on which is resting the little favourite blue parrot that accompanied him in many of his wanderings through the pathless forests of America, In his right hand, he holds a pencil ; and in his left, a bird that he has recently shot,—the beautiful plumage of which he is earnestly admiring. The ceremony having been concluded, the Provost and Council, the Members of the Wilson Committee, and their friends, afterwards met in the County Hall, and partook of cake and wine,—Provost David Murray in the chair, supported by William Holms, Esq., M.P., and Sir Peter Coats.
The statue of Wilson has been admitted to be one of the finest statues erected in Scotland, and the following inscription is engraven on a tablet in the pedestal,—“Alexander Wilson, ornithologist and poet, born at Paisley 6th July, 1766; died at Philadelphia 13th August, 1813.”—Ed.
[1] Referring to the poem of "The Disconsolate Wren" wailing the destruction of her sixteen bonnie chicks by the fall of a craig—Ed.
[Semple 9]