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system of American Ornithology. To carry into effect, however, this magnificent conception, he needed an accomplishment which he had not yet acquired the art of drawing and colouring from

nature.

About this time Mr. Lawson, who is distinguished alike for his excellence as an artist and his benevolence as a man, had attempted to instruct Mr. Wilson in the principles of drawing; an employment which would furnish him, as he conceived, with a never-failing source of amusement, and serve as an effectual antidote to the paroxysms of despondency to which he had been subject. But the attempt had hitherto proved unsuccessful. Unwilling, at his period of life, to begin with the rudiments of the art, and feeling no particular interest in copying figures, Mr. Wilson's first efforts were altogether unpromising, and he was about to abandon the business in despair. Under these circumstances Mr. Bartram advised him to attempt the outlines of birds, which he knew to be among the favourite objects of his attention. In this his success was flattering beyond the most sanguine expectation, and almost beyond credibility itself. His first efforts produced very accurate and excellent sketches; so that in a short time he was able to draw a bird in nearly as high a style of perfection as his friend and instructor. The art of colouring being soon afterwards acquired, Mr. Wilson felt that a very weighty obstacle in relation to his proposed system of ornithology was now removed. Various other obstacles, however, still remained, sufficient to have deterred, even singly, common minds from so arduous an undertaking. But his zeal, perseverance, and ability, surmounted them all.

About this time Mr. Wilson was introduced, by a common friend, to Mr. Samuel F. Bradford, who was in want of a person of steady habits and literary attainments to aid him in his exten sive book-selling establishment. These two gentlemen, till now entirely strangers to each other, were mutually pleased at their first interview. An arrangement between them was immediately concluded, and, without further negotiation, Mr. Wilson was engaged by Mr. Bradford at a liberal salary. It was not long after their intercourse had thus commenced, in a manner so frank and honourable to them both, when Mr. Wilson disclosed his

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views in relation to a system of American Ornithology. Bradford was delighted with the idea of cooperating in the production of so splendid a work; and believing his friend to be incapable of undertaking what he was unable to execute, agreed to become the publisher, and, in the way of means, to give every aid and facility which the enterprise might require.

Things thus arranged, in a manner that far surpassed his most flattering expectations, and left not a wish on the subject ungratified, Mr. Wilson felt the glow of a new existence. What he had hitherto scarcely dared to figure to himself, even in the extravagance of an enthusiast's hope, was now about to be realized as if by enchantment. Fame, at least, if not fortune, was placed within his reach, and never was mortal more eager to embrace it. Not a moment was lost that the most vigilant industry could turn to account. The united energies of his body and his soul were devoted to the duties of his new occupation. For a time almost every earthly concern was forgotten, except what appertained to his favourite undertaking. To procure the best possible materials for the work, exertions were pushed with an ardour and intrepidity, and continued with a perseverance surpassing belief. From the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, every section of the country was carefully explored, and that by the footsteps of a solitary individual. Neither toils, nor dangers, nor privations were regarded, provided the great work could be accomplished. In quest of birds the boundless forest was traversed alone; the threatening precipice was climbed to its summit; the angry river, covered with drifting masses of ice, and swollen with the waters of an hundred hills, was navigated in a small and perishable bark; the deadly brake, strewed with poisonous plants and bristling with serpents, was trodden without hesitation or fear; the tan gled and pestiferous marsh, which the human foot had seldom pressed, was dauntlessly penetrated to its inmost recesses; and even the friths and arms of the sea were compelled to give up their numerous water-fowl, that had retreated to them as an asylum from the persecution of man. Every thing short of miracles was performed, that ample justice might be done to the subject, and the public expectation be completely fulfilled. The

fruit of these labours, which might well admit of the epithet Herculean, was soon discoverable in the splendid, rich, and accurate pages of the "American Ornithology." The merits and general character of this great national work, it is not our present intention to examine. It is sufficient to remark, that it has already passed the ordeal of criticism, and received not merely the approbation, but the admiration and applause, of the best judges in Europe and America. No one will pronounce it a faultless publication; yet as few will withhold from it the just praise of being by far the most full, perfect, and superb delineation and history of the birds of the United States, of which the world is at this time in possession. It bears no marks of a closet performance-none of the puny features and sickly aspect which necessarily characterize every work composed of borrowed and doubtful materials. It has all the healthy freshness, strength of feature, and constitutional hardihood of originality and truth. Without pretending to a spirit of prophecy we venture to predict, that it will continue for ages a work of high and unshaken authority, and transmit to posterity the name of its author with unfading lustre. We are happy in being able to state, that Mr. Wilson had so far collected his materials and matured his arrangements for the completion of this work, that, on that score, the public will sustain no material disappointment in the event of his death. The remaining volumes may be looked for by subscribers at the usual periods, and, we trust, without any abatement in those various excellencies by which the preceding ones have hitherto excited universal approbation.

Although beyond comparison the most weighty and important, the American Ornithology is not the only work for which the public is indebted to the pen of Mr. Wilson. He became an author, in verse, before he had reached his twentieth year, and continued throughout his whole life to pay occasionally his court to the Muses. He was likewise the author of various letters and essays in prose, which have enriched the pages of several of the periodical publications of our country. The collection of a sufficient number of these minor productions, to form a volume, is now in contemplation by his surviving friends. Should the project be carried into effect, a biographical memoir of the

author will accompany them. For the advantage of literature, taste, and sound morals in the United States, as well as in justice to the posthumous reputation of a most deserving individual, whose early prospects were clouded by adversity and crossed by disappointments, we flatter ourselves that the liberal intention will be speedily realized.

Such is a brief and hasty outline of the life and character of Mr. Wilson, drawn by a feeble hand, and under the influence of a spirit broken and humbled by a sense of his loss. We shall only add, that he died on the morning of the 23d ultimo, in the entire possession of all his faculties. Endowed with great constitutional intrepidity, perfectly resigned to the will of Heaven, and still further sustained by lively hopes and brightening prospects of a happy immortality, he awaited his dissolution with exemplary calmness. To him, in his last moments, might have been aptly applied the words of a distinguished and pious personage in reFation to himself, "See in what peace a Christian can die.”

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