WATTY AND MEG;*

OR THE

WIFE REFORMED.

BY ALEXANDER WILSON.

We dream in Courtship, but in Wedlock wake.-POPE.

Keen the frosty winds war blawin',

Deep the snaw had wreath'd the ploughs,
Watty, weary'd a' day sawin',†

Daunert down to Mungo Blue's.

* The following sketch of the life of the author of this striking performance has been communicated in the most obliging manner, by Mr. James Brown, manufacturer, at Paisley:

"Alexander Wilson, author of Watty and Meg, was born at Paisley, in the year 1766. His father, intending him for the medical profession, gave him as good an education as his trade of a weaver would allow. He, however, entered into a second marriage, which put an end to this scheme, unfortunately for

+ Sawing timber.

young

Dryster Jock was sitting cracky,
Wi' Pate Tamson o' the Hill,
"Come awa'," quo' Johnny, "Watty!
"Haith! we'se ha'e anither gill."

Watty, glad to see Jock Jabos,

And sae mony nei'bours roun',
Kicket frae his shoon the sna' ba's,
Syne ayont the fire sat down.

young Wilson, who at the age of thirteen was put to the loom. After an apprenticeship of five years, he became his own mas. ter; but his eager passion for reading poetry and novels, absorbed most of his time, and left him in a state of constant penury. In the year 1786 he gave up his occupation, and travelled the country as a pedlar. In 1790 he settled again in Paisley, and published a volume of poems and a journal of his excursions, which meeting with poor success, involved him further in pecuniary difficulties. He again returned to the loom; but his favourite literary pursuits still engrossed his attention, and the society of the young and thoughtless of his own age consumed his time and exhausted his means of support.

Soon after the publication of his poems he became the dupe of a worthless fellow, who had been vainly endeavouring to sellthem, and who persuaded him to write a satire, with a view to relieve himself from his embarrassments. The poem being on a popular subject, sold rapidly; but his friend's advice led him beyond the safe bounds of satire, and he incurred a prosecution,

by

Owre a boord, wi' bannocks heapet,
Cheese, an' stoups, an' glasses stood;
Some war roarin', ithers sleepit,
Ithers quietly chewt their cude.

Jock was sellin' Pate some tallow,
A' the rest a racket hel',

A' but Watty, wha, poor fallow,
Sat and smoket by himsel❜.

by which he suffered severely. The remembrance of this misfortune dwelt upon his mind, and rendered him dissatisfied with his country.

Another cause of Wilson's dejection was the rising fame of Burns, and the indifference of the public to his own productions. He may be said to have envied the Ayrshire bard, and to this envy may be attributed his best production, "Watty and Meg," which he wrote at Edinburgh in 1793. He sent it to Nielson, printer, at Paisley, who had suffered by the publication of his former poems. As it was, by the advice of his friends, published anonymously, it was generally ascribed to Burns, and went rapidly through seven or eight editions. Wilson, however, shared no part of the profits, willing to compensate for the former losses his publisher had sustained.

Tired of a country in which the efforts of his genius had been rendered abortive by juvenile indiscretions, and apprehensive that these might operate as a bar to his future advancement, he resolved in the year 1794 or 1795 to embark for America, which

his

Mungo fill'd him up a toothfu',
Drank his health and Meg's in ane;
Watty, puffin' out a mouthfu',

Pledg'd him wi' a dreary grane.

"What's the matter, Watty, wi' you?

Trouth your

chafts are fa'ing in!

"Something's wrang-I'm vext to see you~~
"Gudesake! but ye're desp❜rate thin!"

his warm fancy and independent spirit had taught him to regard as the land of liberty. To procure money for his passage he laboured with incessant industry, and having accumulated a sufficient sum, he took his departure. He settled in the state of Pennsylvania, where he remained four or five years as a teacher, and was afterwards employed for about the same length of time as a land surveyor. He then became connected with Mr. Samuel Bradford, bookseller and stationer, of Philadelphia, in the capacity of editor. He is now engaged in an extensive work entitled, “ American Ornithology." In pursuit of subjects for this performance he has actually traversed a great part of the United States, and has been enabled to pursue his favourite diversion of shooting. He kills the birds, draws their figures, and describes them.

The following poetical description of the Blue Bird presents a very animated and pleasing picture of American scenery and seasons, while the slight tincture of Scottish expression which here and there appears adds to the naïveté of the diction.

ON

66

'Aye," quo' Watty," things are alter'd,
"But it's past redemption now,
"O! I wish I had been halter'd
“When I marry'd Maggy Howe!

"I've been poor, and vext, and raggy,
"Try'd wi' troubles no that sma';
"Them I bore—but marrying Maggy
"Laid the cape-stane o' them a'.

ON THE BLUE BIRD.

When winter's cold tempests and snows are no more,
Green meadows and brown-furrow'd lands re-appearing:
The fishermen hauling their shad to the shore,
And cloud-cleaving geese to the lakes are a-steering,
When first the lone butterfly flits on the wing,
When red glow the maples, so fresh and so pleasing,
O then comes the blue-bird, the herald of spring,
And hails with his warblings the charms of the season.

Then loud piping frogs make the marshes to ring,
Then warm glows the sunshine, and fine is the weather,
The blue woodland flowers just beginning to spring,
And spicewood and sassafras budding together;
O then to your gardens, ye housewives, repair,
Your walks border up, sow and plant at your leisure,
The blue-bird will chant from his box such an air,
That all your hard toils will seem truly a pleasure.

He