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                         SKETCH
               THE AUTHOR'S LIFE.
   ALEXANDER WILSON was born in the town of Paisley, in
 the west of Scotland, on the sixth day of July, 1766. His fa-
 ther, who was also named Alexander, followed the distilling
 business; an humble occupation, which neither allowed him
 much time for the improvement of his mind, nor yielded him.
 much more than the necessaries of life. He was illiterate and
 poor; and died on the 5th June, 1816, at the age of eighty-
 tight. His mother was a native of Jura, one of the Hebrides
 or Western Islands of Scotland. She is said to have been a
 woman of delicate health, but of good understanding; and pas-
 sionately fond of Scotch music, a taste for which she early in-
 culcated on her son; who, in his riper years, cultivated it as
 one of the principal amusements of his life. She died when
 Alexander was about ten years old, leaving him, and two sis-
 ters, to mourn their irreparable loss; a loss which her affec-
 tionate son never ceased to deplore, as it deprived him of his
 best friend; one who had fostered his infant mind; and who
 had looked forward, with fond expectation, to that day,
           "When, clad in sable gown, with solemn air.
    "The walls of God's own house should echo back his prayer:"
for it appears to have been her wish that he should be edut
cated for the ministry.
  At a school in Paisley, Wilson was taught the common ru-
diments of learning. But what proficiency he made, whether
lhe was distinguished from his scboolmate-s or not' mnv memo-
  QOLJ I.-I