d to be, he
had rushed into generous praise, and described it as really a great deal
better than it was. After an extravagantly high estimate of the powers
of its author, he went on to say--"Nor, in making these observations, do
we speak relatively, or desire to be understood as merely saying that
the poems before us are remarkable productions to emanate from a
'journeyman mason.' That this is indeed the case, no one who reads them
can doubt; but in characterizing the poetical talent they display, our
observations are meant to be quite absolute; and we aver, without fear
of contradiction, that the pieces contained in the humble volume before
us bear the stamp and impress of no ordinary genius; that they are
bespangled with gems of genuine poetry; and that their unpretending
author well deserves--what he will doubtless obtain--the countenance and
support of a discerning public. Nature is not an aristocrat To the
plough-boy following his team a-field--to the shepherd tending his
flocks in the wilderness--or to the rude cutter of stone, cramped over
his rough occupation in the wooden shed--she sometimes dispenses her
richest and rarest gifts as liberally as to the proud patrician, or the
titled representative of a long line of illustrious ancestry. She is no
respecter of persons; and all other distinctions yield to the title
which her favours confer. The names, be they ever so humble, which she
illustrates, need no other decoration to recommend them; and hence, even
that of our 'journeyman mason' may yet be destined to take its place
with those of men who, like him, first poured their 'wood-notes wild' in
the humblest and lowliest sphere of life, but, raised into deathless
song, have become familiar as household words to all who love and admire
the unsophisticated productions of native genius." The late Dr. James
Browne of Edinburgh, author of the "History of the Highlands," and
working Editor of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," was, as I afterwards
learned, the writer of this over-eulogistic, but certainly, in the
circumstances, generous critique.

Ultimately I found my circle of friends very considerably enlarged by
the publication of my Verses and Letters. Mr. Isaac Forsyth of Elgin,
the brother and biographer of the well-known Joseph Forsyth, whose
classical volume on Italy still holds its place as perhaps the best work
to which the traveller of taste in that country can commit himself,
exerted himself, as the most infl