Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/398

 382 CRITICAL STUDIES chant, lived at Ambleside; and Miss Jane and he, being both young and lish, were not long in dancing into each other's hearts. " A spectator at a ball given in Liverpool in those days, relates that when Mr. Wilson entered the room with Miss Penny on his arm, the dancers stopped and cheered in mere ad- miration of their appearance." They were married in May 181 1, she bringing some fortune, and he having not cut very deeply into the unencumbered which occurred to make it absolutely necessary to leave EUeray were of a most painful nature, inas- much as they not only deprived Wilson of his entire fortune, but in that blow revealed the dishonesty of one closely allied to him in relationship, and in whom years of unshaken trust had been reposed. An uncle had acted the part of 'unjust steward,' and, by his treachery, overwhelmed his nephew in irretrievable loss. A sudden fall from affluence to poverty is not a trial easily borne, especially when it comes through the fault of others ; but Wilson's nature was too strong and noble to bow beneath the blow. On the con- trary, with a virtue rarely exemplified, he silently submitted to the calamity, and generously assisted in contributing to the support of his relative, who, in the ruin of others, had also ruined himself. Here was a practical illustration of Moral Philosophy, more eloquent, I think, than even the Professor's own lectures, when he came to teach what he had practised." So, in 181 5, he removed to Edinburgh with his young wife and babes, and was received into the house, 53 Queen Street, of his mother, "a lady
 * ^5o,ooo left him by his father. "The circumstances