She visited Europe in company with Dr. Richard Peters, of Philadelphia, and everywhere her brilliant conversation and refined manners won her recognition and applause in literary society. Laurence Sterne was fascinated by her. "She took a seat upon the same stage with him at the York races. While bets were making upon different horses, she selected a small horse that was in the rear of the coursers as the subject of a trifling wager. Upon being asked the reason for doing so, she said 'the race was not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong.' Mr. Sterne, who stood near to her, was struck with this reply, and turning hastily toward her begged for the honor of her acquaintance. They soon became sociable, and a good deal of pleasant conversation took place between them to the great entertainment of the surrounding company" (Knapp, "Female Biography," page 217). She wrote a parody upon Pope which was printed with Nathaniel Evans' poems (1772): How happy is the country parson's lot! Forgetting bishops, as by them forgot; Tranquil of spirit, with an easy mind, To all his vestry's votes he sits resigned. Of manners gentle and of temper even, He jogs his flocks, with easy pace, to heaven. In Greek and Latin pious books he keeps, And, while his clerk sings psalms, he--soundly sleeps. His garden fronts the sun's sweet orient beams, And fat church-wardens prompt his golden dreams. The earliest fruit in his fair orchard blooms, And cleanly pipes pour out tobacco fumes. From rustic bridegroom oft he takes the ring, And hears the milkmaid plaintive ballads sing. Back-gammon cheats whole winter nights away, And Pilgrim's Progress helps a rainy day. ALEXANDER WILSON was born in Paisley, Scotland, July 6, 1766, and died in Philadelphia, August 23, 1813. "The Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander Wilson" was edited by A. B. Grosart, and published at Paisley in 1876. "With the exception of Allen Ramsay, Ferguson and Burns, none of our Scottish vernacular poets have been so continuously kept in print as Alexander Wilson" (Grosart). Seven biographies of him attest the lively interest felt in his personality and his work. In Scotland he was apprenticed to a weaver, and, after serving his time, he continued to work at the loom for four years more. He published "Watty and Meg" in 1792, an anonymous poem, the authorship of which was commonly ascribed to Robert Burns. He came to America in 1794, worked for a year at his trade, and subsequently taught at various schools in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In 1802 he settled at Kingsessing, now in the city of Philadelphia, close by the home of Bartram, the botanist. Here he taught the "Union" School. It was in a picturesque spot. Before its doors were cedars and "stripling poplars planted in a row, and old gray white oaks."