tranquillity. The classical department of the school was under his immediate direction, and the mathematical was conducted by a Mr. Nichols. As a public teacher, his character was highly respectable: He always preferred lenient to coercive measures; and from the gentleness of his disposition, and his assiduity in teaching, his memory is still cherished by his pupils with fondness and veneration. In school, he had more the appearance of a father instructing his children, than of a master presiding among his scholars; and for the last years during which he taught, the increasing infirmities of age induced him to trust solely to the affection of his pupils, for maintaining order and subordination. Nor did he find his confidence misplaced; for at no time did they obey him more implicitly, or apply more assiduously to their studies. Two years before his death, which happened on June 2. 1789, the increasing debility of his constitution induced him to retire from the duties of his office on the united salaries of school-master and session-clerk; but the respectful attention of his pupils was continued to the close of his life.
In his domestic character, Mr. Wilson was gentle and affectionate. He cultivated the minds of his children with assiduous care, and early instilled into them the precepts of sublime morality, and those feelings of devotion with which he himself was
