diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-05 00:45:22 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-05 00:45:22 -0800 |
| commit | c4dcff13e73448c099b1f35e506f282c36ab35f8 (patch) | |
| tree | e52910e59bac7ce58bfebe3bc245a5f4e3408ce6 | |
| parent | d40e27bf6b508dda8c0a27fb4e73f7e53dc5a854 (diff) | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/50343-0.txt | 2353 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/50343-0.zip | bin | 47949 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/50343-h.zip | bin | 75511 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/50343-h/50343-h.htm | 3326 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/50343-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 26252 -> 0 bytes |
8 files changed, 17 insertions, 5679 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c14bfa --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50343 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50343) diff --git a/old/50343-0.txt b/old/50343-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c2396a7..0000000 --- a/old/50343-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2353 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Early History of Blackwood's Edinburgh -Magazine, by Alice Mary Doane - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Early History of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - -Author: Alice Mary Doane - -Release Date: October 30, 2015 [EBook #50343] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY HISTORY OF BLACKWOOD'S *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - EARLY HISTORY OF BLACKWOOD’S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE - - BY - - ALICE MARY DOANE - A. B. Earlham College, 1914 - - THESIS - - Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the - - Degree of - - MASTER OF ARTS - - IN ENGLISH - - IN - - THE GRADUATE SCHOOL - - OF THE - - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS - - 1917 - - - - -UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS - -THE GRADUATE SCHOOL - - - June 1 1917 - - I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION - BY Mary Alice Doane - ENTITLED Early History of Blackwood’s Magazine - - ------------------------------------------------------ - BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE - DEGREE OF Master of Arts in English - - Jacob Zeitlin - In Charge of Thesis - - Frank W Scott - Head of Department - - Recommendation concurred in:[1] - - -------------------- } Committee - -------------------- } on - -------------------- } Final Examination[1] - - [1] Required for doctor’s degree but not for master’s. - - - - - Contents - - - I. Introduction p. 1-15 - - II. Genesis p. 16-29 - - III. Dramatis Personae p. 30-36 - - IV. First Years of “Maga” p. 37-67 - - Bibliography p. 68-69 - - - - -EARLY HISTORY OF BLACKWOOD’S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE - - - - -I - -_Introduction_[2] - -[2] The information in this chapter is taken from the following: Oliver -Elton: _A Survey of English Literature, 1780-1830_ (Arnold, London, -1912) V. i, ch. 13 - -_Cambridge History of English Literature_ (Cambridge, 1916) V. xii, ch. -6 - -John Gibson Lockhart: _Peter’s Letters to His Kinsfolk_ (Edinburgh, -1819) V. i, ii - - -People love to be shocked! That explains the present circulation of -_Life_. It explains, too, the clamor with which Edinburgh received -the October number of _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_ in 1817. For -the first time in periodical history, the reading public was actually -thrilled and completely shocked! Edinburgh held up its hands in -horror, looked pious, wagged its head--and bought up every number! It -is a strange parallel, perhaps, _Life_ and _Blackwood’s_,--yet not so -strange. It is hard at first glance to understand how those yellow, -musty old pages could have been so shocking which now seem to have -lost all savor for the man in the street. But before we can appreciate -just how shocking _Blackwood’s Magazine_ was, or why, it will be -necessary first to remember the Edinburgh of those days, and the men -who thought and fought in those pages, and the then state of periodical -literature. - -When we call _Blackwood’s_ the first _real_ magazine it is by virtue -of worth, not fact. There were numerous periodicals preceding and -contemporary with it. Most of them have never been heard of by the -average citizen, and no doubt oblivion is the kindest shroud to fold -them in. The _Monthly Review_, founded in 1749, was the oldest. It -ran till 1845 and is remembered chiefly for the fact that it had -decided Whiggish leanings with a touch of the Nonconformist. _The -Critical Review_, a Tory organ, ran from 1756 to 1817, the natal year -of “Maga”, as _Blackwood’s_ was fondly dubbed. _The British Critic_, -1793-1843, was a mouthpiece for High Church opinion; and _The Christian -Observer_, 1802-1857, served the same purpose for the evangelicals. -_The Anti-Jacobin_, 1797-98, was almost the only journal of the time -where talent or wit appeared often enough not to be accidental, and -it ran only eight months. _The Gentleman’s Magazine_, 1731-1868, has -come in for a small share of immortality, but could never aspire to be -considered a “moulder of opinion”. It published good prose and verse, -and articles of antiquarian and literary tone; its scholarship was -fair. When this is said, all is said. - -_The Edinburgh Review_ and _The Quarterly_ are the only two besides -_Blackwood’s_ which come down to the Twentieth Century with any degree -of lasting fame. In 1755 had appeared the first _Edinburgh Review_ -“to be published every six months”. It survived only two numbers, -being too radical and self-sufficient in certain philosophical and -religious views for that day of orthodoxy. In October 1802 the first -number of the _Edinburgh Review and Critical Journal_, a quarterly, -appeared, which according to the advertisement in the first number was -to be “distinguished for the selection rather than for the number of -its articles”.[3] Its aim was to enlighten and guide the public mind -in the paths of literature, art, science, politics,--with perhaps a -bit of emphasis on the words _guide_ and _politics_. Francis Jeffrey, -of whom Lockhart, later one of the leading lights of _Blackwood’s_, -says, “It is impossible to conceive the existence of a more fertile, -teeming intellect”,[4] was the first editor and remained so until 1829. -In the first number, October 1802, there were twenty-nine articles, -contributed by Sydney Smith, Jeffrey, Francis Horner, Brougham, and -Thomson, Murray and Hamilton. During its first three years the _Review_ -distinguished itself by adding such names to its list as Walter Scott, -Playfair, John Allen, George Ellis, and Henry Hallam. With such pens -supporting it, it would have been strange if it had not been readable. -There was indeed an air of vitality and energy throughout, which -distinguished it from any of its forerunners; it spoke as one having -authority; and men turned as instinctively to Francis Jeffrey and -the _Edinburgh Review_ for final verdicts, as it never entered their -heads to seriously consider the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ or even the -_Quarterly_. - -[3] _Cambridge History of English Literature_, V. xii, ch. 6, p. 157 - -[4] J. G. Lockhart: _Peter’s Letters_, V. ii, p. 61 - -This first number, October 1802, is as representative as any. -Jeffrey wrote the first article, reviewing a book on the causes of -the revolution by Mounier, late president of the French National -Assembly. There was an article by Francis Horner on “The Paper Credit -of Great Britain”; one by Brougham on “The Crisis in the Sugar -Colonies”. Another by Jeffrey, a criticism of Southey’s “Thalaba”, -indicates the young editor’s intention to live up to the motto of -the _Review_:--“_Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur_--The Judge is -damned when the offender is freed”. With Jeffrey anything new in the -world of letters was taboo, and Southey he considered “a champion and -apostle” of a school of poetry which was nothing if not new. Quoting -him: “Southey is the first of these brought before us for judgment, and -we cannot discharge our inquisitorial office conscientiously without -pronouncing a few words upon the nature and tendency of the tenets -he has helped to propagate”.[5] Notice that Jeffrey uses the term -“inquisitorial office”, therein pleading guilty to the very attitude of -which Lockhart accused him, and in opposition to which in _Blackwood’s -Magazine_ he later took such a decided stand, offending how similarly, -we are later to discover. - -[5] _Cambridge History of English Literature_, V. xii, ch. 6, p. 159 - -Lockhart admired Jeffrey and praised his talents; it was the use to -which he put those talents that Lockhart assailed. The following -words of Lockhart’s own, even though tinged with that exaggerated -vindictiveness so characteristic of him, give a pretty fair idea of -the attitude he and all the Blackwood group took against Jeffrey and -the _Edinburgh Review_; and shows the spirit underlying the rivalry -that took root before ever _Blackwood’s Magazine_ existed and prevailed -for ever after. “Endowed by nature with a keen talent for sarcasm -(Jeffrey, that is) nothing could be more easy for him than to fasten, -with the destructive effect of nonchalance upon a work which had -perhaps been composed with much earnestness of thought on the part of -the author.... The object of the critic, however, is by no means to -assist those who read his critical lucubrations, to enter with more -facility, or with better preparation into the thoughts or feelings -or truths which his author endeavors to inculcate or illustrate. His -object is merely to make the author look foolish; and he prostitutes -his own fine talents, to enable the common herd”[6]--to look down -upon the deluded author who is victim of the _Review_. This is what -Lockhart considered Jeffrey to be doing, and he was not alone in his -opinion. It is to be remembered, however, that Lockhart’s attitude was -always more tense, keener, and a little more bitter than others’, yet -his words better than any one else’s sound the keynote of the deadly -opposition to the _Review_ which “Maga” assumed from the first. Quoting -him again, "_The Edinburgh Review_ cared very little for what might -be done, or might be hoped to be done, provided it could exercise a -despotic authority in deciding on the merits of what _was_ done. -Nobody could ever regard this work as a great fostering-mother of the -infant manifestations of intellectual and imaginative power. It was -always sufficiently plain, that in all things its chief object was -to support the credit of its own appearance. It praised only where -praise was extorted--and it never praised even the highest efforts of -contemporary genius in the spirit of true and genuine earnestness which -might have been becoming”.[7] Lockhart never quite forgave Jeffrey for -failing instantly to recognize the genius of Wordsworth. He continues, -of the Reviewers: “They never spoke out of the fulness of the heart -in praising any one of our great living poets, the majesty of whose -genius would have been quite enough to take away all ideas except those -of prostrate respect”.[8] Taking all of Lockhart’s impetuosity with a -pinch of salt, the fact remains undeniably true that the _Edinburgh_ -assumed the patronizing air of bestowing rather than recognizing honor -when it praised. - -[6] J. G. Lockhart: _Peter’s Letters_, V. ii, p. 130 - -[7] J. G. Lockhart: _Peter’s Letters_, V. ii, p. 207 - -[8] Ibid, V. ii, p. 208 - -Among the builders of the _Edinburgh_ Henry Brougham stands one of the -foremost. In five years he contributed as many as eighty articles, -an average of four each number, and it is said that he once wrote -an entire number. He was capable of it! Brougham was a powerful -politician, but unfortunately did not limit his contributions to -political subjects. He wrote scientific, legal and literary papers as -well, with the air of one whose mandates go undisputed. Undisputed -they did go, too. In fact Brougham just escaped being a genius! He made -a big splash in his own little world and age, but his fame has not -outlived him. Another prominent contributor was Sydney Smith, a man of -no small reputation as a humorist. He earnestly applied his talents -to the forwarding of serious causes, and talents undoubtedly he had; -but the wit of his style, according to the Hon. Arthur R. D. Elliot, -erstwhile editor of the _Review_, its cleverness and jollity, prevented -many from recognizing the genuine sincerity of his character. - -By the end of 1806, Sir Walter Scott had contributed twelve articles -in all, among them papers on Ellis’s “Early English Poets”, on -Godwin’s “Life of Chaucer”, on Chatterton’s “Works”, on Froissart’s -“Chronicles”. After 1806, he withdrew from the _Review_, and politics -became the more prominent feature. No account of the _Edinburgh Review_ -has ever been given, written or told without including a remark of -Jeffrey’s to Sir Walter Scott in a letter about this time. It would -never do to omit it here! The remark is this: “The _Review_, in short, -has but two legs to stand on. Literature, no doubt, is one of them: but -its _Right Leg_ is Politics.”[9] Scott’s ideal was to keep it literary; -and his break was on account of its excessive Whiggism. In Jeffrey’s -mind, however, _The Edinburgh Review_ was destined to save the -nation! He championed the causes of Catholic emancipation, of popular -education, prison reform, even some small degree of justice in Ireland, -et cetera, all flavored, of course, with the saving grace of Whiggism. - -[9] Elton: _A Survey of English Literature, 1780-1830_. V. i, p. 387 - -Modern critics more than once have characterized Jeffrey as that -“once-noted despot of letters”. But it is not fair only to be told that -Jeffrey once said of Wordsworth’s Excursion, “This will never do!” That -he considered the end of The Ode to Duty “utterly without meaning”; -and that the Ode on Intimations of Immortality was “unintelligible”; -that he ignored Shelley, and committed other like unpardonable sins. -Those things are true and known and by them is he judged, but they -are not _all_ by which he should be judged by any means! There is no -doubt in the world but what Jeffrey’s mind was cast in a superior -mould. Lockhart himself has already testified there could not be “a -more fertile, teeming intellect”. He was seldom, if ever, profound, -we admit; but even the most grudging critic must grant him that -large, speculative understanding and shrewd scrutiny so prominent in -his compositions. Imagination, fancy, wit, sarcasm were his own, but -not the warm and saving quality of humor. He was a great man and a -brilliant criticiser, though hardly a great critic. The great critic -is the true prophet and Jeffrey was no prophet. As late as 1829 in an -article on Mrs. Hemans in the _Edinburgh Review_, he wrote: “Since the -beginning of our critical career we have seen a vast deal of beautiful -poetry pass into oblivion in spite of our feeble efforts to recall -or retain it in remembrance. The tuneful quartos of Southey are -already little better than lumber:--and the rich melodies of Keats and -Shelley,--and the fantastical emphasis of Wordsworth,--and the plebeian -pathos of Crabbe,--are melting fast from the field of our vision. The -novels of Scott have put out his poetry. Even the splendid strains of -Moore are fading into distance and dimness, except where they have been -married to immortal music; and the blazing star of Byron himself is -receding from its place of pride.”[10] Herein he only redeems himself -from his early condemnation of Wordsworth and Shelley and Southey, to -damn himself irrevocably in our eyes again with his amazing lack of -foresight! No! Jeffrey was no prophet. He had not the range of vision -of the true critic, and “where there is no vision the people perish”. -This was indeed an epitaph written a century ago for a grave not even -yet in view. It must not be hastily concluded from this, however, that -all the criticism in the _Edinburgh Review_ was poor stuff. A vast -amount of it was splendid work; the best output of the best minds of -the time; and it was the one and only authentic and readable journal -for years. This is corroborated by a statement of Sir Walter Scott’s in -a letter to George Ellis: “No genteel family can pretend to be without -the _Edinburgh Review_; because, independent of its politics, it gives -the only valuable literary criticisms that can be met with.”[11] - -[10] Elton: _A Survey of English Literature, 1780-1830_, V. i, p. 390 - -[11] _Cambridge History of English Literature_, V. xii, p. 164 - -But it was high time for a new periodical of opposite politics and -fresh outlook; and in 1809 Gifford was established as editor of -_The Quarterly Review_. Its four pillars were politics, literature, -scholarship, and science; but its main purpose was to oppose the -_Edinburgh_ and create an intellectual nucleus for the rallying of the -Tories. In October 1808 after plans were well on foot, Scott wrote to -Gifford, prospective editor: “The real reason for instituting the new -publication is the disgusting and deleterious doctrines with which -the most popular of our Reviews disgraces its pages.”[12] This of -course was a reference to the political policies of the _Edinburgh_, -yet the tone of the _Quarterly_ was not to be one of political -opposition only. Scott was eager for the success of the first number -and wrote nearly a third of it himself. Later he busied himself to -enlist the services of Southey and Rogers and Moore and Kirkpatrick -Sharpe as contributors. Southey wrote altogether about one hundred -articles on subjects varying from Lord Nelson to the Poor Laws. Scott -himself contributed about thirty with his usual versatility of subject -matter, all the way from fly fishing to Pepys’ Diary. In the issue for -January 1817 he even reviewed “Tales of my Landlord” and “ventured to -attribute them to the author of Waverley and Guy Mannering.”! John -Wilson Croker, satirist, was another prominent contributor, narrow -of mind and heart, intolerant of soul. He was an accurate and able -“argu-fier” however, and one of the ruling genii in the politics of -the _Quarterly_. In forty-five years he contributed something like -two hundred and fifty-eight articles. Sir John Barrow, traveller and -South African statesman, contributed much and copiously, multitudinous -reviews and voyages, all in his unvarying “solid food” style and tone. -Hallam and Sharon Turner wrote historical papers; Ugo Fosculo wrote -on Italian classics. Such was the tone of the _Quarterly_. It took -itself seriously, and was evidently always taken seriously. But no -modern would consider those dim old pages of criticism as a criterion -to the literature of that age. It was too heavy to be sensitive to new -excellencies, too intent on upholding failing causes to recognize new -ones. In truth, it was a periodical strangely unresponsive to artistic -or literary excellence or attainment. By 1818 and 1819 its circulation -was almost 14,000--practically the same as the _Edinburgh Review_; -but the _Quarterly_ never made the stir the _Edinburgh_ did. Ellis -spoke truth when he pronounced it, “Though profound, notoriously and -unequivocally dull”.[13] Gifford remained editor until 1824; then John -Taylor Coleridge ascended the throne for two years, and after that, -Lockhart. - -[12] _Cambridge History of English Literature_, V. xii, p. 165 - -[13] _Cambridge History of English Literature_, V. xii, p. 166 - -Concerning the _Scots Magazine_ which seemed to be dying a natural -death about the time of the initial impulse of “Maga”, Lockhart -writes: “It seems as if nothing could be more dull, trite and heavy -than the bulk of this ancient work.”[14] An occasional contribution by -Hazlitt or Reynolds enlivened it a bit, but only served to emphasize in -contrast the duller parts. - -[14] J. G. Lockhart: _Peter’s Letters_, V. ii, p. 227 - -The name of Leigh Hunt can scarcely be omitted from this panorama, -though here it is the journalist rather than the journal which attracts -attention. At various times he edited various publications, ten in all, -and all of them more or less short-lived and unsuccessful. Among them -was the _Reflector_ (1810-11), a quarterly which is remembered mainly -because Hunt was its editor and Charles Lamb one of its contributors. -Most noteworthy of his periodical projects was the _Examiner_, a -newspaper which he began to edit (1808) for his brother, and continued -to do so for the space of some thirteen years. It professed no -political allegiance, but was enough outspoken in its radical views -to land both Leigh Hunt and his brother in prison, after printing -an article on the Prince Regent. Among other things of interest, it -started a department of theatrical criticism; and on the whole, with -men like Hazlitt and Lamb contributing, it could not escape being -interesting. The Blackwood group later reacted to it and its editor -as a bull does to a red rag, testifying at least that it was far from -nondescript. - -The _London Magazine_ did not start until two years after -_Blackwood’s_, and we will dismiss it with only a few words. It was a -periodical fashioned after the sprightlier manner which _Blackwood’s_, -too, strove to maintain. They were bitter rivals from the first; and as -to which was the more bitter, the more stinging in its personalities, -it would be hard to judge. At one time matters even reached such a -pitch that John Scott, the _London’s_ first editor, and Lockhart found -it necessary to “meet on the sod”. The _London_ put forth many fine -things. In September 1821 it gave to the public “Confessions of an -Opium Eater” by a certain Thomas De Quincey. A year later it offered -“A Dissertation on Roast Pig” by an author then not so well known as -now. A poem or two of one John Keats appeared in its pages; and when -all is said, there is no doubt that the _London Magazine_ did at times -splendidly illumine the poetry of the age. It ran from 1820 to 1829. - -Thus in brief was the periodical world. The quarterly reviews were -avowedly pretentious, never amusing, not creative. Contents were -limited to political articles, to pompous dissertations and reviews. -There were no stories, no verse, nothing unbending, never a touch of -fantasy. Their political flavor was the least of their sins. A touch of -the Radical, the Whig or the Tory is a real contribution to the history -of literature, wherein it inevitably involves great historic divisions -of the thought of a nation concerning life and art. No. Our quarrel, -like _Blackwood’s_, is on the ground of their rigidity. It is well to -hold fast that which is good; but it is not well to insistently oppose -and blind oneself and others to the changing order and the forward -march of men and letters. - -Knowing what we do of Jeffrey and the _Edinburgh Review_ it is easy -to comprehend what prompted Lockhart’s pen to say: “It is, indeed, a -very deplorable thing to observe in what an absurd state of ignorance -the majority of educated people in Scotland have been persuaded to -keep themselves, concerning much of the best and truest literature of -their own age, as well as of the ages that have gone by”.[15]... His -quarrel is ours for the nonce, and to comprehend the spirit of “Maga” -it is first necessary to comprehend the spirit which prompted much for -which it is so rigorously criticised. Lockhart speaks of the “facetious -and rejoicing ignorance” of the Reviewers. “I do not on my conscience -believe”, says he in Peter’s Letters, “that there is one Whig in -Edinburgh to whom the name of my friend Charles Lamb would convey -any distinct or definite idea.... They do not know even the names of -some of the finest poems our age has produced. They never heard of -_Ruth_ or _Michael_, or _The Brothers_ or _Hartleap Well_, or the -_Recollections of Infancy_ or the _Sonnets to Buonaparte_. They do not -know that there is such a thing as the description of a churchyard -in _The Excursion_. Alas! how severely is their ignorance punished in -itself”![16] Perhaps we can forgive the egotistic note in the following -words, also from Peter’s Letters: “There is no work which has done -so much to weaken the authority of the _Edinburgh Review_ in such -matters as _Blackwood’s Magazine_.”[17] _Blackwood’s_ is at least still -readable which is more than can be said of most of its contemporaries. -Though it did not, like the _London_, discover a Charles Lamb or a De -Quincey, it did and does still overflow with the forging energy and -ardent enthusiasms of youth. Besides the famous “Noctes Ambrosianae” -for the most part attributed to John Wilson, it published good short -stories, good papers by James Hogg, John Galt, and others, good verse, -much generous as well as much vindictive criticism. It opened up new -fields of interest: German, Italian and Norse letters, all hitherto but -slightly touched upon. But we anticipate,--and must needs begin at the -beginning. - -[15] J. G. Lockhart: _Peter’s Letters_, V. ii, p. 141 - -[16] J. G. Lockhart: _Peter’s Letters_, V. ii, p. 142, 143 - -[17] Ibid. V. ii, p. 144 - - - - -II - -_Genesis_ - - -We are told that William Blackwood grew impatient of “humdrum -bookselling”, and considering the spirited character of the man, it -is easy to believe. That hardly explains the whole truth concerning -the origin of “Maga”, however. The history of _Blackwood’s Edinburgh -Magazine_ might almost be considered the history of the struggle -between two rival booksellers, Mr. Constable and William Blackwood. -The personality of the man William Blackwood is no less interesting -than the personality of his magazine, and indeed, his was the spirit -which colored the periodical from start to finish. His energy and -acumen were of the sort which leave their mark on all they touch. -To know William Blackwood means to see his vigorous, unwearying -figure through and behind every page. Lockhart knew him as well as -any, and it is his able portraiture that follows: “He is a nimble -active-looking man of middle-age, and moves about from one corner to -another with great alacrity, and apparently under the influence of -high animal spirits. His complexion is very sanguineous, but nothing -can be more intelligent, keen and sagacious than the expression of the -whole physiognomy, above all, the grey eyes and eyebrows as full of -locomotion as those of Catalini. The remarks he makes are in general -extremely acute.... The shrewdness and decision of the man can, -however, stand in need of no testimony beyond what his own conduct has -afforded--above all, in the establishment of his Magazine,--(the -conception of which I am convinced was entirely his own), and the -subsequent energy with which he has supported it through every -variety of good and evil fortune.”[18] Lockhart was in a position to -know the true character of the man, for these words were written two -years after his own first connection with William Blackwood and his -periodical. Again, he describes the publisher as “a man of strong -talents, and though without anything that could be called learning, -of very respectable information, ... acute, earnest, eminently -zealous in whatever he put his hand to; upright, honest, sincere and -courageous”.[19] This was William Blackwood, and it is small wonder -such a man should grow weary of “humdrum bookselling”. - -[18] J. G. Lockhart: _Peter’s Letters_, V. ii, p. 188 - -[19] A. Lang: _Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart_, V. i, p. 121 - -_Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_ was the result of more stringent -stimuli, however, than the restlessness of its founder. It was -necessary that the sentiments of those opposed to Jeffrey and the -_Edinburgh Review_ should have a medium of expression. Blackwood -considered the _Quarterly_ “too ponderous, too sober, dignified and -middle-aged”[20] to frustrate the influence of the _Edinburgh_. It was -not stimulating, in other words, and the present day agrees with him. -His ideal was a magazine “more nimble, more frequent, more familiar”. -But not least among the many stirrings of mind and brain which gave -rise to “Maga” was Blackwood’s disappointment over the loss of the -Waverley series. The honesty and courage of the man need no other -evidence than the fact that he criticised “The Black Dwarf” and even -suggested a different ending. Scott, of course, would have none of his -meddling, and transferred his future dealings to Constable, publisher -of the despised _Edinburgh Review_, and the _Scots Magazine_, which was -at that moment more or less insignificant. It is evident that Blackwood -did not take pains to seek out any specious circumlocution in his -criticism, and the idea that any man should criticise the Great Wizard -of the North brings a catch to the breath and a tingling down one’s -spinal column! - -[20] Mrs. Oliphant: _Annals of a Publishing House_, V. i, p. 97 - -There is no doubt that the politics, the conceit, the unappreciative -and at times irreligious tone of the _Edinburgh Review_ were the main -reasons for the bitter hatred of the _Blackwood_ writers; but there is -less doubt that thus to lose the Waverley series was a last incendiary -straw to William Blackwood. He immediately set about putting in action -the plans which had been smouldering so long. - -In April 1817 appeared the first number of _Blackwood’s Edinburgh -Magazine_. There seems to be a general understanding among -bibliographers that the first numbers were known as the “Edinburgh -Monthly Magazine”. According to the old volumes themselves, however, -only the second number, the issue for May 1817, went by this title, -the initial number and all the rest bearing the heading, _Blackwood’s -Edinburgh Magazine_.[21] Messrs. Pringle and Cleghorn were the first -joint editors, it was probably through James Hogg, known to us as the -Ettrick Shepherd, that Blackwood first met these two men. If either -of them could boast any literary pretensions, it was the younger, -Thomas Pringle. He was from Hogg’s country, and Blackwood thought he -divined in him the making of just such another “rustic genius” as Hogg. -Cleghorn, former editor of the _Farmers’ Magazine_, was evidently a -stick! It is difficult to conceive how William Blackwood, with his -gift of insight, could give over the conduct of his pet plans into the -hands of such a pair. But if he made a mistake, he soon made amends. -Of the business arrangements between Blackwood and the two editors -little of definite nature is known, except that the three were to -be co-partners. Blackwood sustained the expense of publishing and -printing; Pringle and Cleghorn supplied the material;--and the profits -were to be divided! The editors expected £50 apiece per month, which -seems unusual, considering that the circulation never exceeded 2500. -It looks suspiciously probable that the early numbers were maintained -at real financial loss to the publisher. There is no mention of paying -contributors till later years. Very likely at that time writers were -still _above_ remuneration! The _Edinburgh Review_ had done much to -remedy this attitude, but a complete cure was not effected for some -years to come. - -[21] See _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_, V. i - -The Prospectus of the infant journal is interesting. It was to be -“A Repository of whatever may be supposed to be most interesting -to general readers”.[22] One strong point was to be an antiquarian -repository; too, it was to criticise articles in other periodicals; it -was to contain a “Register” of domestic and foreign events. Among other -aims, one was entertainment. It was to be a miscellany of the original -works of authors and poets; and what endears it to modern hearts -above all things else, it was to be an open door for struggling young -writers. By virtue of the anonymous nature of its contributions, this -was made possible with no lessening of authority. The signatures in -the early numbers were intended to be perplexing, and perplexing they -remain to this day. But probably struggling young writers met with less -encouragement at the hands of Pringle and Cleghorn than was William -Blackwood’s original intention. Those two never went out of the way to -drum up new material, while William Blackwood was a man alert and ever -on the watch for another Walter Scott. - -[22] _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_, V. i, p. 2 - -Several numbers passed along peacefully enough. As Mr. Lang puts it, -“Nothing could be more blameless”. That was the trouble--it was _too_ -blameless! Blackwood might have forgiven a flagrant crime, but this -negative and inoffensive monthly fell with a dull thud in comparison -with his mounting expectations! He knew, none better, that a periodical -of any appreciable merit must necessarily bring upon itself as much -genuine censure as applause. _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_ for April -1817 brought neither. The great day came for the first issue, evening -followed, and Edinburgh went to bed unmoved. With his overwhelming -desire and ambition to rival the _Edinburgh Review_ and electrify -Edinburgh city with a stimulating diet, it is not likely that he would -observe with much composure the advent of this cherished scheme of his -into the world, containing for its first long article[23] six pages of -“Memoirs of the Late Francis Horner, Esq., M. P.”, one of Jeffrey’s -own right hand men!--or in finding in the department of “Periodical -Works”,[24] a statistical and more or less pleasant rehashment of -the contents of the last _Reviews_. Francis Horner had ever been one -of the mainstays of the _Edinburgh_; and though it was altogether -fitting and proper that the death of an illustrious statesman should -be commemorated, it is not likely that William Blackwood welcomed as -the first article in the first number of his new magazine, a wholly -unmitigated extolling of one whose past influence he hoped to erase. -Though the publisher’s generous mind would be the last to begrudge him -the due honor of such phrases as “highly gifted individual”, “eminent -statesman”, and the like, it cannot be imagined that he rejoiced over -the words “original and enlightened views”, “correct and elegant -taste”, when it was his ardent purpose to prove the _Edinburgh_ and -its builders the opposite of enlightened, and the embodiment of poor -taste and incompetent judgment! - -[23] Ibid., V. i, p. 3 - -[24] Ibid., V. i, p. 81 - -This same first number contains seven pages of discourse on “The -Sculpture of the Greeks”[25], and the relation of Greek art to the -environment in which it grew up,--all very learned and interesting, to -be sure. There is a brief article on the “Present State of the City of -Venice”[26], condensed and unromantic enough to grace a Travellers’ -Guide. If Messrs. Pringle and Cleghorn had been anyone else but Messrs. -Pringle and Cleghorn, they might have indulged the public with a -thrill or two on such a subject as the city of Venice; but never a -thrill do we get from cover to cover! The article which follows is -“on the Constitution and Moral Effects of Banks for the Savings of -Industry”[27]; and there are others of similar tone: “Observations -on the Culture of the Sugar Cane in the United States”[28], “The -Craniological Controversy”[29], “The Proposed Establishment of a -Foundling Hospital in Edinburgh”[30], and the like. One short article, -“An Account of the American Steam Frigate”[31], is still of genuine -interest, attributing the conception of the invention to a “most -ingenious and enterprising citizen”, Robert Fulton, Esq. It describes -with naive emphasis the successful trip “to the ocean, eastward -of Sandy Hook, and back again, a distance of fifty-three miles, in -eight hours and twenty minutes. A part of this time she had the tide -against her, and had no assistance whatever from the sails.”[32] It -is known that the signature Zeta was used in the early numbers, by -more than one person; but “Remarks on Greek Tragedy”[33], a criticism -of Aeschylus’ _Prometheus_, signed Zeta, Mr. Lang attributes without -hesitation to Lockhart. “Tales and Anecdotes of Pastoral Life”[34] -and “Notices Concerning the Scottish Gypsies”[35] were also among the -“Original Communications”, as the first division of the magazine was -called. The former is perhaps the one attempt in the whole number at -that sprightly nimble manner which was Blackwood’s aim. The second is a -long article of some sixteen pages, delving back into the early history -of the Egyptian pilgrims, quoting copiously from “Guy Mannering”, and -referring familiarly to Walter Scott, and Mr. Fairburn and James Hogg. -Both of these articles were continued in several subsequent numbers. - -[25] Ibid., V. i, p. 9 - -[26] Ibid., V. i, p. 16 - -[27] Ibid., V. i, p. 17 - -[28] Ibid., V. i, p. 25 - -[29] Ibid., V. i, p. 35 - -[30] Ibid., V. i, p. 38 - -[31] Ibid., V. i, p. 30 - -[32] Ibid., V. i, p. 32 - -[33] Ibid., V. i, p. 39 - -[34] Ibid., V. i, p. 22 - -[35] Ibid., V. i, p. 43 - -In another department of the contents, entitled “Select Extracts”, -there are two articles: an “Account of Colonel Beaufoy’s Journey to -the Summit of Mount Blanc”[36] and the “Account of the Remarkable -Case of Margaret Lyall, Who continued in a State of Sleep nearly Six -Weeks”[37], both very readable, which is a good deal when all is -said. The Antiquarian Reportory contained six articles as antiquated -as one could wish, all the way from a “Grant of the Lands of Kyrkenes -by Macbeth, son of Finlach”[38] to a “Mock Poem upon the Expedition -of the Highland Host”[39]. The Original Poetry department contained -three poems, none of them startling. The third one, the shortest, is -by far the best, bearing the title “Verses”[40]. They were written -in honor of the entry of the Allies into Paris, 1814; and bear the -unmistakable brand and seal of James Hogg, with his ardent song for -“Auld Scotland!--land o’ hearts the wale!” ... - - “Land hae I bragged o’ thine an’ thee, - Even when thy back was at the wa’; - An’ thou my proudest sang sall be, - As lang as I hae breath to draw.” - -[36] Ibid., V. i, p. 59 - -[37] Ibid., V. i, p. 61 - -[38] Ibid., V. i, p. 65 - -[39] Ibid., V. i, p. 69 - -[40] Ibid., V. i, p. 72 - -Next comes the “Review of New Publications”, devoting three pages to -Dr. Thomas Chalmers’ “Discourses on the Christian Revelation”[41], -concluding with the words: “If a few great and original minds, -like that of Dr. Chalmers, should arise to advocate the cause of -Christianity, it would no longer be the fashion to exalt the triumphs -of reason and of science.”[42] The other reviews were of “Harold, the -Dauntless; a Poem. By the Author of ‘The Bridal of Triermain’”[43], of -“Armota, a Fragment”[44], and “Stories for Children, selected from the -History of England”[45]. Of what came under the heading, Periodical -Works, we have already spoken. Then followed “Literary and Scientific -Intelligence”[46], notices of works preparing for publication in -Edinburgh and London, and the monthly list of new publications in the -same two cities. There is a page of French books, published since -January 1817. After that the Monthly Register of foreign intelligence, -proceedings of Parliament, the British Chronicle, commercial and -agricultural reports for the month, a meteorological table, and two -pages of births, marriages and deaths, complete the number for April -1817. - -[41] Ibid., V. i, p. 73 - -[42] Ibid., V. i, p. 75 - -[43] Ibid., V. i, p. 76 - -[44] Ibid., V. i, p. 78 - -[45] Ibid., V. i, p. 79 - -[46] Ibid., V. i, P. 85 - -Mr. Lang was right when he called it “blameless”; and it is not -surprising that Blackwood made some suggestions in regard to the second -number. We know that his suggestions were not cordially received by -Messrs. Pringle and Cleghorn, and it appears equally probable that they -were not acted upon. The second issue, May 1817, is no more resilient -and has gained no more momentum than its predecessor. The contents -are cast in the same mould: an “Account of Mr. Ruthven’s Printing -Press”[47], another on the “Method of Engraving on Stone”[48], and -“Anecdotes of Antiquaries”[49], and the like. - -[47] Ibid., V. i, p. 125 - -[48] Ibid., V. i, p. 128 - -[49] Ibid., V. i, p. 136 - -If Blackwood was disappointed over the first number, he was irritated -at the second; but when a third of no more vital aspect appeared, his -patience gave way, and Pringle and Cleghorn had to go! It is easy to -imagine that the man who did not hesitate to criticise the “Black -Dwarf” would not be overawed by the two mild gentlemen in charge of -his pet scheme. William Blackwood’s ideal had indeed been to startle -the world with a periodical which in modern terms we would call a -“live wire”. And now with the magazine actually under way, it is not -likely that a man of his stamp would sit by unperturbed, and watch one -insignificant number after another greet an unresponsive public. After -the appearance of the third number, he gave three months’ notice to -Messrs. Pringle and Cleghorn, which somewhat excited those gentlemen, -but was none the less final. They had done all they could to evade -Blackwood’s “interest in the literary part of his business”, and -intended to keep the publisher “in his place”. William Blackwood was -not made that way, however. - -He himself illuminates the situation in a letter to his London agents, -Baldwin, Craddock and Company, dated July 23, 1817[50]. - -[50] Mrs. Oliphant: _Annals of a Publishing House_, V. i, p. 104 - -“I am sorry to inform you that I have been obliged to resolve upon -stopping the Magazine with No. 6. I have been much disappointed in -my editors, who have done little in the way of writing or procuring -contributions. Ever since the work began I have had myself almost the -whole burden of procuring contributions, which by great exertions -I got from my own friends, while at the same time I had it not in -my power to pay for them, as by our agreement the editors were -to furnish me with the whole of the material, for which and their -editorial labors they were to receive half of the profits of the work. -I found this would never do, and that the work would soon sink, as I -could not permit my friends (who have in fact made the work what it -is) to go on in this way for any length of time.... I gave a notice, -according to our agreement, that the work would close at the period -specified in it--three months. Instead, however, of Pringle acting in -the friendly way he professed, he joined Cleghorn, and without giving -any explanation, they concluded a bargain with Constable and Company, -by which I understand they take charge of their (Constable’s) ‘Scot’s -Magazine’ as soon as mine stops.” - -“It is not of the least consequence to me losing them, as they were -quite unfit for what they undertook.... I have, however, made an -arrangement with a gentleman of first-rate talents by which I will -begin a new work of very superior kind. I mention this to you, however, -in the strictest confidence, as I am not at liberty yet to say anything -more particularly about it.... My editors have very dishonestly made it -known to a number of people that we stop at the sixth number. This will -interfere a little with our sale here, but I hope not with you.” - -The editors wrangled at great length, but Blackwood’s mind was made up, -and as we see by the foregoing letter, already launching new plans -and busy with them. A letter to Pringle and Cleghorn, gives us the -first hint of John Wilson’s connection with the magazine (other than -mere contributor), and shows the tone of finality with which Blackwood -could treat what was to him a settled subject: - -“As you have now an interest directly opposite to mine, I hope you -will not think it unreasonable that I should be made acquainted with -the materials which you intend for this number. It occurs to me it -would save all unpleasant discussion if you were inclined to send the -different articles to Mr. John Wilson, who has all along taken so deep -an interest in the magazine. I do not wish to offer my opinion with -regard to the fitness or unfitness of any article, but I should expect -that you would be inclined to listen to anything which Mr. Wilson -might suggest. He had promised me the following articles: Account of -Marlowe’s Edward II, Argument in the Case of the Dumb Woman lately -before the Court, Vindication of Wordsworth, Reviews of Lament of -Tasso, Poetical Epistles and Spencer’s Tour. His furnishing these or -even other articles will, however, depend upon the articles you have -got and intend to insert.” - -“I beg to assure you that it is my most anxious wish to have the whole -business settled speedily and as amicably as possible.”[51] - -[51] Ibid., V. i, p. 106 - -Here exit the prologue; and the real show begins with _Blackwood’s -Edinburgh Magazine_ for October 1817. To attract attention was -Blackwood’s first aim; interest once aroused, he did not worry over -maintaining it. Of that he felt assured. Respectability, mediocrity -were taboo! By respectability is inferred that prudent, cautious, -dead-alive respectability whose backbone (such as it has) is fear of -public censure! - - - - -III - -_Dramatis Personae_ - - -One of Blackwood’s aims in life was to make 17 Princes Street a -literary rendez-vous; and indeed the background and atmosphere of -“Maga”, and the men who gathered round it, are perhaps as fascinating -and absorbing as the magazine itself! - -Blackwood’s shop is described by Lockhart as “the only great lounging -shop in the new Town of Edinburgh”[52]. A glimpse of the soil and -lights and shades which nourished “Maga” cannot help but bring a -warmer, more familiar comprehension of its character and the words -it spake. Just as Park Street and the Shaw Memorial and the grave -portraits of its departed builders color our own _Atlantic Monthly_, -just so did 17 Princes Street tinge and permeate the magazine which -grew up in its precincts. “The length of vista presented to one on -entering the shop”, says Lockhart, “has a very imposing effect; for it -is carried back, room after room, through various gradations of light -and shadow, till the eye cannot trace distinctly the outline of any -object in the furthest distance. First, there is as usual, a spacious -place set apart for retail-business, and a numerous detachment of young -clerks and apprentices, to whose management that important department -of the concern is intrusted. Then you have an elegant oval saloon, -lighted from the roof, where various groupes of loungers and literary -dilettanti are engaged in looking at, or criticising among themselves, -the publications just arrived by that day’s coach from town. In such -critical colloquies the voice of the bookseller himself may ever and -anon be heard mingling the broad and unadulterated notes of its Auld -Reekie music; for unless occupied in the recesses of the premises with -some other business, it is here that he has his station.”[53] - -[52] J. G. Lockhart: _Peter’s Letters_, V. ii, p. 186 - -[53] Ibid., V. ii, p. 187 - -From this it is evident Blackwood’s ideal shop was realized, and -that there did gather in his presence both those who wielded the -pen and those who wished to, those who were critics and those who -aspired to be. At these assemblies might often be found two young -men, who, says Mrs. Oliphant, “would have been remarkable anywhere -if only for their appearance and talk, had nothing more remarkable -ever been developed in them”.[54] These two, of course, were John -Wilson and John Gibson Lockhart. She continues: “Both of them were -only too keen to see the ludicrous aspect of everything, and the -age gave them an extraordinary licence in exposing it.”[55] This is -an important note, the “extraordinary licence” of the age,--a straw -eagerly grasped at!--corroborated, too, by Lord Cockburn[56] who -testifies: “There was a natural demand for libel at this period.” It -explains much that we would fain explain in the subsequent literary -pranks of these same two youths. They were ready for anything; and -more,--enthusiastically ready for anything. John Wilson was a giant, -intellectually and physically, “a genial giant but not a mild one”[57]. -Lockhart had already made some small reputation for himself as a -caricaturist. Perhaps it was insight into their capacities which -strengthened Blackwood’s disgust with the two mild gents in charge of -his to-be-epoch-making organ! At any rate, it was to these two, Wilson -especially, that he turned for the resuscitation of his dream. - -[54] Mrs. Oliphant: _Annals of a Publishing House_, V. i, p. 101 - -[55] Ibid., V. i, p. 103 - -[56] Henry Thomas Cockburn, a Scottish judge - -[57] Mrs. Oliphant: _Annals of a Publishing House_, V. i, p. 101 - -John Wilson is the one name most commonly associated with -_Blackwood’s_, and with the exception of William Blackwood himself, -perhaps the most important figure in its reconstruction. The -name Christopher North was used in the earlier years by various -contributors, but was soon appropriated by Wilson and is now almost -exclusively associated with him. In the latter part of 1817 he became -Blackwood’s right hand man. He has often been considered editor of -“Maga”, but strictly speaking, no one but Blackwood ever was. After the -experience with Pringle and Cleghorn, William Blackwood would naturally -be wary of ever again entrusting full authority to anyone. He himself -was always the guiding and ruling spirit, though never admittedly, or -technically, editor. - -It was “Maga” that gave John Wilson his first real literary -opportunity. His gifts were critical rather than creative, and his most -famous work is the collected “Noctes Ambrosianae” which began to run -in the March number (1822) of _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_. He was -one of the very first to praise Wordsworth; and though in general, far -too superlative both in praise and blame to be considered dependable, a -very great deal of his criticism holds good to the present hour. Along -in the first days of Wordsworth’s career, Wilson proclaimed him, with -Scott and Byron, “one of the three great master spirits of our day in -the poetical world”. Lockhart, long his close friend and associate, -writes thus: “He is a very warm, enthusiastic man, with most charming -conversational talents, full of fiery imaginations, irresistible -in eloquence, exquisite in humor when he talks ...; he is a most -fascinating fellow, and a most kind-hearted, generous friend; but his -fault is a sad one, a total inconsistency in his opinions concerning -both men and things.... I ... believe him incapable of doing anything -dishonorable either in literature or in any other way.”[58] - -[58] A. Lang: _Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart_, V. i, p. 93 - -It was the pen of John Gibson Lockhart, however, almost as wholly as -Wilson’s which insured the success of the magazine; and Blackwood was -as eager to enlist Lockhart into his services as Wilson. Like Wilson, -too, “Maga” was Lockhart’s opportunity! He had given early promise as -a future critic. Elton says he wrote “sprightly verse and foaming -prose”. From 1817 to 1830 he was not only one of the invaluable -supporters of “Maga”, but one of its rare _lights_! In announcing the -marriage of his daughter to Lockhart, Sir Walter Scott said: “To a -young man of uncommon talents, indeed of as promising a character as -I know”.[59] His gift for caricature colored his writings. His was a -mind and eye and genius for the comic. His satire was that keen and -bitter piercing satire which all are ready to recognize as talent, but -few are ready to forgive if once subjected to it. But there was little -malice behind it ever. Much of what he wrote has been condemned for its -bitter, and often personal, import. But Lockhart was only twenty-three -at the time of his first connection with the magazine--and what is -more, “constitutionally a mocker”. All is well with his serious work, -but according to Mr. Lang, the “Imp of the Perverse” was his ruling -genius! Others say, “as a practitioner in the gentle art of making -enemies, Lockhart excelled”,[60] and that he possessed the “native gift -of insolence”[61]. They are strong words, not wholly without cause, and -illustrate the attitude of many minds towards his work; yet perhaps -they only go to prove that he began to write responsible articles too -young, and was allowed entirely too free a swing. - -[59] Ibid., V. i, p. 230 - -[60] J. H. Millar: _A Literary History of Scotland_, p. 517 - -[61] Same - -The story of James Hogg is by far the most fascinating of those -connected with _Blackwood’s_; and in a later series of articles in -that magazine on these first three stars, the writer says: “Hogg -was undoubtedly the most remarkable. For his was an untaught and -self-educated genius, which shone with rare though fitful lustre -in spite of all disadvantages, and surmounted obstacles that were -seemingly insuperable.”[62] It is difficult to ascertain his exact -relations with the magazine. One thing at least is certain,--he -contributed much. Wilson and Lockhart found great joy in “drawing” him, -and Hogg was kept wavering between vexation and pride “at occupying -so much space in the most popular periodical of the day”.[63] As -Saintsbury puts it, he was at once the “inspiration, model, and butt of -_Blackwood’s Magazine_”[64]. But indeed the shepherd drawn so cleverly -in the Noctes “was not”, his daughter testifies, “the Shepherd of -Ettrick, or the man James Hogg”. And in all justice to him, there can -be no doubt that he is totally misrepresented therein. - -[62] _Memorials of James Hogg_, p. 11 - -[63] J. H. Millar: _A Literary History of Scotland_, p. 530 - -[64] Saintsbury: _Essays in English Literature, 1780-1860_, p. 37 - -His poetry is his only claim upon the world. It was the one thing -dearest to his own heart, and the one thing for which he claimed or -craved distinction or recognition of any kind. The heart warms to -this youth with his dreams and aspirations, brain teeming with poems -years before he learned to write. As might be expected from a man -whose own grandfather had conversed with fairies, in Hogg’s poetry -the supernatural is close to the natural world. He is reported once -to have said to his friend Sir Walter Scott: “Dear Sir Walter! Ye can -never suppose that I belang to your School o’ Chivalry! Ye are the -king o’ that school, but I’m the king o’ the Mountain and Fairy School, -which is a far higher ane nor yours.”[65] This “sublime egotism” is -not displeasing in one whose heart and soul was wrapt up in an earnest -belief in and reverence for his art. It is the egotism of a deep nature -which scorns to hide its talents in the earth. James Hogg spoke to the -heart of Scotland, and was proud and content in so doing. - -[65] _Memorials of James Hogg_, p. x - -To all appearances Blackwood was now the centre of a group after his -own heart! With these three as a nucleus, others of considerable talent -joined the circle. Talent, wit, keen and zealous minds were theirs, -with enough fervor and intrepidity of spirit to guarantee that “Maga” -would never again pass unnoticed. Henceforth there was sensation -enough to satisfy even the heart of a William Blackwood! Whatever -accusations were afterwards levelled at “Maga” (and they were many) no -one could again accuse it of being either dull or uninteresting--the -one unpardonable sin of book or magazine! The last thing that “Maga” -wished to be was neutral! Better to offend than be only “inoffensive”; -better to raise a rumpus than grow respectable! And from October 1817 -on, “respectable” is the last word anyone thought of applying to -_Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_! - - - - -IV - -_First Years of “Maga”_ - - -With its new grip on life in October 1817, the editorial notice of -Blackwood’s omitted any profession of a new prospectus. It reads: “In -place of a formal Prospectus, we now lay before our Readers the titles -of some of the articles which we have either already received, or which -are in preparation by our numerous correspondents.” Follows some two -pages or more of titles alluring and otherwise, whereupon the notice -continues: “The Public will observe, from the above list of articles, -that we intend our Magazine to be a Depository of Miscellaneous -Information and Discussion. We shall admit every Communication of -Merit, whatever may be the opinion of the writer, on Literature, -Poetry, Philosophy, Statistics, Politics, Manners, and Human Life.... -We invite all intelligent persons ... to lay their ideas before the -world in our Publication; and we only reserve to ourselves the right -of commenting upon what we do not approve.”[66] That right was always -reserved, and there was never any hesitancy on the part of any of them -in acting thereon, as the magazine itself testifies. - -[66] _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_, V. ii, p. 2 - -A short paragraph of “Notices to Correspondents”[67] following the -editorial notice, is of more than casual interest. Its flavor is -shown by the following:-- - -“The communication of Lupus is not admissible. D. B.’s Archaeological -Notices are rather heavy. We are obliged to our worthy Correspondent -M. for his History of ‘Bowed David’, but all the anecdotes of that -personage are incredibly stupid, so let his bones rest in peace.... We -have received an interesting Note enclosing a beautiful little Poem, -from Mr. Hector Macneil ... and need not say how highly we value his -communication.... Duck-lane, a Town Eclogue, by Leigh Hunt--and the -Innocent Incest by the same gentleman, are under consideration; their -gross indecency must however be washed out. If we have been imposed -upon by some wit, these compositions will not be inserted. Mr. James -Thomson, private secretary for the charities of the Dukes of York -and Kent, is, we are afraid, a very bad Poet, nor can the Critical -Opinions of the Princes of the Blood Royal be allowed to influence -ours.... Reason has been given for our declining to notice various -other communications.” Many of the contributors, probably most of them, -received personal letters; in fact, this paragraph does not appear in -every number. - -[67] Same - -This number, _The_ number of _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_, the -startling and blood-curdling number of October 1817, contained -among other sensations, the Chaldee Manuscript, supposedly from the -“Bibliotheque Royale” (Salle 2, No. 53, B. A. M. M.)--in reality a -clever and scathing piece of satire couched in Biblical language, -which spared no one of note in the whole town of Edinburgh, and written -by heaven knows whom! Its interest was strictly local, dealing with -Edinburgh and Edinburgh personalities, written with the Edinburgh -public in view; but its fame spread like wild fire! Like Byron, -_Blackwood’s Magazine_ woke up one morning to find itself grown famous -over night! As Mrs. Oliphant puts it: “Edinburgh woke up with a roar -of laughter, with a shout of delight, with convulsions of rage and -offense”. Its fame involved, however, not only the clamor of Edinburgh, -but instant recognition throughout the kingdom. Result? Libel actions, -challenges to duels, lawsuits, and--the suppression of the Chaldee -Manuscript. Its fame has come down to the present day, but one peep at -it involves carfare to the British Museum! - -This amazing piece of literature seems innocent enough at first glance; -and in truth it was what people read _into_ it rather than what they -read _in_ it that made all the trouble. Quoting from it: - -“I looked, and behold a man clothed in plain apparel stood in the door -of his house: and I saw his name ... and his name was as it had been -the color of ebony, and his number was as the number of a maiden--(17 -Princes Street, of course).... - -“And I turned my eyes, and behold two beasts came from the lands of -the borders of the South; and when I saw them I wondered with great -admiration.... And they came unto the man ... and they said unto him, -Give us of thy wealth, that we may eat and live ... and they proffered -him a Book; and they said unto him, Take Thou this and give us a sum -of money, ... and we will put words into the Book that will astonish -the children of thy people.... And the man hearkened unto their voice, -and he took the Book and gave them a piece of money, and they went away -rejoicing in their hearts.... But after many days they put no words in -the Book; and the man was astonished and waxed wroth, and he said unto -them, What is this that ye have done unto me, and how shall I answer -those to whom I am engaged? And they said, what is that to us? See thou -to that.”[68] - -[68] Mrs. Oliphant: _Annals of a Publishing House_, V. i, p. 119-20 - -All this seems innocent tomfoolery enough--pure parody on our friend -Ebony, and the two beasts Pringle and Cleghorn who “put no words in -the Book”. But that was not all, Constable and the _Edinburgh Review_ -figured prominently; and Sir Walter Scott who, we are told, “almost -choked with laughter”, and Wilson and Lockhart and Hogg. - -“There lived also a man that was _crafty_ in council ... and he had a -notable horn in his forehead with which he ruled the nations. And I saw -the horn that it had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and it -magnified itself ... and it cast down the truth to the ground and it -practised and prospered.”[69] - -[69] Ibid., V. i, p. 121 - -Constable never outlived this name of the Crafty and the reputation of -the _Edinburgh Review_ for “magnifying itself” lives to the present -day. “The beautiful leopard from the valley of the palm-trees” (meaning -Wilson) “called from a far country the Scorpion which delighted to -sting the faces of men”, (Lockhart, of course) “that he might sting -sorely the countenance of the man that is crafty, and of the two beasts. - -“And he brought down the great wild boar from the forest of Lebanon -and he roused up his spirits and I saw him whittling his dreadful -tusks for the battle.”[70] This last is James Hogg. There were others. -Walter Scott was the “great Magician which has his dwelling in the -old fastness hard by the river Jordan, which is by the Border”[71] to -whom Constable, the Crafty, appealed for advice. Francis Jeffrey was -“a familiar spirit unto whom he (the Crafty) had sold himself”.[72] -The attack on the Rev. Prof. Playfair, later so sincerely deplored in -_Peter’s Letters_, reads in part thus: “He also is of the seed of the -prophets, and ministered in the temple while he was yet young; but -he went out and became one of the scoffers”[73]--in other words, one -of the Edinburgh Reviewers! The spirit of prophecy seems indeed to -have been upon the writer of the Chaldee, for it ends--appropriately, -thus: “I fled into an inner chamber to hide myself, and I heard a great -tumult, but I wist not what it was.”[74] The great tumult was heard, to -be sure, and the authors fled to be safe. - -[70] Ibid., V. i, p. 123 - -[71] Ibid., V. i, p. 122 - -[72] A. Lang: _Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart_, V. i, p. 161 - -[73] Same - -[74] Same - -Just who wrote the Chaldee will never be known; but all indications -are that the idea and first draft were James Hogg’s, and that it was -touched up and completed by Wilson and Lockhart, with the aid, or -rather with the suggestions and approval of William Blackwood. - -The number for August 1821 contains the first of a series of “Familiar -Epistles to Christopher North, From an Old Friend with a New Face.”[75] -Letter I deals with Hogg’s Memoirs. This is anticipating a bit, -anticipating some four years, in fact, but is nevertheless apropos of -our discussion of the Chaldee. Just who the Old Friend with a New Face -was would be hard to judge. Mr. Lang has surmised him to be either -Lockhart or De Quincey. It is a lively bit of work, worthy the wit -of either, but the sentences do not feel like Lockhart’s. That both -these men were friends of Hogg, encourages one to hope that the biting -sarcasm of the thing was its own excuse for being, and came not from -the heart. Such was ever the tone of “Maga”, however; and none can deny -that once begun the article _must_ be read! Excerpts follow: “Of all -speculations in the way of printed paper, I should have thought the -most hopeless to have been ‘a Life of James Hogg, by himself’. Pray who -wishes to know anything about his life? ... - -“It is no doubt undeniable that the political state of Europe is not so -interesting as it was some years ago. But still I maintain that there -was no demand for the Life of James Hogg.... At all events, it ought -not to have appeared before the Life of Buonaparte.”[76] - -[75] _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_, V. x, p. 43 - -[76] Same - -But to come again to our Chaldee Manuscript, the correspondent says -concerning Hogg’s claim to its authorship: “There is a bouncer!--The -Chaldee Manuscript!--Why, no more did he write the Chaldee Manuscript -than the five books of Moses.... I presume that Mr. Hogg is also the -author of Waverley.--He may say so if he chooses.... It must be a -delightful thing to have such fancies as these in one’s noodle;--but -on the subject of the Chaldee Manuscript, let me now speak the truth. -You yourself, Kit ... and myself, Blackwood and a reverend gentleman -of this city alone know the perpetrator. It was the same person who -murdered Begbie!”--Begbie, by the way, was a bank porter, whose murder -was one of the never solved mysteries of Edinburgh. “It was a disease -with him to excite 'public emotion’. With respect to his murdering -Begbie ... all at once it entered his brain, that, by putting him to -death in a sharp and clever and mysterious manner ... the city of -Edinburgh would be thrown into a ferment of consternation, and there -would be no end of ‘public emotion’.... The scheme succeeded to a -miracle.... Mr. ---- wrote the Chaldee Manuscript precisely on the same -principle.... It was the last work of the kind of which I have been -speaking, that he lived to finish. He confessed it and the murder the -day before he died, to the gentleman specified, and was sufficiently -penitent.... - -“After this plain statement, Hogg must look extremely foolish. We shall -next have him claiming the murder, likewise, I suppose; but he is -totally incapable of either.”[77] - -[77] Ibid., V. x, p. 49-50 - -It is altogether probable that Hogg’s frank avowal dismayed the men -who had studied to keep its authorship secret for so many years, -fearing lest the confession implicate his colleagues. At any rate, -such vehement protestations as the above are to be eyed askance in the -light of saner evidences. “Maga” was prone to go off on excursions of -this kind; and William Blackwood had at last realized his dreamed-of -Sensation! No doubt he knew the risk he took in publishing the Chaldee; -but in the tumult which followed, he stood equal to every occasion. -Hogg was not then in Edinburgh, and Wilson and Lockhart too thought -it wise to leave town. The letters of the two latter to Blackwood -during the days of the libel suits remind one of the tragic notes -of boys of twelve a la penny dreadful! But Blackwood was firm and -undisturbed through it all, disclaiming all responsibility himself, -never disclosing a single name. The secret was safe and the success -of “Maga” sure. In the November number, however, he saw fit to insert -such statements as the following: “The Publisher is aware that every -effort has been used to represent the admission into his Magazine of an -article entitled “A Translation of a Chaldee Manuscript” as an offence -worthy of being visited with a punishment that would involve in it his -ruin as a Bookseller and Publisher. He is confident, however, that his -conduct will not be thought by the Public to merit such a punishment, -and to them he accordingly appeals.”[78]--And again, on a page by -itself in the same November number appears the following statement: -“The Editor has learned with regret that an Article in the First -Edition of last Number, which was intended merely as a _jeu d’esprit_, -has been construed so as to give offence to Individuals justly entitled -to respect and regard; he has on that account withdrawn it in the -Second Edition, and can only add, that if what has happened could have -been anticipated, the Article in question certainly never would have -appeared.”[79] - -[78] Ibid., V. ii, p. 1 of the introductory pages - -[79] Ibid., V. ii, p. 129 - -Aside from the Chaldee, there were two other distinct and decided -Sensations in this memorable number, both too well known to -demand detailed attention. They were Wilson’s attack on Coleridge, -“Observations on Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria”,[80] the leading -article and a long one; and Lockhart’s paper “On the Cockney School -of Poetry”[81]. The former is an inexcusable, ranting thing which -concludes that Mr. Coleridge’s Literary Life strengthens every argument -against the composition of such Memoirs”[82], ... that it exhibits -“many mournful sacrifices of personal dignity, after which it seems -impossible that Mr. Coleridge can be greatly respected either by -the Public or himself.”[83] Such words were strong enough in their -own day, but seem doubly presumptuous in the light of our present -hero-worship,--especially as the article continues with verdicts like -the following: “Considered merely in a literary point of view, the -work is most execrable.... His admiration of Nature or of man,--we had -almost said his religious feelings toward his God,--are all narrowed, -weakened, and corrupted and poisoned by inveterate and diseased -egotism.”...[84] - -[80] Ibid., V. ii, p. 3 - -[81] Ibid., V. ii, p. 38 - -[82] Ibid., V. ii, p. 5 - -[83] Same - -[84] Same - -This was a sin for which “Maga” later atoned by repeated tributes to -his genius, to his poetry and its beauty in many subsequent numbers -of the periodical. Lockhart two years afterwards spoke of it as “a -total departure from the principles of the Magazine”[85]--“a specimen -of the very worst kind of spirit which the Magazine professed to -be fighting in the _Edinburgh Review_.”[86] “This is indeed the only -one of the various sins of this Magazine for which I am at a loss to -discover--not an apology--but a motive. If there be any man of grand -and original genius alive at this moment in Europe, such a man is -Mr. Coleridge.”[87] And two months after this paper, in the issue -for December 1817 appeared a “Letter to the Reviewer of Coleridge’s -Biographia Literaria”, beginning with the words: “To be blind to our -failings and alive to our prejudices, is the fault of almost every one -of us.... It is the same with me, the same with Mr. Coleridge, and -it is, I regret to state it, the same with his reviewer!”[88]... And -this writer, who signs, himself J. S., sums up his valiant defense, -declaring “it is from a love I have for generous and fair criticism, -and a hate to everything which appears personal and levelled against -the man and not his subject--and your writing is glaringly so--that -I venture to draw daggers with a reviewer. You have indeed imitated, -with not a little of its power and ability, the worst manner of the -_Edinburgh Review_ critics. Forgetting ... that freedom of remark does -not exclude the kind and courteous style, you have entirely sunk the -courteousness in the virulency of it.”[89] Thus “Maga” redeemed itself -and Coleridge was avenged. - -[85] J. G. Lockhart: _Peter’s Letters_, V. ii, p. 218 - -[86] Same - -[87] Same - -[88] _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_, V. ii, p. 285-6 - -[89] Ibid., V. ii, p. 287 - -As for the third of the three articles which best illustrate the -whoopla-spirit of this new venture, Lockhart’s paper “On the Cockney -School of Poetry”, all is said when we say it was the first of a -series of corrosive and scurrilous articles directed against Leigh -Hunt in particular, and Hazlitt and Webbe, and in general, the -“younger and less important members” of that school, “The Shelley’s -and the Keatses”! Modern critics! Beware how you cast stones at our -Percy Smith’s and Reggie Brown’s! Says our young friend Lockhart in -this article that Leigh Hunt is “a man of little education. He knows -absolutely nothing of Greek, almost nothing of Latin”[90] ... and -so forth and so on. He cannot “utter a dedication, or even a note, -without betraying the _Shibboleth_ of low birth and low habits. He is -the ideal of a Cockney poet.... He has never seen any mountain higher -than Highgate-hill, nor reclined by any streams more pastoral than the -Serpentine River. But he is determined to be a poet eminently rural, -and he rings the changes--till one is sick of him, on the beauties of -the different ‘high views’ which he has taken of God and nature, in -the course of some Sunday dinner parties at which he has assisted in -the neighborhood of London.... As a vulgar man is perpetually laboring -to be genteel--in like manner the poetry of this man is always on the -stretch to be grand.”[91] - -[90] Ibid., V. ii, p. 38 - -[91] Ibid., V. ii, p. 39 - -This is just a taste of what is in reality very clever stuff. The -subject of approbation or disapprobation had best be omitted. At any -rate “Maga” “started something”, for the term “Cockney School” was -taken up by the major and minor Reviews and nearly every daily paper -of England and Scotland. What Wilson said later (1832) in a review of -Tennyson’s poems, characterizes the _Blackwood_ attitude toward the -Cockneys from the first: “Were the Cockneys to be to church, we should -be strongly tempted to break the Sabbath.”[92] Whatever our evaluation -of this sort of criticism, the admission perhaps saves the reputation -of Lockhart and other _Blackwood_ critics! Their opposition was more a -matter of principle than of judgment. - -[92] J. H. Millar: _A Literary History of Scotland_, p. 506 - -The rest of the contents of the October 1817 number are interesting -and lively, though it must be admitted scarcely so startling as this -famous triad. A discussion of the “Curious Meteorological Phenomena -Observed in Argyleshire”[93] reads interestingly and rapidly, and is -of sufficient weight to save the magazine from flying away altogether! -“Analytical Essays on the Early English Dramatists, No. II., Marlowe’s -Edward II”[94] is the work of John Wilson, and bears the stamp of his -outpouring of appreciation and enthusiasm. Another article, “On the -Optical Properties of Mother-of-Pearl, etc.”[95] seems to be a purely -scientific offering, and so far as the writer can judge, presumably -accurate and just as it should be. Page 47 bears side by side, a tender -little “Elegy” of James Hogg’s and a poem in honor of the Ettrick -Shepherd and his songs by John Wilson. “Strictures on the Edinburgh -Review”[96] and “Remarks on the Quarterly Review”[97] are two articles -one would scarcely go to sleep over. - -[93] _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_, V. ii, p. 18 - -[94] Ibid., V. ii, p. 21 - -[95] Ibid., V. ii, p. 33 - -[96] Ibid., V. ii, p. 41 - -[97] Ibid., V. ii, p. 57 - -There are other papers in this same issue which time will not allow -even brief mention. It is easy to picture the great publisher when the -new copies first arrived, crisp and new with the smell of printers’ ink -upon them. There was no despair, no disappointment this time, but the -eager palpitation and anxiety of the parent, solicitous but equally -certain of the success of his child! A letter penned in haste to John -Wilson before ever “Maga” was seen by public eye betrays better than -any polite effusion could have done, the genuine emotion of the man. - - “John Wilson, Esq. - Queen Street - - October 20, 1817 - -My dear Sir,--As in duty bound I send you the first complete copy I -have got of the Magazine. I also beg you will do me the favor to accept -of the enclosed. It is unnecessary for me to say how much and how -deeply I am indebted to you, and I shall only add that by the success -of the Magazine (for which I shall be wholly indebted to you) I hope to -be able to offer you something more worthy of your acceptance.--I am, -dear Sir, - - Yours very truly, - W. Blackwood”[98] - -[98] Mrs. Oliphant: _Annals of a Publishing House_, V. i, p. 127 - -Mrs. Oliphant draws a pretty picture, which reveals better perhaps -than some more erudite account, the mental state of William Blackwood -the night before “Maga” was offered to the world. “He went into his -house, where all the children ... rushed out with clamor and glee to -meet their father, who, for once in his excitement, took no notice of -them, but walked straight to the drawing room, where his wife, not -excitable, sat in her household place, busy no doubt for her fine -family; and coming into the warm glow of the light, threw down the -precious Magazine at her feet. ‘There is that that will give you what -is your due--what I always wished you to have’, he said, with the -half-sobbing laugh of the great crisis. She gave him a characteristic -word, half-satirical, as was her way, not outwardly moved.... Sometimes -he called her a wet blanket when she thus damped his ardor,--but not, I -think, that night.”[99] - -[99] Same - -It might easily be guessed that after the sudden bursting into glory -of the October number, the same high level would be difficult to -sustain. But although subsequent numbers boast no Chaldee to convulse -or enrage the town, the popularity of “Maga” seems never again to -lag. The November number begins properly enough. The afore-mentioned -apology and explanation of the Chaldee introduced it to the watchful -waiters, impatient to ascertain what a second issue would bring forth. -The first long article, nine and a half pages, “On the Pulpit Eloquence -of Scotland”[100], very thoughtful, very serious, very earnest, in -tone, thanks God that Scotland has been blessed with the heavenly -visitation of her well loved preacher, Dr. Chalmers, and extols and -praises and appreciates the man, “like an angel in a dream”. The second -article continues the learned discussion “On the Optical Properties -of Mother-of-Pearl”[101]. The third is John Wilson’s famous review of -Byron’s “Lament of Tasso”[102], wherein says he “There is one Poem in -which he (Byron) has almost wholly laid aside all remembrance of the -darker and stormier passions; in which the tone of his spirit and his -voice at once is changed, and where he who seemed to care only for -agonies, and remorse, and despair, and death, and insanity, in all -their most appalling forms, shews that he has a heart that can feed -on the purest sympathies of our nature, and deliver itself up to the -sorrows, the sadness and the melancholy of humbler souls.”[103] - -[100] _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_, V. ii, p. 131 - -[101] Ibid., V. ii, p. 140 - -[102] Ibid., V. ii, p. 142 - -[103] Ibid., V. ii, p. 143 - -The lighter tone again asserts itself in “Letters of An Old Bachelor, -No. 1.”[104], who waxes indignant over French opinion concerning -English ladies! He quotes a certain French writer who represents “the -dress of the English ladies” as mere imitation of the French, only -“all ridicule and exaggeration. 'Does a French lady, for instance, put -a flower in her hair--the heads of the English ladies are immediately -covered with the whole shop of a bouquetière. Does a French lady -put on a feather ... in this country--nothing but feathers is to be -seen!’ This, of course”, says the old bachelor in all earnestness, “is -all a vile slander”[105],--although he must admit having seen heads -covered with flowers, and “ladies wearing _quite as many_ feathers -as were becoming.”[106] He resents too that a French priest should -accuse English ladies of having bad teeth. “Is he ignorant”, he would -know, “that young ladies by applying to Mr. Scott, the dentist, may -be supplied with a single tooth for the small sum of two guineas, -while dowagers may be accommodated with a complete set of the _most -beautiful_ teeth, made from the tusks of the hippopotamus ... for -a very trifling consideration? In fact, it is quite astonishing, -to see the fine teeth of all our female acquaintances;... And yet -this abominable priest has the impudence to talk of bad teeth!”[107] -Besides, “what ladies of any nation”, says he, “play so charmingly the -pianoforte?”[108] - -[104] Ibid., V. ii, p. 192 - -[105] Ibid., V. ii, p. 193 - -[106] Same - -[107] Same - -[108] Ibid., V. ii, p. 194 - -This little skit is followed by the second installment “On the Cockney -School of Poetry”[109],--this time that well known and scandalous -handling of Hunt’s “Story of Rimini”,--Lockhart’s again, of course. -This was the article whose turbulent discussion of the moral depravity -of Leigh Hunt threw Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, then Blackwood’s London -agents, into such a state of pious horror. They evidently feared -getting mixed up in anything livelier than antiquarian projects, and -threatened to withdraw their name. The articles on the Cockney School -went merrily on, however; and so did Baldwin and Cradock even until -July 1818. No doubt they found it a paying proposition! - -[109] Same - -Sir Walter Scott tried to wean both Wilson and Lockhart away from -“that mother of mischief”[110] as he termed the magazine. According to -Mr. Lang, he “disapproved (though he chuckled over it) the reckless -extravagance of juvenile satire”. But it is easy to comprehend how “a -chuckle” from Sir Walter would be the last incentive to curb their -literary abandon. Blackwood worked long for the support of Scott, -knowing well what it would mean to “Maga”. A semblance of support, at -least, he secured through his patronage of Scott’s favorite, William -Laidlaw, whose agricultural chronicles ran for a time as one of -the regular features. Scott even contributed an occasional article -himself from time to time, which, though anonymous, could not escape -recognition. Probably he never attained a very cordial affection for -the publisher, and it is well known that he disapproved of much that -“Maga” said and did, yet outwardly he professed neutrality between -_Constable’s_ and _Blackwood’s_; and in a letter to William Laidlaw, -February 1818, while “Maga” was still in its youth, his verdict is not -vindictive. “Blackwood is rather in a bad pickle just now--sent to -Coventry by the trade, as the booksellers call themselves and all about -the parody of the two beasts. Surely these gentlemen think themselves -rather formed of porcelain clay than of common potters’ ware. Dealing -in satire against all others, their own dignity suffers so cruelly from -an ill-imagined joke! If B. had good books to sell, he might set them -all at defiance. His Magazine does well and beats Constable’s; but we -will talk of this when we meet.”[111] - -[110] A. Lang: _Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart_, V. i, p. 193 - -[111] J. G. Lockhart: _Life of Sir Walter Scott_, V. v, p. 268 - -Continuing the panorama, the issue for February 1818 contains three -pages of notes “To Correspondents”, of which several deserve mention: -“We have no objection to insert Z.’s Remarks on Mr. Hazlitt’s Lectures, -after our present Correspondent’s Notices are completed. If Mr. Hazlitt -uttered personalities against the Poets of the Lake School, he reviled -those who taught him all he knows about poetry.” This same issue was -then starting a series of articles entitled “Notices of a Course of -Lectures on English Poetry, by W. Hazlitt”.[112] With no personal -comment, they give the gist of Hazlitt’s lectures at the Surrey -Institution in London. The first article covers the lectures on “Poetry -in General”[113], “On Chaucer and Spenser”[114], and “On Shakespeare -and Milton”[115]. These papers ran for several months, and the promised -Remarks of Z. do not appear in any recognizable form unless the paper -“Hazlitt Cross-Questioned”[116] in the August issue (1818) is the -awaited article. It is presented in the form of eight questions, the -first: “Did you, or did you not, in the course of your late Lectures -on Poetry, infamously vituperate and sneer at the character of Mr. -Wordsworth--I mean his personal character; his genius even you dare not -deny?”[117] Again--“Do you know the difference between Milton’s Latin -and Milton’s Greek?”[118] and--“Did you not insinuate in an essay on -Shakespeare ... that Desdemona was a lewd woman, and after that dare -to publish a book on Shakespeare?”[119] The eighth question closes the -article: “Do you know the Latin for a goose?”[120] - -[112] _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_, V. ii, p. 556 - -[113] Same - -[114] Ibid., V. ii, p. 558 - -[115] Ibid., V. ii, p. 560 - -[116] Ibid., V. iii, p. 550 - -[117] Same - -[118] Ibid., V. iii, p. 551 - -[119] Same - -[120] Ibid., V. iii, p. 552 - -But to return to our notes “To Correspondents” in February 1818, there -remains one or two others of especial interest as illustrating the -attitude these notes assumed. For instance: “Can C. C. believe it -possible to pass off on us for an original composition, an extract -from so popular a work as Mrs. Grant’s Essay on the Superstitions -of the Highlands? May his plagiarisms, however, always be from works -equally excellent.” Another: “The foolish parody which has been sent us -is inadmissible for two reasons; first, because it is malevolent; and -secondly, because it is dull.” We are inclined to think the latter was -the decisive reason. - -This same issue includes the first contribution of a man who -was henceforth to wield an important pen in the make-up of the -magazine--one William Maginn. He was a brilliant writer, and a -reckless, and contributed copiously. Some one has characterized him -as “a perfectly ideal magazinist”. The article, “Some Account of the -Life and Writings of Ensign and Adjutant Odoherty, Late of the 99th -Regiment”[121], well reveals the serio-comic tone of his work which was -so popular. Ensign Odoherty was destined to fill many a future page. In -fact, Maginn was “a find”! - -[121] Ibid., V. ii, p. 562 - -Quoting from this article: “One evening ... I had the misfortune, -from some circumstances here unnecessary to mention, to be conveyed -for a night’s lodging to the watch-house in Dublin. I had there the -good fortune to meet Mr. Odoherty, who was likewise a prisoner. He -was seated on a wooden stool, before a table garnished with a great -number of empty pots of porter.... With all that urbanity of manner by -which he was distinguished, he asked me ‘to take a sneaker of his -swipes’.”[122] This is the Ensign Odoherty of whom it is said “Never -was there a man more imbued with the very soul and spirit of poetry.... -Cut off in the bloom of his years, ere the fair and lovely blossoms of -his youth had time to ripen into the golden fruit by which the autumn -of his days would have been beautified and adorned,”[123]--etc.--“His -wine ... was never lost on him, and, towards the conclusion of the -third bottle he was always excessively amusing.”[124] The writer offers -one or two specimens of Odoherty’s poetry, among them verses to a lady -to whom he never declared himself. “This moving expression of passion”, -we are told, “appears to have produced no effect on the obdurate fair -one, who was then fifty-four years of age, with nine children, and -a large jointure, which would certainly have made a very convenient -addition to the income of Mr. Odoherty.”[125] On being appointed to -an ensigncy in the West Indies, he sailed for Jamaica with a certain -Captain Godolphin, and has left a charming poetical record of the trip, -of which the following will sufficiently impress the reader: - - “The captain’s wife, she sailed with him, this circumstance I heard of her, - Her brimstone breath, ‘twas almost death to come within a yard of her; - With fiery nose, as red as rose, to tell no lies I’ll stoop, - She looked just like an admiral with a lantern at his poop.”[126] - -The whole poem is not quoted, but the latter part of it gives an -account “of how Mrs. Godolphin was killed by a cannon ball lodging in -her stomach”[127], as well as other pathetic and moving events. In -describing the rest of the stanzas, however, Maginn assures us, “It -is sufficient to say they are fully equal to the preceding, and are -distinguished by the same quaintness of imagination.”[128]! - -[122] Ibid., V. ii, p. 563 - -[123] Ibid., V. ii, p. 562 - -[124] Ibid., V. ii, p. 564 - -[125] Ibid., V. ii, p. 566 - -[126] Same - -[127] Same - -[128] Same - -This article is followed by “Notices of the Acted Drama in -London”[129], the second of a series of sixteen articles which ran -regularly, January 1818 to June 1820.[130] These are decidedly -interesting,--even thrilling, if such a term may be employed,--in that -they approach with contemporary assurance names which dramatic legend -bids the present day revere:--Mr. Kean, Mrs. Siddons, Miss O’Neil, -Mr. C. Kemble, and others. The first of these articles (January 1818) -states: “our fixed opinions are few;” ... but continues further that -one of these fixed opinions is that “it would be better for all the -world if he (Shakespeare) could be thought of as a poet only--not as -a writer of acting dramas. If it had not been for Mr. Kean, we should -never have desired to see a play of Shakespeare’s acted again.”[131] As -for Desdemona, - -“The gentle lady married to the Moor!-- - -“If we had been left to ourselves we could have fancied her anything -or anybody we liked, and have changed the fancy at our will. But, as -it is, she is nothing to us but a slim young lady, in white satin, -walking about on the boards of a Theatre.”[132] The writer of this -article furthermore reminds the public: “we shall ... always have more -to say on five minutes of genius, than on five hours of dulness.”[133] -And--“It would also be desirable for both parties, if our Edinburgh -readers would not forget that we write from London, and our London -ones that we write for Edinburgh.”[134] The second installment, -February 1818, of these dramatic notices, comes down to more specific -criticisms.--“Perhaps we were more disgusted by this revived play, the -Point of Honour, than we should otherwise have been, from being obliged -to sit, and see, and hear Miss O’Neil’s delightful voice and looks cast -away upon it.--Though they have chosen to call it a play, it is one -of that herd of Gallo-Germanic monsters which have visited us of late -years, under the name of Melo-Dramas;... It makes the ladies in the -galleries and dress-boxes shed those maudlin tears that always flow -when weak nerves are over-excited.”[135] - -[129] Ibid., V. ii, p. 567 - -[130] Ibid., V. ii-vii - -[131] Ibid., V. ii, p. 428 - -[132] Same - -[133] Ibid., V. ii, p. 429 - -[134] Same - -[135] Ibid., V. ii, p. 567 - -Needless to say, the whole tone of the magazine was not of this light -and popular kind. Much that it published was heavy, some of it dry. -All the preceding gives in general the atmosphere of what ensured -the success of the budding “Maga”. It continued in this manner, but -ever mingling the steady, the serious, the grave, with the lively -and the scandalous. For instance in the number for April 1818 we -find an article “On the Poor Laws of England; and Answers to Queries -Transmitted by a Member of Parliament, with a View to Ascertaining the -Scottish System”[136],--some four pages or more of serious discussion. -In the same number appears “Letters on the Present State of Germany, -Letter I”[137], earnestly setting forth the causes of discontent in -Germany, acknowledging into the bargain, that “the triumph of human -intellect over the sway of despotism was never made more manifest than -it has been within the last fifty years among the Germans”[138], and -concluding with a paragraph from our modern point of view more than -interesting: “If the Germans have a Revolution, it will, I hope and -trust, be calm and rational, when compared with that of the French. -Its precursors have not been, as in France, ridicule, raillery, -derision, impiety; but sober reflection, Christian confidence, and -manly resolutions, gathered and confirmed by the experience of -many sorrowful years. The sentiment is so universally diffused--so -seriously established--so irresistible in its unity,--that I confess -I should be greatly delighted, but not very much astonished, to -hear of the mighty work being accomplished almost without resistance, -and entirely without outrage.”[139] This number likewise includes an -article discussing the “Effect of Farm Overseers on the Morals of Farm -Servants”[140], another called “Dialogues on Natural Religion”[141], -and a “Hospital Scene in Portugal. (Extracted from the Journal of a -British Officer, in a series of Letters to a Friend)”[142], a graphic -description which spares no horrible detail or opportunity for the -pathetic. - -[136] Ibid., V. iii, p. 9 - -[137] Ibid., V. iii, p. 24 - -[138] Ibid., V. iii, p. 25 - -[139] Ibid., V. iii, p. 29 - -[140] Ibid., V. iii, p. 83 - -[141] Ibid., V. iii, p. 90 - -[142] Ibid., V. iii, p. 87 - -The first article in the number for May 1818 is a brief but strictly -specific “Description of the Patent Kaleidoscope, Invented by Dr. -Brewster”[143]. This issue too presented the first of a series -entitled “The Craniologists Review”[144], No. I being a description -of Napoleon’s head, supposedly by “a learned German”, a Doctor Ulric -Sternstare, who may or may not have been a _bona fide_ personage. One -is apt to suspect, however, that these articles are by our young friend -Lockhart. “Maga” owed many a _nomme de plume_ to Lockhart’s German -travels; the subject matter, craniology, is one of his own hobbies, -as later revealed in _Peter’s Letters_; and the last sentence is more -reminiscent of the young scamp than any “learned German”! The article -concludes: “I think him a more amiable character than that vile toad -Frederick of Prussia, who had no moral faculties on the top of his -head; and he will stand a comparison with every conqueror, except -Julius Caesar, who perhaps deserved better to be loved than any other -person guilty of an equal proportion of mischief.”[145] - -[143] Ibid., V. iii, p. 121 - -[144] Ibid., V. iii, p. 146 - -[145] Ibid., V. iii, p. 148 - -There is a gem of an article in _Blackwood’s_ for July 1818, the -fourth of a series of “Letters of Timothy Tickler to Eminent Literary -Characters. Letter IV--To the Editor of _Blackwood’s Magazine_”.[146] -Timothy Tickler was an uncle of John Wilson’s, a Mr. Robert Sym; -but it is doubtful whether Robert Sym was the author of many, if -any, of the compositions laid at the door of the venerable Timothy. -This Letter IV is professedly in answer to one from the editor of -_Blackwood’s_. Obviously it is only another device, and a clever -one, to discuss the merits of “Maga”, and make a stab at the Whigs -and the _Edinburgh Review_. Old Timothy says, “You wish to have my -free and candid opinion of your work in general, and I will now try -to answer your queries in a satisfactory way. Your Magazine is far -indeed from being a ‘faultless monster, which the world ne’er saw’; -for it is full of faults, and most part of the world has seen it.... -Just go on, gradually improving Number after Number, and you will -make a fortune.”[147] Seeming criticism, then a sudden tooting of the -Blackwood horn, seeming praise of Constable, then a flash and a dig, -characterize the article throughout. He continues: “You go on to ask -me what I think of Constable’s Magazine? Oh! my dear Editor, you are -fishing for a compliment from old Timothy again!--I have seen nothing -at all comparable to it during the last three score and ten years. -Thank you, _en passant_, for the Numbers of it you have sent me. Almost -anything does for our minister to read.”[148] He concludes thus: “I -shall have an opportunity of writing you again soon ... when I hope to -amuse you with certain old-fashioned whimsies of mine about the Whigs -of Scotland, whom I see you like no more than myself.”[149] - -[146] Ibid., V. iii, p. 461 - -[147] Same - -[148] Ibid., V. iii, p. 461-2 - -This is followed by a very brief sketch of the “Important Discovery -of Extensive Veins and Rocks of Chromate of Iron in the Shetland -Islands”[149]; and this in turn by a “Notice of the Operations -Undertaken to Determine the Figure of the Earth, by M. Biot, of the -Academy of Sciences, Paris, 1818”,[150] eleven pages in length, and -though decidedly statistical, discursive and meditative enough in tone -to interest more than the merely scientific reader. - -[149] Ibid., V. iii, p. 463 - -[150] Same - -The less said about the poetry in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ the better. -Most of it is pretty poor stuff. It is strange, with men like -Wordsworth and Coleridge and Byron living, that “Maga” should print -such feeble verse--all the more strange when those responsible for -the periodical were such venerators of intellectual power and so ably -appreciative. The Wordsworthian influence is largely reflected in -much of the _Blackwood_ verse, in fact the Wordsworthian love for -the simple and the commonplace is reflected to such an extent that -it assumes the aspect of the commonplace run to seed. Of course, -opposition to the Cockney School was pure principle on the part of -the magazine; and no matter what fine poetry “the Shelley’s and -the Keatses” produced, “Maga” must per necessity say nay! With the -exception of some of the verse of James Hogg, and occasional bits like -the anonymous “To My Dog”[151] in the issue for January 1818, there -is practically nothing to hold one spellbound. There is a good deal -of satiric verse on the order of that by “Ensign Odoherty”, already -sampled. The first twelve volumes of the magazine contain much lengthy -and serious verse bearing the signature Δ, whom we know to have been -David M. Moir, “The amiable Delta” of the Blackwood group. His poetry -takes no hold upon us of the present hour, but strangely enough, men -like Tennyson, Jeffrey, Lockhart, found it praiseworthy, and even -Wordsworth. It must be of some value if Wordsworth praised it who was -not often known to show interest in any poetry but his own. - -[151] Ibid., V. ii, p. 378 - -The number for March 1822 began the “Noctes Ambrosianae”[152], which -continued till February 1835[153]. These papers are too well known to -demand much mention here. Suffice it to say that during their career, -they were the most popular and eagerly read feature of all periodical -literature of the time. - -[152] Ibid., V. xi, p. 369 - -[153] Ibid., V. xi-xxxvii - -In July 1820, Lockhart reviewed Washington Irving’s “Knickerbocker’s -History of New York”[154]. All mention of such papers as “Extracts -from Mr. Wastle’s Diary”, which made its first appearance in March -1820[155], can scarcely be omitted. It is the Mr. Wastle of _Peter’s -Letters_ whom Lockhart makes responsible for this series, which, like -the compositions of Timothy Tickler, is but another device for merry -making over local events and persons. - -[154] Ibid., V. vii, p. 360 - -[155] Ibid., V. vi, p. 688 - -Interesting reviews of now famous books, wholesale massacre of now -worshipped men, sweeping conclusions historical and political, among -them at times such momentous verdicts as appeared in May 1819, that “no -great man can have a small nose”[156]--such marked the progress and -reputation of the magazine. Whether we feel we can exalt wholly and -unreservedly _Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine_, we can at least heartily -agree with Lockhart when he says: “I think the valuable part of The -Materials is so great as to furnish no inconsiderable apology for the -mixture of baser things.”[157] Moreover, it did more to counteract the -influence of the _Edinburgh Review_ than any other periodical living or -dead.[158] - -[156] Ibid., V. v, p. 159 - -[157] J. G. Lockhart: _Peter’s Letters_, V. ii, p. 225 - -[158] This discussion makes no pretense at finality. Treatment herein -has been cursory and suggestive, not exhaustive. A vast and fruitful -field remains untouched. - - - - -_Bibliography_ - - -Biography and Criticism - -Cambridge History of English Literature, V. xii, 6. New York -and Cambridge, 1916 - -Douglas, Sir George. The Blackwood Group. Edinburgh, 1897 - -Elton, Oliver. A Survey of English Literature, 1780-1830. -V. i, 13. London, 1912 - -Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition. Article on -“The Periodical Press after 1800” by -H. R. Tedder - -Lang, Andrew. Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart. 2 vols. -London, 1897 - -Lockhart, John Gibson. Life of Sir Walter Scott, V. v, Edinburgh, -1902-3 - - " " " . Peter’s Letters to His Kinsfolk. 3 vols. -Edinburgh, 1819 - -Memorials of James Hogg, The Ettrick Shepherd, by his Daughter, -Mrs. Garden. London, 1903 - -Millar, J. H. A Literary History of Scotland. New York, 1903 - -Oliphant, M. O. Annals of a Publishing House. William -Blackwood and His Sons. V. i. Edinburgh -and London, 1897-8 - -Saintsbury, G. Essays in English Literature, 1780-1860. -New York, 1895 - - -Works - -Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. Vols. i-xiv. Edinburgh -and London, 1817-23 - -Hogg, James. The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd. Prose and -Poetry. Ed. Rev. Thomas Thomson. -London, 1869 - -Maginn, William. Miscellanies, Prose and Verse. 2 vols. -London, 1885 - -Wilson, John. Works. Ed. Prof. Ferrier. 12 vols. -Edinburgh, 1855-8 - - -[Transcriber’s Note: - -Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.] - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Early History of Blackwood's Edinburgh -Magazine, by Alice Mary Doane - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY HISTORY OF BLACKWOOD'S *** - -***** This file should be named 50343-0.txt or 50343-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/3/4/50343/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/50343-0.zip b/old/50343-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1f416de..0000000 --- a/old/50343-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/50343-h.zip b/old/50343-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 77bd43d..0000000 --- a/old/50343-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/50343-h/50343-h.htm b/old/50343-h/50343-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index b1f37e8..0000000 --- a/old/50343-h/50343-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3326 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - Early History of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine -Early History of Blackwood’s Edinburgh MagazineEARLY HISTORY OF BLACKWOOD’S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, by Alice Mary Doane. -- a Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <style type="text/css"> - -a { - text-decoration: none} - -#coverpage { - border: 1px solid black; - margin: 1em auto} - -body { - margin: auto 10%} - -p { - text-indent: 1em; - text-align: justify} - -.antiqua { - font-size: x-large; - font-family: "Brush Script MT", Chancery, "England Hand DB", "Brush Script Std", Italianno, Respective, "Lucida Calligraphy", "Lucida Handwriting", "Apple Chancery", serif;} - -h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; - font-weight: normal; - margin: 2em auto} - -.ph1 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - text-indent: 0; - clear: both; - font-size: xx-large; - font-weight: normal; - margin: 2em auto} - -.medium { - font-size: medium} - -.hang { - text-indent: -3em; - padding-left: 3em} - -hr { - border-top: 4px double #8c8b8b;} - -hr.chap { - width: 65%; margin: 2em 17.5%; clear: both} - -.copy { - font-size: x-small; - text-align: center} - -.p1 { - padding-left: 2em; - padding-right: 2em} - -.p2 { - padding-left: .5em; - padding-right: .5em} - -.p3 { - padding-left: 1.5em; - padding-right: 1.25em} - -.table { - display: table; - margin: 1em auto} - -.trow { - display: table-row} - -.tcell { - display: table-cell} - -table { - margin: auto} - -.tdr { - text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -img { - border: none; - max-width: 100%} - -.figcenter { - clear: both; - margin: auto; - text-align: center;} - -.figcenter p { - margin: 0.5em 2em;} - - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: small; - line-height: .1em; - text-decoration: none; - white-space: nowrap /* keeps footnote on same line as referenced text */} - -.footnote { - text-indent: 0em; - padding-left: 2em; - /*margin: 1em 2em*/} - -.footnote p { - text-indent: 0em; - padding-left: 2em; - margin: 1em 2em} - -.label { - display: inline-block; - text-indent: -2em; - text-align: right; - text-decoration: none} - - -/* Poetry */ - -.poetry { - margin: auto; - text-align: center} - -.poem { - margin: auto; - display: inline-block; - text-align: left} - -.poem .stanza { - margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote { - background-color: #E6E6FA; - border: silver solid 1px; - color: black; - margin: 2em auto 5em auto; - padding: 1em} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - color: silver; - position: absolute; - right: 1em; - font-size: small; - text-align: right; -} /* page numbers */ - .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Early History of Blackwood's Edinburgh -Magazine, by Alice Mary Doane - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Early History of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - -Author: Alice Mary Doane - -Release Date: October 30, 2015 [EBook #50343] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY HISTORY OF BLACKWOOD'S *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" -alt="" /> -<p class="copy">The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_i">i</span></p> - -<h1> -EARLY HISTORY OF BLACKWOOD’S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE<br /> - -<span class="medium">BY<br /> - -ALICE MARY DOANE<br /> -A. B. Earlham College, 1914<br /> - -THESIS<br /> - -Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the<br /> - -Degree of<br /> - -MASTER OF ARTS<br /> - -IN ENGLISH<br /> - -IN<br /> - -THE GRADUATE SCHOOL<br /> - -OF THE<br /> - -UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS<br /> - -1917</span> -</h1> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ii">ii</span></p> - -<div class="table"> -<h2 id="UNIVERSITY_OF_ILLINOIS">UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS</h2> - -<h3>THE GRADUATE SCHOOL</h3> - -<span class="table"> -<span class="antiqua">June 1</span> 191<span class="antiqua">7</span><br /> -<br /> -I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION<br /> -BY <span class="antiqua">Mary Alice Doane</span><br /> -ENTITLED <span class="antiqua">Early History of Blackwood’s Magazine</span><br /> -<br /> -------------------------------------------------------<br /> -BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE<br /> -DEGREE OF <span class="antiqua">Master of Arts in English</span><br /> -<br /> -<span class="antiqua">Jacob Zeitlin</span><br /> -In Charge of Thesis<br /> -<br /> -<span class="antiqua">Frank W Scott</span><br /> -Head of Department<br /> -<br /> -Recommendation concurred in:<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a><br /> -<br /> --------------------- } Committee<br /> --------------------- } on<br /> --------------------- } Final Examination<a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a><br /> -</span> -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">1</a> -Required for doctor’s degree but not for master’s.</p></div><br /> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">iii</span> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2>Contents</h2> - -<table> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I">I</a></td> - <td><a href="#I">Introduction</a></td> - <td>p. 1-15</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#II">II.</a></td> - <td><a href="#II">Genesis</a></td> - <td>p. 16-29</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#III">III.</a></td> - <td><a href="#III">Dramatis Personae</a></td> - <td>p. 30-36</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#IV">IV.</a></td> - <td><a href="#IV">First Years of “Maga”</a></td> - <td>p. 37-67</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"></td> - <td><a href="#Bibliography">Bibliography</a></td> - <td>p. 68-69</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span></p> - -<p class="ph1">EARLY HISTORY OF BLACKWOOD’S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE</p> - -<h2 id="I">I<br /> - -<i>Introduction</i><a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a></h2> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">2</a> -The information in this chapter is taken from the following: -Oliver Elton: <i>A Survey of English Literature, 1780-1830</i> -(Arnold, London, 1912) V. i, ch. 13 -<br /> -<i>Cambridge History of English Literature</i> (Cambridge, 1916) -V. xii, ch. 6 -<br /> -John Gibson Lockhart: <i>Peter’s Letters to His Kinsfolk</i> -(Edinburgh, 1819) V. i, ii</p></div> - -<p>People love to be shocked! That explains the -present circulation of <i>Life</i>. It explains, too, the clamor with -which Edinburgh received the October number of <i>Blackwood’s -Edinburgh Magazine</i> in 1817. For the first time in periodical -history, the reading public was actually thrilled and completely -shocked! Edinburgh held up its hands in horror, looked pious, -wagged its head—and bought up every number! It is a strange -parallel, perhaps, <i>Life</i> and <i>Blackwood’s</i>,—yet not so strange. -It is hard at first glance to understand how those yellow, -musty old pages could have been so shocking which now seem to -have lost all savor for the man in the street. But before we -can appreciate just how shocking <i>Blackwood’s Magazine</i> was, or -why, it will be necessary first to remember the Edinburgh of -those days, and the men who thought and fought in those pages, -and the then state of periodical literature. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">2</span></p> - -<p>When we call <i>Blackwood’s</i> the first <i>real</i> magazine it -is by virtue of worth, not fact. There were numerous periodicals -preceding and contemporary with it. Most of them have never -been heard of by the average citizen, and no doubt oblivion is -the kindest shroud to fold them in. The <i>Monthly Review</i>, founded -in 1749, was the oldest. It ran till 1845 and is remembered -chiefly for the fact that it had decided Whiggish leanings -with a touch of the Nonconformist. <i>The Critical Review</i>, a Tory -organ, ran from 1756 to 1817, the natal year of “Maga”, as -<i>Blackwood’s</i> was fondly dubbed. <i>The British Critic</i>, 1793-1843, -was a mouthpiece for High Church opinion; and <i>The Christian -Observer</i>, 1802-1857, served the same purpose for the evangelicals. -<i>The Anti-Jacobin</i>, 1797-98, was almost the only journal of the -time where talent or wit appeared often enough not to be accidental, -and it ran only eight months. <i>The Gentleman’s Magazine</i>, -1731-1868, has come in for a small share of immortality, but -could never aspire to be considered a “moulder of opinion”. It -published good prose and verse, and articles of antiquarian and -literary tone; its scholarship was fair. When this is said, -all is said.</p> - -<p><i>The Edinburgh Review</i> and <i>The Quarterly</i> are the -only two besides <i>Blackwood’s</i> which come down to the Twentieth -Century with any degree of lasting fame. In 1755 had appeared -the first <i>Edinburgh Review</i> “to be published every six months”. - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span> -It survived only two numbers, being too radical and self-sufficient -in certain philosophical and religious views for that day of -orthodoxy. In October 1802 the first number of the <i>Edinburgh -Review and Critical Journal</i>, a quarterly, appeared, which according -to the advertisement in the first number was to be “distinguished -for the selection rather than for the number of its -articles”.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> Its aim was to enlighten and guide the public mind -in the paths of literature, art, science, politics,—with perhaps -a bit of emphasis on the words <i>guide</i> and <i>politics</i>. Francis -Jeffrey, of whom Lockhart, later one of the leading lights of -<i>Blackwood’s</i>, says, “It is impossible to conceive the existence -of a more fertile, teeming intellect”,<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> was the first editor -and remained so until 1829. In the first number, October 1802, -there were twenty-nine articles, contributed by Sydney Smith, -Jeffrey, Francis Horner, Brougham, and Thomson, Murray and Hamilton. -During its first three years the <i>Review</i> distinguished -itself by adding such names to its list as Walter Scott, Playfair, -John Allen, George Ellis, and Henry Hallam. With such pens -supporting it, it would have been strange if it had not been -readable. There was indeed an air of vitality and energy throughout, -which distinguished it from any of its forerunners; it spoke -as one having authority; and men turned as instinctively to -Francis Jeffrey and the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> for final verdicts, as -it never entered their heads to seriously consider the <i>Gentleman’s -Magazine</i> or even the <i>Quarterly</i>.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">3</a> -<i>Cambridge History of English Literature</i>, V. xii, ch. 6, p. 157</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">4</a> -J. G. Lockhart: <i>Peter’s Letters</i>, V. ii, p. 61</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span></p> - -<p>This first number, October 1802, is as representative -as any. Jeffrey wrote the first article, reviewing a book -on the causes of the revolution by Mounier, late president of -the French National Assembly. There was an article by Francis -Horner on “The Paper Credit of Great Britain”; one by Brougham -on “The Crisis in the Sugar Colonies”. Another by Jeffrey, a -criticism of Southey’s “Thalaba”, indicates the young editor’s -intention to live up to the motto of the <i>Review</i>:—“<i>Judex damnatur -cum nocens absolvitur</i>—The Judge is damned when the offender is -freed”. With Jeffrey anything new in the world of letters was -taboo, and Southey he considered “a champion and apostle” of a -school of poetry which was nothing if not new. Quoting him: -“Southey is the first of these brought before us for judgment, -and we cannot discharge our inquisitorial office conscientiously -without pronouncing a few words upon the nature and tendency of -the tenets he has helped to propagate”.<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> Notice that Jeffrey -uses the term “inquisitorial office”, therein pleading guilty to -the very attitude of which Lockhart accused him, and in opposition -to which in <i>Blackwood’s Magazine</i> he later took such a decided -stand, offending how similarly, we are later to discover.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">5</a> -<i>Cambridge History of English Literature</i>, V. xii, ch. 6, p. 159</p></div> - -<p>Lockhart admired Jeffrey and praised his talents; it -was the use to which he put those talents that Lockhart assailed. -The following words of Lockhart’s own, even though tinged with -that exaggerated vindictiveness so characteristic of him, give - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span> -a pretty fair idea of the attitude he and all the Blackwood -group took against Jeffrey and the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>; and shows -the spirit underlying the rivalry that took root before ever -<i>Blackwood’s Magazine</i> existed and prevailed for ever after. -“Endowed by nature with a keen talent for sarcasm (Jeffrey, that -is) nothing could be more easy for him than to fasten, with the -destructive effect of nonchalance upon a work which had perhaps -been composed with much earnestness of thought on the part of -the author.... The object of the critic, however, is by no -means to assist those who read his critical lucubrations, to -enter with more facility, or with better preparation into the -thoughts or feelings or truths which his author endeavors to -inculcate or illustrate. His object is merely to make the author -look foolish; and he prostitutes his own fine talents, to enable -the common herd”<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a>—to look down upon the deluded author who is -victim of the <i>Review</i>. This is what Lockhart considered Jeffrey -to be doing, and he was not alone in his opinion. It is to be -remembered, however, that Lockhart’s attitude was always more -tense, keener, and a little more bitter than others’, yet his -words better than any one else’s sound the keynote of the -deadly opposition to the <i>Review</i> which “Maga” assumed from the -first. Quoting him again, "<i>The Edinburgh Review</i> cared very -little for what might be done, or might be hoped to be done, -provided it could exercise a despotic authority in deciding on - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span> -the merits of what <i>was</i> done. Nobody could ever regard this -work as a great fostering-mother of the infant manifestations -of intellectual and imaginative power. It was always sufficiently -plain, that in all things its chief object was to support -the credit of its own appearance. It praised only where praise -was extorted—and it never praised even the highest efforts of -contemporary genius in the spirit of true and genuine earnestness -which might have been becoming”.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> Lockhart never quite forgave -Jeffrey for failing instantly to recognize the genius of Wordsworth. -He continues, of the Reviewers: “They never spoke out -of the fulness of the heart in praising any one of our great -living poets, the majesty of whose genius would have been quite -enough to take away all ideas except those of prostrate respect”.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> -Taking all of Lockhart’s impetuosity with a pinch of salt, the -fact remains undeniably true that the <i>Edinburgh</i> assumed the -patronizing air of bestowing rather than recognizing honor when -it praised.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">6</a> -J. G. Lockhart: <i>Peter’s Letters</i>, V. ii, p. 130</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">7</a> -J. G. Lockhart: <i>Peter’s Letters</i>, V. ii, p. 207</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">8</a> -Ibid, V. ii, p. 208</p></div> - -<p>Among the builders of the <i>Edinburgh</i> Henry Brougham -stands one of the foremost. In five years he contributed as -many as eighty articles, an average of four each number, and it -is said that he once wrote an entire number. He was capable of -it! Brougham was a powerful politician, but unfortunately did -not limit his contributions to political subjects. He wrote -scientific, legal and literary papers as well, with the air of - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span> -one whose mandates go undisputed. Undisputed they did go, -too. In fact Brougham just escaped being a genius! He made a -big splash in his own little world and age, but his fame has -not outlived him. Another prominent contributor was Sydney -Smith, a man of no small reputation as a humorist. He earnestly -applied his talents to the forwarding of serious causes, and -talents undoubtedly he had; but the wit of his style, according -to the Hon. Arthur R. D. Elliot, erstwhile editor of the <i>Review</i>, -its cleverness and jollity, prevented many from recognizing the -genuine sincerity of his character.</p> - -<p>By the end of 1806, Sir Walter Scott had contributed -twelve articles in all, among them papers on Ellis’s “Early -English Poets”, on Godwin’s “Life of Chaucer”, on Chatterton’s -“Works”, on Froissart’s “Chronicles”. After 1806, he withdrew -from the <i>Review</i>, and politics became the more prominent feature. -No account of the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> has ever been given, written -or told without including a remark of Jeffrey’s to Sir Walter -Scott in a letter about this time. It would never do to omit it -here! The remark is this: “The <i>Review</i>, in short, has but two -legs to stand on. Literature, no doubt, is one of them: but -its <i>Right Leg</i> is Politics.”<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> Scott’s ideal was to keep it literary; -and his break was on account of its excessive Whiggism. -In Jeffrey’s mind, however, <i>The Edinburgh Review</i> was destined - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span> -to save the nation! He championed the causes of Catholic -emancipation, of popular education, prison reform, even some -small degree of justice in Ireland, et cetera, all flavored, of -course, with the saving grace of Whiggism.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">9</a> -Elton: <i>A Survey of English Literature, 1780-1830</i>. V. i, p. 387</p></div> - -<p>Modern critics more than once have characterized -Jeffrey as that “once-noted despot of letters”. But it is not -fair only to be told that Jeffrey once said of Wordsworth’s -Excursion, “This will never do!” That he considered the end of -The Ode to Duty “utterly without meaning”; and that the Ode on -Intimations of Immortality was “unintelligible”; that he ignored -Shelley, and committed other like unpardonable sins. Those things -are true and known and by them is he judged, but they are not <i>all</i> -by which he should be judged by any means! There is no doubt -in the world but what Jeffrey’s mind was cast in a superior -mould. Lockhart himself has already testified there could not -be “a more fertile, teeming intellect”. He was seldom, if ever, -profound, we admit; but even the most grudging critic must grant -him that large, speculative understanding and shrewd scrutiny so -prominent in his compositions. Imagination, fancy, wit, sarcasm -were his own, but not the warm and saving quality of humor. He -was a great man and a brilliant criticiser, though hardly a great -critic. The great critic is the true prophet and Jeffrey was no -prophet. As late as 1829 in an article on Mrs. Hemans in the -<i>Edinburgh Review</i>, he wrote: “Since the beginning of our critical -career we have seen a vast deal of beautiful poetry pass into -oblivion in spite of our feeble efforts to recall or retain it - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span> -in remembrance. The tuneful quartos of Southey are already -little better than lumber:—and the rich melodies of Keats -and Shelley,—and the fantastical emphasis of Wordsworth,—and -the plebeian pathos of Crabbe,—are melting fast from the -field of our vision. The novels of Scott have put out his -poetry. Even the splendid strains of Moore are fading into -distance and dimness, except where they have been married to -immortal music; and the blazing star of Byron himself is receding -from its place of pride.”<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> Herein he only redeems himself -from his early condemnation of Wordsworth and Shelley and -Southey, to damn himself irrevocably in our eyes again with his -amazing lack of foresight! No! Jeffrey was no prophet. He -had not the range of vision of the true critic, and “where -there is no vision the people perish”. This was indeed an -epitaph written a century ago for a grave not even yet in view. -It must not be hastily concluded from this, however, that all -the criticism in the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> was poor stuff. A vast -amount of it was splendid work; the best output of the best -minds of the time; and it was the one and only authentic and -readable journal for years. This is corroborated by a statement -of Sir Walter Scott’s in a letter to George Ellis: “No genteel -family can pretend to be without the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>; because, -independent of its politics, it gives the only valuable literary -criticisms that can be met with.”<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">10</a> -Elton: <i>A Survey of English Literature, 1780-1830</i>, V. i, p. 390</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">11</a> -<i>Cambridge History of English Literature</i>, V. xii, p. 164</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span></p> - -<p>But it was high time for a new periodical of -opposite politics and fresh outlook; and in 1809 Gifford was -established as editor of <i>The Quarterly Review</i>. Its four -pillars were politics, literature, scholarship, and science; -but its main purpose was to oppose the <i>Edinburgh</i> and create -an intellectual nucleus for the rallying of the Tories. In -October 1808 after plans were well on foot, Scott wrote to -Gifford, prospective editor: “The real reason for instituting -the new publication is the disgusting and deleterious doctrines -with which the most popular of our Reviews disgraces its pages.”<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> -This of course was a reference to the political policies of -the <i>Edinburgh</i>, yet the tone of the <i>Quarterly</i> was not to be one -of political opposition only. Scott was eager for the success -of the first number and wrote nearly a third of it himself. -Later he busied himself to enlist the services of Southey and -Rogers and Moore and Kirkpatrick Sharpe as contributors. Southey -wrote altogether about one hundred articles on subjects varying -from Lord Nelson to the Poor Laws. Scott himself contributed -about thirty with his usual versatility of subject matter, all -the way from fly fishing to Pepys’ Diary. In the issue for -January 1817 he even reviewed “Tales of my Landlord” and “ventured -to attribute them to the author of Waverley and Guy -Mannering.”! John Wilson Croker, satirist, was another prominent - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span> -contributor, narrow of mind and heart, intolerant of soul. -He was an accurate and able “argu-fier” however, and one of -the ruling genii in the politics of the <i>Quarterly</i>. In forty-five -years he contributed something like two hundred and fifty-eight -articles. Sir John Barrow, traveller and South African -statesman, contributed much and copiously, multitudinous -reviews and voyages, all in his unvarying “solid food” style -and tone. Hallam and Sharon Turner wrote historical papers; -Ugo Fosculo wrote on Italian classics. Such was the tone of -the <i>Quarterly</i>. It took itself seriously, and was evidently -always taken seriously. But no modern would consider those -dim old pages of criticism as a criterion to the literature of -that age. It was too heavy to be sensitive to new excellencies, -too intent on upholding failing causes to recognize new ones. -In truth, it was a periodical strangely unresponsive to artistic -or literary excellence or attainment. By 1818 and 1819 its -circulation was almost 14,000—practically the same as the -<i>Edinburgh Review</i>; but the <i>Quarterly</i> never made the stir the -<i>Edinburgh</i> did. Ellis spoke truth when he pronounced it, “Though -profound, notoriously and unequivocally dull”.<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> Gifford -remained editor until 1824; then John Taylor Coleridge ascended -the throne for two years, and after that, Lockhart.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">12</a> -<i>Cambridge History of English Literature</i>, V. xii, p. 165</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">13</a> -<i>Cambridge History of English Literature</i>, V. xii, p. 166</p></div> - -<p>Concerning the <i>Scots Magazine</i> which seemed to be -dying a natural death about the time of the initial impulse of - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span> -“Maga”, Lockhart writes: “It seems as if nothing could be -more dull, trite and heavy than the bulk of this ancient -work.”<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> An occasional contribution by Hazlitt or Reynolds -enlivened it a bit, but only served to emphasize in contrast -the duller parts.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">14</a> -J. G. Lockhart: <i>Peter’s Letters</i>, V. ii, p. 227</p></div> - -<p>The name of Leigh Hunt can scarcely be omitted from -this panorama, though here it is the journalist rather than the -journal which attracts attention. At various times he edited -various publications, ten in all, and all of them more or less -short-lived and unsuccessful. Among them was the <i>Reflector</i> -(1810-11), a quarterly which is remembered mainly because -Hunt was its editor and Charles Lamb one of its contributors. -Most noteworthy of his periodical projects was the <i>Examiner</i>, -a newspaper which he began to edit (1808) for his brother, and -continued to do so for the space of some thirteen years. It -professed no political allegiance, but was enough outspoken in -its radical views to land both Leigh Hunt and his brother in -prison, after printing an article on the Prince Regent. Among -other things of interest, it started a department of theatrical -criticism; and on the whole, with men like Hazlitt and Lamb -contributing, it could not escape being interesting. The -Blackwood group later reacted to it and its editor as a bull -does to a red rag, testifying at least that it was far from -nondescript. - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span></p> - -<p>The <i>London Magazine</i> did not start until two years -after <i>Blackwood’s</i>, and we will dismiss it with only a few words. -It was a periodical fashioned after the sprightlier manner -which <i>Blackwood’s</i>, too, strove to maintain. They were bitter -rivals from the first; and as to which was the more bitter, the -more stinging in its personalities, it would be hard to judge. -At one time matters even reached such a pitch that John Scott, -the <i>London’s</i> first editor, and Lockhart found it necessary to -“meet on the sod”. The <i>London</i> put forth many fine things. In -September 1821 it gave to the public “Confessions of an Opium -Eater” by a certain Thomas De Quincey. A year later it offered -“A Dissertation on Roast Pig” by an author then not so well -known as now. A poem or two of one John Keats appeared in its -pages; and when all is said, there is no doubt that the <i>London -Magazine</i> did at times splendidly illumine the poetry of the -age. It ran from 1820 to 1829.</p> - -<p>Thus in brief was the periodical world. The quarterly -reviews were avowedly pretentious, never amusing, not creative. -Contents were limited to political articles, to pompous dissertations -and reviews. There were no stories, no verse, nothing -unbending, never a touch of fantasy. Their political flavor -was the least of their sins. A touch of the Radical, the Whig -or the Tory is a real contribution to the history of literature, -wherein it inevitably involves great historic divisions of the - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span> -thought of a nation concerning life and art. No. Our quarrel, -like <i>Blackwood’s</i>, is on the ground of their rigidity. It is -well to hold fast that which is good; but it is not well to -insistently oppose and blind oneself and others to the changing -order and the forward march of men and letters.</p> - -<p>Knowing what we do of Jeffrey and the <i>Edinburgh -Review</i> it is easy to comprehend what prompted Lockhart’s pen -to say: “It is, indeed, a very deplorable thing to observe in -what an absurd state of ignorance the majority of educated -people in Scotland have been persuaded to keep themselves, concerning -much of the best and truest literature of their own -age, as well as of the ages that have gone by”.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">15</a>... His -quarrel is ours for the nonce, and to comprehend the spirit of -“Maga” it is first necessary to comprehend the spirit which -prompted much for which it is so rigorously criticised. Lockhart -speaks of the “facetious and rejoicing ignorance” of the -Reviewers. “I do not on my conscience believe”, says he in -Peter’s Letters, “that there is one Whig in Edinburgh to whom -the name of my friend Charles Lamb would convey any distinct or -definite idea.... They do not know even the names of some -of the finest poems our age has produced. They never heard of -<i>Ruth</i> or <i>Michael</i>, or <i>The Brothers</i> or <i>Hartleap Well</i>, or the <i>Recollections -of Infancy</i> or the <i>Sonnets to Buonaparte</i>. They do not -know that there is such a thing as the description of a churchyard - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span> -in <i>The Excursion</i>. Alas! how severely is their ignorance -punished in itself”!<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> Perhaps we can forgive the egotistic -note in the following words, also from Peter’s Letters: -“There is no work which has done so much to weaken the authority -of the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> in such matters as <i>Blackwood’s Magazine</i>.”<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> -<i>Blackwood’s</i> is at least still readable which is more than can -be said of most of its contemporaries. Though it did not, like -the <i>London</i>, discover a Charles Lamb or a De Quincey, it did and -does still overflow with the forging energy and ardent enthusiasms -of youth. Besides the famous “Noctes Ambrosianae” for the most -part attributed to John Wilson, it published good short stories, -good papers by James Hogg, John Galt, and others, good verse, -much generous as well as much vindictive criticism. It opened -up new fields of interest: German, Italian and Norse letters, all -hitherto but slightly touched upon. But we anticipate,—and -must needs begin at the beginning.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">15</a> -J. G. Lockhart: <i>Peter’s Letters</i>, V. ii, p. 141</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">16</a> -J. G. Lockhart: <i>Peter’s Letters</i>, V. ii, p. 142, 143</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">17</a> -Ibid. V. ii, p. 144</p></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span></p> - -<h2 id="II">II<br /> - -<i>Genesis</i></h2> - -<p>We are told that William Blackwood grew impatient -of “humdrum bookselling”, and considering the spirited character -of the man, it is easy to believe. That hardly explains the -whole truth concerning the origin of “Maga”, however. The history -of <i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i> might almost be considered the -history of the struggle between two rival booksellers, Mr. Constable -and William Blackwood. The personality of the man William -Blackwood is no less interesting than the personality of his magazine, -and indeed, his was the spirit which colored the periodical -from start to finish. His energy and acumen were of the sort -which leave their mark on all they touch. To know William Blackwood -means to see his vigorous, unwearying figure through and behind -every page. Lockhart knew him as well as any, and it is his -able portraiture that follows: “He is a nimble active-looking man -of middle-age, and moves about from one corner to another with -great alacrity, and apparently under the influence of high animal -spirits. His complexion is very sanguineous, but nothing can be -more intelligent, keen and sagacious than the expression of the -whole physiognomy, above all, the grey eyes and eyebrows as -full of locomotion as those of Catalini. The remarks he makes -are in general extremely acute.... The shrewdness and decision of -the man can, however, stand in need of no testimony beyond what -his own conduct has afforded—above all, in the establishment - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span> -of his Magazine,—(the conception of which I am convinced was -entirely his own), and the subsequent energy with which he has -supported it through every variety of good and evil fortune.”<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> -Lockhart was in a position to know the true character of the -man, for these words were written two years after his own first -connection with William Blackwood and his periodical. Again, he -describes the publisher as “a man of strong talents, and though -without anything that could be called learning, of very respectable -information, ... acute, earnest, eminently zealous in -whatever he put his hand to; upright, honest, sincere and courageous”.<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> -This was William Blackwood, and it is small wonder such -a man should grow weary of “humdrum bookselling”.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">18</a> -J. G. Lockhart: <i>Peter’s Letters</i>, V. ii, p. 188</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">19</a> -A. Lang: <i>Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart</i>, V. i, p. 121</p></div> - -<p><i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i> was the result of -more stringent stimuli, however, than the restlessness of its -founder. It was necessary that the sentiments of those opposed -to Jeffrey and the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> should have a medium of -expression. Blackwood considered the <i>Quarterly</i> “too ponderous, -too sober, dignified and middle-aged”<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> to frustrate the influence -of the <i>Edinburgh</i>. It was not stimulating, in other words, and the -present day agrees with him. His ideal was a magazine “more -nimble, more frequent, more familiar”. But not least among the -many stirrings of mind and brain which gave rise to “Maga” was -Blackwood’s disappointment over the loss of the Waverley series. - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span> -The honesty and courage of the man need no other evidence -than the fact that he criticised “The Black Dwarf” and even -suggested a different ending. Scott, of course, would have none -of his meddling, and transferred his future dealings to Constable, -publisher of the despised <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, and the <i>Scots Magazine</i>, -which was at that moment more or less insignificant. It -is evident that Blackwood did not take pains to seek out any -specious circumlocution in his criticism, and the idea that any -man should criticise the Great Wizard of the North brings a -catch to the breath and a tingling down one’s spinal column!</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">20</a> -Mrs. Oliphant: <i>Annals of a Publishing House</i>, V. i, p. 97</p></div> - -<p>There is no doubt that the politics, the conceit, -the unappreciative and at times irreligious tone of the <i>Edinburgh -Review</i> were the main reasons for the bitter hatred of the -<i>Blackwood</i> writers; but there is less doubt that thus to lose -the Waverley series was a last incendiary straw to William Blackwood. -He immediately set about putting in action the plans -which had been smouldering so long.</p> - -<p>In April 1817 appeared the first number of <i>Blackwood’s -Edinburgh Magazine</i>. There seems to be a general understanding -among bibliographers that the first numbers were known -as the “Edinburgh Monthly Magazine”. According to the old -volumes themselves, however, only the second number, the -issue for May 1817, went by this title, the initial number and -all the rest bearing the heading, <i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i>.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span> -Messrs. Pringle and Cleghorn were the first joint -editors, it was probably through James Hogg, known to us as the -Ettrick Shepherd, that Blackwood first met these two men. If -either of them could boast any literary pretensions, it was -the younger, Thomas Pringle. He was from Hogg’s country, and -Blackwood thought he divined in him the making of just such -another “rustic genius” as Hogg. Cleghorn, former editor of -the <i>Farmers’ Magazine</i>, was evidently a stick! It is difficult -to conceive how William Blackwood, with his gift of insight, -could give over the conduct of his pet plans into the hands -of such a pair. But if he made a mistake, he soon made amends. -Of the business arrangements between Blackwood and the two -editors little of definite nature is known, except that the -three were to be co-partners. Blackwood sustained the expense -of publishing and printing; Pringle and Cleghorn supplied the -material;—and the profits were to be divided! The editors -expected £50 apiece per month, which seems unusual, considering -that the circulation never exceeded 2500. It looks suspiciously -probable that the early numbers were maintained at real financial -loss to the publisher. There is no mention of paying contributors -till later years. Very likely at that time writers were -still <i>above</i> remuneration! The <i>Edinburgh Review</i> had done much -to remedy this attitude, but a complete cure was not effected -for some years to come.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">21</a> -See <i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i>, V. i</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span></p> - -<p>The Prospectus of the infant journal is interesting. -It was to be “A Repository of whatever may be supposed to be -most interesting to general readers”.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">22</a> One strong point was to -be an antiquarian repository; too, it was to criticise articles -in other periodicals; it was to contain a “Register” of domestic -and foreign events. Among other aims, one was entertainment. -It was to be a miscellany of the original works of authors and -poets; and what endears it to modern hearts above all things -else, it was to be an open door for struggling young writers. -By virtue of the anonymous nature of its contributions, this -was made possible with no lessening of authority. The signatures -in the early numbers were intended to be perplexing, and perplexing -they remain to this day. But probably struggling young -writers met with less encouragement at the hands of Pringle -and Cleghorn than was William Blackwood’s original intention. -Those two never went out of the way to drum up new material, -while William Blackwood was a man alert and ever on the watch -for another Walter Scott.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">22</a> -<i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i>, V. i, p. 2</p></div> - -<p>Several numbers passed along peacefully enough. -As Mr. Lang puts it, “Nothing could be more blameless”. That -was the trouble—it was <i>too</i> blameless! Blackwood might have -forgiven a flagrant crime, but this negative and inoffensive -monthly fell with a dull thud in comparison with his mounting -expectations! He knew, none better, that a periodical of any - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span> -appreciable merit must necessarily bring upon itself as much -genuine censure as applause. <i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i> -for April 1817 brought neither. The great day came for the -first issue, evening followed, and Edinburgh went to bed unmoved. -With his overwhelming desire and ambition to rival the <i>Edinburgh -Review</i> and electrify Edinburgh city with a stimulating diet, it -is not likely that he would observe with much composure the -advent of this cherished scheme of his into the world, containing -for its first long article<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> six pages of “Memoirs of the -Late Francis Horner, Esq., M. P.”, one of Jeffrey’s own right -hand men!—or in finding in the department of “Periodical -Works”,<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">24</a> a statistical and more or less pleasant rehashment of -the contents of the last <i>Reviews</i>. Francis Horner had ever been -one of the mainstays of the <i>Edinburgh</i>; and though it was altogether -fitting and proper that the death of an illustrious statesman -should be commemorated, it is not likely that William Blackwood -welcomed as the first article in the first number of his -new magazine, a wholly unmitigated extolling of one whose past -influence he hoped to erase. Though the publisher’s generous -mind would be the last to begrudge him the due honor of such -phrases as “highly gifted individual”, “eminent statesman”, and -the like, it cannot be imagined that he rejoiced over the words -“original and enlightened views”, “correct and elegant taste”, -when it was his ardent purpose to prove the <i>Edinburgh</i> and its - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span> -builders the opposite of enlightened, and the embodiment of -poor taste and incompetent judgment!</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">23</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 3</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">24</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 81</p></div> - -<p>This same first number contains seven pages of -discourse on “The Sculpture of the Greeks”<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">25</a>, and the relation -of Greek art to the environment in which it grew up,—all very -learned and interesting, to be sure. There is a brief article -on the “Present State of the City of Venice”<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">26</a>, condensed and -unromantic enough to grace a Travellers’ Guide. If Messrs. -Pringle and Cleghorn had been anyone else but Messrs. Pringle -and Cleghorn, they might have indulged the public with a thrill -or two on such a subject as the city of Venice; but never a -thrill do we get from cover to cover! The article which -follows is “on the Constitution and Moral Effects of Banks for -the Savings of Industry”<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">27</a>; and there are others of similar tone: -“Observations on the Culture of the Sugar Cane in the United -States”<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">28</a>, “The Craniological Controversy”<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">29</a>, “The Proposed -Establishment of a Foundling Hospital in Edinburgh”<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">30</a>, and the -like. One short article, “An Account of the American Steam -Frigate”<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">31</a>, is still of genuine interest, attributing the conception -of the invention to a “most ingenious and enterprising -citizen”, Robert Fulton, Esq. It describes with naive emphasis - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span> -the successful trip “to the ocean, eastward of Sandy Hook, and -back again, a distance of fifty-three miles, in eight hours -and twenty minutes. A part of this time she had the tide against -her, and had no assistance whatever from the sails.”<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">32</a> It is -known that the signature Zeta was used in the early numbers, -by more than one person; but “Remarks on Greek Tragedy”<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">33</a>, a -criticism of Aeschylus’ <i>Prometheus</i>, signed Zeta, Mr. Lang -attributes without hesitation to Lockhart. “Tales and Anecdotes -of Pastoral Life”<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">34</a> and “Notices Concerning the Scottish Gypsies”<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">35</a> -were also among the “Original Communications”, as the first -division of the magazine was called. The former is perhaps the -one attempt in the whole number at that sprightly nimble manner -which was Blackwood’s aim. The second is a long article of -some sixteen pages, delving back into the early history of the -Egyptian pilgrims, quoting copiously from “Guy Mannering”, and -referring familiarly to Walter Scott, and Mr. Fairburn and James -Hogg. Both of these articles were continued in several subsequent -numbers.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">25</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 9</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">26</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 16</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">27</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 17</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">28</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 25</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">29</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 35</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">30</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 38</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">31</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 30</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">32</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 32</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">33</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 39</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">34</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 22</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">35</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 43</p></div> - -<p>In another department of the contents, entitled -“Select Extracts”, there are two articles: an “Account of Colonel -Beaufoy’s Journey to the Summit of Mount Blanc”<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> and the -“Account of the Remarkable Case of Margaret Lyall, Who continued -in a State of Sleep nearly Six Weeks”<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">37</a>, both very readable, which - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span> -is a good deal when all is said. The Antiquarian Reportory -contained six articles as antiquated as one could wish, all the -way from a “Grant of the Lands of Kyrkenes by Macbeth, son of -Finlach”<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">38</a> to a “Mock Poem upon the Expedition of the Highland -Host”<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">39</a>. The Original Poetry department contained three poems, -none of them startling. The third one, the shortest, is by -far the best, bearing the title “Verses”<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">40</a>. They were written -in honor of the entry of the Allies into Paris, 1814; and bear -the unmistakable brand and seal of James Hogg, with his ardent -song for “Auld Scotland!—land o’ hearts the wale!” ...</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Land hae I bragged o’ thine an’ thee,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Even when thy back was at the wa’;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">An’ thou my proudest sang sall be,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As lang as I hae breath to draw.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">36</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 59</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">37</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 61</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">38</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 65</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">39</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 69</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">40</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 72</p></div> - -<p>Next comes the “Review of New Publications”, devoting three -pages to Dr. Thomas Chalmers’ “Discourses on the Christian -Revelation”<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">41</a>, concluding with the words: “If a few great and -original minds, like that of Dr. Chalmers, should arise to -advocate the cause of Christianity, it would no longer be the -fashion to exalt the triumphs of reason and of science.”<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">42</a> -The other reviews were of “Harold, the Dauntless; a Poem. By -the Author of ‘The Bridal of Triermain’”<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">43</a>, of “Armota, a -Fragment”<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">44</a>, and “Stories for Children, selected from the History -of England”<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">45</a>. Of what came under the heading, Periodical - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span> -Works, we have already spoken. Then followed “Literary and -Scientific Intelligence”<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">46</a>, notices of works preparing for -publication in Edinburgh and London, and the monthly list of -new publications in the same two cities. There is a page of -French books, published since January 1817. After that the -Monthly Register of foreign intelligence, proceedings of Parliament, -the British Chronicle, commercial and agricultural reports -for the month, a meteorological table, and two pages of births, -marriages and deaths, complete the number for April 1817.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">41</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 73</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">42</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 75</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">43</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 76</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">44</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 78</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">45</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 79</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">46</a> -Ibid., V. i, P. 85</p></div> - -<p>Mr. Lang was right when he called it “blameless”; -and it is not surprising that Blackwood made some suggestions in -regard to the second number. We know that his suggestions were -not cordially received by Messrs. Pringle and Cleghorn, and it -appears equally probable that they were not acted upon. The -second issue, May 1817, is no more resilient and has gained no -more momentum than its predecessor. The contents are cast in -the same mould: an “Account of Mr. Ruthven’s Printing Press”<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">47</a>, -another on the “Method of Engraving on Stone”<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">48</a>, and “Anecdotes -of Antiquaries”<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">49</a>, and the like.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">47</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 125</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">48</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 128</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">49</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 136</p></div> - -<p>If Blackwood was disappointed over the first -number, he was irritated at the second; but when a third of no -more vital aspect appeared, his patience gave way, and Pringle -and Cleghorn had to go! It is easy to imagine that the man - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span> -who did not hesitate to criticise the “Black Dwarf” would not -be overawed by the two mild gentlemen in charge of his pet -scheme. William Blackwood’s ideal had indeed been to startle -the world with a periodical which in modern terms we would call -a “live wire”. And now with the magazine actually under way, it -is not likely that a man of his stamp would sit by unperturbed, -and watch one insignificant number after another greet an unresponsive -public. After the appearance of the third number, he -gave three months’ notice to Messrs. Pringle and Cleghorn, which -somewhat excited those gentlemen, but was none the less final. -They had done all they could to evade Blackwood’s “interest in -the literary part of his business”, and intended to keep the -publisher “in his place”. William Blackwood was not made that -way, however.</p> - -<p>He himself illuminates the situation in a letter to -his London agents, Baldwin, Craddock and Company, dated July -23, 1817<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">50</a>.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">50</a> -Mrs. Oliphant: <i>Annals of a Publishing House</i>, V. i, p. 104</p></div> - -<p>“I am sorry to inform you that I have been obliged -to resolve upon stopping the Magazine with No. 6. I have been -much disappointed in my editors, who have done little in the -way of writing or procuring contributions. Ever since the work -began I have had myself almost the whole burden of procuring -contributions, which by great exertions I got from my own friends, -while at the same time I had it not in my power to pay for them, - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span> -as by our agreement the editors were to furnish me with the -whole of the material, for which and their editorial labors they -were to receive half of the profits of the work. I found this -would never do, and that the work would soon sink, as I could -not permit my friends (who have in fact made the work what it -is) to go on in this way for any length of time.... I gave -a notice, according to our agreement, that the work would close -at the period specified in it—three months. Instead, however, -of Pringle acting in the friendly way he professed, he joined -Cleghorn, and without giving any explanation, they concluded -a bargain with Constable and Company, by which I understand they -take charge of their (Constable’s) ‘Scot’s Magazine’ as soon -as mine stops.”</p> - -<p>“It is not of the least consequence to me losing -them, as they were quite unfit for what they undertook.... -I have, however, made an arrangement with a gentleman of first-rate -talents by which I will begin a new work of very superior -kind. I mention this to you, however, in the strictest confidence, -as I am not at liberty yet to say anything more particularly -about it.... My editors have very dishonestly made it -known to a number of people that we stop at the sixth number. -This will interfere a little with our sale here, but I hope -not with you.”</p> - -<p>The editors wrangled at great length, but Blackwood’s -mind was made up, and as we see by the foregoing letter, - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span> -already launching new plans and busy with them. A letter to -Pringle and Cleghorn, gives us the first hint of John Wilson’s -connection with the magazine (other than mere contributor), and -shows the tone of finality with which Blackwood could treat what -was to him a settled subject:</p> - -<p>“As you have now an interest directly opposite to -mine, I hope you will not think it unreasonable that I should be -made acquainted with the materials which you intend for this -number. It occurs to me it would save all unpleasant discussion -if you were inclined to send the different articles to Mr. John -Wilson, who has all along taken so deep an interest in the magazine. -I do not wish to offer my opinion with regard to the -fitness or unfitness of any article, but I should expect that you -would be inclined to listen to anything which Mr. Wilson might -suggest. He had promised me the following articles: Account of -Marlowe’s Edward II, Argument in the Case of the Dumb Woman -lately before the Court, Vindication of Wordsworth, Reviews of -Lament of Tasso, Poetical Epistles and Spencer’s Tour. His -furnishing these or even other articles will, however, depend -upon the articles you have got and intend to insert.”</p> - -<p>“I beg to assure you that it is my most anxious -wish to have the whole business settled speedily and as amicably -as possible.”<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">51</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">51</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 106</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span></p> - -<p>Here exit the prologue; and the real show begins -with <i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i> for October 1817. To attract -attention was Blackwood’s first aim; interest once aroused, -he did not worry over maintaining it. Of that he felt assured. -Respectability, mediocrity were taboo! By respectability is -inferred that prudent, cautious, dead-alive respectability whose -backbone (such as it has) is fear of public censure! -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2 id="III">III<br /> - -<i>Dramatis Personae</i></h2> - -<p>One of Blackwood’s aims in life was to make -17 Princes Street a literary rendez-vous; and indeed the background -and atmosphere of “Maga”, and the men who gathered round -it, are perhaps as fascinating and absorbing as the magazine -itself!</p> - -<p>Blackwood’s shop is described by Lockhart as -“the only great lounging shop in the new Town of Edinburgh”<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">52</a>. -A glimpse of the soil and lights and shades which nourished -“Maga” cannot help but bring a warmer, more familiar comprehension -of its character and the words it spake. Just as Park -Street and the Shaw Memorial and the grave portraits of its -departed builders color our own <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, just so did -17 Princes Street tinge and permeate the magazine which grew up -in its precincts. “The length of vista presented to one on -entering the shop”, says Lockhart, “has a very imposing effect; -for it is carried back, room after room, through various gradations -of light and shadow, till the eye cannot trace distinctly -the outline of any object in the furthest distance. First, there -is as usual, a spacious place set apart for retail-business, and -a numerous detachment of young clerks and apprentices, to whose -management that important department of the concern is intrusted. - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span> -Then you have an elegant oval saloon, lighted from the roof, -where various groupes of loungers and literary dilettanti are -engaged in looking at, or criticising among themselves, the -publications just arrived by that day’s coach from town. In -such critical colloquies the voice of the bookseller himself -may ever and anon be heard mingling the broad and unadulterated -notes of its Auld Reekie music; for unless occupied in the -recesses of the premises with some other business, it is here -that he has his station.”<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">53</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">52</a> -J. G. Lockhart: <i>Peter’s Letters</i>, V. ii, p. 186</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">53</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 187</p></div> - -<p>From this it is evident Blackwood’s ideal shop was -realized, and that there did gather in his presence both those -who wielded the pen and those who wished to, those who were -critics and those who aspired to be. At these assemblies might -often be found two young men, who, says Mrs. Oliphant, “would -have been remarkable anywhere if only for their appearance and -talk, had nothing more remarkable ever been developed in them”.<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">54</a> -These two, of course, were John Wilson and John Gibson Lockhart. -She continues: “Both of them were only too keen to see the -ludicrous aspect of everything, and the age gave them an extraordinary -licence in exposing it.”<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">55</a> This is an important note, -the “extraordinary licence” of the age,—a straw eagerly -grasped at!—corroborated, too, by Lord Cockburn<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">56</a> who testifies: - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span> -“There was a natural demand for libel at this period.” It -explains much that we would fain explain in the subsequent -literary pranks of these same two youths. They were ready for -anything; and more,—enthusiastically ready for anything. John -Wilson was a giant, intellectually and physically, “a genial -giant but not a mild one”<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">57</a>. Lockhart had already made some -small reputation for himself as a caricaturist. Perhaps it was -insight into their capacities which strengthened Blackwood’s -disgust with the two mild gents in charge of his to-be-epoch-making -organ! At any rate, it was to these two, Wilson especially, -that he turned for the resuscitation of his dream.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">54</a> -Mrs. Oliphant: <i>Annals of a Publishing House</i>, V. i, p. 101</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">55</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 103</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">56</a> -Henry Thomas Cockburn, a Scottish judge</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">57</a> -Mrs. Oliphant: <i>Annals of a Publishing House</i>, V. i, p. 101</p></div> - -<p>John Wilson is the one name most commonly associated -with <i>Blackwood’s</i>, and with the exception of William Blackwood -himself, perhaps the most important figure in its reconstruction. -The name Christopher North was used in the earlier years by -various contributors, but was soon appropriated by Wilson and -is now almost exclusively associated with him. In the latter part -of 1817 he became Blackwood’s right hand man. He has often been -considered editor of “Maga”, but strictly speaking, no one but -Blackwood ever was. After the experience with Pringle and -Cleghorn, William Blackwood would naturally be wary of ever -again entrusting full authority to anyone. He himself was -always the guiding and ruling spirit, though never admittedly, -or technically, editor. - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span></p> - -<p>It was “Maga” that gave John Wilson his first real -literary opportunity. His gifts were critical rather than creative, -and his most famous work is the collected “Noctes Ambrosianae” -which began to run in the March number (1822) of <i>Blackwood’s -Edinburgh Magazine</i>. He was one of the very first to -praise Wordsworth; and though in general, far too superlative -both in praise and blame to be considered dependable, a very great -deal of his criticism holds good to the present hour. Along in -the first days of Wordsworth’s career, Wilson proclaimed him, with -Scott and Byron, “one of the three great master spirits of our -day in the poetical world”. Lockhart, long his close friend and -associate, writes thus: “He is a very warm, enthusiastic man, -with most charming conversational talents, full of fiery imaginations, -irresistible in eloquence, exquisite in humor when he -talks ...; he is a most fascinating fellow, and a most kind-hearted, -generous friend; but his fault is a sad one, a total -inconsistency in his opinions concerning both men and things.... -I ... believe him incapable of doing anything dishonorable either -in literature or in any other way.”<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">58</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">58</a> -A. Lang: <i>Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart</i>, V. i, p. 93</p></div> - -<p>It was the pen of John Gibson Lockhart, however, -almost as wholly as Wilson’s which insured the success of the -magazine; and Blackwood was as eager to enlist Lockhart into his -services as Wilson. Like Wilson, too, “Maga” was Lockhart’s -opportunity! He had given early promise as a future critic. - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span> -Elton says he wrote “sprightly verse and foaming prose”. -From 1817 to 1830 he was not only one of the invaluable supporters -of “Maga”, but one of its rare <i>lights</i>! In announcing -the marriage of his daughter to Lockhart, Sir Walter Scott -said: “To a young man of uncommon talents, indeed of as promising -a character as I know”.<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">59</a> His gift for caricature colored his -writings. His was a mind and eye and genius for the comic. -His satire was that keen and bitter piercing satire which all -are ready to recognize as talent, but few are ready to forgive -if once subjected to it. But there was little malice behind it -ever. Much of what he wrote has been condemned for its bitter, -and often personal, import. But Lockhart was only twenty-three -at the time of his first connection with the magazine—and -what is more, “constitutionally a mocker”. All is well with -his serious work, but according to Mr. Lang, the “Imp of the -Perverse” was his ruling genius! Others say, “as a practitioner -in the gentle art of making enemies, Lockhart excelled”,<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">60</a> and -that he possessed the “native gift of insolence”<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">61</a>. They are -strong words, not wholly without cause, and illustrate the -attitude of many minds towards his work; yet perhaps they only -go to prove that he began to write responsible articles too -young, and was allowed entirely too free a swing.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">59</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 230</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">60</a> -J. H. Millar: <i>A Literary History of Scotland</i>, p. 517</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">61</a> -Same</p></div> - -<p>The story of James Hogg is by far the most fascinating -of those connected with <i>Blackwood’s</i>; and in a later series -of articles in that magazine on these first three stars, the - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span> -writer says: “Hogg was undoubtedly the most remarkable. For -his was an untaught and self-educated genius, which shone with -rare though fitful lustre in spite of all disadvantages, and -surmounted obstacles that were seemingly insuperable.”<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">62</a> It is -difficult to ascertain his exact relations with the magazine. -One thing at least is certain,—he contributed much. Wilson -and Lockhart found great joy in “drawing” him, and Hogg was -kept wavering between vexation and pride “at occupying so much -space in the most popular periodical of the day”.<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">63</a> As Saintsbury -puts it, he was at once the “inspiration, model, and butt -of <i>Blackwood’s Magazine</i>”<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">64</a>. But indeed the shepherd drawn so -cleverly in the Noctes “was not”, his daughter testifies, -“the Shepherd of Ettrick, or the man James Hogg”. And in all -justice to him, there can be no doubt that he is totally misrepresented -therein.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">62</a> -<i>Memorials of James Hogg</i>, p. 11</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">63</a> -J. H. Millar: <i>A Literary History of Scotland</i>, p. 530</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">64</a> -Saintsbury: <i>Essays in English Literature, 1780-1860</i>, p. 37</p></div> - -<p>His poetry is his only claim upon the world. It -was the one thing dearest to his own heart, and the one thing for -which he claimed or craved distinction or recognition of any -kind. The heart warms to this youth with his dreams and aspirations, -brain teeming with poems years before he learned to write. -As might be expected from a man whose own grandfather had conversed -with fairies, in Hogg’s poetry the supernatural is close -to the natural world. He is reported once to have said to his -friend Sir Walter Scott: “Dear Sir Walter! Ye can never suppose - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span> -that I belang to your School o’ Chivalry! Ye are the king o’ -that school, but I’m the king o’ the Mountain and Fairy School, -which is a far higher ane nor yours.”<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">65</a> This “sublime egotism” -is not displeasing in one whose heart and soul was wrapt up -in an earnest belief in and reverence for his art. It is the -egotism of a deep nature which scorns to hide its talents in -the earth. James Hogg spoke to the heart of Scotland, and -was proud and content in so doing.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">65</a> -<i>Memorials of James Hogg</i>, p. x</p></div> - -<p>To all appearances Blackwood was now the centre of -a group after his own heart! With these three as a nucleus, -others of considerable talent joined the circle. Talent, wit, -keen and zealous minds were theirs, with enough fervor and -intrepidity of spirit to guarantee that “Maga” would never again -pass unnoticed. Henceforth there was sensation enough to satisfy -even the heart of a William Blackwood! Whatever accusations -were afterwards levelled at “Maga” (and they were many) no one -could again accuse it of being either dull or uninteresting—the -one unpardonable sin of book or magazine! The last thing -that “Maga” wished to be was neutral! Better to offend than be -only “inoffensive”; better to raise a rumpus than grow respectable! -And from October 1817 on, “respectable” is the last -word anyone thought of applying to <i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i>! -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2 id="IV">IV<br /> - -<i>First Years of “Maga”</i></h2> - -<p>With its new grip on life in October 1817, the -editorial notice of Blackwood’s omitted any profession of a new -prospectus. It reads: “In place of a formal Prospectus, we now -lay before our Readers the titles of some of the articles which -we have either already received, or which are in preparation by -our numerous correspondents.” Follows some two pages or more of -titles alluring and otherwise, whereupon the notice continues: -“The Public will observe, from the above list of articles, that -we intend our Magazine to be a Depository of Miscellaneous Information -and Discussion. We shall admit every Communication of -Merit, whatever may be the opinion of the writer, on Literature, -Poetry, Philosophy, Statistics, Politics, Manners, and Human -Life.... We invite all intelligent persons ... to lay their -ideas before the world in our Publication; and we only reserve to -ourselves the right of commenting upon what we do not approve.”<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">66</a> -That right was always reserved, and there was never any hesitancy -on the part of any of them in acting thereon, as the magazine -itself testifies.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">66</a> -<i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i>, V. ii, p. 2</p></div> - -<p>A short paragraph of “Notices to Correspondents”<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">67</a> -following the editorial notice, is of more than casual interest. - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span> -Its flavor is shown by the following:—</p> - -<p>“The communication of Lupus is not admissible. -D. B.’s Archaeological Notices are rather heavy. We are obliged -to our worthy Correspondent M. for his History of ‘Bowed -David’, but all the anecdotes of that personage are incredibly -stupid, so let his bones rest in peace.... We have received an -interesting Note enclosing a beautiful little Poem, from Mr. Hector -Macneil ... and need not say how highly we value his communication.... -Duck-lane, a Town Eclogue, by Leigh Hunt—and the -Innocent Incest by the same gentleman, are under consideration; -their gross indecency must however be washed out. If we have -been imposed upon by some wit, these compositions will not be -inserted. Mr. James Thomson, private secretary for the charities -of the Dukes of York and Kent, is, we are afraid, a very bad Poet, -nor can the Critical Opinions of the Princes of the Blood Royal -be allowed to influence ours.... Reason has been given for our -declining to notice various other communications.” Many of the -contributors, probably most of them, received personal letters; -in fact, this paragraph does not appear in every number.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">67</a> -Same</p></div> - -<p>This number, <i>The</i> number of <i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh -Magazine</i>, the startling and blood-curdling number of October -1817, contained among other sensations, the Chaldee Manuscript, -supposedly from the “Bibliotheque Royale” (Salle 2, No. 53, B. -A. M. M.)—in reality a clever and scathing piece of satire - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span> -couched in Biblical language, which spared no one of note in -the whole town of Edinburgh, and written by heaven knows whom! -Its interest was strictly local, dealing with Edinburgh and -Edinburgh personalities, written with the Edinburgh public in -view; but its fame spread like wild fire! Like Byron, <i>Blackwood’s -Magazine</i> woke up one morning to find itself grown famous over -night! As Mrs. Oliphant puts it: “Edinburgh woke up with a -roar of laughter, with a shout of delight, with convulsions of -rage and offense”. Its fame involved, however, not only the -clamor of Edinburgh, but instant recognition throughout the -kingdom. Result? Libel actions, challenges to duels, lawsuits, -and—the suppression of the Chaldee Manuscript. Its fame has -come down to the present day, but one peep at it involves carfare -to the British Museum!</p> - -<p>This amazing piece of literature seems innocent -enough at first glance; and in truth it was what people read <i>into</i> -it rather than what they read <i>in</i> it that made all the trouble. -Quoting from it:</p> - -<p>“I looked, and behold a man clothed in plain apparel -stood in the door of his house: and I saw his name ... and his -name was as it had been the color of ebony, and his number was -as the number of a maiden—(17 Princes Street, of course)....</p> - -<p>“And I turned my eyes, and behold two beasts came -from the lands of the borders of the South; and when I saw them -I wondered with great admiration.... And they came - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span> -unto the man ... and they said unto him, Give us of thy -wealth, that we may eat and live ... and they proffered him -a Book; and they said unto him, Take Thou this and give us a -sum of money, ... and we will put words into the Book that will -astonish the children of thy people.... And the man hearkened unto -their voice, and he took the Book and gave them a piece of -money, and they went away rejoicing in their hearts.... But -after many days they put no words in the Book; and the man -was astonished and waxed wroth, and he said unto them, What is -this that ye have done unto me, and how shall I answer those to -whom I am engaged? And they said, what is that to us? See -thou to that.”<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">68</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">68</a> -Mrs. Oliphant: <i>Annals of a Publishing House</i>, V. i, p. 119-20</p></div> - -<p>All this seems innocent tomfoolery enough—pure -parody on our friend Ebony, and the two beasts Pringle and Cleghorn -who “put no words in the Book”. But that was not all, -Constable and the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> figured prominently; and -Sir Walter Scott who, we are told, “almost choked with laughter”, -and Wilson and Lockhart and Hogg.</p> - -<p>“There lived also a man that was <i>crafty</i> in council ... -and he had a notable horn in his forehead with which he -ruled the nations. And I saw the horn that it had eyes, and -a mouth speaking great things, and it magnified itself ... and - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span> -it cast down the truth to the ground and it practised and -prospered.”<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">69</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">69</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 121</p></div> - -<p>Constable never outlived this name of the Crafty -and the reputation of the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> for “magnifying itself” -lives to the present day. “The beautiful leopard from the -valley of the palm-trees” (meaning Wilson) “called from a far -country the Scorpion which delighted to sting the faces of men”, -(Lockhart, of course) “that he might sting sorely the countenance -of the man that is crafty, and of the two beasts.</p> - -<p>“And he brought down the great wild boar from the -forest of Lebanon and he roused up his spirits and I saw him -whittling his dreadful tusks for the battle.”<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">70</a> This last is -James Hogg. There were others. Walter Scott was the “great -Magician which has his dwelling in the old fastness hard by the -river Jordan, which is by the Border”<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">71</a> to whom Constable, the -Crafty, appealed for advice. Francis Jeffrey was “a familiar -spirit unto whom he (the Crafty) had sold himself”.<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">72</a> The attack -on the Rev. Prof. Playfair, later so sincerely deplored in <i>Peter’s -Letters</i>, reads in part thus: “He also is of the seed of the -prophets, and ministered in the temple while he was yet young; -but he went out and became one of the scoffers”<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">73</a>—in other -words, one of the Edinburgh Reviewers! The spirit of prophecy - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span> -seems indeed to have been upon the writer of the Chaldee, for -it ends—appropriately, thus: “I fled into an inner chamber -to hide myself, and I heard a great tumult, but I wist not -what it was.”<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">74</a> The great tumult was heard, to be sure, and the -authors fled to be safe.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">70</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 123</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">71</a> -Ibid., V. i, p. 122</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">72</a> -A. Lang: <i>Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart</i>, V. i, p. 161</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">73</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">74</a> -Same</p></div> - -<p>Just who wrote the Chaldee will never be known; -but all indications are that the idea and first draft were James -Hogg’s, and that it was touched up and completed by Wilson and -Lockhart, with the aid, or rather with the suggestions and approval -of William Blackwood.</p> - -<p>The number for August 1821 contains the first of -a series of “Familiar Epistles to Christopher North, From an -Old Friend with a New Face.”<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">75</a> Letter I deals with Hogg’s -Memoirs. This is anticipating a bit, anticipating some four -years, in fact, but is nevertheless apropos of our discussion -of the Chaldee. Just who the Old Friend with a New Face was -would be hard to judge. Mr. Lang has surmised him to be either -Lockhart or De Quincey. It is a lively bit of work, worthy the -wit of either, but the sentences do not feel like Lockhart’s. -That both these men were friends of Hogg, encourages one to -hope that the biting sarcasm of the thing was its own excuse -for being, and came not from the heart. Such was ever the tone -of “Maga”, however; and none can deny that once begun the article -<i>must</i> be read! Excerpts follow: “Of all speculations in the way - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span> -of printed paper, I should have thought the most hopeless to -have been ‘a Life of James Hogg, by himself’. Pray who wishes -to know anything about his life? ...</p> - -<p>“It is no doubt undeniable that the political state -of Europe is not so interesting as it was some years ago. But -still I maintain that there was no demand for the Life of James -Hogg.... At all events, it ought not to have appeared before -the Life of Buonaparte.”<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">76</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">75</a> -<i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i>, V. x, p. 43</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">76</a> -Same</p></div> - -<p>But to come again to our Chaldee Manuscript, the -correspondent says concerning Hogg’s claim to its authorship: -“There is a bouncer!—The Chaldee Manuscript!—Why, no more -did he write the Chaldee Manuscript than the five books of -Moses.... I presume that Mr. Hogg is also the author of -Waverley.—He may say so if he chooses.... It must be a delightful -thing to have such fancies as these in one’s noodle;—but -on the subject of the Chaldee Manuscript, let me now speak the -truth. You yourself, Kit ... and myself, Blackwood and a -reverend gentleman of this city alone know the perpetrator. -It was the same person who murdered Begbie!”—Begbie, by the -way, was a bank porter, whose murder was one of the never solved -mysteries of Edinburgh. “It was a disease with him to excite -'public emotion’. With respect to his murdering Begbie ... all -at once it entered his brain, that, by putting him to death in - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span> -a sharp and clever and mysterious manner ... the city of -Edinburgh would be thrown into a ferment of consternation, and -there would be no end of ‘public emotion’.... The scheme succeeded -to a miracle.... Mr. —— wrote the Chaldee Manuscript -precisely on the same principle.... It was the last work of -the kind of which I have been speaking, that he lived to -finish. He confessed it and the murder the day before he died, -to the gentleman specified, and was sufficiently penitent....</p> - -<p>“After this plain statement, Hogg must look extremely -foolish. We shall next have him claiming the murder, likewise, -I suppose; but he is totally incapable of either.”<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">77</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">77</a> -Ibid., V. x, p. 49-50</p></div> - -<p>It is altogether probable that Hogg’s frank avowal -dismayed the men who had studied to keep its authorship secret -for so many years, fearing lest the confession implicate his -colleagues. At any rate, such vehement protestations as the -above are to be eyed askance in the light of saner evidences. -“Maga” was prone to go off on excursions of this kind; and -William Blackwood had at last realized his dreamed-of Sensation! -No doubt he knew the risk he took in publishing the Chaldee; -but in the tumult which followed, he stood equal to every occasion. -Hogg was not then in Edinburgh, and Wilson and Lockhart -too thought it wise to leave town. The letters of the two latter -to Blackwood during the days of the libel suits remind one of - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span> -the tragic notes of boys of twelve a la penny dreadful! -But Blackwood was firm and undisturbed through it all, disclaiming -all responsibility himself, never disclosing a single name. -The secret was safe and the success of “Maga” sure. In the -November number, however, he saw fit to insert such statements -as the following: “The Publisher is aware that every effort -has been used to represent the admission into his Magazine of -an article entitled “A Translation of a Chaldee Manuscript” -as an offence worthy of being visited with a punishment that -would involve in it his ruin as a Bookseller and Publisher. He -is confident, however, that his conduct will not be thought by -the Public to merit such a punishment, and to them he accordingly -appeals.”<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">78</a>—And again, on a page by itself in the same -November number appears the following statement: “The Editor -has learned with regret that an Article in the First Edition of -last Number, which was intended merely as a <i>jeu d’esprit</i>, has -been construed so as to give offence to Individuals justly -entitled to respect and regard; he has on that account withdrawn -it in the Second Edition, and can only add, that if what has -happened could have been anticipated, the Article in question -certainly never would have appeared.”<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">79</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">78</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 1 of the introductory pages</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">79</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 129</p></div> - -<p>Aside from the Chaldee, there were two other distinct -and decided Sensations in this memorable number, both too well - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span> -known to demand detailed attention. They were Wilson’s attack -on Coleridge, “Observations on Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria”,<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">80</a> -the leading article and a long one; and Lockhart’s paper “On -the Cockney School of Poetry”<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">81</a>. The former is an inexcusable, -ranting thing which concludes that Mr. Coleridge’s Literary -Life strengthens every argument against the composition of -such Memoirs”<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">82</a>, ... that it exhibits “many mournful sacrifices -of personal dignity, after which it seems impossible that Mr. -Coleridge can be greatly respected either by the Public or himself.”<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">83</a> -Such words were strong enough in their own day, but -seem doubly presumptuous in the light of our present hero-worship,—especially -as the article continues with verdicts like the following: -“Considered merely in a literary point of view, the work -is most execrable.... His admiration of Nature or of man,—we -had almost said his religious feelings toward his God,—are all -narrowed, weakened, and corrupted and poisoned by inveterate and -diseased egotism.”...<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">84</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">80</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 3</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">81</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 38</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="label">82</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 5</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">83</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">84</a> -Same</p></div> - -<p>This was a sin for which “Maga” later atoned by -repeated tributes to his genius, to his poetry and its beauty -in many subsequent numbers of the periodical. Lockhart two -years afterwards spoke of it as “a total departure from the principles -of the Magazine”<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">85</a>—“a specimen of the very worst kind of - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span> -spirit which the Magazine professed to be fighting in the -<i>Edinburgh Review</i>.”<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">86</a> “This is indeed the only one of the -various sins of this Magazine for which I am at a loss to discover—not -an apology—but a motive. If there be any man of -grand and original genius alive at this moment in Europe, such -a man is Mr. Coleridge.”<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">87</a> And two months after this paper, -in the issue for December 1817 appeared a “Letter to the Reviewer -of Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria”, beginning with the -words: “To be blind to our failings and alive to our prejudices, -is the fault of almost every one of us.... It is the same -with me, the same with Mr. Coleridge, and it is, I regret to -state it, the same with his reviewer!”<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">88</a>... And this writer, -who signs, himself J. S., sums up his valiant defense, declaring -“it is from a love I have for generous and fair criticism, and -a hate to everything which appears personal and levelled against -the man and not his subject—and your writing is glaringly so—that -I venture to draw daggers with a reviewer. You have indeed -imitated, with not a little of its power and ability, the worst -manner of the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> critics. Forgetting ... that -freedom of remark does not exclude the kind and courteous style, -you have entirely sunk the courteousness in the virulency of -it.”<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">89</a> Thus “Maga” redeemed itself and Coleridge was avenged.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">85</a> -J. G. Lockhart: <i>Peter’s Letters</i>, V. ii, p. 218</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">86</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">87</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">88</a> -<i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i>, V. ii, p. 285-6</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">89</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 287</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span></p> - -<p>As for the third of the three articles which -best illustrate the whoopla-spirit of this new venture, Lockhart’s -paper “On the Cockney School of Poetry”, all is said -when we say it was the first of a series of corrosive and -scurrilous articles directed against Leigh Hunt in particular, -and Hazlitt and Webbe, and in general, the “younger and less -important members” of that school, “The Shelley’s and the -Keatses”! Modern critics! Beware how you cast stones at -our Percy Smith’s and Reggie Brown’s! Says our young friend -Lockhart in this article that Leigh Hunt is “a man of little -education. He knows absolutely nothing of Greek, almost nothing -of Latin”<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">90</a> ... and so forth and so on. He cannot “utter a -dedication, or even a note, without betraying the <i>Shibboleth</i> -of low birth and low habits. He is the ideal of a Cockney -poet.... He has never seen any mountain higher than Highgate-hill, -nor reclined by any streams more pastoral than the Serpentine -River. But he is determined to be a poet eminently rural, -and he rings the changes—till one is sick of him, on the -beauties of the different ‘high views’ which he has taken of -God and nature, in the course of some Sunday dinner parties -at which he has assisted in the neighborhood of London.... As -a vulgar man is perpetually laboring to be genteel—in like -manner the poetry of this man is always on the stretch to be -grand.”<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">91</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">90</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 38</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="label">91</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 39</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span></p> - -<p>This is just a taste of what is in reality very -clever stuff. The subject of approbation or disapprobation -had best be omitted. At any rate “Maga” “started something”, -for the term “Cockney School” was taken up by the major and -minor Reviews and nearly every daily paper of England and -Scotland. What Wilson said later (1832) in a review of Tennyson’s -poems, characterizes the <i>Blackwood</i> attitude toward the -Cockneys from the first: “Were the Cockneys to be to church, -we should be strongly tempted to break the Sabbath.”<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">92</a> Whatever -our evaluation of this sort of criticism, the admission perhaps -saves the reputation of Lockhart and other <i>Blackwood</i> critics! -Their opposition was more a matter of principle than of -judgment.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="label">92</a> -J. H. Millar: <i>A Literary History of Scotland</i>, p. 506</p></div> - -<p>The rest of the contents of the October 1817 number -are interesting and lively, though it must be admitted scarcely -so startling as this famous triad. A discussion of the -“Curious Meteorological Phenomena Observed in Argyleshire”<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">93</a> -reads interestingly and rapidly, and is of sufficient weight -to save the magazine from flying away altogether! “Analytical -Essays on the Early English Dramatists, No. II., Marlowe’s -Edward II”<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">94</a> is the work of John Wilson, and bears the stamp of -his outpouring of appreciation and enthusiasm. Another article, -“On the Optical Properties of Mother-of-Pearl, etc.”<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">95</a> seems to - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span> -be a purely scientific offering, and so far as the writer -can judge, presumably accurate and just as it should be. Page -47 bears side by side, a tender little “Elegy” of James Hogg’s -and a poem in honor of the Ettrick Shepherd and his songs -by John Wilson. “Strictures on the Edinburgh Review”<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">96</a> and -“Remarks on the Quarterly Review”<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">97</a> are two articles one would -scarcely go to sleep over.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="label">93</a> -<i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i>, V. ii, p. 18</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="label">94</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 21</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="label">95</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 33</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="label">96</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 41</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="label">97</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 57</p></div> - -<p>There are other papers in this same issue which -time will not allow even brief mention. It is easy to picture -the great publisher when the new copies first arrived, crisp -and new with the smell of printers’ ink upon them. There was -no despair, no disappointment this time, but the eager palpitation -and anxiety of the parent, solicitous but equally certain -of the success of his child! A letter penned in haste to -John Wilson before ever “Maga” was seen by public eye betrays -better than any polite effusion could have done, the genuine -emotion of the man.</p> - -<p style="width: 100%" class="table"> -<span class="trow">“John Wilson, Esq.</span> -<span class="trow"> -<span class="tcell">Queen Street</span> -<span class="tcell tdr">October 20, 1817</span> -</span> -</p> - -<p>My dear Sir,—As in duty bound I send you the first complete -copy I have got of the Magazine. I also beg you will do me -the favor to accept of the enclosed. It is unnecessary for me -to say how much and how deeply I am indebted to you, and I shall - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span> -only add that by the success of the Magazine (for which I shall -be wholly indebted to you) I hope to be able to offer you something -more worthy of your acceptance.—I am, dear Sir,</p> - -<p class="table"> -<span class="trow">Yours very truly,</span> -<span style="text-indent: 4em" class="trow">W. Blackwood”<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">98</a></span> -</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="label">98</a> -Mrs. Oliphant: <i>Annals of a Publishing House</i>, V. i, p. 127</p></div> - -<p>Mrs. Oliphant draws a pretty picture, which -reveals better perhaps than some more erudite account, the -mental state of William Blackwood the night before “Maga” -was offered to the world. “He went into his house, where all -the children ... rushed out with clamor and glee to meet their -father, who, for once in his excitement, took no notice of -them, but walked straight to the drawing room, where his wife, -not excitable, sat in her household place, busy no doubt for -her fine family; and coming into the warm glow of the light, -threw down the precious Magazine at her feet. ‘There is that -that will give you what is your due—what I always wished -you to have’, he said, with the half-sobbing laugh of the great -crisis. She gave him a characteristic word, half-satirical, -as was her way, not outwardly moved.... Sometimes he called her -a wet blanket when she thus damped his ardor,—but not, I -think, that night.”<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">99</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="label">99</a> -Same</p></div> - -<p>It might easily be guessed that after the sudden -bursting into glory of the October number, the same high level - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span> -would be difficult to sustain. But although subsequent numbers -boast no Chaldee to convulse or enrage the town, the popularity -of “Maga” seems never again to lag. The November number begins -properly enough. The afore-mentioned apology and explanation -of the Chaldee introduced it to the watchful waiters, impatient -to ascertain what a second issue would bring forth. The first -long article, nine and a half pages, “On the Pulpit Eloquence -of Scotland”<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">100</a>, very thoughtful, very serious, very earnest, in -tone, thanks God that Scotland has been blessed with the -heavenly visitation of her well loved preacher, Dr. Chalmers, -and extols and praises and appreciates the man, “like an angel -in a dream”. The second article continues the learned discussion -“On the Optical Properties of Mother-of-Pearl”<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">101</a>. The -third is John Wilson’s famous review of Byron’s “Lament of -Tasso”<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">102</a>, wherein says he “There is one Poem in which he -(Byron) has almost wholly laid aside all remembrance of the -darker and stormier passions; in which the tone of his spirit -and his voice at once is changed, and where he who seemed to -care only for agonies, and remorse, and despair, and death, and -insanity, in all their most appalling forms, shews that he has -a heart that can feed on the purest sympathies of our nature, -and deliver itself up to the sorrows, the sadness and the -melancholy of humbler souls.”<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">103</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="label">100</a> -<i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i>, V. ii, p. 131</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="label">101</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 140</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="label">102</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 142</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="label">103</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 143</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span></p> - -<p>The lighter tone again asserts itself in “Letters -of An Old Bachelor, No. 1.”<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">104</a>, who waxes indignant over French -opinion concerning English ladies! He quotes a certain French -writer who represents “the dress of the English ladies” as mere -imitation of the French, only “all ridicule and exaggeration. -'Does a French lady, for instance, put a flower in her hair—the -heads of the English ladies are immediately covered with the -whole shop of a bouquetière. Does a French lady put on a -feather ... in this country—nothing but feathers is to be -seen!’ This, of course”, says the old bachelor in all earnestness, -“is all a vile slander”<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">105</a>,—although he must admit having -seen heads covered with flowers, and “ladies wearing <i>quite as -many</i> feathers as were becoming.”<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">106</a> He resents too that a -French priest should accuse English ladies of having bad teeth. -“Is he ignorant”, he would know, “that young ladies by applying -to Mr. Scott, the dentist, may be supplied with a single tooth -for the small sum of two guineas, while dowagers may be accommodated -with a complete set of the <i>most beautiful</i> teeth, made -from the tusks of the hippopotamus ... for a very trifling consideration? -In fact, it is quite astonishing, to see the fine -teeth of all our female acquaintances;... And yet this abominable -priest has the impudence to talk of bad teeth!”<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">107</a> Besides, -“what ladies of any nation”, says he, “play so charmingly the -pianoforte?”<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">108</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="label">104</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 192</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="label">105</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 193</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="label">106</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="label">107</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="label">108</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 194</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span></p> - -<p>This little skit is followed by the second installment -“On the Cockney School of Poetry”<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">109</a>,—this time that well -known and scandalous handling of Hunt’s “Story of Rimini”,—Lockhart’s -again, of course. This was the article whose turbulent -discussion of the moral depravity of Leigh Hunt threw -Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, then Blackwood’s London agents, into -such a state of pious horror. They evidently feared getting -mixed up in anything livelier than antiquarian projects, and -threatened to withdraw their name. The articles on the Cockney -School went merrily on, however; and so did Baldwin and Cradock -even until July 1818. No doubt they found it a paying proposition!</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="label">109</a> -Same</p></div> - -<p>Sir Walter Scott tried to wean both Wilson and -Lockhart away from “that mother of mischief”<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">110</a> as he termed the -magazine. According to Mr. Lang, he “disapproved (though he -chuckled over it) the reckless extravagance of juvenile satire”. -But it is easy to comprehend how “a chuckle” from Sir Walter -would be the last incentive to curb their literary abandon. -Blackwood worked long for the support of Scott, knowing well -what it would mean to “Maga”. A semblance of support, at -least, he secured through his patronage of Scott’s favorite, -William Laidlaw, whose agricultural chronicles ran for a time -as one of the regular features. Scott even contributed an -occasional article himself from time to time, which, though - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span> -anonymous, could not escape recognition. Probably he never -attained a very cordial affection for the publisher, and it -is well known that he disapproved of much that “Maga” said and -did, yet outwardly he professed neutrality between <i>Constable’s</i> -and <i>Blackwood’s</i>; and in a letter to William Laidlaw, February -1818, while “Maga” was still in its youth, his verdict is not -vindictive. “Blackwood is rather in a bad pickle just now—sent -to Coventry by the trade, as the booksellers call themselves -and all about the parody of the two beasts. Surely these gentlemen -think themselves rather formed of porcelain clay than of -common potters’ ware. Dealing in satire against all others, -their own dignity suffers so cruelly from an ill-imagined joke! -If B. had good books to sell, he might set them all at defiance. -His Magazine does well and beats Constable’s; but we will talk -of this when we meet.”<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">111</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="label">110</a> -A. Lang: <i>Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart</i>, V. i, p. 193</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="label">111</a> -J. G. Lockhart: <i>Life of Sir Walter Scott</i>, V. v, p. 268</p></div> - -<p>Continuing the panorama, the issue for February -1818 contains three pages of notes “To Correspondents”, of -which several deserve mention: “We have no objection to insert -Z.’s Remarks on Mr. Hazlitt’s Lectures, after our present Correspondent’s -Notices are completed. If Mr. Hazlitt uttered -personalities against the Poets of the Lake School, he reviled -those who taught him all he knows about poetry.” This same -issue was then starting a series of articles entitled “Notices -of a Course of Lectures on English Poetry, by W. Hazlitt”.<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">112</a> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span> -With no personal comment, they give the gist of Hazlitt’s -lectures at the Surrey Institution in London. The first -article covers the lectures on “Poetry in General”<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">113</a>, “On -Chaucer and Spenser”<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">114</a>, and “On Shakespeare and Milton”<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">115</a>. These -papers ran for several months, and the promised Remarks of -Z. do not appear in any recognizable form unless the paper -“Hazlitt Cross-Questioned”<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">116</a> in the August issue (1818) is the -awaited article. It is presented in the form of eight questions, -the first: “Did you, or did you not, in the course of your -late Lectures on Poetry, infamously vituperate and sneer at -the character of Mr. Wordsworth—I mean his personal character; -his genius even you dare not deny?”<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">117</a> Again—“Do you know the -difference between Milton’s Latin and Milton’s Greek?”<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">118</a> and—“Did -you not insinuate in an essay on Shakespeare ... that -Desdemona was a lewd woman, and after that dare to publish a -book on Shakespeare?”<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">119</a> The eighth question closes the article: -“Do you know the Latin for a goose?”<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">120</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="label">112</a> -<i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i>, V. ii, p. 556</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="label">113</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="label">114</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 558</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="label">115</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 560</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="label">116</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 550</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="label">117</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="label">118</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 551</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="label">119</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="label">120</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 552</p></div> - -<p>But to return to our notes “To Correspondents” -in February 1818, there remains one or two others of especial -interest as illustrating the attitude these notes assumed. -For instance: “Can C. C. believe it possible to pass off on -us for an original composition, an extract from so popular a - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span> -work as Mrs. Grant’s Essay on the Superstitions of the Highlands? -May his plagiarisms, however, always be from works -equally excellent.” Another: “The foolish parody which -has been sent us is inadmissible for two reasons; first, because -it is malevolent; and secondly, because it is dull.” We are -inclined to think the latter was the decisive reason.</p> - -<p>This same issue includes the first contribution of -a man who was henceforth to wield an important pen in the make-up -of the magazine—one William Maginn. He was a brilliant -writer, and a reckless, and contributed copiously. Some one -has characterized him as “a perfectly ideal magazinist”. The -article, “Some Account of the Life and Writings of Ensign and -Adjutant Odoherty, Late of the 99th Regiment”<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">121</a>, well reveals -the serio-comic tone of his work which was so popular. Ensign -Odoherty was destined to fill many a future page. In fact, -Maginn was “a find”!</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="label">121</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 562</p></div> - -<p>Quoting from this article: “One evening ... I had -the misfortune, from some circumstances here unnecessary to -mention, to be conveyed for a night’s lodging to the watch-house -in Dublin. I had there the good fortune to meet Mr. -Odoherty, who was likewise a prisoner. He was seated on a wooden -stool, before a table garnished with a great number of empty -pots of porter.... With all that urbanity of manner by which he -was distinguished, he asked me ‘to take a sneaker of his -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span> -swipes’.”<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">122</a> This is the Ensign Odoherty of whom it is said -“Never was there a man more imbued with the very soul and -spirit of poetry.... Cut off in the bloom of his years, -ere the fair and lovely blossoms of his youth had time to -ripen into the golden fruit by which the autumn of his days -would have been beautified and adorned,”<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">123</a>—etc.—“His -wine ... was never lost on him, and, towards the conclusion -of the third bottle he was always excessively amusing.”<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">124</a> -The writer offers one or two specimens of Odoherty’s poetry, -among them verses to a lady to whom he never declared himself. -“This moving expression of passion”, we are told, “appears -to have produced no effect on the obdurate fair one, who was -then fifty-four years of age, with nine children, and a large -jointure, which would certainly have made a very convenient -addition to the income of Mr. Odoherty.”<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">125</a> On being appointed -to an ensigncy in the West Indies, he sailed for Jamaica with -a certain Captain Godolphin, and has left a charming poetical -record of the trip, of which the following will sufficiently -impress the reader: - -<span class="table"> -<span class="trow">“The captain’s wife, she sailed with him, this circumstance I heard of her,<br /></span> -<span class="trow">Her brimstone breath, ‘twas almost death to come within a yard of her;<br /></span> -<span class="trow">With fiery nose, as red as rose, to tell no lies I’ll stoop,<br /></span> -<span class="trow">She looked just like an admiral with a lantern at his poop.”<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">126</a><br /></span> -</span> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span> - -The whole poem is not quoted, but the latter part of it gives -an account “of how Mrs. Godolphin was killed by a cannon -ball lodging in her stomach”<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">127</a>, as well as other pathetic and -moving events. In describing the rest of the stanzas, however, -Maginn assures us, “It is sufficient to say they are fully -equal to the preceding, and are distinguished by the same quaintness -of imagination.”<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">128</a>!</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="label">122</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 563</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="label">123</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 562</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="label">124</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 564</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="label">125</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 566</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="label">126</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="label">127</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="label">128</a> -Same</p></div> - -<p>This article is followed by “Notices of the Acted -Drama in London”<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">129</a>, the second of a series of sixteen articles -which ran regularly, January 1818 to June 1820.<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">130</a> These are -decidedly interesting,—even thrilling, if such a term may be -employed,—in that they approach with contemporary assurance -names which dramatic legend bids the present day revere:—Mr. -Kean, Mrs. Siddons, Miss O’Neil, Mr. C. Kemble, and others. -The first of these articles (January 1818) states: “our fixed -opinions are few;” ... but continues further that one of these -fixed opinions is that “it would be better for all the world -if he (Shakespeare) could be thought of as a poet only—not -as a writer of acting dramas. If it had not been for Mr. -Kean, we should never have desired to see a play of Shakespeare’s -acted again.”<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">131</a> As for Desdemona,</p> - - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“The gentle lady married to the Moor!—</span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>“If we had been left to ourselves we could have fancied her - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span> -anything or anybody we liked, and have changed the fancy at -our will. But, as it is, she is nothing to us but a slim -young lady, in white satin, walking about on the boards of a -Theatre.”<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">132</a> The writer of this article furthermore reminds -the public: “we shall ... always have more to say on five -minutes of genius, than on five hours of dulness.”<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">133</a> And—“It -would also be desirable for both parties, if our Edinburgh -readers would not forget that we write from London, and our -London ones that we write for Edinburgh.”<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">134</a> The second installment, -February 1818, of these dramatic notices, comes down to -more specific criticisms.—“Perhaps we were more disgusted -by this revived play, the Point of Honour, than we should otherwise -have been, from being obliged to sit, and see, and hear -Miss O’Neil’s delightful voice and looks cast away upon it.—Though -they have chosen to call it a play, it is one of that -herd of Gallo-Germanic monsters which have visited us of late -years, under the name of Melo-Dramas;... It makes the -ladies in the galleries and dress-boxes shed those maudlin -tears that always flow when weak nerves are over-excited.”<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">135</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="label">129</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 567</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="label">130</a> -Ibid., V. ii-vii</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="label">131</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 428</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="label">132</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="label">133</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 429</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="label">134</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="label">135</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 567</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span></p> - -<p>Needless to say, the whole tone of the magazine -was not of this light and popular kind. Much that it published -was heavy, some of it dry. All the preceding gives in general -the atmosphere of what ensured the success of the budding “Maga”. -It continued in this manner, but ever mingling the steady, the -serious, the grave, with the lively and the scandalous. For -instance in the number for April 1818 we find an article “On -the Poor Laws of England; and Answers to Queries Transmitted by -a Member of Parliament, with a View to Ascertaining the Scottish -System”<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">136</a>,—some four pages or more of serious discussion. In -the same number appears “Letters on the Present State of Germany, -Letter I”<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">137</a>, earnestly setting forth the causes of discontent -in Germany, acknowledging into the bargain, that “the triumph of -human intellect over the sway of despotism was never made more -manifest than it has been within the last fifty years among the -Germans”<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">138</a>, and concluding with a paragraph from our modern point -of view more than interesting: “If the Germans have a Revolution, -it will, I hope and trust, be calm and rational, when compared -with that of the French. Its precursors have not been, as in -France, ridicule, raillery, derision, impiety; but sober -reflection, Christian confidence, and manly resolutions, gathered -and confirmed by the experience of many sorrowful years. The -sentiment is so universally diffused—so seriously established—so -irresistible in its unity,—that I confess I should be - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span> -greatly delighted, but not very much astonished, to hear of -the mighty work being accomplished almost without resistance, -and entirely without outrage.”<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">139</a> This number likewise includes -an article discussing the “Effect of Farm Overseers on the -Morals of Farm Servants”<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">140</a>, another called “Dialogues on Natural -Religion”<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">141</a>, and a “Hospital Scene in Portugal. (Extracted from -the Journal of a British Officer, in a series of Letters to -a Friend)”<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">142</a>, a graphic description which spares no horrible -detail or opportunity for the pathetic.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="label">136</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 9</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="label">137</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 24</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="label">138</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 25</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="label">139</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 29</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="label">140</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 83</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="label">141</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 90</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="label">142</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 87</p></div> - -<p>The first article in the number for May 1818 is -a brief but strictly specific “Description of the Patent Kaleidoscope, -Invented by Dr. Brewster”<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">143</a>. This issue too presented -the first of a series entitled “The Craniologists Review”<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">144</a>, -No. I being a description of Napoleon’s head, supposedly by “a -learned German”, a Doctor Ulric Sternstare, who may or may not -have been a <i>bona fide</i> personage. One is apt to suspect, however, -that these articles are by our young friend Lockhart. -“Maga” owed many a <i>nomme de plume</i> to Lockhart’s German travels; -the subject matter, craniology, is one of his own hobbies, as -later revealed in <i>Peter’s Letters</i>; and the last sentence is -more reminiscent of the young scamp than any “learned German”! -The article concludes: “I think him a more amiable character than -that vile toad Frederick of Prussia, who had no moral faculties -on the top of his head; and he will stand a comparison with - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span> -every conqueror, except Julius Caesar, who perhaps deserved -better to be loved than any other person guilty of an equal -proportion of mischief.”<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">145</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="label">143</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 121</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="label">144</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 146</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="label">145</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 148</p></div> - -<p>There is a gem of an article in <i>Blackwood’s</i> for -July 1818, the fourth of a series of “Letters of Timothy Tickler -to Eminent Literary Characters. Letter IV—To the Editor -of <i>Blackwood’s Magazine</i>”.<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">146</a> Timothy Tickler was an uncle of -John Wilson’s, a Mr. Robert Sym; but it is doubtful whether -Robert Sym was the author of many, if any, of the compositions -laid at the door of the venerable Timothy. This Letter IV is -professedly in answer to one from the editor of <i>Blackwood’s</i>. -Obviously it is only another device, and a clever one, to discuss -the merits of “Maga”, and make a stab at the Whigs and -the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>. Old Timothy says, “You wish to have my -free and candid opinion of your work in general, and I will -now try to answer your queries in a satisfactory way. Your -Magazine is far indeed from being a ‘faultless monster, which -the world ne’er saw’; for it is full of faults, and most part of -the world has seen it.... Just go on, gradually improving -Number after Number, and you will make a fortune.”<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">147</a> Seeming -criticism, then a sudden tooting of the Blackwood horn, seeming -praise of Constable, then a flash and a dig, characterize the -article throughout. He continues: “You go on to ask me what I - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span> -think of Constable’s Magazine? Oh! my dear Editor, you are -fishing for a compliment from old Timothy again!—I have -seen nothing at all comparable to it during the last three -score and ten years. Thank you, <i>en passant</i>, for the Numbers -of it you have sent me. Almost anything does for our minister -to read.”<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">148</a> He concludes thus: “I shall have an opportunity -of writing you again soon ... when I hope to amuse you with -certain old-fashioned whimsies of mine about the Whigs of -Scotland, whom I see you like no more than myself.”<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">149</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="label">146</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 461</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="label">147</a> -Same</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="label">148</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 461-2</p></div> - -<p>This is followed by a very brief sketch of the -“Important Discovery of Extensive Veins and Rocks of Chromate -of Iron in the Shetland Islands”<a href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">149</a>; and this in turn by a -“Notice of the Operations Undertaken to Determine the Figure of -the Earth, by M. Biot, of the Academy of Sciences, Paris, 1818”,<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">150</a> -eleven pages in length, and though decidedly statistical, discursive -and meditative enough in tone to interest more than the -merely scientific reader.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="label">149</a> -Ibid., V. iii, p. 463</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="label">150</a> -Same</p></div> - -<p>The less said about the poetry in <i>Blackwood’s -Magazine</i> the better. Most of it is pretty poor stuff. It is -strange, with men like Wordsworth and Coleridge and Byron -living, that “Maga” should print such feeble verse—all the -more strange when those responsible for the periodical were -such venerators of intellectual power and so ably appreciative. - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span> -The Wordsworthian influence is largely reflected in much of -the <i>Blackwood</i> verse, in fact the Wordsworthian love for the -simple and the commonplace is reflected to such an extent that -it assumes the aspect of the commonplace run to seed. Of -course, opposition to the Cockney School was pure principle -on the part of the magazine; and no matter what fine poetry -“the Shelley’s and the Keatses” produced, “Maga” must per -necessity say nay! With the exception of some of the verse -of James Hogg, and occasional bits like the anonymous “To My -Dog”<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">151</a> in the issue for January 1818, there is practically -nothing to hold one spellbound. There is a good deal of -satiric verse on the order of that by “Ensign Odoherty”, -already sampled. The first twelve volumes of the magazine -contain much lengthy and serious verse bearing the signature -Δ, whom we know to have been David M. Moir, “The amiable -Delta” of the Blackwood group. His poetry takes no hold -upon us of the present hour, but strangely enough, men like -Tennyson, Jeffrey, Lockhart, found it praiseworthy, and even -Wordsworth. It must be of some value if Wordsworth praised -it who was not often known to show interest in any poetry -but his own.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="label">151</a> -Ibid., V. ii, p. 378</p></div> - -<p>The number for March 1822 began the “Noctes -Ambrosianae”<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">152</a>, which continued till February 1835<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">153</a>. These - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span> -papers are too well known to demand much mention here. Suffice -it to say that during their career, they were the most -popular and eagerly read feature of all periodical literature -of the time.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="label">152</a> -Ibid., V. xi, p. 369</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="label">153</a> -Ibid., V. xi-xxxvii</p></div> - -<p>In July 1820, Lockhart reviewed Washington Irving’s -“Knickerbocker’s History of New York”<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">154</a>. All mention -of such papers as “Extracts from Mr. Wastle’s Diary”, which -made its first appearance in March 1820<a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">155</a>, can scarcely be -omitted. It is the Mr. Wastle of <i>Peter’s Letters</i> whom Lockhart -makes responsible for this series, which, like the compositions -of Timothy Tickler, is but another device for merry -making over local events and persons.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="label">154</a> -Ibid., V. vii, p. 360</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155" class="label">155</a> -Ibid., V. vi, p. 688</p></div> - -<p>Interesting reviews of now famous books, wholesale -massacre of now worshipped men, sweeping conclusions historical -and political, among them at times such momentous verdicts -as appeared in May 1819, that “no great man can have a -small nose”<a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">156</a>—such marked the progress and reputation of the -magazine. Whether we feel we can exalt wholly and unreservedly -<i>Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine</i>, we can at least heartily -agree with Lockhart when he says: “I think the valuable -part of The Materials is so great as to furnish no inconsiderable - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span> -apology for the mixture of baser things.”<a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">157</a> Moreover, it -did more to counteract the influence of the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> -than any other periodical living or dead.<a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">158</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156" class="label">156</a> -Ibid., V. v, p. 159</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157" class="label">157</a> -J. G. Lockhart: <i>Peter’s Letters</i>, V. ii, p. 225</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158" class="label">158</a> -This discussion makes no pretense at finality. Treatment -herein has been cursory and suggestive, not exhaustive. -A vast and fruitful field remains untouched.</p></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span></p> - -<h2 id="Bibliography"><i>Bibliography</i></h2> - -<h3>Biography and Criticism</h3> - -<p class="hang">Cambridge History of English Literature, V. xii, 6. New York -and Cambridge, 1916</p> - -<p class="hang">Douglas, Sir George. The Blackwood Group. Edinburgh, 1897</p> - -<p class="hang">Elton, Oliver. A Survey of English Literature, 1780-1830. -V. i, 13. London, 1912</p> - -<p class="hang">Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition. Article on -“The Periodical Press after 1800” by -H. R. Tedder</p> - -<p class="hang">Lang, Andrew. Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart. 2 vols. -London, 1897</p> - -<p class="hang">Lockhart, John Gibson. Life of Sir Walter Scott, V. v, Edinburgh, -1902-3</p> - -<p class="hang"><span class="p1">”</span><span class="p2">”</span><span class="p3">”</span>. Peter’s Letters to His Kinsfolk. 3 vols. -Edinburgh, 1819</p> - -<p class="hang">Memorials of James Hogg, The Ettrick Shepherd, by his Daughter, -Mrs. Garden. London, 1903</p> - -<p class="hang">Millar, J. H. A Literary History of Scotland. New York, 1903</p> - -<p class="hang">Oliphant, M. O. Annals of a Publishing House. William -Blackwood and His Sons. V. i. Edinburgh -and London, 1897-8</p> - -<p class="hang">Saintsbury, G. Essays in English Literature, 1780-1860. -New York, 1895</p> - -<h3>Works</h3> - -<p class="hang">Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. Vols. i-xiv. Edinburgh -and London, 1817-23 -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span></p> - -<p class="hang">Hogg, James. The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd. Prose and -Poetry. Ed. Rev. Thomas Thomson. -London, 1869</p> - -<p class="hang">Maginn, William. Miscellanies, Prose and Verse. 2 vols. -London, 1885</p> - -<p class="hang">Wilson, John. Works. Ed. Prof. Ferrier. 12 vols. -Edinburgh, 1855-8</p> - -<div class="transnote"> - -<h3>Transcriber’s Note:</h3> - -<p>Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.</p> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Early History of Blackwood's Edinburgh -Magazine, by Alice Mary Doane - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY HISTORY OF BLACKWOOD'S *** - -***** This file should be named 50343-h.htm or 50343-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/3/4/50343/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/50343-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/50343-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0f2c60a..0000000 --- a/old/50343-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null |
