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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. 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