Memoir of John Murray
Walter Scott to John Murray, [November 1825]
I have your letter this morning. Besides yourself, I only
write to Heber, on whose friendship,
long-tried, and prudence, I could perfectly rely; mentioning the rumours in
question, and my reasons for being confident that they were perfectly
groundless, so far as Lockhart’s
temper and disposition were implicated. In fact, I think that in sacrificing a
competent revenue, leaving his native country, and quitting at once his views
in life and his natural connections, he gives the deepest pledge he can do that
no light or trivial temptation could induce him to risk the safety of the
concern in which he may now be said to have embarked his all.
If I had not felt absolutely confident that Lockhart had the same deep and serious views
in the matter which I ![]()
| 230 | MEMOIRS OF JOHN MURRAY | |
![]()
have expressed, I would not, for
half my fortune, have given my opinion in favour of his removal. I have written
also to Southey, not with reference to
this subject in particular, but because I thought he might with justice suppose
that I knew all about this change while at his house in September, and that I
ought to have spoken to him about it as an old friend. I think this was
incumbent on me at any rate, and took the opportunity to rectify any opinion
which he might have entertained of Lockhart from some
passages in Blackwood’s which
could not but be disagreeable to himself and Wordsworth, and which I was instructed positively to deny. I
thought this species of explanation due to Southey, both
as my own much respected friend, and as an old contributor to the Review,
indeed a most valued supporter of it. I never thought Mr. Barrow had the least personal ill-will
against Lockhart, but it was easy for him to be led into
forming an erroneous opinion of his character by hearing old stories
imperfectly mixed up with new matter to which he had no access. Some of his
earlier flights were certainly not prudent, but I am sure there was none of
them different in character from the frolics which young men of talent so often
indulge in. I am sure he has now added both prudence and experience to his
considerable talents, and hope he will do well for himself and for you.
Believe me, yours very truly,
Sir John Barrow, first baronet (1764-1848)
English traveler, secretary of the Admiralty, and author of over two hundred articles in
the
Quarterly Review; he is remembered for his
Mutiny on the Bounty (1831).
Richard Heber (1774-1833)
English book collector, he was the elder half-brother of the poet Reginald Heber and the
friend of Walter Scott: member of the Roxburghe Club and MP for Oxford 1821-1826.
John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854)
Editor of the
Quarterly Review (1825-1853); son-in-law of Walter
Scott and author of the
Life of Scott 5 vols (1838).
Robert Southey (1774-1843)
Poet laureate and man of letters whose contemporary reputation depended upon his prose
works, among them the
Life of Nelson, 2 vols (1813),
History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (1823-32) and
The Doctor, 7 vols (1834-47).
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
With Coleridge, author of
Lyrical Ballads (1798), Wordsworth
survived his early unpopularity to succeed Robert Southey as poet laureate in 1843.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. (1817-1980). Begun as the
Edinburgh Monthly Magazine,
Blackwood's assumed the name of its proprietor, William Blackwood after the sixth
number. Blackwood was the nominal editor until 1834.
The Quarterly Review. (1809-1967). Published by John Murray, the
Quarterly was instigated by Walter
Scott as a Tory rival to the
Edinburgh Review. It was edited by
William Gifford to 1824, and by John Gibson Lockhart from 1826 to 1853.
