The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart
Chapter 19: 1828-48
Thomas Carlyle to John Gibson Lockhart, 20 November 1845
“Bay House, Alverstoke,
Nov. 20, 1845.
“Dear Lockhart,—A
poor, meritorious Scotchman, a burgher minister in Dundee, of the name of
Gilfillan, has published a
book—I believe at his own expense too, poor fellow—under the title
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‘Gallery of Literary
Portraits,’ or some such thing; and is about sending, as in duty
bound, a copy to the Quarterly. I know not whether this poor book will in the
least lie in your way; but to prevent you throwing it aside without so much as
looking at it, I write now to bear witness that the man is really a person of
superior parts; and that his book, of which I have read some of the sections,
first published in a country newspaper that comes to me, is worthy of being
looked at a little by you,—that you may decide then, with cause shown,
whether there is anything to be done with it. I am afraid not very much! A
strange, oriental, Scriptural style; full of fervour, and crude gloomy
fire,—a kind of opium style. However, you must
look a little, and say.
“This testimony I have volunteered to send, having
seen the man as well as his writing;—and now this is all I have to say.
The antecedents to this step, and the corollaries that follow from it on your
part and on mine, are not needed to be written. I believe you will do me the
honour (a very great honour as times go) to believe what
I have written; and the helping of a poor fellow that has merit, when he can be
helped,—this, I take it, is at all times felt to be a pleasure and a
blessing by you as by me. And so enough of it.
“We are here on the Hampshire coasts, hiding with
kind friends from the London fogs for a while: a pleasant place in comparison,
especially when one ![]()
| 242 | LIFE OF J. G. LOCKHART. | |
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has tobacco and nothing to do! When I
return to town I design again to try Sussex Place, though my successes there
are rather far between, of late. Why do you never come to see me?—With
real regard, yours ever truly,
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)
Scottish essayist and man of letters; he translated Goethe's
Wilhelm
Meister (1824) and published
Sartor Resartus
(1833-34).
George Gilfillan (1813-1878)
Scottish clergyman, man of letters, and literary editor who quarreled with Thomas Carlyle
and wrote for the
Quarterly Review.
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).
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.
