The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart
Chapter 21: 1842-50
John Gibson Lockhart to Patrick Robertson, [1850 c.]
“Landseer
says that I was a good-looking chap twenty or thirty years ago, and he
therefore asked me to sit to him, whereto I replied, ‘Is thy servant a
dog, that he should do this thing?’ The mot is universally given to Sydney
Smith, but Edwin Landseer swears he never
did, nor could have asked so ugly a fellow to sit, and thinks it unfair that I
should have been robbed of my joke in favour of so wealthy a joke-smith. If it
was mine, I had quite forgot the fact and adopted the general creed on the
weighty point. If Landseer be correct, I fancy he must
have thought of introducing me into his picture of Scott with his dogs in the Rhymer’s ![]()
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Glen; but if so, I can’t imagine why I did not accede to the flattering
proposal. Here is a good illustration of the value of evidence, however. Pity
the doubt was not raised before Sydney joined the
majority, that we might have had his say also. What I object to is the
allegation of his ugliness. I always admired his countenance as the most
splendid combination of sense and sensuality. Christie and all his flock are in the Lake country for two
months. The Doge will go home next week—so will the Hope-Scotts—and I
shall be left alone with Holt,1 powers of attorney,
Duchy substitutes, thinning of bookshelves, and so forth.—Vive et vale,
Jonathan Henry Christie (1793-1876)
Educated at Marischal College, Baliol College, Oxford, and Lincoln's Inn; after slaying
John Scott in the famous duel at Chalk Farm he was acquitted of murder and afterwards
practiced law as a conveyancer in London. He was the lifelong friend of John Gibson
Lockhart and an acquaintance of John Keats.
James Robert Hope-Scott (1812-1873)
The son of General Hon. Sir Alexander Hope; in 1847 he married Charlotte Harriet Jane
Lockhart, daughter of the editor of the
Quarterly Review. He was a
barrister and Queen's Counsel.
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873)
English painter trained at the Royal Academy schools, renowned for his portraits of
animals—he painted Walter Scott with his dogs.
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).
Patrick Robertson [Peter] (1794-1855)
Scottish judge, poet, wit, and friend of John Wilson; familiarly known as “Peter,” in
1848 he was elected lord rector of Marischal College.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845)
Clergyman, wit, and one of the original projectors of the
Edinburgh
Review; afterwards lecturer in London and one of the Holland House
denizens.
