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The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart
Chapter 21: 1842-50
John Gibson Lockhart to Henry Hart Milman, 25 October 1849
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
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Vol. I. Preface
Vol. I Contents.
Chapter 1: 1794-1808
Chapter 2: 1808-13
Chapter 3: 1813-15
Chapter 4: 1815-17
Chapter 5: 1817-18
Chapter 6: 1817-19
Chapter 7: 1818-20
Chapter 8: 1819-20
Chapter 9: 1820-21
Chapter 10: 1821-24
Chapter 11: 1817-24
Chapter 12: 1821-25
Chapter 13: 1826
Vol. II Contents
Chapter 14: 1826-32
Chapter 15: 1828-32
Chapter 16: 1832-36
Chapter 17: 1837-39
Chapter 18: 1837-43
Chapter 19: 1828-48
Chapter 20: 1826-52
Chapter 21: 1842-50
Chapter 22: 1850-53
Chapter 23: 1853-54
Chapter 24: Conclusion
Vol. II Index
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“Sussex Place, October 25, 1849.

“My dear Dean of St. Paul’s,—For I may address you so here, though not yet, I suppose, on the outside. I heard days ago that you were to have the preferment, which I had quite anticipated from the hour of Coplestone’s death; but was not aware, until last night, that you had returned to England. The Government have done their duty,

1 Mr. Holt was perpetually busy with the constant troubles of Walter’s financial embroilment.

THE DEAN331
and I am persuaded no appointment could have given a more general satisfaction. It gives me particular pleasure, among other reasons, because I think both Mrs. Milman and you wanted a fillip and a change. The Deanery house is not in the best of situations, but it is a capital house; and the Cloisters also were rather out of the way, so that your horses are accustomed to step out. How different the dinners will be from our old friend’s:
‘Doctors and deans above in solemn row,
And deans and doctors of like bulk below,’
as Crabbe, I think, described the scene. I have not seen or heard of any newspaper criticism on your elevation, except that of the Daily News, which somebody sent me yesterday, and there I find the Whigs rebuked for having thus honoured a Tory, a High Churchman, and, if not a Puseyite, a patron of Puseyism. The Toryism and High Churchism, far be it from me to deny or palliate—but, I suspect, the third count of the indictment rests on a confusion of Harness with Bennett. The former’s theatrical tastes may have induced him to adopt flowers, and possibly incense, but he is about the last I should have expected to find charged with graver participation in the mysteries. Howbeit, I heartily wish the Whigs would crown their iniquity by giving him your Prebend.

“Aubrey de Vere is a very fine fellow, and I like
332 LIFE OF J. G. LOCKHART.  
his society exceedingly. His cousin I have never seen that I know of.

“I had a bad inflammatory attack on my arrival some weeks ago from the Continent, and am still not quite rid of its consequences. But I go on to Scotland to-morrow, and hope two or three weeks there may bring me back to the vigour becoming my youthhood.

“Well, the next time we meet you will be Doctor and Dean, and most happy I to see you in the garb proper to your new dignities.1 Pray tell your lady how cordially I participate in her feelings on this occasion.—Ever most affectionately yours,

“J. G. Lockhart.”