The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart
Chapter 23: 1853-54
John Gibson Lockhart to Charlotte Lockhart Hope, 29 August 1854
“Milton, August 29, 1854.
“Dear Charlotte,—Kate says I should
write, but I really have nothing to say except what she is ![]()
| 390 | LIFE OF J. G. LOCKHART. | |
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sure to have said to you lately. She and William are both most kind, and so is Bob (when he can be spared us for a little),
in their attention to my ease and comforts. The pony has hitherto served me no
great deal, because my bones are so naked that the surface gets easily injured,
and the poor man can’t attempt remounting for some while. Otherwise, I
should expect real good from that exercise, and we shall see by-and-by how
things go on. I am not better, I think, on the whole, but not worse, and for
this one should be thankful.
“The weather is delicious—warm, very warm, but
a gentle breeze keeping the leaves in motion all about, and the sun sheathed, as Wordsworth hath it, with a soft grey layer of cloud. To-day I
am tempted to try the pony again, though, besides other griefs, I can get no
companion—William just once,
and yet God only knows what he does all day before sleeping hours.
“I am glad to fancy you all enjoying yourselves (I
include Lady D. and sweet M.
M.), in this heavenly summer season—such a rarity beneath
our sky. If people knew beforehand what it is to lose health, and all that
can’t survive health, they would in youth be what it is easy to
preach—do you try. I fancy it costs none of you
very much effort either to be good or happy.—Yours affectionately,
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 Lockhart (1805-1859)
The son of the Rev. John Lockhart and brother of John Gibson Lockhart; he was a merchant
in Glasgow. In 1854 he married Marion Kinnear, daughter of John G. Kinnear.
William Lockhart (1787-1856)
Of Germiston and Milton-Lockhart, the elder, half-brother of John Gibson Lockhart; he was
Conservative MP for Lanarkshire (1841-56).
Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott [née Hope-Scott] (1852-1920)
Of Abbotsford, author, the daughter of James Robert Hope-Scott and granddaughter of Sir
Walter Scott; in 1874 she married the Hon. Joseph Constable-Maxwell.
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.
