The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart
Vol. I. Preface
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Printed by Ballantyne,
Hanson & Co.
At the Ballantyne Press
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TO
THE HON. MRS. MAXWELL SCOTT
OF ABBOTSFORD
THESE MEMOIRS OF HER GRANDFATHER,
Her Illustrious Great-grandfather’s
Son-in-law, Biographer,
and Friend,
Are Dedicated
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PREFACE
This Life of Mr. Lockhart
has been compiled under many difficulties, some of which I foresaw, while others I did not
anticipate. The book grew out of the publisher’s wish that I should prepare for him
an edition of Mr. Lockhart’s “Life of Sir Walter Scott.” An introductory chapter
on the author of that great work seemed desirable, and the chapter swelled into a biography
of Mr. Lockhart.
The book had not been in hand for more than two or three months, when I
found that there were impediments which a fuller knowledge of Mr. Lockhart’s professional career would have taught me to
anticipate. As regards his relations with Mr. John Wilson
Croker, and with the Quarterly Review, documents exist which, perhaps, may some day be
given to the world. Their absence from this work is touched on later, in the appropriate
place. I am inclined to think that my information, derived from Mr.
Lockhart’s familiar letters, is adequate for the purpose of his
biography, though ![]()
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there ought to be much interesting
matter in his letters to Mr. Croker, of which but a very small part,
apparently, has been given in Mr. Croker’s published
correspondence.
Indeed, my own regrets in this matter are concerned with my apparent,
though perfectly unintentional, slight to the successors of Mr.
Lockhart’s old allies and associates, rather than with the loss of
biographical materials.
Other difficulties have occurred; Mr.
Blackwood, I doubt not, would have given me every reasonable access to the
archives of his house, but these were already in the hands of Mrs. Oliphant for editorial purposes. Mrs. Oliphant
has most kindly allowed me to consult her for the avoidance of errors in matters of fact,
and Mr. Blackwood gave me a list of many of Mr. Lockhart’s later articles.
Mr. Lockhart’s letters to Mr. Southey I have been unable to trace. Mr.
Southey’s side of the correspondence, preserved at Abbotsford, is of
very little interest or literary importance; it deals with business between editor and
contributor.
A large collection of private letters from Mr.
Lockhart to a lifelong friend was destroyed many years ago by its actual
possessor. To a portfolio of caricatures, of which a few were published more than thirty
years ago in Mrs. Gordon’s “Christopher North,” access has been
denied me, but Mr. ![]()
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Brewster Macpherson has kindly lent me his
collection of Lockhart’s sketches.
I have to thank, first of all, Mrs. Maxwell
Scott of Abbotsford, without whose aid this biography of her grandfather
could never have been attempted.
All the manuscripts at Abbotsford and Milton Lockhart have passed through
my hands, and Mrs. Maxwell Scott has assisted me in
every possible way, by revision of the book before and after it was in type. The chief
documents are eleven volumes of letters to Mr.
Lockhart, including two volumes of letters from Mr. Croker, of which, for obvious reasons, I have made no use, beyond a
remark on Mr. Croker’s character as revealed in these papers.
The volumes of letters to Sir Walter Scott include a few
(in addition to those from Mr. Lockhart) which have been of service.
From Sir Walter’s two volumes of letters to Mr.
Lockhart I have made selections of such as are not anticipated in
Scott’s Letters or Journal. Mr. Lockhart’s letters to his own family,
to his wife, his children, and his son-in-law, Mr. James Hope
Scott, have supplied much material. Much more might have been extracted had
it seemed desirable celebrare domestica facta.
Mrs. Lockhart’s letters have also been
sparingly used.
For the important though incomplete series of ![]()
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letters to Mr. Jonathan Christie,
Mr. Lockhart’s lifelong friend, I have to
thank the kindness of Mr. Christie’s daughter, Mrs. Herrick.
For permission to quote the Quarterly article on Mr.
Lockhart, by his old friend, the Rev. Mr.
Gleig, and for the sight of a complete list of Mr.
Lockhart’s articles in the Quarterly Review, I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. John Murray of Albemarle Street. Mr.
Gleig’s article is the only authority on the boyhood of
Lockhart.
To Mr. J. H. Stevenson and the
Dowager Lady Foulis, the representatives of
Mr. Cadell, the publisher of the “Life of Scott,” I owe many valuable
documents. Colonel Gleig has also provided such materials of his
father’s, the Chaplain-General of the
Forces, and author of “The
Subaltern,” as he possessed.
My friend, Mr. Ernest Hartley
Coleridge, has allowed me to see and extract from a MS. diary of a Scottish
Tour in his possession, containing a description of Mrs. Lockhart before her marriage.
Miss Bessie Wilson has gratified me with a view of some letters by
Mr. Lockhart to her grandfather, Professor Wilson, for the most part already published.
Mr. and Miss Carruthers of Inverness have kindly
lent me letters to their grandfather, Sir Walter’s
friend, Mr. William Laidlaw.
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My friend, Mr. Falconer of Dundee,
has lent me, and even more kindly copied out for me, an important letter of Sir Walter Scott’s, and a few letters from Mr. Lockhart, in the collection of his brother, to whom my
thanks are no less due.
Mr. S. L. Davey, of Great Russell Street, has aided me with all his
wonted generosity to authors, in the attempt to collect scattered documents.
Mr. David Douglas, the publisher of Scott’s Journal, has helped me in the
most generous manner, by his great knowledge of Scottish literary history, and by the loan
of rare books and pamphlets.
To Mr. Archibald Milman, whose
generosity has been of the highest service, I owe the use of Mr. Lockhart’s important series of letters to Dean Milman, without which one aspect of Mr.
Lockhart’s industry and character would have been most incomplete.
To my dear kinswoman, Mrs. William
Sellar, I am indebted in this, as in all things, for much aid and
encouragement. Mr. Alexander Carlyle not only lent
me Mr. Lockhart’s letters to his celebrated
uncle, but permitted the publication of Mr.
Carlyle’s letters, and gave information as to the high regard and
affection in which Mr. Lockhart was held by him. General Lockhart and other members of the family have
ungrudgingly lent all ![]()
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the aid in their power.
Mr. James Traill, son of Mr. Lockhart’s lifelong friend, obliged me with some interesting notes: the
Dean of Salisbury, also, was kind enough to add
to what he had said in his charming volume of Reminiscences.
I must not omit to acknowledge my debt to the anonymous writer who, in
Temple Bar for June
1895, suggested the compilation of this work, and indicated many useful references. His
name is still unknown to me, but he is “the onlie begetter” of this
work.
Without the generous labours of Father Forbes
Leith, S.J., in the Abbotsford MSS., nothing could have been done to any
purpose.
I have to thank Miss Violet Simpson for examining
the unpublished correspondence of Mr. Macvey Napier
in the British Museum, and for discovering, not without labour, the account of the
Scott-Christie duel, published by Mr. Horace Smith.
My friend, Mr. Edmund Gosse, has
greatly obliged me by reading the proof-sheets, and by discovering “Mr.
Flatters” (vol. ii. p. 195), though I would not try to shelter any
oversights due to myself under his authority.
To Mr. Maitland Anderson, and
Mr. Smith, of the University Library, St. Andrews, I owe more than
I can easily say.
It is not easy to write the Life of a man whom ![]()
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few living people remember, and whom none remembers in his prime. On the
other hand, the lapse of years makes it possible to say much that a contemporary biographer
might feel obliged to keep in reserve. Mr.
Lockhart’s character—too complex to be easily
construed—was also so strong as to leave its leading traits deeply and permanently
marked. His letters best reveal him, and though much has perished, much is left. Through
the letters we can see Mr. Lockhart as he really was, not as he exists
in hostile report and erroneous legend. The compiler will be more than satisfied if a
portrait, however slight, takes, in the gallery of great Englishmen (including Scots) of
letters, the place of a shadowy set of caricatures.
I am aware that, in several passages, this biography may seem to resemble
a speech for the defence. But Mr. Lockhart has been
so vehemently attacked, and often so unjustly misrepresented, that a defensive attitude was
sometimes unavoidable.
July 1896.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
GLASGOW, 1794-1808
PAGE
“An Ell of Genealogy.”—Origin and History of the
Lockharts.—Symon’s town.—The House of Saint
Lys.—Lockharts of Symington, of the Lee.—The Heart of
Bruce.—Cognisance of the
Lockharts.—Sir Stephen and
Sir Allan.—Homicidal Lockharts.—Lockharts of Cleghom,
Birkhill, Wicketshaw.—Milton Lockhart.—Lockharts of the
Covenant.—A “Flyting.”—After Bothwell
Brig.—Somervilles, Nimmos,
Pringles.—Lockhart’s parents.—His
birth.—His shyness.—“Twa Puddens.”—His early
stoicism.—School days.—Habit of caricature.—Glasgow University.—His
prizes.—The Blackstone.—The Snell Exhibition.—Goes to Oxford in a round
jacket
1-27
CHAPTER II
OXFORD, 1808-1813
The journey to Oxford described in “Reginald
Dalton.”—Prince Charles at
Derby.—Companions on the way.—Letter to Dr.
Lockhart.—Mr. Jenkyns.—The Oxford of
1809.—Lockhart’s College friends.—Sir
William Hamilton.—Constancy of Lockhart’s
friendships.—Mr. Jonathan Christie.—His description of
Lockhart as an undergraduate.—Letters to Mrs.
Lockhart.—Balliol sermons.—No Fellowships for
Scots.—Hamilton’s kindness.—A wine
party.—St. Andrew’s Day.—The Prince’s
memory.—Lockhart “crossed.”—His
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PAGE
wish to join the Spaniards against Napoleon.—His
linguistic studies.—Letters to Mr.
Christie.—Hamilton’s studies in
magic.—Lockhart in The Schools.—Dinners at
Godstowe.—“No Scotch Need Apply.”—Gets a First-Class.—Leaves
Oxford.—His acquirements
28-59
CHAPTER III
GLASGOW, 1813-1815
Early disadvantages of Lockhart.—His loneliness
Reflections.—Letters to Mr. Christie.—The Theatre in
London.—Miss Duncan.—The Schools.—Anecdotes of
Scotch clergymen.—The stool of repentance.—Dulness of Glasgow.—Admiration
of Wordsworth and Byron.—Mr.
Christie’s projected
novel.—Lockhart’s novel.—Scotch
manners.—Mediaeval studies.—Double authorship of “Waverley.”—“Wattie a fecund
fellow.”—Lockhart’s own novel
postponed.—“Lockhart will blaze!”—His
neglect of his own poetical powers. —Sordid ignorance of Glasgow.—Hamilton and
the Humanity Chair in Glasgow.—Lockhart’s
novel.—“The Odontist.”—Solitude.—Glasgow society.—A
commercial ball—Count
Pulltuski.—“Gaggery.”—Dinner with a dentist.
—Caricature of Pulltuski.—Tour after trout.—Scheme
of an “Oxford Olio.”—A pun.—Anecdotes of the clergy.—A Holy
Fair.—Lockhart goes to Edinburgh to study law
60-90
CHAPTER IV
EDINBURGH, 1815-1817
Edinburgh described in “Peter’s
Letters.”—Letters to Christie.—Description of
Wilson.—His inconsistency.—His charm.—Edinburgh
populated by authors.—Sir William Hamilton writing on
Waterloo.—A dinner with Hamilton.—Description of
De Quincey.—Lockhart’s Essay on
Heraldry.—An Edict of Glasgow University.—Study of
Wordsworth.—Parodies of Wordsworth by
Lockhart.—Sir William Hamilton an elder
of the Kirk.—Death of Mrs. Nicoll.—Death of
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PAGE
a friend.—Hamilton’s baronetcy.—His
disadvantages.—Kean acting in Edinburgh.—Literary
projects.—Lockhart called to the Bar.—His first fee
spent on punch.—Criticism of “Old
Mortality.”—Needless
severity.—“Blacky.”—Lockhart’s train
of negro servants.—Description by the Ettrick
Shepherd.—German tour.—Early transaction with Mr.
Blackwood.—Problem of Lockhart’s attachment
to Blackwood’s
Magazine.—Lockhart on Mr.
Blackwood’s character.—Intellectual defects of Edinburgh
society.—Whig arrogance and ignorance.—Lockhart’s
mission.—Scotland in a state of “facetious and rejoicing
ignorance.”—Lockhart’s ideas resemble those of
Carlyle.—His want of earnestness.—His
opportunity.—“Prophesying not to be done on these terms”
91-125
CHAPTER V
EDINBURGH, 1817-1818
Blackwood’s Magazine.—Account of it in letter to
Haydon (1838).—Lockhart “helps
Blackwood out of a scrape.”—“Row in
Edinburgh.”—Lockhart made the scapegoat.—His
regrets.—His prospects ruined.—“Intolerably grievous
fate.”—Parallel of Theodore Hook.—Responsibility for
Blackwood’s.—Wilson and
Lockhart not paid Editors.— Lockhart
not the assailant of the Lake Poets.—Errors in “Life of Christopher
North.”—The early numbers of the
Magazine.—Lockhart’s articles on Greek
Tragedy.—Blackwood quarrels with his original
Editors.—They take service with Constable.—Their new
Opposition Magazine.—Scott and
Pringle.—Attack on
Coleridge.—Wilson,
Jeffrey, and
Coleridge.—Lockhart on literary Whigs
of Edinburgh.—Attack on the “Cockney
School.”—Keats and Lockhart agree
in their views of Leigh Hunt.—“Vain, egotistical, and
disgusting.”—His “Tale of
Rimini.”—His enmity to Sir Walter Scott.—He
and Keats fancy that Scott is their
assailant.—Persistence of this absurdity.—“The Chaldee
Manuscript.”—Hogg claims the authorship.—Burlesque
reply.—Lockhart’s own statement.—Analysis of
“The Chaldee.”—“No end of public
emotion”
126-162
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CHAPTER VI
EDINBURGH, 1817-1819
PAGE
Blackwood’s next scrape.—Its origin.—Cavalier
and Covenanter.—Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe.—His edition of
Kirkton.—Dr. M’Crie assailed for
contributing to Blackwood.—Lockhart
carries the war into Africa.—Attacks clerical contributors to the Edinburgh Review.—Writes as Baron von
Lauerwinkel.—Criticises
critics.—Shakespeare.—The real
Lockhart.—On Napoleon.—On
Jeffrey.—Jeffrey’s real
insignificance.—His ignorance.—His treatment of
Goethe.—Lockhart’s defence of
Christianity against the Edinburgh Review.—How far
justified.—Examples of religious criticism from the Edinburgh.—The sceptical priest.—Sydney
Smith’s flippancies in the Edinburgh.—“Merriment of
Parsons.”—Evangelicals “nasty
vermin.”—Lockhart on Scottish religion.—His
reprisals.—Personal attack on
Playfair.—Scott’s
disapproval.—Wilson and Lockhart are
attacked anonymously.—“Hypocrisy
Unveiled.”—They challenge their
opponent.—Jeffrey’s reply.—Mr. Macvey
Napier suspected.—Denies the charge.—Extracts from his
unpublished Correspondence.—Sir John Barrow’s
letter.—Playfair and the Quarterly
Review
163-190
CHAPTER VII
EDINBURGH, 1818-1820
Lockhart meets Scott.—“The Shirra.”—Invitation
to Abbotsford.—Lord Melville.—Scott
discourages the iniquities of Blackwood’s.—His
chuckle.—The attack on Keats.—Mr.
Colvin’s theory.—Bailey’s
story.—The story criticised.—Common friends of Keats and
Lockhart.—Christie on
Keats.—Kindly remark of Lockhart on
Keats.—Lockhart and the scrape of a
friend.—Action of Lockhart.—His relations with his
father.—Letter to Christie.—His view of Leigh
Hunt and Hazlitt.—Quarrel with
Hamilton
191-205
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CHAPTER VIII
EDINBURGH, 1819-1820
PAGE
“Peter’s
Letters.”—Scott’s bequest of his
baton.—Scott’s politics.—His comments on
“Peter’s Letters” in Blackwood.—On Allan, the
painter.—Lockhart revisits Abbotsford.—Rides with
Scott—Scott’s
illness.—Praises “Peter’s
Letters.”—Analysis of “Peter’s
Letters.”—Mr. Wastle of
Wastle.—Jeffrey.—Goethe.—A
Burns Dinner.—Wilson—The
Shepherd.—Neglect of Greek.—Lockhart’s supposed
irony.—The Edinburgh
Review.—Jeffrey as a
critic.—Lockhart compared with
Carlyle.—Defence of Coleridge.—The
booksellers.—Mr. Blackwood.—Story of Gabriel’s
Road.—John Hamilton Reynolds.—Description of
Scott at Abbotsford.—His woods.—The
Kirk.—Letters to Coleridge.—Reynolds suggested as editor
of a Tory paper.—Popular commotions.—Lockhart as a
yeoman.—Ballads attributed to him.—His betrothal to Miss Sophia
Scott.—Her letters.—Prince
Gustavus.—Descriptions of Miss
Scott.—Scott asleep
206-235
CHAPTER IX
EDINBURGH, 1820-1821
“The mother of mischief.”—Election to Chair of Moral
Philosophy.—Hamilton and
Wilson.—Calumnies against
Wilson.—Scott’s
defence.—Lockhart’s
“Testimonium.”—Scott’s letter of
remonstrance.—Promises of good behaviour.—Attacks on
Lockhart in Baldwin’s
Magazine.—Mr. John Scott, Editor of Baldwin’s.—Tims.—Christie
writes to Lockhart.—Lockhart’s
reply.—Demand for an apology.—Mr. John Scott’s
answer.—Lockhart in London.—A challenge.—Curious
evidence of Horatio Smith.—A pacific second.—No
fight.—An oversight.—Christie’s
statement.—John Scott challenges
Christie.—A moonlight
duel.—Christie’s letter to
Lockhart.—Flight of Christie and
Traill.—Distress of Lockhart.—Imputations on his
courage.—Gallant behaviour of Christie.—The
trial.—Acquittal.—Reflections
236-282
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CHAPTER X
CHIEFSWOOD, 1821-24
PAGE
Life at Chiefswood.—Border Scenes.—“Valerius.”—Criticism of the book.—Its failure.—Letter
to Christie.—Hogg,
Rose, and wild-ducks.—Lockhart’s
love of children.—Hugh
Littlejohn.—Boswell slain by
Dunearn.—“Adam
Blair.”—Origin of the tale.—Criticism.—“Adam Blair” and “Faublas!”—George
IV. in Edinburgh.—Scott’s
energy.—Crabbe.—Crabbe on
Lockhart.—Lockhart on
Crabbe.—Abbotsford. —Lockhart edits
“Don Quixote.”—Begins an edition of
Shakespeare.—Melrose in July 1823.—“Leal
Tories.”—“Reginald Dalton.”—Letters
from Christie.—Christie on
Hunt and Byron.—Report of
Williams’s death.—“Quentin
Durward” unpopular
283-312
CHAPTER XI
EDINBURGH, 1817-24
Lockhart’s Poems.—Spanish
Ballads.—Sources.—Weak lines.—Song of the Galley.—The Wandering
Knight.—Serenade.—“The Mad Banker.”—Verses on
Jeffrey.—On Holyrood.— On the
Stuarts.—Queen
Mary.—Scott’s reference to these
verses.—“Take thou the Vanguard of the Three.”—Criticism of
Lockhart’s verse.—His reserve.—Reasons why he
wrote little.—His comic verse.—“Captain Patten.”—The
Odontist.—Trooper lyrics.—His skill in
caricature.—Examples.—Fenella.—A wet day.—Charles
Scott.—Miss Violet Lockhart.—A
Presbytery.—A cock-fighter.—Analogy with Thackeray in
verse and caricature.—Lockhart almost abandons the Art
313-342
CHAPTER XII
CHIEFSWOOD, 1821-23
Life on the Border.—Birth and death of a daughter.—Hugh
Littlejohn.—Letter to Dr.
Lockhart.—“Matthew
Wald.”—Lockhart in
London.—Coleridge.—Canning.—Brontesque
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PAGE
novel.—A false quantity.—Lockhart at a
fire.—Yule at Abbotsford.—The muffled drum.—Scott to
Marchioness of Stafford.—Sutherland
Sheriffship.—Constable’s scheme.—Cheap
literature.—Lockhart’s suggestions.—Irish tour
with Scott.—Meeting with Wilson,
Canning, and Wordsworth.—Tired of Blackwood.—Work at Shakespeare.—Asked to edit
Murray’s paper.—Young Mr.
Disraeli.—Proposals as to the Quarterly
Review.—Mr. Wright’s
suggestion.—Scott not author of the
plot.—Lockhart in town.—Mr. John T.
Coleridge, Southey, and the Quarterly.—Later
difficulties.—Lockhart becomes Editor.—Southey’s
chagrin.—Lockhart’s “bonspiel.”—He
leaves Chiefswood for London.—Reflections
343-383
CHAPTER XIIII
LONDON 1826
Sorrows of 1826.—Failure of Murray’s
newspaper.—Scott’s ruin. —Illness of
Hugh Littlejohn.—Illness of Mrs.
Lockhart.—Illness of Lady
Scott.—Constable in London.—“Dear me,
Archy!”—“A mad
proposal.”—Cadell preferred to
Constable.—Constable abandons hope.
—Mr. Thomas Constable’s criticism.—Its
futility.—Lockhart on Scott’s
trading enterprises.—Sir Walter on James
Ballantyne.—Defence of Lockhart against
Constable’s biographer.—Ruin always
inevitable.—Scott’s resolve.—“Firm as
Eildon Hill.”—Letters to Lockhart.—Malagrowther.—Political predictions. —Illness and death
of Lady Scott.—Letters from Sir
Walter.—Reviews for the Quarterly.—Disappointments.—Scott in
London.—A year of misery.—Lockhart on novels
384-416
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME THE FIRST
John Gibson Lockhart
Frontispiece
Painted by Sir Francis Grant,
F.R.A., Engraved by F. Huth.
An Old Hand At The Cockpit, Oxford
Facsimile of a Water-Colour Drawing by J. G. Lockhart,
in the
possession of Mr. Brewster
MacphersonPage 48
Sir William Hamilton Buying Books
Facsimile of a Pen-and-ink Drawing by J. G. Lockhart,
in the
possession of Mr. Brewster
Macpherson96
Professor Wilson
Drawn by Daniel Maclise,
R.A.144
Leigh Hunt
From the Picture by Benjamin
Haydon,
in the National Portrait Gallery.
Photo-Etched Plate192
Lockhart and Sir Walter
Scott (?) riding
Facsimile (reduced) of a Water-Colour Drawing by J. G. Lockhart,
in the
Abbotsford Collection224
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Miss Scott, afterwards Mrs.
Lockhart
Facsimile of a Drawing by J. G.
Lockhart,
in the Abbotsford Collection
Page 288
Fenella dancing before Charles
II.
Facsimile (slightly reduced) of a Caricature by J. G. Lockhart,
of the
well-known Scene in “Peveril of the Peak” From
the Abbotsford Collection. Double-page Plate340
William Blackwood (1836-1912)
The grandson of the founder of
Blackwood's Magazine; he was a
partner in the firm and as manager (from 1879) he published Joseph Conrad.
George David Boyle (1828-1901)
The son of David Boyle, Lord Shewalton (1772–1853); he was educated at Charterhouse and
Exeter College, Oxford, and was dean of Salisbury Cathedral (1880).
Robert Cadell (1788-1849)
Edinburgh bookseller who partnered with Archibald Constable, whose daughter Elizabeth he
married in 1817. After Constable's death and the failure of Ballantyne he joined with Scott
to purchase rights to the
Waverley Novels.
Alexander Carlyle (1843-1931)
The son of Alexander Carlyle; he was the nephew of Thomas Carlyle whose letters he
edited.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)
Scottish essayist and man of letters; he translated Goethe's
Wilhelm
Meister (1824) and published
Sartor Resartus
(1833-34).
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.
Ernest Hartley Coleridge (1846-1920)
Literary scholar and editor, the son of Derwent Coleridge and grandson of Samuel Taylor
Coleridge; he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford.
John Wilson Croker (1780-1857)
Secretary of the Admiralty (1810) and writer for the
Quarterly
Review; he edited an elaborate edition of Boswell's
Life of
Johnson (1831).
David Douglas (1823-1916)
Scottish publisher and editor of Sir Walter Scott's
Journal
(1891).
William Forbes-Leith (1833-1921)
Scottish antiquary and Jesuit priest; he published
Narratives of
Scottish Catholics under Mary Stuart and James VI. (1889).
George Robert Gleig (1796-1888)
Prolific Tory writer who rose to attention with
The Subaltern,
serialized in
Blackwood's; he was appointed chaplain-general of the
forces in 1844.
Sir Edmund William Gosse (1849-1928)
English man of letters, author of literary essays for the
Sunday
Times and an autobiography,
Father and Son (1907).
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.
William Laidlaw (1779-1845)
The early friend of James Hogg and Sir Walter Scott's steward and amanuensis.
Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
Scottish man of letters, folklorist, and friend of Robert Louis Stevenson; he published
Myth, Ritual and Religion, 2 vols, (1887).
Mary Anne Liston Foulis [née Cadell] (d. 1905)
Daughter of the publisher Robert Cadell; in 1852 she became the second wife of Sir
William Liston Foulis of Woodhall, eighth baronet.
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).
Charles Julien Brewster Macpherson (d. 1942)
Of Belleville or Balavil in Inverness-shire, the estate built by his ancestor the poet
James Macpherson; he was the grandson of Sir David Brewster.
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.
Archibald John Scott Milman (1834-1902)
Son of the poet and dean of St Paul's; he was educated at Westminster and Trinity College
Cambridge, and was clerk of the House of Commons.
Henry Hart Milman (1791-1868)
Educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford, he was a poet, historian and dean of St
Paul's (1849) who wrote for the
Quarterly Review.
John Murray III (1808-1892)
The son of the Anak of publishers; he successfully carried on the family publishing
business.
Macvey Napier (1776-1847)
Scottish barrister, editor of the
Encyclopedia Britannica, and
from 1829 editor of the
Edinburgh Review.
Margaret Oliphant [née Wilson] (1828-1897)
Scottish novelist, biographer, and writer for
Blackwood's
Magazine; as a young woman she was friends with the poet David Macbeth Moir.
Eleanor Mary Sellar [née Dennistoun] (1829-1897 fl.)
The daughter of Alex Dennistoun, a Glasgow merchant and radical MP for Dunbartonshire; in
1852 she married the classical scholar William Young Sellar, the uncle of Andrew
Lang.
Horace Smith (1779-1849)
English poet and novelist; with his brother James he wrote
Rejected
Addresses (1812) and
Horace in London (1813). Among his
novels was
Brambletye House (1826).
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).
John Horne Stevenson (1855-1939)
Scottish advocate and antiquary, the grandson of the publisher Robert Cadell. He
published
Heraldry in Scotland (1914).
James Traill (1794-1873)
Of Hobbister, Orkney; educated at Balliol College (Snell Exhibitioner) and the Middle
Temple, he was a police magistrate in London. Traill was John Christie's second in the duel
with John Scott.
John Wilson [Christopher North] (1785-1854)
Scottish poet and Tory essayist, the chief writer for the “Noctes Ambrosianae” in
Blackwood's Magazine and professor of moral philosophy at Edinburgh
University (1820).
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.
