The following correspondence and extracts will, I trust, possess some interest for literary readers.
“My dear William,—Since my last I have visited Mr. J—— several times. The last time he
wished me to dine with him, which I happened not to be able to do, and was
very sorry for it, for his acquaintance is to me a matter of great
importance, not only from the engine he wields—and a formidable one it is,
being the most widely circulated journal in Europe—but also because he is
acquainted with all the principal literary characters of the day, and a
very pleasant kind of man. He was talking of Maginn, who writes a good deal for Blackwood, and spoke in high terms of his
talents; nevertheless, though he is his friend, he confessed he did not
think him a very considerate critic, and thought there was something
unfeeling in his persecution of Barry
Cornwall, who by the way is an acquaintance of my Spanish
friend’s. You may have seen those letters to Bryan
Proctor in “Blackwood’s
Magazine.” Barry Cornwall is, he
says, one of the mildest, modestest young fellows he ever saw, and does
anything but assume. Maginn, however, imagines that
those he attacks, think as little of the affair as himself, which is by no
means the case. The other day he attacked Campbell’s
| 388 | APPENDIX. |
* “The Writer Tam” was the name of this burlesque.—W. J. † Watts was also so offended with some of Maginn’s devilries, that in one of his letters to me he denounces him, in his wrath, as a blackguard.—W. J. |
| GERALD GRIFFIN. | 389 |
“My dear William, ever affectionately yours,
In this instance he (Foster)
was the chief cause of Gerald’s
deliverance from his embarrassments, though the latter did not know at the time the
full extent to which he was indebted to him. Immediately after the visit alluded to, he
went straight to Dr. Maginn and described what
he saw. Dr. Maginn with extreme good nature immediately
communicated with the editor of the “Literary Gazette,” and this led to the engagement which
Gerald alludes to above, and to the series of papers he there
speaks of * * * * *. I brought him a number of the “Literary
Gazette” one day, which contained a review of the work (Holland-tide), in which it is said,
some of the shorter tales were contributed by a friend, some of the offered
contributions were rejected by Griffin on the ground that they
would be thought to resemble in their manner the writings of Mr. Crofton Croker, that I thought would give him very
high satisfaction, as its praise was almost unbounded. I was surprised, however, to
find that it produced quite the contrary effect, and threw him into a state of
agitation that I little anticipated, one expression in it appearing to neutralise all
its approbation. Indeed I had no conception before of the degree to which an author
could be affected by so simple a thing, as a review of his work in a periodical, and
that review a favourable one. He seemed to read it with much gratification, until he
came to a part where the reviewer spoke of the shorter tales, and giving them also a
considerable degree of praise said, that “Little Jack Edy” was
almost Crofton Crokerish! The moment Gerald came to this
passage, I never saw anything like the state it put him into. It was not rage so much
his countenance expressed, as an appearance of the most violent agony. He crumpled the
paper in his hand, raised it high above his head, stamped violently, and almost dashed
it to the earth in the excess of his feeling. “Oh!” he said,
“Oh!” with a
| 390 | APPENDIX. |
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