The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart
Chapter 20: 1826-52
John Gibson Lockhart to John Wilson, 13 May 1851
“Sussex Place, May 13, 1851.
“My dear
Professor,—Since you are really serious, I must return your sheets,
and I do so now (though most sorrowfully), in case you should possibly think of
making some use of them in Maga.
“I certainly could never venture to produce such an
article in the Quarterly Review. Were there no other obstacle, my
kindness from the present William
Wordsworth (who has always been a favourite with me) must be an
insuperable one.
“Your story about Quillinan reminds me of a similar manœuvre in reference
to the Quarterly
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Review—but I can’t at once find the
Stamp-master’s letter on that
affair—by far the longest I ever got from him in his own hand.1 I am, however, so accustomed to things of that sort,
that even this made little impression. When any one is civil to me (I mean any
one not habitually so) I always ask myself, for the first question, Is he or
she big with book or big with article? Utrum
horum?
“You see I send back everything. I have not
mentioned, nor shall I mention, a word about your having communicated with me
on the topic, to anybody. So all is and will be with yourself. Whatever report
may reach me it must originate in No. 6 G. P.2—Ever affectionately yours,
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).
Edward Quillinan (1791-1851)
A poet of Irish Catholic descent who pursued a military career while issuing several
volumes published by his father-in-law Edgerton Brydges; after the death of his first wife
Jemima he married Dora Wordsworth in 1841.
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.
William Wordsworth (1810-1883)
The second son of William Wordsworth; of St. Ann's Hill, Carlisle, he was a justice of
the peace.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. (1817-1980). Begun as the
Edinburgh Monthly Magazine,
Blackwood's assumed the name of its proprietor, William Blackwood after the sixth
number. Blackwood was the nominal editor until 1834.
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.
