The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart
Vol. II Contents
THE LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART
BY
ANDREW LANG
FROM ABBOTSFORD AND MILTON LOCKHART MSS.
AND OTHER ORIGINAL SOURCES
With Fifteen Illustrations
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME THE SECOND
LONDON:
JOHN C. NIMMO
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
MDCCCXCVII
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Printed by Ballantyne,
Hanson & Co.
Edinburgh and London
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER XIV
LONDON, 1826-32
PAGE
Supposed secrets of the
Quarterly.—Their mythical
character.—Southey’s son-in-law.—Disappointing
innocence.—Southey’s letters.—His
grievances.—Lockhart’s Spanish
courtesy.—Scott on Canning’s
suspicions.—Mrs. Lockhart’s
diplomacy.—Canning’s reply to
Scott.—Scott’s
answer.—Canning is
satisfied.—Lockhart’s
resentment.—Scott’s
“Napoleon.”—Lockhart to
Scott.—The Catholic
question.—Gillies.—Anecdote of
Burns.—“Dumple it.”—A gold
medal.—Attempts to help Hogg.—Medal.—Salver, or
bread-basket?
1-42
CHAPTER XV
LONDON, 1828-1832
Catholic Emancipation.—Lockhart a moderate
Tory.—No despot as Editor.—His salary raised.—His literary
schemes.—Life of Bonaparte.—Letter to
Wilson.—The Family
Library.—Letter from De Quincey.—Proposes an
“integrated Gibbon.”—Letters to
Scott.—“Peel utterly
undone.”—Scott on Peel.—An
honest man.—Criticism by Hugh Littlejohn.—His want of
sympathy with Civilisation.—The Duke’s
duel.—Lockhart asked to be a “reptile
journalist.”—Scott on the gentlemen of the
Press.—“Rather sell gin.”—Distrust of
Croker.—Scott’s
illness.—Last days at Abbotsford.—Guests at Abbotsford.—Visit to the
graves of the Douglasses.—Lockhart as
Biographer.—Scott visits Italy.—His latest
days.—Death of Hugh Littlejohn.—Letter to Dr.
Lockhart
43-75
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CHAPTER XVI
LONDON, 1832-1836
PAGE
Social relations in London.—Benjamin
Disraeli.—“A tenth-rate novelist.”—Friends.—Birth
of Charlotte.—Scottish holidays.—Anne
Scott's death.—Death of Lockhart’s
mother.—Lockhart and
Maginn.—Letter to Mrs. Maginn.—Guests
and hosts.—Death of Mr.
Blackwood.—Lockhart on literature and
rank.—Letter to Hayward.—Portrait of
Lockhart.—His review of
Tennyson.—Editing Scott’s
works.—Relations with
Milman.—Letters.—Jeffrey in the
House.—Scott’s
debts.—Southey and “The
Doctor.”—A mystification.—The British Association.—Bad
times.—Southey on Scott’s
death—“Birds of prey.”—Troubles with
Hogg.—Wrath of Wilson.—Attack on
Scott.—Extraordinary proposal by
Hogg.—Hogg’s “domestic
manners.”—Correspondence as to “Life of
Scott.”—Mrs. Lockhart to
Cadell.—Cadell’s praise of
Lockhart.—Lockhart on his own
work.—Letter to Laidlaw.—Criticisms of
Scott’s “Life.”—Mr.
Carlyle.—Remarks on the Biography of
Scott.—Wrath of Fenimore
Cooper.—Americans and Scott
76-125
CHAPTER XVII
1837-1839
“The Ballantyne Humbug.”—False
impressions.—Lockhart’s real aim.—The flaw in
Scott.—Contradictions in his character.—Why
Lockhart described the
Ballantynes.—Mr. Cadell’s
evidence.—Lockhart’s candour as to
Scott.—History of the
brethren.—Kelso.—Scott’s “air-drawn
schemes.”—Extravagance in business.—John Ballantyne
“penniless.”—James’s claret.—Bill
and counter-bill.—Negligence.—Concealments.—Change of
publishers.—Death of John
Ballantyne.—Constable and the bills.—Reply
of the Ballantynes.—Unbalanced
books.—Cadell’s
evidence.—Hughes and
Cadell.—Lockhart “could not
understand.”—“Be a good man.”—
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PAGE
Ballantyne pamphlet.—What “might have
been.”—Unfortunate James.—His labours and
sorrows.—Abbotsford.—Counter-charges.—Attitude of the press.—False
accusations.—Cadell’s letter.—His new
documents.—Opinion of the Chief Commissioner.—Legal
advice.—Lockhart’s reply to the
Ballantynes.—Defects of taste.—Their
rebutter.—Lockhart’s reception of it.—General
reflections
126-172
CHAPTER XVIII
LONDON, 1837-1843
Illness of Mrs. Lockhart.—Letter to Miss
Edgeworth.—Mrs. Lockhart’s
death.—Letters to William and Violet
Lockhart.—Burial-place.—Retreat to Milton Lockhart.—The
children described.—Letter to Laidlaw.—Letter to
Wilson.—Grief of
Lockhart.—Wilson’s despair.—His rapid
recovery.—Letter to Miss Edgeworth.—Return to
society.—Haydon on Life of
Scott.—Lockhart on his critics.—Myth of his
marriage.—“The widow.”—The Bowden
Bard.—Talleyrand on
Macaulay.—Death of Charles
Scott.—Letter to
Milman.—“Demonstration.”—Scientific
gaieties.—Chalmers and the Contessina.—Letter on
Quarterly gossip.—On
politics.—Central America.—Copyright Bill.—Walter
and Charlotte.—A Rhyme of Rose.—Louis
Napoleon.—“The Jew scamp.”
“Coningsby.”—Advice to
Walter.—Duchy of
Lancaster.—Walter’s follies.—Letters to
Laidlaw.—Court gossip.—Lockhart
at a ball.—Visit to Italy.—Avernus, “a third-rate
loch.”—Letter to Christie.—Pompeii
described.—Return to England
173-222
CHAPTER XIX
LONDON, 1828-1848
Correspondence with Carlyle.—Review of Life of Burns.—Their first
meeting.—Carlyle’s description of
Lockhart.—Desires Mr. Elwin to write a
Life of Lockhart.—“Mr. Carlyle knows
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this to be a lie.”—The Goethe
medal.—Lockhart proposes a
novel.—Carlyle offers “Chartism.”—Borrows
books.—Lockhart answers as “Able
Editor.”—Carlyle on Jenny
Geddes.—Carlyle on his wife’s
mother’s death.—Lockhart’s reply.—His
poem.—Carlyle on the Infinities and other matters.—On
the gifted Gilfillan.—Carlyle’s
affection for Lockhart.—His desire that Lockhart’s life
should be written
223-244
CHAPTER XX
LONDON, 1826-1852
Lockhart as a journalist.—Charges of Miss
Martineau.—Interpolations.—Southey’s
ideas.—Lord Stanhope.—His displeasure.—His
account of Lockhart.—The marks of
Croker.—Lockhart’s
articles.—His variety.—Want of permanency.—The reasons for
this.—His idea of his duties.—His copious extracts.—Essay on
Colonel Mure’s “Greek
Literature.”—Biblical Criticism.—Croker and
Donaldson.—Letter to Mr.
Murray.—Lockhart on Homeric Criticism.—On
Biblical Criticism.—Satire of German
vagaries.—Lockhart’s biographical
essays.—Hook.—Wilkie.—Southey.—Campbell.—Wordsworth.—Letters
to Wilson on the Life of
Wordsworth.—Violent language of
Wilson.—His contribution cannot be published.—General
reflections on Lockhart as a critic—The policeman of
letters.—This function exaggerated by him
245-288
CHAPTER XXI
1842-1850
Gloom of Lockhart’s diaries.—Death of
friends.—Melancholy quotations.—Contrast of gay letters.—His son
Walter.—Letters to
Milman.—Clough on
Walter.—Death of Sir Walter
Scott.—Letters to Miss Edgeworth.—Abbotsford
revisited.—All debts extinguished.—Marriage of Miss
Lockhart.—Letters to Miss Lockhart.—To
Miss Edgeworth.—Description of Mr.
Hope.—Letters to Mrs. Hope.—
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Apthorpe.—Wimpole.—Christmas Letter.—Lord
Lonsdale’s palace.—Letter on “Jane
Eyre.”—High praise of the novel.—Letters on
Society.—Troubles with Walter.—His
debts.—Brain-fever.—Letters to Milman.—A mummy at a
ball.—Paris.—Louis
Bonaparte.—Guizot.—Whose joke?—The
Dean of St. Paul’s
289-333
CHAPTER XXII
LONDON, 1850-1853
“Ill.”—The black dog.—Anecdote by Mr. James
Traill.—Death of
Wordsworth.—Lockhart’s
portrait.—Mr. Elwin.—No duellist.—Changes of
faith.—Letter to Mr. Hope.—Letter to Mrs.
Hope.—Murchison.—Lord John
Russell deer-stalking.—“A wauf bit body.”—Anecdote
of Lamartine.—Dinner with
Landseer.—Rackets by gaslight.—Dandies for the
Queen.—Junius and the Ghost.—Lord
Lyttelton as Junius.—Letter to Mrs.
Hope.—The
Quarterly
troubles.—
Quarterly on
Junius.—Stories of the wicked Lord
Lyttelton.—Mr. Gladstone “much
shocked.”—The Dandies at Windsor.—Eastern and Western Churches.—Rum
and half a pig.—Mr. Hope received into Church of
Rome.—Lockhart’s letter to him.—To
Mrs. Hope.—The Rev. Moses—French
tour.—Lord Peter “hot and
heavy.”—Croker’s illness.—Scandal about a
saint.—Birth of Mrs. Maxwell
Scott.—Walter’s
illness.—“Esmond.”—Reconciliation with
Walter.—Walter’s
death.—Letter to Mrs. Hope.—Kindness of Mrs.
Hughes.—Letters to her.—Miniature of Walter
334-363
CHAPTER XXIII
LONDON—ROME—LANARKSHIRE, 1853-1854
Coral for Mary Monica.—Dinner on a
herring.—Resigns editorship.—Letter to
Milman.—Haydon’s
“Memoirs.”—Last meeting with Wilson.—Journey
to Rome.—Meets Thackeray.—Studies Italian.—Visits
Horace’s Villa.—Dines out.—An
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invalid in Rome.—Letter to Mrs. Hope
Scott.—Failure of vital powers.—Pio Nono.—A
beatification.—Excavations.—Mrs.
Sartoris.—Manning’s
eloquence.—Swathed pictures.—Studying Hebrew and Arabic—Father
William Lockhart.—Longs for British fare.—Spirit
rapping.—Letter to Milman.—Wiseman
and Manning.—The last poem.—Duchy of
Lancaster.—Retiring allowance.—Dinner with
Manning.—Return to England.—Medal for Mary
Monica.—“Shorn condition.”—Last letter to
Milman.—Milton Lockhart.—Pleasant last
summer.—“My wound is deep.”—Letter to Mrs. Hope
Scott.—“Be good!”—Promised visit to
Abbotsford.—Misunderstanding as to Lockhart’s last
visit.—Last letter to his daughter.—Description by an old servant, “What
a beautiful face he had!”—His love of his granddaughter.—Takes farewell
of Chiefswood.—Last hours.—“A soft sleep.”—His religious
ideas.—His poem on immortality
364-398
CHAPTER XXIV
CONCLUSION
Reminiscences of the Dean of Salisbury.—Lockhart on
modern poets.—He advocates the republication of
Keats.—Lockhart on
Tennyson.—Admiration of Byron and
Southey.—The Quarterly and the
Oxford Movement.—Kindness to Dean Boyle.—On
Scott’s letter about the death of his first love.—On
his friendship for Mr. Murray.—The notice of
Lockhart’s death in the Times.—The author’s final reflections
399-412
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME THE SECOND
Miss Violet Lockhart
Frontispiece
Facsimile of a Sepia Drawing by J. G. Lockhart, in the possession
of Mr. Brewster
Macpherson.
John Gibson Lockhart
Drawn by Dan1el
Maclise, R.A
Page 16
John Wilson Croker
From the Picture by William
Owen, R.A.,
in the National Portrait Gallery.
Photo-Etched Plate.
48
James Hogg
Drawn by Daniel
Maclise, R.A
112
Charles Scott
Facsimile of a Water-Colour Drawing by J. G. Lockhart,
in the
possession of Mr. Brewster
Macpherson228
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Thomas Carlyle
From the Painting by Sir J. E.
Millais, Bart., P.R.A.,
in the National Portrait
Gallery. Photo-Etched PlatePage 242
John Gibson Lockhart
Facsimile of a Water-Colour Drawing of himself, dated October 1816,
by J. G.
Lockhart,
in the possession of Major-General
Lockhart,
of
Milton Lockhart. On the back of the mount there is written: “
To Miss Violet Isabella Lockhart this view
of ME
is humbly dedicated by ME”
256
