The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart
Chapter 18: 1837-43
John Gibson Lockhart to John Wilson, 26 August 1839
“Glasgow, August 26, 1839.
“My dear Wilson,—I
have just heard from R. Finlay that you
are idle enough to be going to the Eglintoun Tournament. Be so good as to go on
a Glasgow hack armed with a rung, and I lay 500 to 5 you will beat all the
Knights, Squires, and Heralds to a jelly in a jiffy. Astley’s, to be
serious, is a better thing by far than, from witnessing the rehearsals, I
expect the performance to prove. I shall regret not having been there if it
turns out, after all, that you are in armour, and the veritable chevalier inconnu.
“Now contrive to come with
Allan.—Ever yours,
Robert Findlay (1784-1862)
Of Easterhill, son of Robert Findlay (d. 1802); he was a merchant and banker in Glasgow,
and friend and schoolmate of John Wilson.
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).
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).
