The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart
Chapter 9: 1820-21
Jonathan Christie to John Gibson Lockhart, 20 February 1821
On Saturday, February 20, 1821 (Postmark), Lockhart received a letter from Christie, which, ![]()
| 274 | LIFE OF J. G. LOCKHART. | |
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his
friend says, “will surprise and distress you. I have been forced to give
Scott a meeting, and he now lies (if
I had written an hour ago I should have said mortally, and I must still say
most dangerously) wounded. This has been the most heartrending transaction that
has happened in my life: a few hours ago I would most willingly have changed
places with the man I believed to lie mortally wounded.
“The circumstances were simply these. I sent a copy of
your second statement and of that which I wrote, to Mr. P.
(Patmore) on Saturday night.
Yesterday he called upon me from Mr.
Scott, with a letter demanding an explanation of the last
sentence in the narrative which was signed by me, such explanation to express
that I meant nothing disrespectful to Mr. Scott; this to
be made public. This appeared to me to be such a complete trick to obtain
something like éclat at the
conclusion of his affair with you, that I instantly refused to do anything of
the sort. Mr. Patmore then produced a challenge from
Mr. Scott, which he was to deliver to me in case of a
refusal. I entered a protest, in the first instance, that I could only meet
Mr. Scott on the ground that I would meet any man who
thought himself aggrieved by me, and to whom I refused other satisfaction, and
then consented to meet him.
“We met last night, at nine o’clock, at Chalk
Farm. I arranged with my second (Traill)
that I would not ![]()
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fire at Scott except in self-defence. Accordingly, I
fired my first shot in the air. Before we fired again,
Traill protested that, as Mr.
Scott had taken the usual aim at me, I should not forego that
advantage again.1 I felt bound to follow his advice for
self-preservation, and my second shot took effect. . . . The surgeon left him on some pretext, and did not
return, I presume thinking his case desperate. I cannot and shall not attempt
to describe the horror I felt. I instantly ran to the Chalk Farm Inn, and
procured a shutter to carry him upon. We carried him there, and put him to bed,
and then I made my escape,—as I did afterwards (sic), but not till his family had arrived.”
Christie then gives the latest, and less
distressing news of the wounded man, and ends—“Pity me, I am
most wretched, though I stand acquitted in my own mind of doing more than
what, under the circumstances, was inevitable. . . .”
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.
George Darling (1780-1862)
Scottish physician educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen; he practised in London where
he was the friend of David Wilkie and Benjamin Robert Haydon. He attended John Scott
following his duel with John Christie.
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).
Peter George Patmore [Tims] (1786-1855)
English writer and friend of Charles Lamb and Leigh Hunt; an early contributor to
Blackwood's, he was John Scott's second in the fatal duel, editor of
the
Court Journal, and father of the poet Coventry Patmore.
John Scott (1784-1821)
After Marischal College he worked as a journalist with Leigh Hunt, edited
The Champion (1814-1817), and edited the
London
Magazine (1820) until he was killed in the duel at Chalk Farm.
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.
