There were then two young advocates walking the Parliament House in
search of briefs. These were John Wilson (Christopher North) and John
Gibson Lockhart (afterwards editor of the _Quarterly_). Both were
West-countrymen--Wilson, the son of a wealthy Paisley manufacturer, and
Lockhart, the son of the minister of Cambusnethan, in Lanarkshire--and
both had received the best of educations, Wilson, the robust Christian,
having carried off the Newdigate prize at Oxford, and Lockhart, having
gained the Snell foundation at Glasgow, was sent to Balliol, and took a
first class in classics in 1813. These, with Dr. Maginn--under the
_sobriquet_ of "Morgan O'Dogherty,"--Hogg--the Ettrick Shepherd,--De
Quincey--the Opium-eater,--Thomas Mitchell, and others, were the
principal writers in _Blackwood_.
No. 7, the first of the new series, created an unprecedented stir in
Edinburgh. It came out on October 1, 1817, and sold very rapidly, but
after 10,000 had been struck off it was suppressed, and could be had
neither for love nor money. The cause of this sudden attraction was an
article headed "Translation from an Ancient Chaldee Manuscript,"
purporting to be an extract from some newly discovered historical
document, every paragraph of which contained a special hit at some
particular person well known in Edinburgh society.
Pages:
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400