INTRODUCTION 



an uncle, he lost all but the remnants of his 

 fortune, and was forced to study for the bar, 

 to which he was admitted in Edinburgh, in 

 1815. It was at this time too that his literary 

 career began. A poem, The City of the Plague, 

 attracted the favorable attention of Jeffrey, 

 the ogre of the Edinburgh, and Wilson be- 

 gan to contribute to that magazine. But Wil- 

 son was a Tory while the Edinburgh was a 

 Whig organ. So when Blackwood started his 

 Tory magazine, he attached himself to the 

 new periodical and began that long identifi- 

 cation with its interests which lasted up to 

 within a couple of years of his death. 



This was before the era of scientific appre- 

 ciation as it is practised to-day, and in criti- 

 cism the cudgel was the favorite weapon of 

 offence and defence. In critical contests con- 

 ducted in this spirit Wilson was always in 

 the forefront, wielding his quarter-staff with 

 all the head-breaking dexterity of a smock- 

 frocked yokel at a country fair. In reality the 



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