LITER ATUKE. BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE. 1G3 



author a miserable compound of " egotism and malignity."* The 

 second was an even more unjustifiable attack on Leigh Hunt, who 

 was spoken of as a " profligate creature," a person " without rever- 

 ence either for God or man." The third was the famous " Chaldee 

 Manuscript," compared with which the sins of the others were al- 

 most pardonable in the eyes of a great portion of the public. The 

 effect of this article upon the small society of Edinburgh can now 

 hardly be realized.f 



It was evident, in a word, that a new and very formidable power 

 had come into existence, and that those who wielded it, whoever 

 they were, were not men to stick at trifles. The sensation produced 

 by the first number, was kept up in those that followed. There 

 was hardly a number for many months that did not contain at least 

 one attack upon somebody, and the business was gone about with 

 a systematic determination that showed there was an ample store 

 of the same ammunition in reserve. Most people, however virtuous, 

 have a kind of malicious pleasure in seeing others sacrificed, if the 

 process be artistically gone about, and the Blackwood tomahawk- 

 ers were undeniable adepts in the art. Even those who most con- 

 demned them, accordingly showed their appreciation of their per- 

 formances by reading and talking of them, Avhich was exactly the 

 thing to increase their influence. It must not be imagined, how- 

 ever, that the staple of Blackwood" 1 s contributions consisted of mere 

 banter and personality. These would have excited but slight and 

 temporary notice, had the bulk of the articles not displayed a rare 

 combination of much higher qualities. Whatever subjects were 

 discussed, were handled with a masterly vigor and freshness, and 

 developed a fulness of knowledge and variety of talent that could 

 not fail to command respect even from the least approving critic. 

 The publisher knew too well what suited the public taste, and had 

 too much innate sense and fairness, to allow more than a reasonable 



* It is edifying to find this article criticised thus in " Peter's Letters" two years afterwards : — 

 * This is indeed the only one of all the various sins of the Magazine for which I am at a loss 

 to discover not an apology but a motive. . . . The result is bad, and, in truth, very pitiable." 



t It is unnecessary here to give any account of this singular Jew d' esprit, the history of which 

 will be found sufficiently detailed in Professor Ferrier's excellent Preface to it. in vol. iv. of Wil- 

 son's Works. I may add this fact only, that it was composed in 53 Queen street, amid shouts 

 of laughter, that made the ladies in the room above send to inquire, in wonder, what the gentle- 

 men below were about. I am informed that among those who were met together on that mem- 

 orable occasion was Sir William Hamilton, who also exercised his wit in writing a verse, and was 

 so ajuused by his own performance that he tumbled off his chair iu a fit of laughter. 



