172 MEMOIR OF JOHN WILSON. 



could have little idea of their power of work, or of the formidable 

 manner in which it was being exercised. That blue-eyed and 

 ruddy-cheeked poet, whose time seemed to hang lightly enough 

 upon his hands, did not quite realize one's idea of the redoubtable 

 critic whose " crutch " was to become so formidable a weapon. 

 Nor did his jaunty-looking companion, whose leisure seemed to be 

 wholly occupied in drawing caricatures,* ajopear a likely person, 

 when he sauntered home from Princes street, to sit down to a 

 translation from the German, or to dash off at a sitting " copy " 

 enough to fill a sheet of Blackwood's Magazine. The striking con- 

 trast in the outward aspect of the two men corresponded truly to 

 their difference of character and temperament — a difference, how- 

 ever, which proved no obstacle to their close intimacy. There was 

 a picturesque contrast between them, which might be simply de- 

 fined by light and shade ; but there was a more striking dissimilarity 

 than that which is merely the result of coloring. Mr. Lockhart's 

 pale olive complexion had something of a Spanish character in it, 

 that accorded well with the sombre or rather melancholy expression 

 of his countenance ; his thin lips, compressed beneath a smile of 

 habitual sarcasm, promised no genial response to the warmer emo- 

 tions of the heart. His compact, finely-formed head indicated an 

 acute and refined intellect. Cold, haughty, supercilious in manner, 

 he seldom won love, and not unfrequently caused his friends to dis- 

 trust it in him, for thev sometimes found the warmth of their own 

 feelings thrown back upon them in presence of this cold indifference. 

 Circumstances afterwards conferred on him a brilliant position, and 

 he gave way to the weakness which seeks prestige from the re- 

 flected glory found in rank. The gay coteries of London society 

 injured his interest in the old friends who had worked hand in 

 hand with him when in Edinburgh. He was well depicted by his 

 friend through the mouth of the Shepherd, as "the Oxford collegian, 

 wi' a pale face and a black toozy head, but an e'e like an eagle's ; 



another with great alacrity, and apparently under the influence of high animal spirits. His com- 

 plexion is very sanguineous, but nothing can be more intelligent, keen, and sagacious than the 

 expression of his whole physiognomy ; above all, the gray eyes and eyebrows, as full of locomo- 

 tion as those of Catalani." — Peter's Letters, vol. ii., pp. 1ST, 1S8. 



* It is said, with what truth I know not, that clever as Mr. Lockhart was with both pen and 

 pencil, he lacked curiously one gift without which no man can be a successful barrister; he could 

 not, like many other able writers, mako a speech. His portfolios show that, instead of taking 

 notes during a trial, his pen must have been busily employed in photographing all the parties 

 engaged, judge, counsel, and prisoner. i avail myself of this opportunity to insert here two 

 specimens of his wonderful power, oue taken from the Bench, and another from the Pulpit. 



