ISO MEMOIR OF JOHN WILSON. 



munications,* but to put forth their jeux d? esprit occasionally under 

 cover of the names of real personages who had never dreamed of so 

 distinguishing themselves. This was certainly carrying the system 

 to a most unwarrantable length ; but it must be allowed that in the 

 case of the two individuals most played upon in this respect, the 

 liberty was taken by no means amiss. " The Shepherd" was one 

 of these, and he rather enjoyed the fame which was thus thrust 

 upon him in addition to his own proper deserts.f He gives a most 

 amusing account of his sufferings at the hands of Lockhart, whom 

 he describes as " a mischievous Oxford puppy, dancing after the 

 young ladies, and drawing caricatures of every one who came in 

 contact Avith him." " I dreaded his eye terribly," he says, " and it 

 was not without reason, for he was very fond of playing tricks on 

 me, but always in such a way that it was impossible to lose temper 

 with him. I never parted company with him that my judgment 

 was not entirely jumbled with regard to characters, books, and lit- 

 erary articles of every description..''^ Lockhart continued to keep 

 his mind in the utmost perplexity for years in all things that related 

 to the Magazine. The Shepherd was naturally anxious to know 

 whose the tremendous articles were that made so much sensation 

 monthly, and having found by experience that he could extract no 

 information out of Sym or Wilson, he would repair to Lockhart to 

 ask him, awaiting his reply with fixed eye and a beating heart : 

 " Then, with his cigar in his mouth, his one leg flung carelessly over 

 the other, and without the symptom of a smile on his face, or one 

 twinkle of mischief in his dark gray eye, he would father the arti- 

 cles on his brother, Captain Lockhart, or Peter Robertson, or Sheriff 



* In the early numbers of the Magazine one meets a perfect host of these mythical person 

 ages, and the impression conveyed to the credulous reader must have been that contributions 

 were flowing in from remarkable persons in all quarters of the empire. There was really so 

 much variety and individuality imparted to these imaginary characters that it was very difficult 

 to perceive that the same writer was assuming the guises of William Wastle, Esq., and Dr. 

 Ulrick Sternstare, and Philip Kempferhausen, and the Baron Lauerwinkel. 



+ His expressions of opinion on the subject varied according to his mood, but his sober judg- 

 ment of the matter is on record in his own words: — "My friends in general have been of opinion 

 that he (Wilson) has amused himself and the public too often at my expense ; but, except in one 

 instance, which terminated very ill for me, and in which I had no more concern than the man 

 in the moon, I never discovered any evil design on his part, and thought it all excellent, sport. 

 At the same time, I must acknowledge that it was using too much freedom with any author to 

 print his name in full to poems, letters, and essays which he himself never saw. I do not say he 

 has done this, but either he or some one else has done it many a time." This was written in 1882. 

 Of Wilson's own kind feeling to Hogg, see letter of 1S33. 



% Hogg's Memoirs. , 



