182 MEMOIR OF JOHN WILSON. 



respondent informs me that lie recollects well Sir John coming to 

 him in a state of violent agitation, to show the letter he had just 

 received from Leigh Hunt, enclosing the pretended confession of 

 authorship by himself. " Oh, the villany of these fellows !" ex- 

 claimed the persecuted Baronet.* It was in truth a most unscrupu- 

 lous trick. 



But the most elaborate and successful of these mystifications, of 

 all which I suspect the invention must be attributed to Lockhart, 

 was that about Dr. Scott, of Glasgow, or " the Odontist," as he 

 dubbed him. I am not aware, indeed, of any other instance of this 

 kind of joke being carried out so steadily and with such entire suc- 

 cess. The doctor was a dentist, who practised both in Edinburgh 

 and Glasgow, but resided chiefly in the latter city, — a fat, bald, 

 queer-looking, and jolly little man, fond of jokes and conviviality, 

 but with no more pretensions to literary or poetic skill than a street 

 X>orter. To his own and his friends' astonishment he was intro- 

 duced in JBlackicood , s Magazine as one of its most valued contrib- 

 utors, and as the author of a variety of clever verses. There was 

 no mistake about it, "Dr. James Scott, 7 Miller street, Glasgow," 

 was a name and address as well known as that of Mr. Blackwood 

 himself. The ingenious author had contrived to introduce so many 

 of the Doctor's peculiar phrases, and references to his Saltmarket 

 acquaintances, that the Doctor himself gradually began to believe 

 that the verses were really his own, and when called on to sing one 

 of his songs in company, he assumed the airs of authorship with 

 perfect complacency. The " Odontist" became recognized as one 

 of Blackwood's leading characters, and so far was the joke carried, 

 that a volume of his compositions was gravely advertised in a list 

 of new works, prefixed to the Magazine, as " in the press."f Even 



* He had been held np to ridicule, under a most horrible disguise, in the "Chaidee MS.," for 

 which, however, he had the satisfaction of receiving damages in an action brought against the 

 publisher. 



+ Had the volume ever appeared, it would have proved a very unique collection. One of the 

 songs attributed to him became so popular, and is really so admirable in its kind, as to be worth 

 reproducing here as a specimen of these curious lyrics. There is no doubt that Mr. Lockhart was 

 the author. 



"CAPTAIN PATON'S LAMENT. 



" Touch once more a sober measure, and let punch and tears be shed, 

 For a prince of good old fellows, that, alack-a-day, is dead ! 

 For a prince of worthy fellows, and a pretty man also, 

 That has left the Saltmarket in sorrow, grief, and woe. 

 Oh, we ne*er shall see the like of Captain Paton no mo ! 



