LITERATURE. BLACK WOO-d's MAGAZTNE. 187 



and Hunt might have been overlooked by the Edinburgh public ; . 

 but the Chaldee MS., though in reality a joke in comparison, raised 

 a storm of solemn indignation, which it required all the courage 

 and energy of the publisher to bear up against. In a second edition 

 of the Magazine, which was very rapidly called for, the obnoxious 

 article was withdrawn,* doubtless much to the disappointment of 

 purchasers. For in fact the outcry, which at first seemed to 

 threaten the extinction of the Magazine, was the best possible stim- 

 ulant to its success. It throve on opposition, and waxed more 

 bold and provoking as the enemy showed more sensitive apprecia- 

 tion of its power. But for some time the publisher's position was 

 no enviable one, as may be gathered from the second of two follow- 

 ing letters from Mrs. Wilson to her sister in England : — 



"Edinburgh, December 18, 1817. 

 " I hope you got your last number of the Magazine ; I have been 

 so busy working that I have not had time to look at it. The first 

 thing in it, on the ' Pulpit Eloquence of Scotland,' is written by 

 Mr. Lockhart, a young advocate, a friend of Mr. Wilson's. I be- 

 lieve there is not much of Mr. W.'s in the last number. I think 

 there is something about the Lament of Tasso ; that is his. You 

 were right in your conjecture about Mr. Hogg's production ; his 

 prose compositions are not in the happiest style ; there will be 

 another of his in the next number, — a letter addressed to C. K. 

 Sharpe, Esq. Another article in it, entitled, ' On the late National 

 Calamity,' is Mr. W.'s ; and the one on Mr. Alison's pulpit elo- 

 quence is written by a son of his. A review of Mandeville is by 

 Mr. Lockhart. There is something besides of Mr. W.'s ; but I 

 don't exactly know what it is. I think it is about Old Masters." 



11 May 20, 1818. 



" The number that comes out to-day is pronounced a very good 

 one, and I suppose you will soon have it. The articles written by 

 Mr. W. are those 'On Truth,' the 'Fudge Family in Paris,' Chil.le 

 Harold, canto 4th, and Horace Walpole's Letters. The letter to 



* The following note was prefixed to the November number :—" The editor has learned with 

 regret that an article in the first edition of No. VII., which was intended as a jeu-<V esprit, 

 has been construed so as to give offence to individuals justly entitled to respect and regard; 

 he has, on that account, withdrawn il in the second edition, and can only add that, if what has 

 happened could have been anticipated, the article in question certainly never would have appeared." 



