Ii58 MEMOIR OF JOHN WILSON. 



true, nevertheless, that the reins of practical government were 

 throughout in the hands of the strong-minded and sagacious pub- 

 lisher. It lay with him to insert or reject, to alter or keep back ; 

 and though of course at all times open to the advice and influence 

 of his chief contributors, his was no merely nominal management, 

 as even they were sometimes made to experience. 



The relation between him and my father, considering the charac- 

 ter of the two men, was not a little remarkable, and it did equal 

 credit to both. Wilson's allegiance to the Magazine was steady and 

 undivided. He could not have labored for it more faithfully had it 

 been his own property.* This itself would suffice to prove high 

 qualities in the man who owned it. Mere self-interest does not 

 bind men in such perfect mutual consideration and confidence as 

 subsisted between them throughout their lives. It required on 

 both sides true manliness and generosity, combined with tact and 

 forbearance, and every kind feeling that man can show to man. 

 Blackwood's belief in Wilson was unbounded, not simply from ad- 

 miration of his great powers, but because he knew that he could 

 rely on him to the utmost, both as a contributor and a friend. 

 Wilson's respect and affection for Mr. Blackwood were equally sin- 

 cere and well founded ; and when he followed him to the grave, he 

 felt that no truer friend remained behind. It is pleasant to be able 

 to say that these relations of mutual esteem and confidence were 

 continued uninterrupted after the Magazine came into the hands 

 of Mr. Blackwood's sons, who were able to appreciate the genius 

 and the labor that had done so much to make their own and their 

 father's name famous throughout the world. 



In the miscellaneous correspondence that follows, extending over 

 many years, the reader will gather an idea of my father's varied 

 •relations, and of the general tenor of his life ; but before passing 

 from the subject at present, mention may here be made of the pub- 

 lication in 1822 of a volume of his prose compositions, under the 

 title of "Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life, a selection from the 

 papers of the late Arthur Austin." Some of these had appeared in 

 Blackwood under the signature " Eremus," which will also be found 

 affixed to several poems in the very early numbers of the Magazine. 



* "Of all the writers in it(the Magazine), I have done most for the least remuneration, though 

 Mr. B. and I have never once had one word of disagreement on that subject." — MS. letter of Wil- 

 son, dated 1833. 



