LITERARY AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 259 



These beautiful tales have acquired a popularity of the most endur- 

 ing kind. They are, indeed, poems in prose, in which, amid fanci- 

 ful scenes and characters, the struggles of humanity are depicted 

 with pathetic fidelity, and the noblest lessons of virtue and religion 

 are interwoven, in no imaginary harmony, with the homely realities 

 of Scottish peasant life. 



The emoluments of his new position, combined with his literary 

 earnings, enabled him, after a few years, to remove from his house 

 in Ann Street to a more commodious residence at no great distance. 

 He was also in a position once more to take up his summer quarters 

 in his beautiful villa at Elleray, the place which he loved above all 

 others on earth; and in the summer of 1823 we find him there, 

 with his wife and children, again under the old roof-tree. After 

 the labors of the College session, and so long a separation from a 

 spot so dear to him, it was not unnatural that he should crave some 

 relaxation from work ; and in spite of his publisher's desire to hear 

 from him, the study for a time was deserted for the fields. He was 

 in the habit of sauntering the whole day long among the woods and 

 walks of Elleray. This delightful time, however, had its interrup- 

 tions. The indefatigable publisher writes letter after letter, re- 

 minding him that the Magazine and its readers must be fed. Mr. 

 Blackwood's letters discover the shrewd and practical man of busi- 

 ness, temperate in judgment, and reasonable, though a little too 

 much inclined sometimes to the use of strong epithets — a habit too 

 common with literary men of that day, but now fortunately out of 

 fashion. From these letters may be gathered the true relation ot 

 Wilson to Blackxcood's Magazine. On the 15th of May he says : — 



" My dear Sir : — For nearly a week I have either been myself, 

 or had one of my sons waiting the arrival of the Carlisle mail, as I 

 never doubted but that you would give me your best help this 

 month. It never was of so much consequence to me, and I still 

 hope that a parcel is on the way. 



" That I may be able to wait till the last moment for any thing 

 of yours, I am keeping the Magazine back, and have resolved to let 

 it take its chance of arrival by not sending it off till the 28th, when 

 it will go by the steamboat ; this will just allow it time to be deliv- 

 ered on the 31st, and if no accident occur, it will be in time. 



"T wrote you on the 3d with Waugh's Review, and a few other 



