LITEKAEY AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 273 



pass away, leaving a clear and uninterrupted passage for the Prin- 

 cess Victoria to the throne of these realms ! 

 The next letter is equally characteristic : — 



"Abbotsford, Sunday, 2d January, 1825. 

 "My dear Wilson: — I left London on Wednesday evening, and 

 arrived here in safety within forty-six hours of the 'Bull and 

 Mouth.' 



" Our friend the Bailie* might probably show you a letter of Dr. 

 Stoddartf about getting some literary articles for the New Times. 

 I saw Old Slop, and introduced Maginn to him. What the Doctor 

 and he might afterwards agree about I can't say, but I do hope 

 there may be a permanent connection between them, as among 

 newspeople there is no doubt Stoddart is by far the most respecta- 

 ble man, and there is every reason to fear M.'s propensities tending 

 more frequently to the inferior orders of the Plume. 



"For myself, I accepted Dr. Stoddart's offer of his newspaper, 

 to be repaid by a few occasional paragraphs throughout the year ; 

 and upon his earnest entreaty for some introduction to you, I ven- 

 tured to say that I thought you would have no objection to receive 

 the New Times on the same terms. 



" Whether he has at once acted on this hint I know not, but 

 thought it best to write you in case. 



" After all, it is a pleasant thing to have a daily paper at one's 

 breakfast-table all the year through. 



" It can cost us little trouble to repay him by a dozen half-columns 

 — half of these may be puffs of ourselves, by the way — and Southey 

 and others have agreed to do the same thing on the same terms. So 

 if the New Times comes, and you don't wish it upon these terms, 

 pray let me know this, that I may advise Slop. 



" London is deserted by the gentlefolks in the Christmas holidays, 

 so that I have little news. I placed my brother, quite to my satis- 

 faction and his, at Blackheath. As for the matter personal to my- 

 self, of which I spoke to you, I can only say that I left it in Croker's 



* Mr. Blackwood. 



t Sir John Stoddart (at this time editor of 77ie New Times, a morning paper, which was 

 started about 1817, and continued until 182S) was born in 1773, and died in 1856. Besides his 

 political writings, he was the author of Remarks on Local Scenery and Manners in Scotia ml. 

 in 1799 and 1800. 2 vols. 1801; An Essay on the Philosophy of Language ; and some trans- 

 lations. In the political caricatures and satires of that day, he was continually introduced as 

 '• Dr. Slop." 



