LITERARY AND DOMESTIC LD7E. 303 



and better than Gait's very best. That it should have stopped — if the 

 fault of Mr. Blackwood — is to me inexplicable and very displeasing, 

 and I have more than once said so to him, for nothing better ever 

 was in 'Maga' since she was born. Mr. Blackwood certainly 

 thought the rejected composition a good one, and it was owing to 

 me that it was rejected. I take that on my own head. But that 

 ' Mausie Waugh' should be stopped, is to me disgusting, because 

 it was stopped in my teeth, and in yours who have the glory of it. 



" Let me conclude with the assurance of my esteem for you, my 

 dear sir, no less as a man than an author. I am happy to know that 

 you are universally esteemed where you would wish to be, in your 

 profession, and in your private character, and that your poetical 

 faculty has done you no harm, but on the contrary great good. 



" I wish you would dine with us on Saturday at six o'clock. I 

 expect De Quincey, and one or two other friends, and there is a 

 bed, for you, otherwise I would not ask you at so late an hour. 



" I am yours affectionately, John Wilson." 



With the above exception, the memorials of this year are con- 

 fined to the pages of Blackwood, to which he contributed in one 

 month (June), when a double number was published, six of the 

 principal articles. How little he thought of knocking off a Nodes 

 when in the humor, may be judged from a note to Mr. Ballantyne, 

 the printer, in which he says :— " I think of trying to-day and 

 to-morrow to write a 'Noctes.' Would you have any objec- 

 tion to be introduced as a member? Would your brother? Of 

 course I need not say, that, with a little fun, I shall represent you 

 both in the kindest feeling. Pray let me know. 



" Yours very truly, John Wilson. 



" Subject : — A party are to assemble in the New Shop to dinner." 



The following note to the same gentleman may come in as a 

 minor illustration of the " calamities of authors :" — 



" Last night about eleven o'clock, I got two proofs to correct, 

 which took me nearly three hours. I ordered the boy, therefore, 

 to go away, and come eai'ly in the morning. It is exactly half-past 

 eight, and I have had the luxury of three hours' work after supper 

 for no end whatever, instead of indulging in it before breakfast. 



