he had passed as advocate, by the establishment of "Black wood's Magazine." Of
this distinguished periodical he became, with John Wilson, the principal contributor; and now it was that the whole torrent of thought, which the bar may
have kept in check, burst forth in full profusion. Eloquence, and wit, and
learning distinguished his numerous articles, and imparted a prevailing character
to the work which it long after retained; but unfortunately with these attractive qualities there was often mingled a causticity of sarcasm and fierceness of
censure that engendered hatred and strife, and at last led to bloodshed. But
into this painful topic we have no wish to enter; and the unhappy termination
of his quarrel with the author of "Paris Visited " and "Paris Revisited" may as
well be allowed to sleep in oblivion. It is more pleasing to turn to his "Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk," a wonderful series of eloquent, vigorous, and truthful
sketches, embodying the distinguished men in almost every department, by
whom Scotland was at that period distinguished above every other nation. Not
a few, at the appearance of this, his first separate work, were loud in their
outcry against the author, not only as a partial delineator, but an invader of
the privacies of life and character; but now that years have elapsed, and that
the living men whom he so minutely depicted have passed away from the
world, the condemnation has been reversed, and the resentment been superseded
by gratitude. How could we otherwise have possessed such a valuable picture-gallery of the great of the past generation? All this Sir Walter Scott fully
appreciated when he thus wrote to the author of "Peter's Letters" in 1819:—"What an acquisition it would have been to our general information to have had such a work written, I do not say fifty, but even five-and-twenty years ago; and how much of grave and gay might then have been preserved, as it were, in amber, which have now mouldered away! When I think that, at an age not much younger than yours, I knew Black, Ferguson, Robertson, Erskine,
Adam Smith, John Home, &c., &c., and at last saw Burns, I can appreciate better than any one the value of a work which, like this, would have handed them down to posterity in their living colours."
It was in May, 1818, that Lockhart first formed that acquaintanceship with Sir Walter Scott, which so materially influenced the course of his after-life. The introduction to the "Great Unknown" took place in Edinburgh, at the house of Mr. Home Drummond, of Blair-Drummond, where a small but select party was assembled; and Scott, who understood that Mr. Lockhart had but lately returned from a tour in Germany, held with him an amusing conversation on Goethe, and German literature. This introduction soon ripened into an intimacy, in which Miss Scott became a principal personage, as a marriage treaty, with the concurrence of all parties, was settled so early as the February of 1820. On the 29th of April, the marriage took place at Edinburgh, and Sir Walter, who was the worshipper as well as recorder of good old Scottish fashions, caused the wedding to be held in the evening, and "gave a jolly supper afterwards to all the friends and connections of the young couple." Mr. Lockhart and his bride took up their abode at the little cottage of Chiefswood, about two miles from Abbotsford, which became their usual summer residence—and thither Sir Walter, when inundated by sight-seers and hero-worshippers, was occasionally glad to escape, that he might breathe in a tranquil atmosphere, and write a chapter or two of the novel that might be on hand, to despatch to the craving press in Edinburgh. These were happy visits, that spoke of no coming cloud; "the clatter of Sibyl Grey's hoofs, the yelping of Mustard and
