ed at seeing the children frisking about in the
happiness of youth--a contrast which threw the misery of his own early
life into strange relief. His domestic favourites were his dog and his
cat, both of which he dearly loved. He was also most kind and generous
to his domestic servants; and all who knew him well, sorrowfully
lamented his death.

Many years after Gifford's death, a venomous article upon him appeared
in a London periodical. The chief point of this anonymous attack was
contained in certain extracts from the writings of Sir W. Scott,
Southey, and other eminent contemporaries of Mr. Gifford. Mr. R.W. Hay,
one of the oldest contributors to the _Quarterly_, was at that time
still living, and, in allusion to the article in question, he wrote to
Mr. Murray's son:

_Mr. R.W. Hay to Mr. Murray_.

_July 7, 1856_.

It is wholly worthless, excepting as it contains strictures of Sir W.
Scott, Southey, and John Wilson on the critical character of the late
Wm. Gifford. I by no means subscribe to all that is said by these
distinguished individuals on the subject, and I cannot help suspecting
that the high station in literature which they occupied rendered them
more than commonly sensitive to the corrections and erasures which were
proposed by the editor. Sir Walter (great man as he was) was perfectly
capable of writing so carelessly as to require correction, and both
Southey and John Wilson might occasionally have brought forth opinions,
on political and other matters, which were not in keeping with the
general tone of the _Quarterly Review_. That poor Gifford was deformed
in figure, feeble in health, unhappily for him there can be no denying,
but that he had any pleasure in tormenting, as asserted by some, that he
indulged in needless criticism without any regard to the feelings of
those who were under his lash, I am quite satisfied cannot justly be
maintained. In my small dealings with the _Review_, I only found the
editor most kind and considerate. His amendments and alterations I
generally at once concurred in, and I especially remember in one of the
early articles, that he diminished the number of Latin quotations very
much to its advantage; that his heart was quite in the right place I
have had perfect means of knowing from more than one circumstance,
_e.g._, his anxiety for the welfare of his friend Hoppner the painter's
children was displayed in the variety of modes which he adopted to
assist them, and when J