rterly Review_ concerning his capacity to
undertake that highly responsible task. In most cases I might not be
considered as a disinterested witness on behalf of so near a connection,
but in the present instance I have some claim to call myself so. The
plan (I need not remind you) of calling Lockhart to this distinguished
situation, far from being favoured by me, or in any respect advanced or
furthered by such interest as I might have urged, was not communicated
to me until it was formed; and as it involved the removal of my daughter
and of her husband, who has always loved and honoured me as a son, from
their native country and from my vicinity, my private wish and that of
all the members of my family was that such a change should not take
place. But the advantages proposed were so considerable, that it removed
all title on my part to state my own strong desire that he should remain
in Scotland. Now I do assure you that if in these circumstances I had
seen anything in Lockhart's habits, cast of mind, or mode of thinking or
composition which made him unfit for the duty he had to undertake, I
should have been the last man in the world to permit, without the
strongest expostulation not with him alone but with you, his exchanging
an easy and increasing income in his own country and amongst his own
friends for a larger income perhaps, but a highly responsible situation
in London. I considered this matter very attentively, and recalled to my
recollection all I had known of Mr. Lockhart both before and since his
connection with my family. I have no hesitation in saying that when he
was paying his addresses in my family I fairly stated to him that
however I might be pleased with his general talents and accomplishments,
with his family, which is highly respectable, and his views in life,
which I thought satisfactory, I did decidedly object to the use he and
others had made of their wit and satirical talent in _Blackwood's
Magazine_, which, though a work of considerable power, I thought too
personal to be in good taste or to be quite respectable. Mr. Lockhart
then pledged his word to me that he would withdraw from this species of
warfare, and I have every reason to believe that he has kept his word
with me. In particular I _know_ that he had not the least concern with
the _Beacon_ newspaper, though strongly urged by his young friends at
the Bar, and I also know that while he has sometimes contributed an
essay to _Blackwood_ on gen