gentleman and my credit as a man of letters, I do not know a person so
well qualified for the very difficult and responsible task he has
undertaken, and I think the distinct testimony of one who must know the
individual well ought to bear weight against all vague rumours, whether
arising from idle squibs he may have been guilty of when he came from
College--and I know none of these which indicate a bad heart in the
jester--or, as is much more likely, from those which have been rashly
and falsely ascribed to him.

Had any shadow of this want of confidence been expressed in the
beginning of the business I for one would have advised Lockhart to have
nothing to do with a concern for which his capacity was called in
question. But _now_ what can be done? A liberal offer, handsomely made,
has been accepted with the same confidence with which it was offered.
Lockhart has resigned his office in Edinburgh, given up his business,
taken a house in London, and has let, or is on the eve of letting, his
house here. The thing is so public, that about thirty of the most
respectable gentlemen in Edinburgh have proposed to me that a dinner
should be given in his honour. The ground is cut away behind him for a
retreat, nor can such a thing be proposed as matters now stand.

Upon what grounds or by whom Lockhart was first recommended to you I
have no right or wish to inquire, having no access whatsoever to the
negotiation, the result of which must be in every wise painful enough to
me. But as their advice must in addition to your own judgment have had
great weight with you, I conceive they will join with me in the
expectation that the other respectable friends of this important work
will not form any decision to Lockhart's prejudice till they shall see
how the business is conducted. By a different conduct they may do harm
to the Editor, Publisher, and the work itself, as far as the withdrawing
of their countenance must necessarily be prejudicial to its currency.
But if it shall prove that their suspicions prove unfounded, I am sure
it will give pain to them to have listened to them for a moment.

It has been my lot twice before now to stand forward to the best of my
power as the assistant of two individuals against whom a party run was
made. The one case was that of Wilson, to whom a thousand idle pranks
were imputed of a character very different and far more eccentric than
anything that ever attached to Lockhart. We carried him through u