ALLIANCE WITH BLACKWOOD--BLACKWOOD'S "EDINBURGH MAGAZINE"--TERMINATION
OF PARTNERSHIP
We have already seen that Mr. Murray had some correspondence with Thomas
Campbell in 1806 respecting the establishment of a monthly magazine;
such an undertaking had long been a favourite scheme of his, and he had
mentioned the subject to many friends at home as well as abroad. When,
therefore, Mr. Blackwood started his magazine, Murray was ready to enter
into his plans, and before long announced to the public that he had
become joint proprietor and publisher of Blackwood's _Edinburgh
Magazine_.
There was nothing very striking in the early numbers of the _Magazine_,
and it does not appear to have obtained a considerable circulation. The
first editors were Thomas Pringle, who--in conjunction with a
friend--was the author of a poem entitled "The Institute," and James
Cleghorn, best known as a contributor to the _Farmers' Magazine_.
Constable, who was himself the proprietor of the _Scots Magazine_ as
well as of the _Farmers' Magazine_, desired to keep the monopoly of the
Scottish monthly periodicals in his own hands, and was greatly opposed
to the new competitor. At all events, he contrived to draw away from
Blackwood Pringle and Cleghorn, and to start a new series of the _Scots
Magazine_ under the title of the _Edinburgh Magazine_. Blackwood
thereupon changed the name of his periodical to that by which it has
since been so well known. He undertook the editing himself, but soon
obtained many able and indefatigable helpers.
There were then two young advocates walking the Parliament House in
search of briefs. These were John Wilson (Christopher North) and John
Gibson Lockhart (afterwards editor of the _Quarterly_). Both were
West-countrymen--Wilson, the son of a wealthy Paisley manufacturer, and
Lockhart, the son of the minister of Cambusnethan, in Lanarkshire--and
both had received the best of educations, Wilson, the robust Christian,
having carried off the Newdigate prize at Oxford, and Lockhart, having
gained the Snell foundation at Glasgow, was sent to Balliol, and took a
first class in classics in 1813. These, with Dr. Maginn--under the
_sobriquet_ of "Morgan O'Dogherty,"--Hogg--the Ettrick Shepherd,--De
Quincey--the Opium-eater,--Thomas Mitchell, and others, were the
principal writers in _Blackwood_.
No. 7, the first of the new series, created an unprecedented stir in
Edinburgh. It came out on October 1, 1817, and sold very rapidly, but
after 10,000 had been struck off it was suppressed, and could be had
neither for love nor money. The cause of this sudden attraction was an
article headed "Translation from an Ancient Chaldee Manuscript,"
purporting to be an extract from some newly discovered historical
document, every paragraph of which contained a special hit at some
particular person well known in Edinburgh society. There was very little
ill-nature in it; at least, nothing like the amount which it excited in
those who were, or imagined themselves to be, caricatured in it.
Constable, the "Crafty," and Pringle and Cleghorn, editors of the
_Edinburgh Magazine_, as well as Jeffrey, editor of the _Edinburgh
Review_, came in for their share of burlesque description.
Among the persons delineated in the article were the publisher of
Blackwood's _Edinburgh Magazine_, whose name "was as it had been, the
colour of Ebony": indeed the name of Old Ebony long clung to the
journal. The principal writers of the article were themselves included
in the caricature. Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, was described as "the
great wild boar from the forest of Lebanon, and he roused up his spirit,
and I saw him whetting his dreadful tusks for the battle." Wilson was
"the beautiful leopard," and Lockhart "the scorpion,"--names which were
afterwards hurled back at them with interest. Walter Scott was described
as "the great magician who dwelleth in the old fastness, hard by the
river Jordan, which is by the Border." Mackenzie, Jameson, Leslie,
Brewster, Tytler, Alison, M'Crie, Playfair, Lord Murray, the Duncans--in
fact, all the leading men of Edinburgh were hit off in the same fashion.
Mrs. Garden, in her "Memorials of James Hogg," says that "there is no
doubt that Hogg wrote the first draft; indeed, part of the original is
still in the possession of the family.... Some of the more irreverent
passages were not his, or were at all events largely added to by others
before publication." [Footnote: Mrs. Garden's "Memorials of James Hogg,"
p. 107.] In a recent number of _Blackwood_ it is said that:
"Hogg's name is nearly associated with the Chaldee Manuscript. Of course
he claimed credit for having written the skit, and undoubtedly he
originated the idea. The rough draft came from his pen, and we cannot
speak with certainty as to how it was subsequently manipulated. But
there is every reason to believe that Wilson and Lockhart, probably
assisted by Sir William Hamilton, went to work upon it, and so altered
it that Hogg's original offspring was changed out of all knowledge."
[Footnote: _Blackwood's Magazine_, September 1882, pp. 368-9.]
The whole article was probably intended as a harmless joke; and the
persons indicated, had they been wise, might have joined in the laugh or
treated the matter with indifference. On the contrary, however, they
felt profoundly indignant, and some of them commenced actions in the
Court of Session for the injuries done to their reputation.
The same number of _Blackwood_ which contained the "Translation from an
Ancient Chaldee Manuscript," contained two articles, one probably by
Wilson, on Coleridge's "Biographia Literaria," the other, signed "Z," by
Lockhart, being the first of a series on "The Cockney School of Poetry."
They were both clever, but abusive, and exceedingly personal in their
allusions.
Murray expostulated with Blackwood on the personality of the articles.
He feared lest they should be damaging to the permanent success of the
journal. Blackwood replied in a long letter, saying that the journal was
prospering, and that it was only Constable and his myrmidons who were
opposed to it, chiefly because of its success.
In August 1818, Murray paid £1,000 for a half share in the magazine,
and from this time he took a deep and active interest in its progress,
advising Blackwood as to its management, and urging him to introduce
more foreign literary news, as well as more scientific information. He
did not like the idea of two editors, who seem to have taken the
management into their own hands.
Subsequent numbers of _Blackwood_ contained other reviews of "The
Cockney School of Poetry": Leigh Hunt, "the King of the Cockneys," was
attacked in May, and in August it was the poet Keats who came under the
critic's lash, four months after Croker's famous review of "Endymion" in
the _Quarterly_. [Footnote: It was said that Keats was killed by this
brief notice, of four pages, in the _Quarterly_; and Byron, in his "Don
Juan," gave credit to this statement:
"Poor Keats, who was killed off by one critique,
Just as he really promised something great,...
'Tis strange, the mind, that very fiery particle,
Should let itself be snuffed out by an article."
Leigh Hunt, one of Keats' warmest friends, when in Italy, told Lord
Byron (as he relates in his Autobiography) the real state of the case,
proving to him that the supposition of Keats' death being the result of
the review was a mistake, and therefore, if printed, would be a
misrepresentation. But the stroke of wit was not to be given up. Either
Mr. Gifford, or "the poet-priest Milman," has generally, but
erroneously, been blamed for being the author of the review in the
_Quarterly_, which, as is now well known, was written by Mr. Croker.]
The same number of _Blackwood_ contained a short article about
Hazlitt--elsewhere styled "pimpled Hazlitt." It was very short, and
entitled "Hazlitt cross-questioned." Hazlitt considered the article full
of abuse, and commenced an action for libel against the proprietors of
the magazine. Upon this Blackwood sent Hazlitt's threatening letter to
Murray, with his remarks:
_Mr. Blackwood to John Murray_.
_September_ 22, 1818.
"I suppose this fellow merely means to make a little bluster, and try if
he can pick up a little money. There is nothing whatever actionable in
the paper.... The article on Hazlitt, which will commence next number,
will be a most powerful one, and this business will not deprive it of
any of its edge."
_September_ 25, 1818.
"What are people saying about that fellow Hazlitt attempting to
prosecute? There was a rascally paragraph in the _Times_ of Friday last
mentioning the prosecution, and saying the magazine was a work filled
with private slander. My friends laugh at the idea of his prosecution."
Mr. Murray, however, became increasingly dissatisfied with this state of
things; he never sympathised with the slashing criticisms of
_Blackwood_, and strongly disapproved of the personalities, an opinion
which was shared by most of his literary friends. At the same time his
name was on the title-page of the magazine, and he was jointly
responsible with Blackwood for the articles which appeared there.
In a long letter dated September 28, 1818, Mr. Murray deprecated the
personality of the articles in the magazine, and entreated that they be
kept out. If not, he begged that Blackwood would omit his name from the
title-page of the work.
A long correspondence took place during the month of October between
Murray and Blackwood: the former continuing to declaim against the
personality of the articles; the latter averring that there was nothing
of the sort in the magazine. If Blackwood would only keep out these
personal attacks, Murray would take care to send him articles by Mr.
Frere, Mr. Barrow, and others, which would enhance the popularity and
respectability of the publication.
In October of this year was published an anonymous pamphlet, entitled
"Hypocrisy Unveiled," which raked up the whole of the joke contained in
the "Translation from an Ancient Chaldee Manuscript," published a year
before. The number containing it had, as we have already seen, been
suppressed, because of the offence it had given to many persons of
celebrity, while the general tone of bitterness and personality had been
subsequently modified, if not abandoned. Murray assured Blackwood that
his number for October 1818 was one of the best he had ever read, and he
desired him to "offer to his friends his very best thanks and
congratulations upon the production of so admirable a number." "With
this number," he said, "you have given me a fulcrum upon which I will
move heaven and earth to get subscribers and contributors." Indeed,
several of the contributions in this surpassingly excellent number had
been sent to the Edinburgh publisher through the instrumentality of
Murray himself.
"Hypocrisy Unveiled" was a lampoon of a scurrilous and commonplace
character, in which the leading contributors to and the publishers of
the magazine were violently attacked. Both Murray and Blackwood, who
were abused openly, by name, resolved to take no notice of it; but
Lockhart and Wilson, who were mentioned under the thin disguise of "the
Scorpion" and "the Leopard," were so nettled by the remarks on
themselves, that they, in October 1818, both sent challenges to the
anonymous author, through the publisher of the pamphlet. This most
injudicious step only increased their discomfiture, as the unknown
writer not only refused to proclaim his identity, but published and
circulated the challenges, together with a further attack on Lockhart
and Wilson.
This foolish disclosure caused bitter vexation to Murray, who wrote:
_John Murray to Mr. Blackwood_.
_October_ 27, 1818.
My DEAR BLACKWOOD,
I really can recollect no parallel to the palpable absurdity of your two
friends. If they had planned the most complete triumph to their
adversaries, nothing could have been so successfully effective. They
have actually given up their names, as the authors of the offences
charged upon them, by implication only, in the pamphlet. How they could
possibly conceive that the writer of the pamphlet would be such an idiot
as to quit his stronghold of concealment, and allow his head to be
chopped off by exposure, I am at a loss to conceive....
I declare to God that had I known what I had so incautiously engaged in,
I would not have undertaken what I have done, or have suffered what I
have in my feelings and character--which no man had hitherto the
slightest cause for assailing--I would not have done so for any sum....
In answer to these remonstrances Blackwood begged him to dismiss the
matter from his mind, to preserve silence, and to do all that was
possible to increase the popularity of the magazine. The next number,
he said, would be excellent and unexceptionable; and it proved to be so.
The difficulty, however, was not yet over. While the principal editors
of the Chaldee Manuscript had thus revealed themselves to the author of
"Hypocrisy Unveiled," the London publisher of _Blackwood_ was, in
November 1818, assailed by a biting pamphlet, entitled "A Letter to Mr.
John Murray, of Albemarle Street, occasioned by his having undertaken
the publication, in London, of _Blackwood's Magazine_." "The curse of
his respectability," he was told, had brought the letter upon him. "Your
name stands among the very highest in the department of Literature which
has fallen to your lot: the eminent persons who have confided in you,
and the works you have given to the world, have conduced to your
establishment in the public favour; while your liberality, your
impartiality, and your private motives, bear testimony to the justice of
your claims to that honourable distinction."
Other criticisms of the same kind reached Mr. Murray's ear. Moore, in
his Diary (November 4, 1818), writes: "Received two most civil and
anxious letters from the great 'Bibliopola Tryphon' Murray, expressing
his regret at the article in _Blackwood_, and his resolution to give up
all concern in it if it contained any more such personalities."
[Footnote: "Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore," ii.
210. By Lord John Russell.]
Finally the Hazlitt action was settled. Blackwood gave to Murray the
following account of the matter:
_December_ 16, 1818.
"I have had two letters from Mr. Patmore, informing me that Mr. Hazlitt
was to drop the prosecution. His agent has since applied to mine
offering to do this, if the expenses and a small sum for some charity
were paid. My agent told him he would certainly advise any client of his
to get out of court, but that he would never advise me to pay anything
to be made a talk of, as a sum for a charity would be. He would advise
me, he said, to pay the expenses, and a trifle to Hazlitt himself
privately. Hazlitt's agent agreed to this." [Footnote: I have not been
able to discover what sum, if any, was paid to Hazlitt privately.]
Notwithstanding promises of amendment, Murray still complained of the
personalities, and of the way in which the magazine was edited. He also
objected to the "echo of the _Edinburgh Review's_ abuse of Sharon
Turner. It was sufficient to give pain to me, and to my most valued
friend. There was another ungentlemanly and uncalled-for thrust at
Thomas Moore. That just makes so many more enemies, unnecessarily; and
you not only deprive me of the communications of my friends, but you
positively provoke them to go over to your adversary."
It seemed impossible to exercise any control over the editors, and
Murray had no alternative left but to expostulate, and if his
expostulations were unheeded, to retire from the magazine. The last
course was that which he eventually decided to adopt, and the end of the
partnership in _Blackwood's Magazine_, which had long been anticipated,
at length arrived. Murray's name appeared for the last time on No. 22,
for January 1819; the following number bore no London publisher's name;
but on the number for March the names of T. Cadell and W. Davies were
advertised as the London agents for the magazine.
On December 17, 1819, £1,000 were remitted to Mr. Murray in payment of
the sum which he had originally advanced to purchase his share, and his
connection with _Blackwood's Magazine_ finally ceased. He thereupon
transferred his agency for Scotland to Messrs. Oliver & Boyd, with whose
firm it has ever since remained. The friendly correspondence between
Murray and Blackwood nevertheless continued, as they were jointly
interested in several works of importance.
In the course of the following year, "Christopher North" made the
following statement in _Blackwood's Magazine_ in "An Hour's Tête-à-tête
with the Public":
"The Chaldee Manuscript, which appeared in our seventh number, gave us
both a lift and a shove. Nothing else was talked of for a long while;
and after 10,000 copies had been sold, it became a very great rarity,
quite a desideratum.... The sale of the _Quarterly_ is about 14,000, of
the _Edinburgh_ upwards of 7,000.... It is not our intention, at
present, to suffer our sale to go beyond 17,000.... Mr. Murray, under
whose auspices our _magnum opus_ issued for a few months from Albemarle
Street, began to suspect that we might be eclipsing the _Quarterly
Review_. No such eclipse had been foretold; and Mr. Murray, being no
great astronomer, was at a loss to know whether, in the darkness that
was but too visible, we were eclipsing the _Quarterly_, or the
_Quarterly_ eclipsing us. We accordingly took our pen, and erased his
name from our title-page, and he was once more happy. Under our present
publishers we carry everything before us in London."
Mr. Murray took no notice of this statement, preferring, without any
more words, to be quit of his bargain.
It need scarcely be added that when Mr. Blackwood had got his critics
and contributors well in hand--when his journal had passed its frisky
and juvenile life of fun and frolic--when the personalities had ceased
to appear in its columns, and it had reached the years of judgment and
discretion--and especially when its principal editor, Mr. John Wilson
(Christopher North), had been appointed to the distinguished position of
Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh--the
journal took that high rank in periodical literature which it has ever
since maintained.