(Vol. vii., pp. 206. 292.)
It is difficult to believe that the third part of _Christabel_, published
in Blackwood for June, 1819, vol. v. p. 286., could have either "perplexed
the public," or "pleased Coleridge." In the first place, it was avowedly
written by "Morgan Odoherty;" and in the next, it is too palpable a parody
to have pleased the original author, who could hardly have been satisfied
with the raving rhapsodies put into his mouth, or with the treatment of his
innocent and virtuous heroine. This will readily be supposed when it is
known that the Lady Geraldine is made out to have been a man in woman's
attire, and that "the mark of Christabel's shame, the seal of her sorrow,"
is neither more nor less than the natural consequence of her having shared
her chamber with such a visitor.
Is your correspondent A. B. R. correct in stating this parody to have been
the composition of Dr. Maginn? In the biography of this brilliant writer in
the twenty-third volume of the _Dublin University Magazine_, Dr. Moir, who
had undoubtedly good opportunities of knowing, mentions that his first
contribution to _Blackwood_ was the Latin translation of "Chevy Chase," in
the number for November 1819; if this be correct, many of the cleverest
papers that appeared under the name of Odoherty, and which are all
popularly attributed {12} to Maginn, must have been the work of other
authors, a circumstance which I had been already led to suspect from the
frequent local allusions to Scotland in general, and to Edinburgh in
particular, which could have scarcely proceeded from the pen of a native of
Cork, who had then never visited Scotland. Since Dr. Moir's own death, it
appears that the _Eve of St. Jerry_, and the _Rhyme of the Auncient
Waggonere_, have been claimed for him, as well as some other similar
pieces; and I believe that the series of _Boxiana_, which also appeared
under the name of the renowned ensign and adjutant, was written by
Professor Wilson. Maginn's contributions were at first under various
signatures, and some time elapsed before he made use of the _nom de guerre_
of Morgan Odoherty, which eventually became so identified with him.