Dr. M'Crie, was extremely Presbyterian. Sharpe's love of scandal, and his amusing notes to Kirkton, may have suggested what "The Chaldee" says of his voice, "even like the voice of the unclean bird which buildeth its nest in the corner of the temple (Kirkton). Sharpe was very angry; he complained to Scott, who said that his connection with the magazine was through Will Laidlaw. Laidlaw wrote the historical chronicle of events from month to month. Scott, it seems, had secured for him this appointment, and Laidlaw was his chief link with the magazine. Sharpe sneers at Laidlaw"a person of whom I never heard." Scott added that Blackwood had sent him an apologetic letter, "stating that the offensive article had been inserted against his will," and said that his remonstrances made Blackwood omit the article in later editions.

In "The Chaldee" a Veiled Man now aids Blackwood with a list of names of contributors, "the beautiful Leopard from the valley of the palm trees " (Wilson), and "from a far country, the Scorpion, who delighteth to sting the faces of men" (Lockhart), "and the great wild Boar from the Forest of Lebanon" (which men call Ettrick Forest); "and the Griffin came with a roll of the names of those whose blood had been shed between his teeth; and I saw him stand over the body of one that had been buried long in the grave, defending it from all men." The Griffin is the Rev. Dr. Thomas M'Crie, the Biographer of

Knox, and from his part in Blackwood arose contendings, and the shedding of much ink. Sir William Hamilton (who abode not long with them) is "the black Eagle of the desert, whose cry is as the sound of an unknown tongue, which flieth over the ancient cities, and hath his dwelling among the tombs of the wise men." Constable now appeals to Jeffrey, "a familiar spirit unto whom he had sold himself. But the spirit was a wicked spirit and a cruel," who helped him not. Leslie (Professor of Mathematics) is appealed to, Professor Playfair. prophets, and ministered in the temple while he was yet young; but he went out, and became one of the scoffers" (Edinburgh Reviewers). These, too, would not aid Constable. Scott answered as he did to Blackwood. Macvey Napier, and a crowd of forgotten folk, rallied to the man crafty in council, including "John, the Brother of James, a man of low stature, who giveth out merry things, and is a lover of fables from his youth up,' that is, "Leeing Johnny," John Ballantyne. "And there followed many women which knew not their right hand from their left, also some cattle."

and next the Rev.

"He also is of the seed of the

"The Chaldee" ends

"And I fled into an inner chamber to hide myself, and I heard a great tumult, but I wist not what it was." A great tumult arose in little Edinburgh, "no end of public emotion." Legal proceedings were threatened; private wergild was paid

VOL. I.

L

to the Third Beast, Graham Dalyell.

Scott made Blackwood withdraw the article; there were excursions and alarms. Being local and personal, “The Chaldee" caused more trouble in Edinburgh than articles much more blameworthy.

CHAPTER VI

EDINBURGH, 1817-1819

Blackwood's next scrape.-Its origin.-Cavalier and Covenanter.Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe.-His edition of Kirkton.-Dr. M'Crie assailed for contributing to Blackwood. — Lockhart carries the war into Africa.-Attacks clerical contributors to the Edinburgh Review.-Writes as Baron von Lauerwinkel.Criticises critics. - Shakespeare. The real Lockhart. On Napoleon. On Jeffrey. Jeffrey's real insignificance. His ignorance. His treatment of Goethe. Lockhart's defence of Christianity against the Edinburgh Review.-How far justified. - Examples of religious criticism from the Edinburgh. sceptical priest. Sydney Smith's flippancies in the Edinburgh. "Merriment of Parsons." - Evangelicals "nasty vermin." Lockhart on Scottish religion.-His reprisals.-Personal attack on Playfair. Scott's disapproval. — Wilson and Lockhart are attacked anonymously.-"Hypocrisy Unveiled."-They challenge their opponent.-Jeffrey's reply.-Mr. Macvey Napier suspected. -Denies the charge. — Extracts from his unpublished Correspondence. Sir John Barrow's letter.-Playfair and the Quarterly Review.

The

THE next formidable difficulty into which Blackwood picked its way was Lockhart's own. The new feud was really a sequel of the old religious Cavalier and Covenanting struggles, at least it arose in the camp of the suffering yet lovely Remnant. Blackwood, though Tory, was not Cavalier in politics. We have seen how Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe was handled in "The Chaldee." In the December number

of 1817 appeared a letter to Sharpe, "On his original mode of editing Church History," that of Kirkton. "We have all along the upper part of the page, the manly narrative of honest Kirkton, speaking of his suffering friends with compassion, but of his enemies as became a man and a Christian. And below that" (in Sharpe's notes) "such a medley of base ribaldry, profane stuff, and blasphemous innuendos, as at one view exhibits the character of both parties." Sharpe, in fact, had done his best to rake up the by no means rare absurdities of the Remnant, and his taste led him to revel in the few scandalous anecdotes about the godly. Whether his new assailant was Lockhart or Dr. M'Crie, the Scorpion or the Griffin, is not known.1 It looks more like the Griffin's touch. Sharpe himself, in a letter to Scott, calls Dr. M'Crie "a canting rogue," speaks of "the loathsome puddle of Presbyterianism," says he is collecting M'Crie's blunders for the use of Chalmers, and is generally hostile to the reverend Griffin.

Now in these days arose one Calvinus, who printed "Two Letters to the Rev. Dr. Thomas M'Crie and the Rev. Andrew Thomson, on the parody of Scripture lately published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine" (Fairbairn, Edinburgh,

1 Mrs. Wilson in a letter attributes it to Hogg, which seems improbable. (Christopher North, i. 277.) I have reason to believe that Dr. M'Crie, in fact, did not contribute to the magazine at this time. He refrained, as he disapproved of and censured the personal violences.