The lighter tone again asserts itself in “Letters of An Old Bachelor, No. 1.”[104], who waxes indignant over French opinion concerning English ladies! He quotes a certain French writer who represents “the dress of the English ladies” as mere imitation of the French, only “all ridicule and exaggeration. 'Does a French lady, for instance, put a flower in her hair—the heads of the English ladies are immediately covered with the whole shop of a bouquetière. Does a French lady put on a feather ... in this country—nothing but feathers is to be seen!’ This, of course”, says the old bachelor in all earnestness, “is all a vile slander”[105],—although he must admit having seen heads covered with flowers, and “ladies wearing quite as many feathers as were becoming.”[106] He resents too that a French priest should accuse English ladies of having bad teeth. “Is he ignorant”, he would know, “that young ladies by applying to Mr. Scott, the dentist, may be supplied with a single tooth for the small sum of two guineas, while dowagers may be accommodated with a complete set of the most beautiful teeth, made from the tusks of the hippopotamus ... for a very trifling consideration? In fact, it is quite astonishing, to see the fine teeth of all our female acquaintances;... And yet this abominable priest has the impudence to talk of bad teeth!”[107] Besides, “what ladies of any nation”, says he, “play so charmingly the pianoforte?”[108]
[104] Ibid., V. ii, p. 192
[105] Ibid., V. ii, p. 193
[106] Same
[107] Same
[108] Ibid., V. ii, p. 194
This little skit is followed by the second installment “On the Cockney School of Poetry”[109],—this time that well known and scandalous handling of Hunt’s “Story of Rimini”,—Lockhart’s again, of course. This was the article whose turbulent discussion of the moral depravity of Leigh Hunt threw Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, then Blackwood’s London agents, into such a state of pious horror. They evidently feared getting mixed up in anything livelier than antiquarian projects, and threatened to withdraw their name. The articles on the Cockney School went merrily on, however; and so did Baldwin and Cradock even until July 1818. No doubt they found it a paying proposition!
[109] Same
Sir Walter Scott tried to wean both Wilson and Lockhart away from “that mother of mischief”[110] as he termed the magazine. According to Mr. Lang, he “disapproved (though he chuckled over it) the reckless extravagance of juvenile satire”. But it is easy to comprehend how “a chuckle” from Sir Walter would be the last incentive to curb their literary abandon. Blackwood worked long for the support of Scott, knowing well what it would mean to “Maga”. A semblance of support, at least, he secured through his patronage of Scott’s favorite, William Laidlaw, whose agricultural chronicles ran for a time as one of the regular features. Scott even contributed an occasional article himself from time to time, which, though anonymous, could not escape recognition. Probably he never attained a very cordial affection for the publisher, and it is well known that he disapproved of much that “Maga” said and did, yet outwardly he professed neutrality between Constable’s and Blackwood’s; and in a letter to William Laidlaw, February 1818, while “Maga” was still in its youth, his verdict is not vindictive. “Blackwood is rather in a bad pickle just now—sent to Coventry by the trade, as the booksellers call themselves and all about the parody of the two beasts. Surely these gentlemen think themselves rather formed of porcelain clay than of common potters’ ware. Dealing in satire against all others, their own dignity suffers so cruelly from an ill-imagined joke! If B. had good books to sell, he might set them all at defiance. His Magazine does well and beats Constable’s; but we will talk of this when we meet.”[111]
[110] A. Lang: Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart, V. i, p. 193