New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-27
THE CONFESSION TO HAYDON.


The full history of this passage in Lockhart's
life cannot be traversed In this place. Its COM
plications are many and diverse. Mr. Lang fills
a good proportion of his space with an analysis
OF them. But this much can be stated, and
stated with force Lockhart was never the
malignant that he has been painted by
Miss Martineau Sumner and others. Let him
present his own defence. merely noting in adj
vance that Mr.. Lang's careful Investigations
more than bear out the following fragment of
a communication to Hayden written in 1898
when the appearance of the Life of Scott had
moved the eccentric painter to revive some old
charges in letter not unfriendy:
Il cannot be Indifferent to your severe though
generous reflections about my early literary
capades You are willing to make allowances.
but allow me to say you have not understood the
facts of the They were bad enough, but
not so bad as you make them out. In the first
place, was raw boy. who had never had the
least connection either with politics or cOntro
versies of any kind, when. arriving In Edinburgh
in October 1917 found my friend. John Wilson
(ten years my senior. busted in helping Black
wood out of a scrape he had got into with some
editors of his magazine, and on Wilson's asking
me to try my hand at some squibberies in his
aid. / sat down to do with as little malice as
II the assigned subject had been the court Of
Picking. But the row in Edinburgh, the lordly
Wings having considered persifage as their own
fee-simple, was really so extravagant that when
/ think of ii now the whole story seems wildly
incredible. Wilson and l singled out to
bear the whole burden of sim though there
abundance Of other criminals in the concern.
and by-and-by Wilson passing for being a very
eccentric fellow and / for a cool one. even he
was allowed to get off comparatively scot free,
while l. by far the youngest and least expert
enced Of the set. and who alone had no personal
grudges against any of Backwood's victims. re-
manned under such an accumulation Of wrath
and contumely would have crushed me utter
ly unless for the buoyancy of extreme youth
1t Is a manly confession and 1t will stand
Where the responsibility. which he would fan
have had more charitably weighed than has al
ways been the case, returns upon his shoulders
with a damaging force is in its implication of
his defects as d critic and his ignorance as a
watcher Of the literary history Of the day. Mr.
Lang himself admits that "where party prejudice
came in and contemporaries were his themes he
CLockharD was no better. often than other lit
erary judges of his time" Lockhart was very
human. To accept that fact and to be sorry for
some of its concomtants is the safest way out
of an estimate Of the man. 1t is not possible to
let him go scot free after the scandalous at
tack on Coeridge. after THE Cockney School Of
Poetry" after The Chadee Manuscript" but
this at least Is required by Justice that Lockhart,
having been apportioned his fair share of the
odium belonging TO the cCllaborators on those
essays his good faith should be recognized, the
excuses he made to Hayden should he sympa-
thetically received. and the essential character
Of the man should be given a chance to make its
appeal 1t is true that he did wrong In his work
upon Maya" Ii Is true that he showed abys-
NAL ignorance in estimating Keats and Hunt as
he did estimate them But it is ridiculous TO as
sumo from his falbiity. or even from the sting
ing nature Of his raillery. that the man had a
black heart Enough attention has been paid to
this side of his biography 1t is side necessa-
rily of commanding Importance. Later, In his
MANAGEMENT of the Quarterly" the old guerilla
of "Blackwood's" had some Of the passages of
warfare which distinguished his earlier years.
And Of course there is the tragic quarrel with
John Scott, which ended In the fatal duel be-
tween that gentleman and Lockharts friend
Christie But having observed that Mr.. Lang
follows the entire growth of that quarrel from its
inception to SCOTS DEATH and establishes all
over again Lockhart's absolute rectitude
throughout the affair. farewell may he said to
the tempestuous incidents in Lockhart's career
and matters of more general interest may be ap-
preached.