The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-03
THE LITERARY OUTLOOK
A NEW EDITION OF AN OLD BOOK
THAT ONCE HAD MUCH VOGUE.
The Remarkable Industry of Profess
sor Saintsbury-Inexpe Way
to Build Up n Library.


editions of old favorites now coming from
the presses OF New York publishers one
worthy OF note. both because OF the author
and Of the book. is christopher and His
Sporting Jacket" sort Of photographed
series OF sketches, by John Wilson, or
Christopher North. as he was more ia
miliarly known. He was one Of the most
remarkable OF that great group of English
and Scotch men Of letters who made the
opening OF the nineteenth century one OF
the epochs Of English literature. Words
worth, Scott, COleridge, De Quincy, j. @.
L,ockhart. Hogg Southey-these are the
men with whom Wilson associated, either
in the district OF the English lakes. where
he had a cottage. Eneray. above Winde-
mere, or in the social, literary or political
life OF Edinburgh.
No man in the whole group has a more
fascinating life story. He was born in lIS5
IN the manufacturing town OF Paisley. He
spent his schoolboy days in the parish or
Mearns a lovely country, neither highland
nor Iowland which affords the background
for most OF the adventures Of the sporting
Jacket" From school he went TO Glasgow
University, and then 70 Oxford. After
graduation. being a man OF wealth and able
TO look forward TO leisurely life, he es-
tablished himself In the lake district not Tar
from Wordsworth. Here he began his liter
arr career with the volume entitled, The
Isle of Palms" which was followed shortly
by THE City OF the Plague" These poems
brought him to the favorable notice Of
Jeffrey, the ogre OF the Edinburgh Review.
Before long sudden misfortune came to
Wilson in the shape of the loss OF
his fortune through the dishonesty Of
an uncle He was forced TO close his
country place, to go TO Edinburgh, and
10 study for the bar, TO which he was
admitted in 1915. He now also began to
= look to literature as a means of liveli-
hood. He became in a short time con-
tributor 20 the Edinburgh Review. 1t was
at this time. however. that William Black
wood started his famous Tory magazine.
and Wilson. being OF this political per-
suasion, deserted the Wing review and
became allied with the new periodical,
his connection with which continued
throughout his active life. In 1915, too.
he was elected professor of moral philoso-
ply in Edinburgh University, and for
thirty-fve years he delivered lecture
day throughout the entire session of the
university.
REPRESENTATIVE MAN.
duties and activities is the most fascinat-
ing fabric Of private pursuits. man
of herculean strength and large appe-
tites. as well as of strong intellect and
deeply poetical temperament, there are
very few points in the range of the in
terests OF his time which he did not at
one time or another touch. Perhaps he
vas the most representative man OF his
day. combining in Fl person It's most dis
similar aspects. He was thorough
sportsman loving nothing better than
DAYS or a months fishing in the streams
of the Scotch Highlands and a good
fight between either men or cocks, the
prize ring and the cooking main not then
having fallen into the same disrepute
where they remain at present He was
a splendid athlete, and the stories OF his
feats at walking and wrestling gained him
the rare distinction Of being reckoned as a
Scotch worthy in his native land. Once
he was reported to have walked seventy
miles in the course OF days fishing ex
cursion and once, too, in his youth at Ok
ford. ne walked over night from London
TO the university town on the Isis.
On the other hand, nothing could have
been more brilliant from the scholastic
point OF view at Glasgow and at Oxford.
All kinds OF academic honors fell TO his
share, and once at the latter place. when
his mind and heart were heavily burdened
by an unhappy love affair. he went to take
the final examinations for his degree with
the full conviction that ne would be plucked
ne buckled down under the running fire of
a stringent oral inquisition and passed, as
one OF his contemporaries tells us. the
mcst brilliant examination in the memory
OF man
wilson's career is chiefly connected In
literary history with the famous Black
woods Magazine. From about 1915 to 1851.
or during the best years OF his life, he de-
voted his energies, not as the full editor,
indeed. but as a contributor, without whose
assistance, either in the volume of writing
which he managed 70 turn out or in &C
curacy Of judgment, il could scarcely have
been maintained during the stormy years
of IFS early existence. Wilson's most IA
nous contribution was a series OF papers
entitled ''Noctes Ambrosisnae." in the COM
position OF which others. indeed, OCCASION
ally took a hand. but TO which he con-
tributed the form and spirit as well as most
of the best work. The form of the ''Noctes"
is the symposium of Plato. but here it is
raised TO the highest pitch of fun, frollc
ana meEElmeul. bIOdQ OCOlCn HuAloIs
genuine wit tempering almost Gargantuan
feats OF eating and drinking. Among the
dramatist persone were the Ettric shepherd
the English opium eater. Christopher North
himself. IN which are gently satirized the
actual persons who bore these sobriquets
at the same time that they delivered their
opinions upon the affairs of the universe
and OF Edinburgh.
A VERSATILE WRITER.
Wilson's contributions We're so varied as
almost TO defy classification. Short stories
poems. literary critiques and all the gen
eral miscellany OF the modern magazine
these Wilson turned out night after night
as he sat I'D into the small hours by the
light OF his wax candle so as 10 turn over
fresh copy to the devils who would be
clamoring at his door In the early morning.
But what he most enjoyed writing If
We have rightly estimated the character Of
the man. was not that perhaps for which
he was most noted IN his own day. bril-
liant and caustic contemporary criticism
but poetical "reminiscences. in veritable
prose poems. OF his own boyhood life when
he hshed the streams OF the parish Of