Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/248

212 2 1 2 WILLIAM BLA CK WOOD. offence, kept a stereotyped reply in readiness for any angry victim who rushed into his shop for redress " I know nothing of the contents of the magazine ; I am merely the carrier of a certain portion of its circu- lation to its English readers." From the commencement of the new series from the foundation that is of Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine Black wood's fortunes and even the story of his life are inextricably bound up in the- progress of the periodical ; for he did not again, once he had got rid of Pringle and Cleghorne, entrust its charge and conduct to the care of any editor. For a long time Wilson was supposed to occupy the editorial chair. This supposition is treated in a letter, printed by his daughter : " Of Blackwood I am not the editor, al- though I believe I very generally got both the credit and discredit of being Christopher North. I am one of the chief writers, perhaps the chief writer, but never received one shilling from the proprietor, except for my own compositions. Being generally on the spot, I am always willing to give him my advice, and to supply such articles as are most wanted, when I have leisure." " From an early period of its progress," says Lockhart, speaking of 'Blackwood and the magazine, " it engrossed a very large share of his time ; and though he scarcely ever wrote for its pages himself (three articles, we believe, he did contribute), the general management and -arrangement of it, with the very extensive literary correspondence which this in- volved, and the constant superintendence of the press, would have been more than enough to occupy entirely any man but one of his first-rate energies." Before we follow up the chronicle of the life of Blackwood and its proprietor, it will be necessary to