Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/259

223 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD. 223 Edinburgh Monthly Magazine had at once attracted the attention of William Blackwood "a man," says Moir's biographer, "of rare sagacity, courage, and persevering energy." As "Delta," in the pages of Maga, the popularity of Moir's softer and sweeter pieces was very great ; and when " Mansie" appeared, "there were districts," says Aird again, "where country clubs, waiting impatiently for the magazine, met monthly as soon as it was issued, and had ' Man- sie' read aloud by one of their number, amid ex- plosions of congregated laughter." Lockhart, too, had since his marriage been wielding his pen as freely as ever. "Valerius" and "Adam Blair " had both been successful ventures for Black- wood ; and were succeeded in 1822 by the "Spanish Ballads," which have so much of the true ring of original poetry about them, that Lockhart's friends always regretted that he did not devote his time more exclusively to the composition of some original poeti- cal work. In 1825 the editorship of the Quarterly was offered him, and Blackwood lost one of his earliest and strongest supporters. Shortly after this the other satirical spirit of the periodical Billy Maginn also moved southward. But Blackwood was too firmly established now to dread the loss of any single contributor save one. The famous Nodes were, in reality, only just com- mencing ; and there it is that the character of the Ettrick Shepherd most shines vicariously, however, for his popularity is chiefly due to the piquancy and vitality with which the genius of Wilson endowed him. Whatever is best in the national genius of Scotland, in humour, poetry, imagination, and fervour, are poured forth in the quaint and broad language of