Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

CONFUSED IDEAS. 367
of the Magazine is very curious. " You will be sur-
prised when I tell you that the T^te-h-Ute in this
number is by a stranger to Edinburgh and every
one in it except what he has picked up from the
Magazine," Mr Blackwood says to one of his corre-
spondents. It is difficult to say whether this adoption
of the special interests of his new friends, or his in-
troduction bodily, and with great applause, of the
still more restricted local interests and gossip of
Dublin, and even of the booksellers' shops and clubs
of Cork, is more surprising. A little of the confusion
of a stranger groping in the unknown to identify
the figures still indistinct to him is in the follow-
ing. He had taken fright lest something said in an
article of his might be in any way offensive to Sir
Walter Scott, and begged that it should be struck
out :
—
B. T. S. to W. Blackwood.
If I do not mistake, Mr North is connected somewhat more
closely with the Ariosto of the North than he was at the time
I wrote last. If I be right, albeit unknown, I wish him joy
with all my heart. Apropos, we have a son of Sir Walter's
here, a good-looking young Hessian enough. He is a poet,
though not quite in the manner of his father. He publishes
little pieces of poetry occasionally in our newspapers, well
enough for such a vehicle. I shall send you some if you like,
to regale his father.
In answering this letter, Mr Blackwood says :
The Editor is not surprised at the mistake you have fallen
into by giving his office to Mr Lockhart, who has certainly
been one of our most efficient supporters. He showed your
letter to Mr L., who was as much amused with it as we were.
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