Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

388 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD.
Maginn did not leave Cork till 1823, and in the
meantime he continued occasionally his expositions
of Irish affairs, as well as a running thread of sugges-
tions, criticisms, and advices, not always approved,
for the conduct of the Magazine. This lively commentator,
however, was in no way discouraged by
any rebuff, but flowed on as cheerfully as ever, dis-
couraged by nothing, not even by the occasional
refusal of his articles. "You much mistake if you
think I care about the non-insertion of any article
of mine : such things trouble me but little," he says,
and to all appearance he refused steadily all payment
for his contributions, except in the form of Syriac
grammars, &c., for two or three years after his con-
nection with ' Maga '
began—as long, indeed, as he
remained in Ireland, and had not committed himself
to the precarious life of the press. Many evidences
of the hasty and headlong spirit, and the mind which
it is to be feared considered a literary lie as a good
joke, will be seen through all these. He had written,
for instance, a sarcastic article about Southey's ' Vision
of Judgment,' that most universally abused of all com-
positions ; but for various reasons changed his mind,
and bids his friend destroy it. "I must say I agree
with ' John Bull ' in thinking that the spirit of the
' Quarterly ' is barbarous, and that I think some
strong decisive straight-ahead puff should be given
to Southey. The ' Vision of Judgment,' which everybody
abuses, would be a fit thing enough to pane-
gyrise." " I have promised an article to little Crofty
Croker about his book," he says again, "but have
neglected doing it. Write to me to say that you
have a great press of matter which prevented my