James Thomson

“ It was some- thing, moreover, not without value or good effect, to be enabled to contemplate, from day to day through- out a session, the mere outward aspect of one so evidently every inch a man, .nay, a king of men, in whom manly vigour and beauty of person were in such close keeping with all the great qualities of his soul ; the sight at once carried back the youthful student's imagination to the age of ancient heroes and demigods, when higher spirits walked with men on earth, and made an impression on the opening mind of the most genial and ennobling tendency. ”

“ JOHN WILSON 387 " John Wilson had the eagle-beak, the lion-like mane of the Napiers. Mrs. Barrett Browning has said of Homer : — ' Homer, with the broad suspense Of thund'rous brows, and lips intense Of garrulous god-innocence ' — and whenever I read the lines, the mighty presence of Christopher North rises before me. . . . He was such a magnificent man ! No other literary man of our time has had such muscles and sinews, such an ample chest, such perfect lungs, such a stalwart frame, such an expansive and Jove-like brow. ”

“ Nothing was further from the truth in that year, 1850. In the very first lecture he cut into the core of the subject, raised the question that has always in this country been held to be the deepest and hardest in the science (the origin of the Moral Faculty) , and hammered at it through the great part of the session. Even those who were fresh from Sir William Hamilton's class, and had a morbid appetite for swallowing hard and angular masses of logic, found that the work here was quite stiff enough for any of us. . . . His appearance in his classroom it is far easier to remember than to forget. ”

“ An uncle had acted the part of 'unjust steward,' and, by his treachery, overwhelmed his nephew in irretrievable loss. A sudden fall from affluence to poverty is not a trial easily borne, especially when it comes through the fault of others ; but Wilson's nature was too strong and noble to bow beneath the blow. ”

“ I have heard some of these in their very best styles make some of their most celebrated ap- pearances ; but for popular eloquence, for resistless force, for the seeming inspiration that swayed the soul, and the glowing sympathy that entranced the hearts of his entire audience, that lecture by Professor Wilson far exceeded the loftiest efforts of the best of these I ever listened to. ”

“ I heard him say the other night that in literary Scotland there was not one such other man as ! — a thing in which, if would do himself any justice, I cordially agree." We cannot but think that Carlyle was then mistaken in his estimate of Wilson, who in our opinion did himself full justice — that is, all the justice of which his nature was capable. There are men forced by circumstances to hurry their work, or to labour on uncongenial subjects, who could undoubtedly write much better if they had ample time and subjects of their own choice. ”

“ The formidable catalogue included also the lynx, the griflfin, the stork, the hyaena, "and the beagle and the slowhound after their kind, and all the beasts of the field, more than could be numbered, they were so many." Charged with such powerful explosives as political passion and reckless personalities, a paper or series of papers will indeed go up like a rocket, but is apt to come down like the stick. ”

“ In many respects one of the truest, soundest, honestest men who ever lived, he used to grow merely declama- tory at times. Amazingly humorous as the Shepherd of the 'Noctes' is (there are scenes, such as the opening of the haggis, the swimming match with Tickler while the London packet comes up the Forth, which manifest the humour of conception as well as the humour of character in a measure that has seldom been surpassed by the greatest masters) , his fun is often awkward, and his enthusiasm is apt to tire. ”

“ So, in 181 5, he removed to Edinburgh with his young wife and babes, and was received into the house, 53 Queen Street, of his mother, "a lady JOHN WILSON 383 whose skill in domestic management was the admira- tion and wonder of all zealous housekeepers. Under one roof she accommodated three distinct families; and, besides the generosity exercised towards her own, she was hospitable to all, while her charities and goodness to the poor were unceasing. . . . She belonged to that old school of Scottish ladies whose refinement and intellect never interfered with duties the most humble." ”

“ As to his boxing, we are told by De Quincey, his junior by a year and contemporary at Oxford, though the two did not get personally acquainted there : " There was no man who had any talents, real or fancied, for thumping or being thumped, but he had experienced some preeing of his merits from Mr. Wilson. All other pretensions in the gymnastic arts he took a pride in humbling or in honouring; but chiefly his examinations fell upon pugilism ; and not a man who could either ' give or take,' but boasted to have punished, or to have been punished by, Wilson of Mallen's." ”

“ But the case of Wilson was not as theirs. He always wrote on whatever subjects he preferred, and he had plenty of leisure for writing, rewriting, correcting, condens- ing ; but he was lacking in the artistic impulse and instinct to elaborate and study and perfect. His poems and tales, to which he gave more care, are 396 CRITICAL STUDIES not Stronger but weaker than his headlong " Noctes." His nature and genius were not profound and intense, but exuberant and expansive. His pathos and humour alike, though natural and genuine, are not deep ; are easily stirred and much too frothy. ”

“ In an account of Wilson's last year of professional work (session 1850-51) , Mr. Alexander Taylor Innes, the gold medallist of that year, writes : " The first thing that every one remarked on entering his class, was 2 B 386 CRITICAL STUDIES how thoroughly he did his proper work as a Professor of Moral Philosophy. This is not generally known now, and was not even at the time. There was a notion that he was there Christopher North, and nothing else; that you could get scraps of poetry, bits of sentiment, flights of fancy, flashes of genius, and anything but Moral Philosophy. ”

“ Comedy of the Noctes " is and will long continue a right wholesome as well as enjoyable book, particularly for the young. Robust animal spirits are catching and inspiring in this weary, moiling world, and we willingly ignore the defaults of their joyous and joy-giving possessors. ”

“ Many causes beyond the intrinsic merits and vigour of the dialogues contributed to these results. When the series began, the capital of Scotland was a real literary capital, with the Great Unknown for its half-veiled monarch. Party spirit was high and fierce. The Whigs with the Edinburgh Review, started in the second year of the century, carried all before them in periodical literature; until, fifteen years later, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, came into the field. ”

“ In the June of this year he entered Magdalen College, Oxford, as a gentleman-commoner, leaving in 1807, after a very brilliant career as a scholar, and one not less brilliant as an athlete, being a splendid all-round man — rider, swimmer, walker, runner, dancer, jumper, angler, boater, wrestler, boxer. ”

“ The glossary is very good as far as it goes, but, like most glossaries we have ever come across, omits some words which the average general reader cannot under- stand ; while including others with whose meaning he is quite familiar. Thus we find braird, yello7v-yite, flasterin, clegs, soap the floor or ripe the ribs, of each a Thurtn, bate the girdle, partail, stance, rumblede- thumps in the text, unexplained by footnote or glossary ”

“ Gordon that permanent form by no means secures permanent perusal. Ferrier, indeed, as we have already remarked, was fascinated and overpowered by the personal mag- netism of his father-in-law into a stupor of admira- tion, which, with all our hearty respect for both, we cannot help feeling is very comical. Thus, writing of the principal personages of the "Noctes," he calmly 392 CRITICAL STUDIES assures us : " In wisdom the Shepherd equals the Socrates of Plato ; in humour he surpasses the Fal- staff of Shakespeare. ”

“ Finally, the rich and racy Doric of the Shepherd adds wonderfully to the effectiveness of the whole; and really, as Ferrier urged, gives it a monumental significance. Nor do we think the less of Wilson because his life was superior to his writings, we who have been pained and disappointed in learning how many very considerable authors were very inconsiderable men.
↑ "The Comedy of the Noctes Ambrosianæ," by Christopher North. Selected and arranged by John Skelton, advocate (author of "The Impeachment of Mary Stuart," &c.) . William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1876. ”

“ And as he grew more and more prominently the Professor, one of the best-known men in Edinburgh, he grew also more and more prominently Christopher North, one of the best known writers in Britain. At the University he was the idol of his class, wielding an enormous influence over many successive student- generations, all in their plastic youth. John Hill Burton, the historian of Scotland and delightful Book JOHN WILSON 385 Hunter, who sat under him in 1830, says: "Much as I had heard of his appearance, it exceeded expecta- tion ”