“By God’s blessing I may yet live to make all necessary provision myself.  My means are now improving every year.  I am up the hill of difficulty, and shall very soon get rid of the burthen which has impeded me in the ascent.  I have some arrangements with Murray, which are likely to prove more profitable than any former speculations ...  Hitherto I have been highly favoured.  A healthy body, an active mind, and a cheerful heart, are the three best boons Nature can bestow, and, God be praised, no man ever enjoyed these more perfectly.”

CHAPTER VIII

MURRAY AND GIFFORD—­RUPTURE WITH CONSTABLE—­PROSPERITY OF THE “QUARTERLY”

A good understanding was now established between Mr. Murray and his editor, and the Quarterly went on improving and gradually increased in circulation.  Though regular in the irregularity of its publication, the subscribers seem to have become accustomed to the delay, and when it did make its appearance it was read with eagerness and avidity.  The interest and variety of its contents, and the skill of the editor in the arrangement of his materials, made up for many shortcomings.

Murray and Gifford were in constant communication, and it is interesting to remember that the writer of the following judicious criticism had been editor of the Anti-Jacobin before he was editor of the Quarterly.

Mr. Gifford to John Murray.

May 17, 1811.

“I have seldom been more pleased and vexed at a time than with the perusal of the enclosed MS. It has wit, it has ingenuity, but both are absolutely lost in a negligence of composition which mortifies me.  Why will your young friend fling away talent which might so honourably distinguish him?  He might, if be chose, be the ornament of our Review, instead of creating in one mingled regret and admiration.  It is utterly impossible to insert such a composition as the present; there are expressions which would not be borne; and if, as you say, it will be sent to Jeffrey’s if I do not admit it, however I may grieve, I must submit to the alternative.  Articles of pure humour should be written with extraordinary attention.  A vulgar laugh is detestable.  I never saw much merit in writing rapidly.  You will believe me when I tell you that I have been present at the production of more genuine wit and humour than almost any person of my time, and that it was revised and polished and arranged with a scrupulous care which overlooked nothing.  I have not often seen fairer promises of excellence in this department than in your correspondent; but I tell you frankly that they will all be blighted and perish prematurely unless sedulously cultivated.  It is a poor ambition to raise a casual laugh in the unreflecting.

The article did not appear in the Quarterly, and Mr. Pillans, the writer, afterwards became a contributor to the Edinburgh Review.