supersede young Mr. Coleridge,[40] their editor, and place my son-in-law in the situation; indeed I was never more surprised than when this proposal came upon us.  I suppose it had come from Canning originally, as he was sounding Anne when at Colonel Bolton’s[41] about Lockhart’s views, etc.  To me he never hinted anything on the subject.  Other views are held out to Lockhart which may turn to great advantage.  Only one person (John Cay[42] of Charlton) knows their object, and truly I wish it had not been confided to any one.  Yesterday I had a letter from Murray in answer to one I had written in something a determined style, for I had no idea of permitting him to start from the course after my son giving up his situation and profession, merely because a contributor or two chose to suppose gratuitously that Lockhart was too imprudent for the situation.  My physic has wrought well, for it brought a letter from Murray saying all was right, that D’Israeli was sent to me, not to Lockhart, and that I was only invited to write two confidential letters, and other incoherencies—­which intimate his fright has got into another quarter.  It is interlined and franked by Barrow, which shows that all is well, and that John’s induction into his office will be easy and pleasant.  I have not the least fear of his success; his talents want only a worthy sphere of exertion.  He must learn, however, to despise petty adversaries.  No good sportsman ought to shoot at crows unless for some special purpose.  To take notice of such men as Hazlitt and Hunt in the Quarterly would be to introduce them into a world which is scarce conscious of their existence.  It is odd enough that many years since I had the principal share in erecting this Review which has been since so prosperous, and now it is placed under the management of my son-in-law upon the most honourable principle of detur digniori.  Yet there are sad drawbacks so far as family comfort is concerned.  To-day is Sunday, when they always dined with us, and generally met a family friend or two, but we are no longer to expect them.  In the country, where their little cottage was within a mile or two of Abbotsford, we shall miss their society still more, for Chiefswood was the perpetual object of our walks, rides, and drives.  Lockhart is such an excellent family man, so fond of his wife and child, that I hope all will go well.  A letter from Lockhart in the evening.  All safe as to his unanimous reception in London; his predecessor, young [Coleridge], handsomely, and like a gentleman, offers his assistance as a contributor, etc.

November 28.—­I have the less dread, or rather the less anxiety, about the consequences of this migration, that I repose much confidence in Sophia’s tact and good sense.  Her manners are good, and have the appearance of being perfectly natural.  She is quite conscious of the limited range of her musical talents, and never makes them common or produces them out of place,—­a