Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/261

WILLIAM BLA CKWOOD . 225 delicate hesitation the mode in which he fancied it might be discussed with the best advantage. . . . The ' pudding ' was invariably associated with praise. At the head or foot of the welcome missive was a cheque for your article, the amount of which was not carved and patted like a pound of butter, into exact weight, but measured with no penurious hand. . . . He hated a cockney as Johnson hated a Scotsman, and con- sidered all writers on this side the border, who did not contribute to Maga, as falling within this cate- gory." In 1827, Blackwood brought out two books, which were alike only in achieving, each of them, a vast popularity. One was " The Youth and Manhood of Cyril Thornton," by Captain Hamilton, and the other " The Course of Time," by Pollok, a Scottish, if not a British, classic. The Edinburgh Encyclopedia was continued till its final completion in eighteen quarto volumes, and not the least important of his publishing successes was the reproduction of the chief distinct works of Wilson, Lockhart, Hogg, Moir, Gait, and other writers connected with the magazine. He also continued to the close of his career, to carry on an extensive trade in retail book- selling. In addition to these heavy labours, he still found opportunity during some of the best years of his life to take a prominent part in the affairs of the city of Edinburgh, for which he was twice a magistrate, " and in that capacity," says Lockhart, " distinguished himself by an intrepid zeal in the reform of burgh management, singularly in contrast with his avowed sentiments respecting constitutional reform." Here he often exhibited in the conduct of debate and the