shorthand writer in the world.)

That I began, without any interest or introduction of any kind, to
write fugitive pieces for the old _Monthly Magazine_, when I was in the
gallery for the _Mirror of Parliament_; that my faculty for descriptive
writing was seized upon the moment I joined the _Morning Chronicle_,
and that I was liberally paid there and handsomely acknowledged, and
wrote the greater part of the short descriptive "Sketches by Boz" in
that paper; that I had been a writer when I was a mere baby, and always
an actor from the same age; that I married the daughter of a writer to
the signet in Edinburgh, who was the great friend and assistant of
Scott, and who first made Lockhart known to him.

And that here I am.

Finally, if you want any dates of publication of books, tell Wills and
he'll get them for you.

This is the first time I ever set down even these particulars, and,
glancing them over, I feel like a wild beast in a caravan describing
himself in the keeper's absence.

Ever faithfully.


The following letter, criticising the work of an inexperienced author,
is valuable in itself, and reveals clearly the essential kindliness of
the man.