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The World's Greatest Books — Volume 10 — Lives and Letters by Various
page 81 of 387 (20%)

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JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART


Life of Sir Walter Scott


John Gibson Lockhart was born in Scotland in 1794. He received
part of his education at Glasgow, part at Oxford, and in 1816
he became an advocate at the Scotch bar. As one of the chief
supporters of Blackwood's Magazine, he began to exhibit that
sharp, bitter wit which was his most salient characteristic.
In 1820 he married the eldest daughter of Sir Walter Scott,
and for this reason, perhaps no one has been better qualified
to write the biography of the great novelist. Lockhart's "Life
of Sir Walter Scott" is a biography in the best sense of the
word--one which has been ranked even with Boswell's "Johnson."
It reveals to the reader the inmost personality of the man
himself, and no life from first to last could better afford
such complete revelation. Moreover, the "Life" was a labour of
love, Lockhart himself receiving not a fraction of its very
considerable proceeds, but resigning them absolutely to
Scott's creditors. Published in seven volumes in 1838, in
every respect it is the greatest of all Lockhart's books.
Lockhart died in 1854.


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