or so, and turn
the guns upon his camp.

Being pretty well acquainted with the characteristics of all the
monthlies and quarterlies, I was not long in determining that
"Blackwood" was my _point d'appui_. The "Old Monthly" was dead asleep,
and smouldering in white ashes; the "New Monthly," with Campbell for
editor, was unfitted for the job I had in view; the "London," though
clever and saucy and stinging, wanted manliness and nerve, and would be
sure to fail me at a pinch, now that John Scott was disposed of. And as
for the quarterlies, even supposing I could secure a place and keep it,
they were all slow coaches, and much too dignified and stately, as they
lumbered along the smooth, level turnpikes they were built for, to allow
of any dashing or skirmishing from the windows. Even the "Westminster"
was untrustworthy, as I afterwards found to my cost.

And so I settled down upon "Blackwood," the cleverest and spitefullest
of the whole, with Lockhart, "the Scorpion," and Wilson, "the Leopard,"
for mischief-makers, and "Ebony" for the whipper-in, and "Christopher
North" "in golden panoply complete" for _collaborateur_, a puzzle and a
problem to the last. Before I slept, I believe, certainly within a few
hours, I wrote a sketch of our five American Presidents, and of the five
presidential candidates then actually in the field, and sent it off to
Edinburgh with a letter, not for the publisher, not for Blackwood, but
for the _Editor_, saying that I had adopted the name of "Carter Holmes,"
and writing as a traveller, pretty well acquainted with the United
States and with the people thereof. This mask I wore, not with a view to
escape responsibility, for I was ready to answer for all I said, but to
baffle the curious and the inquisitive. Had I come out boldly as a
native American, I knew there was no chance for me in that, or in any
other leading British journal.

After a few days, I received the following in reply from Blackwood
himself, the _Editor_, which I give at length.

"April 20, 1824.

"On my return from London a few days ago," says he, "I had
the pleasure of receiving yours of the 7th March,--April, I
suppose, as it only arrived here on the 10th current.

"I am very sorry that there was not room for your spirited
and amusing sketches in this number; but they will appear in
our next.

"You are exactly the correspondent that we want,