art of my labours; that I left the reputation
behind me of being the best and most rapid reporter ever known, and
that I could do anything in that way under any sort of circumstances,
and often did. (I daresay I am at this present writing the best
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.

OFFICE OF HOUSEHOLD WORDS,
Monday, June 1, 1857.

MY DEAR STONE:

I know that what I am going to say will not be agreeable; but I rely on
the authoress's good sense; and say it knowing it to be the truth.

These "Notes" are destroyed by too much smartness. It gives the
appearance of perpetual effort, stabs to the heart the nature that is
in them, and wearies by the manner and not by the matter. It is the
commonest fault in the world (as I have constant occasion to observe
here) but it is a very great one. Just as you couldn't bear to have an
epergne or a candlestick on your table, supported by a light figure
always on tip-toe and evidently in an impossible attitude for the
sustainment of its weight, so all readers would be more or less
oppressed and worried by this presentation of everything in one smart
point of view, when they know it must have other, and weightier, and
more solid properties. Airiness and good spirits are always
delightful, and are inseparable from notes of a cheerful trip; but they
sho