JOHN GALT. G ALT'S novels deserve to be better known in England; so rich is the vein of humour they display, so graphic and lively are their sketches of Scottish society, so fertile is the invention, so true the pathos, and so admirable the feeling. The names of but few of them, however, are familiar to the general public, and the majority are only found on the shelves of old provincial libraries, or in the closets of careful students, who despise not "old things" in favour of every passing novelty. "The Annals of the Parish" is one of those which still preserves a shadow of reputation. It was published in 1821. Not inferior in merit is "The Entail;" and "Lawrie Todd" may also claim a place among the foremost. Forgotten by the public, but deserving of recognition, are "The Steam-Boat," "Sir Andrew Wylie," "The Provost," "Ringan Gilhaize," and "The Spaewife." Forgotten, and perhaps justly so, are the other children of Galt's fertile fancy-"The Wandering Jew," "The Earthquake," "The Last of the Lairds," "Bogle Corbet," "Stanley Buxton," "The Member," "The Radical," "Eben Erskine," and "The Lost Child." Galt's pen was a most industrious one. In addition to this long list of novels, he published a narrative of his "Voyages and Travels in Greece, Turkey, and Asia Minor;" "Letters from the Levant;" six dramas, described by Sir Walter Scott as "the worst tragedies ever seen;" a "Life of Benjamin West;""Southennan," an inferior historical romance ; a "Life of Byron," very tame and flimsy, unworthy of the biographer, and an insult to the memory of his hero; "Lives of the Players," and three volumes of "Literary Miscellanies." Galt was born at Irvine, in Ayrshire, May 2, 1779. He died at 210 AN ACTIVE CAREER. Greenock on the 11th of April 1839. During a long and chequered career, he played "many parts," but through a want of prudence, moderation, and judgment, he never secured the due reward of his undoubted powers. At one time he studied for the bar; then he travelled abroad; next, he attempted to establish a commercial agency at Gibraltar. Afterwards we find him writing for the stage, and devoting himself with immense energy to literature as a profession. He contributed to Blackwood's Magazine; he poured out novel after novel with the rapidity of a Scott; suddenly he became the founder and secretary of the Canada Company, visited Canada, established the town of Guelph, but losing the confidence of the shareholders, returned discontented to England. In 1830 he was editor of the Courier. In 1832 he was seized with an affection of the spine, followed by repeated attacks of paralysis; and his last years were years of intense suffering, which he bore with an almost heroic contentedness and composure. |