ABSTRACT
By the start of 1818, the first two articles on the Cockney School had achieved at least one of their aims: they had stirred up a controversy in the press that made Maga essential reading. In the Examiner for 2 November 1817, Hunt had called on Z. to identify himself ‘in order that justice may be executed on the proper person’ (Examiner, 10, p. 693). Two weeks later he reprinted two excerpts from Lockhart’s October article and asked him again to identify himself, writing that his publishers would have to ‘abide the consequences of their delinquency’ if the author did not step forward (Examiner, 10, p. 729). Blackwood’s London publisher, Baldwin, Craddock and Joy, evidently took fright at this and wrote to Hunt disavowing any responsibility for the content of the article. Their letter was printed in the Examiner for 23 November 1817 (Examiner, 10, p. 743). Meanwhile, the Edinburgh Magazine published an article in defence of Hunt, and an anonymous pamphlet appeared entitled Hypocrisy Unveiled, and Calumny Detected: in a Review of Blackwood’s Magazine (Edinburgh, 1818). 1 The controversy had now overflowed the bounds of Blackwood’s and started to make its mark in the print culture of the day. On 14 December, Hunt lashed out at Z., calling him a ‘reptile’ (Examiner, 10, p. 788). Before continuing with his other aim – that of flattening Hunt’s reputation – Lockhart broke off his series of articles to address Hunt directly in this public letter.
