The ''Noctes Ambrosianae'', a series of 71 imaginary
colloquies
''Colloquies'' (Latin title ''Colloquia familiaria'') is one of the many works of the "Prince of Christian Humanists", Desiderius Erasmus. First published in 1518 as Latin dialogues for schoolboy exercises, the work expanded over the following d ...
, appeared in ''
Blackwood's Magazine
''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by publisher William Blackwood and originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine'', but quickly relaunched as ''Blackwood's Edinb ...
'' from 1822 to 1835. The earlier ones had several different authors, including
John Gibson Lockhart
John Gibson Lockhart (12 June 1794 – 25 November 1854) was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the seminal, and much-admired, seven-volume biography of his father-in-law Sir Walter Scott: ''Memoirs of the Life of Sir ...
,
William Maginn
William Maginn (10 July 1794 – 21 August 1842) was an Irish journalist and writer.
About
Born at Cork he became a contributor to ''Blackwood's Magazine'', and after moving to London in 1824 became for a few months in 1826 the Paris correspond ...
,
James Hogg
James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots language, Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a ...
and Professor
John Wilson John Wilson may refer to:
Academics
* John Wilson (historian) (1799–1870), author of ''Our Israelitish Origin'' (1840), a founding text of British Israelism
* John Wilson (agriculturalist) (1812–1888), British agriculturalist
* John Matthias ...
, but from 1825, with the 19th in the series, the contributions by Wilson predominate, and he eventually wrote all or most of 39 of the dialogues, as well as parts of some others. The scene is usually set in Ambrose's Tavern in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, and the central characters are "Christopher North" (Wilson himself), "Timothy Tickler" (based on Robert Sym, 1750–1840, a
Writer to the Signet
The Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of documen ...
), and the "Ettrick Shepherd" (based on
James Hogg
James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots language, Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a ...
). Several other characters, imaginary or based on real people, including the "English Opium Eater" (
Thomas De Quincey
Thomas Penson De Quincey (; Thomas Penson Quincey; 15 August 17858 December 1859) was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his ''Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821).Eaton, Horace Ainsworth, ''Thomas De Q ...
) and "The tailor o' Yarrow Ford" (David Brunton) occur in some episodes. The series is particularly noted for the expressive
Scots dialogue of the Ettrick Shepherd.
References
*
Wilson, John (1855) ''Noctes Ambrosianae'', edited by J. F. Ferrier. Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons.
External links
Edinburgh literature
Works originally published in Blackwood's Magazine
{{scotland-stub