From this it is evident Blackwood’s ideal shop was realized, and that there did gather in his presence both those who wielded the pen and those who wished to, those who were critics and those who aspired to be. At these assemblies might often be found two young men, who, says Mrs. Oliphant, “would have been remarkable anywhere if only for their appearance and talk, had nothing more remarkable ever been developed in them”.[54] These two, of course, were John Wilson and John Gibson Lockhart. She continues: “Both of them were only too keen to see the ludicrous aspect of everything, and the age gave them an extraordinary licence in exposing it.”[55] This is an important note, the “extraordinary licence” of the age,--a straw eagerly grasped at!--corroborated, too, by Lord Cockburn[56] who testifies: “There was a natural demand for libel at this period.” It explains much that we would fain explain in the subsequent literary pranks of these same two youths. They were ready for anything; and more,--enthusiastically ready for anything. John Wilson was a giant, intellectually and physically, “a genial giant but not a mild one”[57]. Lockhart had already made some small reputation for himself as a caricaturist. Perhaps it was insight into their capacities which strengthened Blackwood’s disgust with the two mild gents in charge of his to-be-epoch-making organ! At any rate, it was to these two, Wilson especially, that he turned for the resuscitation of his dream. [54] Mrs. Oliphant: _Annals of a Publishing House_, V. i, p. 101 [55] Ibid., V. i, p. 103 [56] Henry Thomas Cockburn, a Scottish judge [57] Mrs. Oliphant: _Annals of a Publishing House_, V. i, p. 101 John Wilson is the one name most commonly associated with _Blackwood’s_, and with the exception of William Blackwood himself, perhaps the most important figure in its reconstruction. The name Christopher North was used in the earlier years by various contributors, but was soon appropriated by Wilson and is now almost exclusively associated with him. In the latter part of 1817 he became Blackwood’s right hand man. He has often been considered editor of “Maga”, but strictly speaking, no one but Blackwood ever was. After the experience with Pringle and Cleghorn, William Blackwood would naturally be wary of ever again entrusting full authority to anyone. He himself was always the guiding and ruling spirit, though never admittedly, or technically, editor.