on. But earlier, as in the following, there is
nothing beyond oddity. Of this there may seem to be a good
share, but a few notes will make it intelligible. It clearly
heralds, though the thing is first definitely indicated in a
later letter, Beddoes' marvellous tragedy _Death's
Jest-book_, which he wrote and re-wrote till it became like
the picture in Balzac's story an "Unknown [and Unknowable]
Masterpiece." The letter is further remarkable as combining
intense admiration for the _old_ masterpieces with a quite
"modern" insistence on "begetting" rather than
"reviving"--on "giving the literature of the age a spirit of
its own," etc. For details: "Sulky" (compare the French
_desobligeante_, celebrated by Sterne)--an obsolete form of
chaise. "Breaking Priscian's head" is familiar enough for
"using bad grammar," which the book-keeper very likely did;
but the explanation may be more remote. "Like a ghost from
the tomb" though not "quoted" is, of course, his beloved
Shelley's ("The Cloud"). "_Biped_ knock" = merely
"double"--the peculiar rat-tat which postmen have mostly
forgotten or not learnt--perhaps regarding it as a badge of
slavery like "tips." _The Fatal Dowry_--attributed to (Field
and) Massinger, and spoilt by Rowe into his nevertheless
popular _Fair Penitent_,--is one of the finest examples of
the second stage of Elizabethan drama. _Ultracrepidarian_--a
term derived from the Latin proverb _ne sutor supra_ (or
_ultra_) _crepidam_ and specially applied to the unpopular
critic Gifford who had been a shoemaker--meaning generally
"some one who _does_ go beyond his last and meddles with
things he does not understand." "McCready's" (Macready, the
famous actor and manager) friend Walker was probably Sidney
Walker the Shakespearian critic.

42. TO THOMAS FORBES KELSALL

26 MALL, CLIFTON.
(Postmark, Jan. 11. 1825)

Dear Kelsall--

Day after day since Christmas I have intended to write or go to London,
and day after day I have deferred both projects; and now I will give you
the adventures and mishaps of this present sunday. Remorse, and
startling conscience, in the form of an old, sulky, and a shying, horse,
hurried me to the 'Regulator' coach-office on Saturday: 'Does the
Regulator and its team conform to the Mosaic decalogue, Mr.
Book-keeper?' He broke Priscian's head