to obscure or unsuccessful papers for a
consideration, without asking how the usual staff of the paper is paid.
These, indeed, are delicate inquiries. Part of the plaint was expressed
in the following sentence:--

"When a journal makes a call upon a good author, and in the pages of
which he can gain neither honour nor renown, from which, as a matter
of taste, he would shrink, under ordinary circumstances, from
contributing to, that journal ought to be subjected to careful
scrutiny."

Now what can this possibly be supposed to mean?--

"When a journal makes a call upon a good author, _and_ in the pages of
which he can gain neither honour nor renown," (why "and"?) "from which"
(namely, "honour and renown") "he would shrink" (why should he shrink
from renown and honour?) "from contributing to," (and how can he
contribute to honour and renown?) "that journal ought to be subjected to
careful scrutiny." "From which he would shrink from contributing to,"
what have we here? Surely it is the grammar that needs careful scrutiny,
and surely, in no circumstances, could a lofty "rate of pay" be
conferred on a style of this description.

It is natural to reflect that a writer in this unconventional manner has
mainly to thank himself for any want of success which he, and we, may
regret; and that reflection, again, suggests the case of BROWZER, the
Man who would bring an Action for Libel.

BROWZER had a small patrimony, any amount of leisure, and a good deal of
ambition. He liked the society of literary gentlemen, he envied their
buoyant successes, such as being "interviewed,", and sorrowed with their
sorrows, such as being reviewed. He listened to their artless gossip,
and fancied himself extremely knowing. In these circumstances of
temptation, BROWZER fell, as many better men have done, and wrote a
Novel. He drew on the recollections of his suburban youth; he revived
the sorrows of his sole flirtation; he sketched his aunts with a
satirical hand, and he produced a packet of manuscript weighing about
7-1/2 lbs. This manuscript he sent, first, to a literary man, whose name
he had seen in the papers, with a long and fulsome letter, asking for an
opinion. The parcel came back next day, accompanied by a lithographed
form of excuse. BROWZER denounced the envy and arrogance of mankind, and
sent his parcel to a publisher. He carefully set little traps, with
pieces of adhesive paper, every here and there, to detect careles