tures of resemblance between the two writers than his colleagues,
uttered a friendly caution to Mr. Lever to look to his laurels, for
there was a rival in the field possessing many of the characteristics by
which he first won public favor, but a racy drollery in description and
a quaintness in his humor all his own. It was the amusement of one of my
children at the time to collect these sage comments and torment me with
their judgments, and I remember a droll little note-book, in which they
were pasted, and read aloud from time to time with no small amusement
and laughter.

One or two of these I have even now before me:--

"Our new novelist has great stuff in him."--_Bath Gazette_.

"'Con Cregan'--author unknown--begins promisingly; his first number is a
decided hit."--_Cambridge Chronicle_.

"The writer of 'Con Cregan' is a new hand, but we predict he will be a
success"."--_Cambridge Advertiser_.

"A new tale, in a style with which Lever and his followers have made us
acquainted."--_Hampshire Advertiser_.

"This tale is from the pen of an able Irish writer. The dialogue is very
smartly written, so much so--and we cannot pay the writer a more
genuine compliment--that it bespeaks the author to be an Irishman,
&c."--_Somerset Gazette_.

"'Con Cregan '--by an unnamed author--is a new candidate for
popularity," &c.--_Northern Whig_, Belfast.

"The writer must be an Irishman."--_Nottingham Gazette_.

"A new bark, launched by an unknown builder."--_Cheltenham Chronicle_.

"That the author's name is not disclosed will not affect the popularity
of this work,--one of the most attractive," &c.--_Oxford Journal_.

"This is a new tale by the pen of some able Irish writer, the first part
of which is only published."--_Ten Town Messenger_.

"Another new candidate for popular fame, and 'Harry Lorrequer' had
better look to his laurels. There is a poacher in the manor in the
person of the writer of 'Con Cregan.'"--_Yorkshireman_.

"'Con Cregan' promises to become as great a fact as 'Harry Lorrequer.'
"--_People's Journal_.

"The author of 'Con Cregan,' whoever he be, is no ordinary man."

"Another daring author has entered the lists, and with every promise of
success."--_Exeter Post_.

It may sound very absurd to confess it, but I was excessively provoked
at the superior success of the unacknowledged book, and felt the rivalry
to the full as painfully as though I had never written a line of it. Was
it that I thought w