t to make him cut his throat, granting that the victim should be
sensitive as Keats. The generous review in question may be judged of by
its first line and last sentence; as Hercules from his advancing foot,
or Cuvier's Megatherium from the relics of its great toe. Thus it
commenced:

"When a disappointed man, intolerant of fortune," &c., &c., and it wound
up many stinging observations with this grateful climax following:

"We trust we have now said enough to prove that if a man will be
bold enough to 'depreciate censure,'--will attack what he is
pleased to consider abuses, however countenanced by high
authority--and will obtrude his literary eloquence into our solemn
courts of law, he deserves--what does he not deserve?--to be
addressed henceforth by a name suggestive at once of ignorance,
presumption, and conceit, as Mr. Henry Clements."

Now, will it be believed that a trivial error of the press mainly
conduced to occasion this hostility? Our poor author had been weak
enough to "deprecate censure" in his penny-wise humility, and the
printer had negatived his meaning as above: "_hinc illae lachrymae_." Oh,
but how the ragged tooth of calumny gnawed his very heart!

'_The Legal Recorder_' was another of those early unfavourables; being
as a matter of course adverse too, and not very disinterestedly either:
for it played the exalted part of pet puffer to a rival publisher, who
wanted no other reason for condemning this book of Mr. Clements than
that it came from the legal officina of an opponent in his trade. There
was another paper or two, but Clements felt so utterly disheartened that
he did not dare to look at them. I wish he had; they would have
comforted him, pouring balm upon his wounded pride by their kind and
cordial praises: but ill-luck ruled the hour, so he burnt them
forthwith, and lost much literary comforting.

To sauce up all this pleasantry with a smack of concreted pleasure
itself, the last and only remaining document upon the table was a civil
note from Mr. Wormwood, publisher and bookseller, enclosing the
following items with his compliments:

To 500 copies '_Doctrine of Defence_,' L124 3
To advertising ditto, 25 0
To 10 per cent. on sales, &c.
Supplied to author, 12 copies, &c.
Given to periodicals for review, 15 copies, &c.

Against