Note 1 — THE DRURIAD, &c.

See this absurd and pernicious custom well ridiculed in “The Pursuits of Literature.” A work which strongly and properly reprobates the practice of those, whose learning, “like a rich armour worn in heat of day,” only serves to encumber the wearer. It is not our business to criticize the temper or motives of the author of that elaborate performance. He may possibly, to use the words of a modern poet, be “shrouded in a mist of moral spleen;” or he may be influenced by the purest intentions. The work is of extensive utility; and, as such, is entitled to our thanks.