to say who read it. Poor yellow sheet, that looked so hopefully
Livingtones' window! Poor, harmless paper, that might have gone to
print a SHAKESPEARE on, and was instead so clumsily defaced with
nonsense; And, shall I say, Poor Editors? I cannot pity myself, to
whom it was all pure gain. It was no news to me, but only the
wholesome confirmation of my judgment, when the magazine struggled
into half-birth, and instantly sickened and subsided into night. I
had sent a copy to the lady with whom my heart was at that time
somewhat engaged, and who did all that in her lay to break it; and
she, with some tact, passed over the gift and my cherished
contributions in silence. I will not say that I was pleased at
this; but I will tell her now, if by any chance she takes up the
work of her former servant, that I thought the better of her taste.
I cleared the decks after this lost engagement; had the necessary
interview with my father, which passed off not amiss; paid over my
share of the expense to the two little, active brothers, who rubbed
their hands as much, but methought skipped rather less than
formerly, having perhaps, these two also, embarked upon the
enterprise with some graceful illusions; and then, reviewing the
whole episode, I told myself that the time was not yet ripe, nor
the man ready; and to work I went again with my penny version-
books, having fallen back in one day from the printed author to the
manuscript student.


III


From this defunct periodical I am going to reprint one of my own
papers. The poor little piece is all tail-foremost. I have done