produced as pretty a copy of verses as ever I saw, on beef was as dull
as ditch-water...."

"It is a characteristic of fools," says some one, "to be always
beginning,"--and this is not the only point in which folly and genius
resemble each other. So chillingly indeed do the difficulties of
execution succeed to the first ardor of conception, that it is only
wonderful there should exist so many finished monuments of genius, or
that men of fancy should not oftener have contented themselves with
those first vague sketches, in the production of which the chief luxury
of intellectual creation lies. Among the many literary works shadowed
out by Sheridan at this time were a Collection of Occasional Poems, and
a volume of Crazy Tales, to the former of which Halhed suggests that
"the old things they did at Harrow out of Theocritus" might, with a
little pruning, form a useful contribution. The loss of the volume of
Crazy Tales is little to be regretted, as from its title we may conclude
it was written in imitation of the clever but licentious productions of
John Hall Stephenson. If the same kind oblivion had closed over the
levities of other young authors, who, in the season of folly and the
passions, have made their pages the transcript of their lives, it would
have been equally fortunate for themselves and the world.

But whatever may have been the industry of these youthful authors, the
translation of Aristaenetus, as I have already stated, was the only
fruit of their literary alliance that ever arrived at sufficient
maturity for publication. In November, 1770, Halhed had completed and
forwarded to Bath his share of the work, and in the following month we
find Sheridan preparing, with the assistance of a Greek grammar, to
complete the task. "The 29th ult., (says Mr. Ker, in a letter to him
from London, dated Dec. 4, 1770,) I was favored with yours, and have