press some time in March, 1771, it does not appear to have been given
into the hands of Wilkie, the publisher, till the beginning of May, when
Mr. Ker writes thus to Bath: "Your Aristaenetus is in the hands of Mr.
Wilkie, in St. Paul's Churchyard, and to put you out of suspense at
once, will certainly make his appearance about the first of June next,
in the form of a neat volume, price 3s or 3s 6d, as may best suit his
size, &c., which cannot be more nearly determined at present, I have
undertaken the task of correcting for the press.... Some of the Epistles
that I have perused seem to me elegant and poetical; in others I could
not observe equal beauty, and here and there I could wish there was some
little amendment. You will pardon this liberty I take, and set it down
to the account of old-fashioned friendship." Mr. Ker, to judge from his
letters, (which, in addition to their other laudable points, are dated
with a precision truly exemplary,) was a very kind, useful, and sensible
person, and in the sober hue of his intellect exhibited a striking
contrast to the sparkling vivacity of the two sanguine and impatient
young wits, whose affairs he so good naturedly undertook to negotiate.

At length in August, 1771, Aristaenetus made its appearance--contrary
to the advice of the bookseller, and of Mr. Ker, who represented to
Sheridan the unpropitiousness of the season, particularly for a first
experiment in authorship, and advised the postponement of the
publication till October. But the translators were too eager for the
rich harvest of emolument they had promised themselves, and too full of
that pleasing but often fatal delusion--that calenture, under the
influence of which young voyagers to the shores of Fame imagine they
already see her green fields and groves in the treacherous waves around
them--to listen to the suggestions of mere calculating men of business.
The first account they heard of the reception of the work was flattering
enough to prolong awhile this dream of vanity. "It begins (writes Mr.