ARIEL BOOKLETS. A series of productions complete in small compass, which have been accepted as classics of their kind. For full list see end of this volume. [Illustration] A Fable for Critics by James Russell Lowell [Illustration] New York and London G. P. Putnam’s Sons The Knickerbocker Press COPYRIGHT, 1848 BY GEORGE P. PUTNAM COPYRIGHT, 1890 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. NOTE.--This edition is printed under the authorization of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., the publishers of the complete works of James Russell Lowell. The Knickerbocker Press, New York READER! _walk up at once (it will soon be too late) and buy at a perfectly ruinous rate_ A FABLE FOR CRITICS; OR, BETTER, (_I like, as a thing that the reader’s first fancy may strike, an old-fashioned title-page, such as presents a tabular view of the volume’s contents_) A GLANCE AT A FEW OF OUR LITERARY PROGENIES (_Mrs Malaprop’s word_) FROM THE TUB OF DIOGENES: A VOCAL AND MUSICAL MEDLEY THAT IS, A SERIES OF JOKES By A Wonderful Quiz, _who accompanies himself with a rub-a-dub-dub, full of spirit and grace, on the top of the tub_. SET FORTH IN _October, the 21st day, in the year ’48_ G. P. PUTNAM, BROADWAY PREFATORY NOTE This _jeu d’esprit_ was extemporized, I may fairly say, so rapidly was it written, purely for my own amusement, and with no thought of publication. I sent daily instalments of it to a friend in New York, the late CHAS F. BRIGGS. He urged me to let it be printed and I at last consented to its anonymous publication. The secret was kept till after several persons had laid claim to its authorship. [Illustration] It being the commonest mode of procedure, I premise a few candid remarks TO THE READER: