Literary history does not record a more singular example of that self-delight which an author has felt on a revision of his works. It was this intense pleasure which produced his voluminous labours. It must be confessed there are readers deficient in that sort of genius which makes the mind of Richardson so fertile and prodigal. INFLUENCE OF A NAME. What's in a NAME? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet. Names, by an involuntary suggestion, produce an extraordinary illusion. Favour or disappointment has been often conceded as the _name_ of the claimant has affected us; and the accidental affinity or coincidence of a _name_, connected with ridicule or hatred, with pleasure or disgust, has operated like magic. But the facts connected with this subject will show how this prejudice has branched out.[20] Sterne has touched on this unreasonable propensity of judging by _names_, in his humorous account of the elder Mr. Shandy's system of Christian names. And Wilkes has expressed, in Boswell's Life of Johnson, all the influence of baptismal _names_, even in matters of poetry! He said, "The last city poet was _Elkanah_ Settle. There is _something_ in _names_ which one cannot help feeling. Now _Elkanah_ Settle sounds so queer, who can expect much from _that name_? We should have no hesitation to give it for _John Dryden_ in preference to _Elkanah Settle_, from the _names only_, without knowing their different merits." A lively critic noticing some American poets, says "There is or was a Mr. Dwight who wrote a poem in the shape of an epic; and his baptismal name was _Timothy_;" and involuntarily we infer the sort of epic that a _Timothy_ must write. Sterne humorously exhorts all godfathers not "to Nicodemus a man into nothing." There is more truth in this observation than some may be inclined to allow; and that it affects mankind strongly, all ages and all climates may be called on to testify. Even in the barbarous age of Louis XI., they felt a delicacy respecting _names_, which produced an ordinance from his majesty. The king's barber was named _Olivier le Diable_. At first the king allowed him to got rid of the offensive part by changing it to _Le Malin_; but the improvement was not happy, and for a third time he was called _Le Mauvais_. Even this did not answer his purpose; and as he was a great racer, he finally had his majesty's ordinance to be called _Le Dain_, under penalty of law if any one should call him _Le Diable_, _Le Malin_, or _Le Mauvais_. According to Platina, Sergius the Second was the first pope who changed his name in ascending the papal throne; because his proper name was _Hog's-mouth_, very unsuitable with the pomp of the tiara. The ancients felt the same fastidiousness; and among the Romans, those who were called to the equestrian order, having low and vulgar _names_, were new named on the occasion, lest the former one should disgrace the dignity.[21]