For the purpose, presumably, of adding to the bulk of the book, Moir’s ballad, _De Quincey’s Revenge_, is included, though its sole connection with De Quincey is, that it deals with a legend concerning the possible ancestors of a possible branch of his possible family. Then we have one of Mr. Shadworth Hodgson LL.D.’s _Outcast Essays_, “On the genius of De Quincey,” the reason for the hospitable entertainment of the outcast being by no means apparent. Among other dreary trifles is a reprint of a Latin theme, one of De Quincey’s college exercises. As Mr. Hogg has chosen to reprint and translate this, it would have been as well to print and translate it correctly. “Quæ ansibus obstant” should, of course, have been “ausibus,” and “oculi perstringuntur” cannot possibly mean “are spellbound,” but “are dazzled.” The republication of these pieces was, we repeat, a great mistake, another lamentable illustration of the cruel wrong which officious and ill-judging admirers may inflict on a writer’s reputation. Talleyrand once observed that, a wise man would be safer with a foolish than with a clever wife, for a foolish wife could only compromise herself, but a clever wife might compromise her husband. Substituting ‘unambitious’ for ‘foolish’ and ‘ambitious’ for ‘clever,’ we are very much inclined to apply the same remark to a great writer and his friends. It requires a Johnson to support a Boswell, and a Goethe to support an Eckermann. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 27: See Works. Black’s Edit., Vol. I. p. 212, compared with original Edit., pp. 113-114.] [Footnote 28: _Id._, p. 272 and original Edit., pp. 177-178.] LEE’S _LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE_[29] [Footnote 29: _A Life of Shakespeare._ By Sidney Lee.]