Why we should love so dearly a fresh anecdote of a literary celebrity, a new quip by Talleyrand, a new stutter of Lamb's, a new impertinence of Sheridan's, may be not hard to understand, but it is rather hard to defend, any regard being paid to our dignity. The best stories about that particular line of authors who have possessed _bonhomie_ and become classic for it are long since told. What remains is the dregs. Yet the other day we found ourselves smiling with real delight over a new "bit" of Cowper. It was merely that his barber, being late with the poet's wig, said, "Twill soon be here, it is upon the road;" and that Cowper had smiled, with a "Very well, William," or a "Very fair, Thomas." The _mot_, like most of the stories that crop up now, was not good; it did not exhibit the author of "John Gilpin" in a brilliant light; it was not even uttered by the poet--he had merely smiled at it; yet it had the effect of rekindling the vapid embers about the dear old hearthstone of Olney, and the shy, gentle creatures that used to disport there among the hares when nobody was looking became for a moment more real from the citation. Now, the question is, What is the superiority of a new piece of gossip like this, which involves no witticism and confers no wisdom, over the next bit of history that will be exchanged between the heroines of the alley-gate? When Mrs. Jones tells Mrs. Baker that Mrs. Briggs has delivered a daughter, and that Mr. Briggs said he had rather she had given him a wooden leg, the epigram is quite as good as a _Bric-à-Brac_ anecdote, the people are quite as worthy as Cowper's barber, and the effect upon the history of letters quite as close and important. With this demurrer, we will apply ourselves for a moment to Mr. Stoddard's last collection, which of course we relish as much as anybody. We could wish that, after discharging his very well-executed duty of writing the preface, he could find some further time for elucidating the text. The present book being about three people, whose memoirs are taken from three volumes, it is confusing to the reader to find on a page headed "Rogers" or "Scott" a foot-note about what "my father" said or what "my friend" remembered, without anything to point out that the authority is other than Mr. Stoddard's father or friend. Other peculiarities, too, suggest that the pretty little volume is clipped instead of edited: on page 134 we find that "William, who had lived many years with Hook, grew rich and saucy. The latter used to assert of him that for the first three years he was as good a servant as ever came into a house; for the next two a kind and considerate friend; and afterward an abominably bad master." And on page 240, that when _Rogers_ was condoled with about the death of an old servant, he exclaimed, "Well, I don't know that I feel his loss so much, after all. For the first _seven_ years he was an obliging servant; for the