the same age with Sir Walter Scott. It is quite exhilarating to think that life has had so much enjoyment as I owe to him: he is the Columbus that has discovered our America of literature. Think not only of his works themselves, but of their effects. How much he has destroyed and discovered! How much mental gold he has distributed! What a new spirit he has created! He is the Hercules who has cleared off the dragons and giants, and the Prometheus who has bequeathed a legacy of living fire."
Edward Lorraine.—"When opinions have lost the support of the grounds on which they were originally formed, they become prejudices; but in proportion as they lose their foundation, they tighten their hold; for though a man may give up his opinion, he holds to his prejudice as a drowning wretch who has lost his boat grasps his oar. Habit holds over the mind more than a despotic power; and hence I understand how it is possible for people to be blind to the great changes working around them. It is half curious, half ludicrous, to hear persons—ay, and critics too—talk of a novel as a pleasant hour's amusement, and exhort the author gravely to turn his talents to higher account, wholly unconscious of the truth, that the novel
