having written it ſhould be aſcribed either to the one or to the other: the following remarks, which are mainly taken from an article I contributed to the Athenæum in April 1881, are offered ſimply as ſpeculations which may not be without intereſt to lovers of the little book. They may, perhaps, ſhow that there is ſome reaſon for attributing the work to Oliver Goldſmith, although, of courſe, it is not claimed that they abſolutely eſtabliſh the fact.
Having occaſion to examine carefully as many of the books for children published by John Newbery as I could procure (and they are as ſcarce as blackberries in midwinter, for what among books has ſo brief a life as a nurſery book?), I was ſtruck while peruſing them with a certain diſtinct literary flavour, ſo to
