Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/189

155 CONSTABLE, CAD ELL, AND BLACK, 155 had elapsed before the thirteenth volume was com- pleted, and then De Quincey died the remainder of the thirteenth, and the whole of the fourteenth, being due to Mr. Hogg. During these eight years almost daily interviews or correspondence occurred between De Quincey and Mr. Hogg. To use the author's words, " the joint labour and patient per- severance spent in the preparation of these volumes was something perfectly astounding." In addition to the frequent and protracted interviews, the corre- spondence which passed during the progress of the work would fill a goodly volume. In order to account for the delays which so frequently occurred, De Quincey remarks upon one occasion : "I suffer from a most afflicting derangement of the nervous system, which at times makes it difficult for me to write at all, and always makes me impatient, in a degree not easily under- stood, of recasting what may seem insufficiently or even incoherently expressed." But, while suffering under this cause, he laboured under a daily and more formidable bar to progress, as annoying and perplex- ing to himself as to others. For many years he had been in the habit of correcting manuscript or of jotting down on loose sheets, more frequently on small scraps of paper, any stray thoughts that occurred to him, intending to use them as occasion might afterwards offer. These papers, however, instead of being methodically arranged and preserved, were carelessly laid aside, and were soon mixed up with letters, proofs, old and new copy, newspapers, periodicals, and other confusing litter, and the numerous volumes he received from literary friends and admirers, all huddled together on chairs, tables, 10 2