Page:Essays and phantasies by James Thomson.djvu/64

 opinion, it would have been more fitly sent to the Colney-Hatch Journal or the Bedlam Times, than to us.

"Or: We insert the following as a frightful example of the extremes to which human aberration can go, trusting that it may prove an effectual warning to such of our readers as have turned aside from the pathway of reason.

"Or: We must distinctly beg our readers to understand that we agree with about nothing in the following essay, so far as we can make out any sense at all in it. If the matter were not so thoroughly unimportant, it would be rather interesting to know whether the author himself has the least notion of what he means, always supposing that he means anything.

"Or: In so far as this miserable essay mocks rational national reformers, its impudence is only equalled by its impotence. In so far as it is serious, it is as mad as hydrophobia.

"A mild disclaimer on your part, such as one of the above, would not at all hurt my feelings, or disturb my equanimity, while it would tend to vindicate you in the judgment of your readers."

I.