Page:Paul Clifford Vol 1.djvu/131

Rh facts, and an innovating method of applying words to meanings which they never were meant to denote, were now-and-then distinguishable in the criticisms of the new Achilles: nevertheless, it was easy to attribute these peculiarities to an original turn of thinking; and the rise of the paper, upon the appearance of a series of articles upon Cotemporary Authors, written by this "eminent hand," was so remarkable, that fifty copies,—a number perfectly unprecedented in the annals of the Asinæum,—were absolutely sold in one week: indeed, remembering the principle on which it was founded, one sturdy old writer declared, that the journal would soon do for itself, and become popular. There was a remarkable peculiarity about the literary debutant, who signed himself "Nobilitas." He not only put old words to a new sense, but he used words which had never, among the general run of writers, been used before. This was especially remarkable in the application of hard names to authors. Once, in censuring a popular writer for pleasing the public, and thereby growing rich, the "eminent hand" ended with—"He who surreptitiously accumulates