Page:Table-Talk, vol. 2 (1822).djvu/132

 slight and unsatisfactory to a modern reader. The writers, instead of “outdoing termagant or out-Heroding Herod,” were somewhat precise and prudish, gentle almost to a fault, full of candour and modesty,

There was none of that Drawcansir work going on then that there is now; no scalping of authors, no hacking and hewing of their Lives and Opinions, except that they used those of Tristram Shandy,, rather scurvily; which was to be expected. All, however, had a show of courtesy and good manners. The satire was covert and artfully insinuated; the praise was short and sweet. We meet with no oracular theories; no profound analysis of principles; no unsparing exposure of the least discernible deviation from them. It was deemed sufficient to recommend the work in general terms, “This is an agreeable volume,” or “This is a work