то MRS. RICHMOND THACKERAY RITCHIE. Madam,-In putting the finishing Strokes to that famous Novel of the Eighteenth Century, which is one of the chief Glories of the Nineteenth, the Author of Esmond did not neglect one needful and indeed indispensable Detail, the Dedication to an Illustrious Personage. So high a Precedent may not improperly be followed in Cases more obscure. Were Mr. Thackeray still among us, the Homage of this Selection of Eighteenth-Century Essays (had he been pleased to accept it) would have belonged of right to the literary Descendant of Addison and Fielding, of Goldsmith and Steele; and it would have been my Privilege to have found in it the Pretext for a Tribute (however trifling) to a great Writer whom I love and honor. But alas! nullum Saeva Caput Proserpina fugit: and Fate, that cannot kill a Noble Work, is absolute over him who gives it Birth. I am reminded, not the less, that there are still written, for our unthinking Moderns, Pages in which it is not difficult to trace some softer Relation to that pure and unaffected Pathos, that keen yet kindly Satire. I presume therefore to offer this little Volume to Mr. Thackeray's Daughter. I am, Madam, Your obedient Servant, AUSTIN DOBSON. |