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BOSWELL'S LETTERS 75
they created a mild literary sensation, till
last December had never been reprinted.
The volume before us is a reprint from the
first edition, the introduction by Mr. Sec-
combe being substituted for that of the
original editor. We wish that Mr. Seccombe
had been less modest less conservative at
any rate. With his view that " the editing
was admirably done " we cannot agree entirely.
Francis, who has intercalated blocks of exe-
gesis and comment between the letters, writes
good, straightforward prose, and appears to
have been a good, sensible sort of man. He has
enlivened his editorial labours with irruptions
of legal facetiousness and sagacious reflections.
He admires Carlyle. But his lack of subtlety
and his prodigious good sense make him incapable
of appreciating the character of Boswell.
Passages in the letters which seemed
to him ridiculous he, in his solicitude for the
reader's enjoyment, has been careful to print
in italics ; for it is difficult to suppose that
Boswell underlined them himself. The originals
are again lost ; should the passages in
it would follow
question really be underlined,
that Boswell was not unintentionally or un-
consciously ridiculous ; that all his life he
that he
practised an elaborate mystification ;
succeeded in hoodwinking the world that
;
he enlightened Temple alone, who nevertheless