REVIEW OF "MEMOIRS AND ESSAYS, BY MRS. JAMESON."
Mrs. Jameson appears to be growing more and more desperately modest,
if we may judge from the motto:
"What if the little rain should say,
'So small a drop as I
Can ne'er refresh the thirsty plain,--
I'll tarry in the sky'"
and other superstitious doubts and disclaimers proffered in the course
of the volume. We thought the time had gone by when it was necessary
to plead "request of friends" for printing, and that it was understood
now-a-days that, from the facility of getting thoughts into print,
literature has become not merely an archive for the preservation of
great thoughts, but a means of general communication between all
classes of minds, and all grades of culture.
If writers write much that is good, and write it well, they are read
much and long; if the reverse, people simply pass them by, and go in
search of what is more interesting. There needs be no great fuss about
publishing or not publishing. Those who forbear may rather be
considered the vain ones, who wish to be distinguished among the
crowd. Especially this extreme modesty looks superfluous in a person
who knows her thoughts have been received with interest for ten or
twelve years back.
Pages:
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339