A SATIRE ON SATIRISTS, AND ADMONITION TO DETRACTORS. BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. Τας γοῦν Αθηνας διδα, τονδε χώρον ουν LONDON: SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET. 1836. 148. PREFACE. It is only our intimate friends who like us best when we write well: the greater part of readers are complacent at imagining their superiority as they discover our aberrations. Every ball we send rolling before us is a stumble and strain to those who are impatient of standing to catch us out at the wicket. Such as cannot find employment in mischievous actions, look for consolation in mischievous thoughts, and solicit, and seldom fail in obtaining, a fit audience, and not few, to applaud them. The Preface is growing too long for the Work, but the reader will find that it is not inappropriate. |