The Customary Correspondent
gentleman threw a new and radiant light upon its possibilities. "The gratuitous contributor is, ex vi termini, an ass," said Christopher North sourly; but then he never knew, nor ever deserved to know, this particular kind of contribution.
Generally speaking, the unknown correspondent does not write to praise. His guiding principle is the diffusion of useless knowledge, and he demands or imparts it according to the exigencies of the hour. It is strange that a burning thirst for information should be combined with such reluctance to acquire it through ordinary channels. A man who wishes to write a paper on the botanical value of Shakespeare's plays does not dream of consulting a concordance and a botany, and then going to work. The bald simplicity of such a process offends his sense of magnitude. He writes to a distinguished scholar, asking a number of burdensome questions, and is apparently under the impression that the
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