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rence of The Conservative for the polished writers of a more correct age, fits him for a task to which his mediocre talent might not otherwise recommend him.
When The Conservative shall have laid down his task, it is his desire that he may be able to employ with justice the closing words of The Rambler, who said, over a century and a half ago: "Whatever shall be the final sentence of mankind, I have at least endeavoured to deserve their kindness. I have laboured to refine our language to grammatical purity, and to clear it from colloquial barbarism, licentious idioms, and irregular combinations."
Outside the domain of pure literature, The Conservative will ever be found an enthusiastic champion of total abstinence and prohibition; of moderate, healthy militarism as contrasted with dangerous and unpatriotic peace-preaching; of Pan-Saxonism, or the domination by the English and kindred races over the lesser divisions of mankind; and of constitutional or representative government, as opposed to the pernicious and contemptible false schemes of anarchy and socialism. Though the first named of these items may superficially appear a rather inappropriate function for a Conservative, it must be remembered, that he who strives against the Hydra-monster Rum, strives most to conserve his fellow-men.
The Conservative and His Critics.
It was remarked by Dr. Johnson in The Idler, that "No genius was ever blasted by the breath of criticism; the poison which, if confined, would have burst the heart, fumes away in empty hisses, and malice is sot at ease with very little danger to merit". Thus fortified in mind and soothed in temper by the precept of the great lexicographer, The Conservative turns to the sneers of "Bab Bell," whose anonymous remarks against his first effort at publishing appear in The Lake Breeze for April. Since the whole principle of anonymous censure is so ignoble, the position of "Bab Bell" robs his "submarine warfare" of its greatest force, and renders further notice unnecessary. If "Bab" has a proper sense of fairness in his composition, he will unmask before committing any more backbiting of this sort.
From such journalistic sneaking it is a relief to pass on to William B. Stoddard's frankly signed and frankly supercilious review in The Brooklynite, Mr. Stoddard is a man of intensely negative nature, who cannot bear the positive philosophy and definite dogmatism of The Conservative, and who must therefore be excused for his slighting allusions. However, he is a little premature in predicting the evolution of The Conservative into a careless writer of his own type.
Rheinhart Kleiner is a critic whose keenest censure may be accepted without resentment, since his honest and serious attitude raises him far above the suspicion of petty teasing and attempted cynicism. His strictures on the "art-shot" rhyme in "The Simple Speller's Tale" are just, and the fault is herewith acknowledged by The Conservative. Of Mr. Kleiner's general opinions concerning "allowable" rhymes, more may later be said, yet it must be emphasized that his position, however fundamentally erroneous, has much
