Cambridge.
_Specimens of Composition._--In the current (June) number of the
_Eclectic Review_ there is a critique on Gilfillan's _Bards of the
Bible_, the writer of which indulges in the use of several most
inelegant, extraordinary, and unpardonable expressions. He speaks of
"spiritual monoptotes," &c., as if all his readers were as learned as he
himself professes to be: but the climax of his sorry literary attempt is
as follows:
"Over the whole literature of modern times there is a feeling of
reduced inspiration, milder possession, relaxed orgasmus,
tabescent vitality, spiritual collapse."--P. 725.
What would the author of the _Spectator_ have thought of a writer who
could unblushingly parade before the literary public such words as
"relaxed orgasmus," "tabescent vitality," "monoptotes," &c.?