(1) “Makes no pretensions to be based upon original research,” and he
follows up this curious admission with ...
(2) “And I cannot claim to have read even all the modern authorities
on the subject.”
And (3) “My knowledge of the Swedish language is by no means
independent of the assistance of a dictionary, nor can I hope to have
escaped that tendency to partiality for which the natural fascination
of such a subject is the only excuse.”