SYDNEY SMITH, once upon a time, despatched a pretentious octavo, in the
_Edinburgh_, with a critique, one paragraph in length; that achievement
is matched by the disposal of a work in the _Courier and Enquirer_, as
follows, by ingeniously employing the opening sentence of the book
itself:--
"_The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia._ A Tale by SAMUEL
JOHNSON, LL. D. A new edition, with illustrations. 12mo., pp. 206.
New York: C. S. FRANCIS & CO.
"Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with
eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the
promises of youth, and that deficiencies of the present day will be
supplied by the morrow; attend to the history of _Rasselas_, Prince of
Abyssinia."