Leeds, July 22.
P.S.--Apart from the philosophical beauty of this wonderful passage,
there are other aspects in which it may be studied with not less
interest.
How true is the poetical image of the _rack_ as the last object of
dissipation! the expiring evidence of combustion! the lingering
cloudiness of solution!
Replies to Minor Queries.
_Pseudo MSS._--_The Devil, Cromwell and his Amours._--It is too bad! In
Vol. iii., p. 282., there is a good page and a half taken up with a
verbatim extract from Echard, which has either been alluded to or quoted
by every writer on Cromwell from Echard's time down to a few months ago,
when it appeared in _Chambers's Papers for the People_, No. 11. Again,
in Vol. iv., p. 19., there is another page and a half relating to
Cromwell, which, I fearlessly assert, I have seen frequently in print,
but cannot at present tell where; and more important avocations forbid
me to search. As if that was not enough, in Vol. iv., p. 50. there is
another half page respecting the preservation of these _precious MSS._!
Is it not too bad? Do, worthy Mr. Editor, make the _amende honorable_ by
publishing the true characters of the MSS. forwarded by S. H. H., which
you have so inadvertently published as original.