PEVERIL OF THE PEAK
Now republished for the first time, as it appeared in the first copies of The London Magazine for February 1823. Before fifty copies had been sold, the second and third paragraphs,—from ‘There were two things that we used to admire,’ etc. to ‘Might not such a man have written the Scotch Novels?’ (see post, p. 538)—were suppressed. Shortly afterwards a writer in Blackwood’s Magazine, having obtained possession of one of the original copies, published this passage together with indignant comments. See Blackwood’s Magazine, August 1824, XVI. 180–1. The editor of The London Magazine replied to this attack in the number for October 1824, and stated that the review was by ‘a celebrated critic,’ and that the passage had been withdrawn out of respect, not fear. See Mr. Bertram Dobell’s Sidelights on Charles Lamb (pp. 205 et seq.). The suppressed passage is here reprinted from Blackwood’s Magazine.
[538]. ‘Thinly scattered,’ etc. Romeo and Juliet, Act V. Sc. 1. ‘He knows all qualities,’ etc. Othello, Act III. Sc. 3. ‘The wisest,’ etc. Cf. Pope, An Essay on Man, IV. 282.