“The Snail: Its Habitat, &c. Adam Charles. Pschuffer. 21s. 6d.
“We desire to have as little to do with this book as possible, and we should recommend some similar attitude to our readers. It professes to be scientific, but the harm books of this kind do is incalculable. It is certainly unfit for ordinary reading, and for our part we will confess that we have not read more than the first few words. They were quite sufficient to confirm the judgment which we have put before our readers, and they would have formed sufficient material for a lengthier treatment had we thought it our duty as Englishmen to dwell further upon the subject.”
Let me now turn from the light parenthesis of illuminating anecdote to the sterner part of my task.
We will begin at the beginning, taking the simplest form of review, and tracing the process of production through its various stages.
It is necessary first to procure a few forms, such as are sold by Messrs. Chatsworthy in Chancery Lane, and Messrs. Goldman, of the Haymarket, in which all the skeleton of a review is provided, with blanks left for those portions which must, with the best will in the world, vary according to the book and the author under consideration. There are a large number of these forms, and I would recommend the student who is as yet quite a novice in the trade to select some forty of the most conventional, such as these on page 7 of the catalogue:—
“Mr. —— has hardly seized the pure beauty of”
“We cannot agree with Mr. —— in his estimate of”
“Again, how admirable is the following:”
At the same establishments can be procured very complete lists of startling words, which lend individuality and force to the judgment of the Reviewer. Indeed I believe that Mr. Goldman was himself the original patentee of these useful little aids, and among many before me at this moment I would recommend the following to the student:—
| { | Absolute | } | ||
| { | Immediate | } | ||
| { | Creative | } | ||
| { | Bestial | } | ||
| { | Intense | } | ||
| “There is somewhat | { | Authoritative | } | in Mr. ——’s style.” |
| of the | { | Ampitheatrical | } | Mrs. ——’s |
| { | Lapsed | } | Miss ——’s | |
| { | Miggerlish | } | ||
| { | Japhetic | } | ||
| { | Accidental | } | ||
| { | Alkaline | } | ||
| { | Zenotic | } |