And thither will we go now, now, now,
And thither will we go now.
“And when you have made a little stay,
You need not ask what is to pay,
But kiss your hostess and go your way,
And thither will we go now, now, now,
And thither will we go now.”
It may seem to some unkind to disturb this and other such traditions about distinguished persons; but the blame rests elsewhere—with the bookseller or author, who thought fit to propagate these fictions and variæ lectiones; and the restitution of literary property to its legitimate owners is among the functions and obligations of the antiquary.
It was natural for the old booksellers to draw into their service, in offering a popular volume to the public, some more or less magnetic name, which might play the part of foster-parent to the jocular collections of an obscure literary adventurer; but it seems incredible that any reader or editor should have been found so wanting in perception as to set seriously down to Archibald Armstrong a jest-book and a tract, which passed current as his at the time of their original appearance. Archy’s Jests and Archy’s Dream were palpably the productions of two professional writers, who followed the common practice of utilising the capital resident in a departed celebrity.
The rejoinder of Frederic the Great to Dr. Franklin, when he sought his aid in establishing freedom in America, to the effect that he was born a prince, had become a king, and would never do anything to ruin his own trade, is so far entitled to the priority over a somewhat similar trait preserved of Joseph II. of Germany, “Je suis par métier royaliste, Monsieur,” that Frederic preceded Joseph in order of time.