"THE SHILLING MAGAZINE." To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."
May 9, 1865. SzE,—For your damp and dreary attack on me and my magazine I can only offer you my ready thanks ; for, such attacks, so full of malice and so void of meaning, only injure those who make them, while those who are assailed in such personal terms as these pass on entirely free and uninjured. If my position in the world of Letters is not a sufficient protection against such puerilities as yours are, I disdain to avail myself of any other defence. I-rely on the estimation in which I am held by the best of my contem- poraries, and on my own conscientious and considerate conduct in the republic of Letters, for an ample protection from such petty' attacks as these are.
But I will ask you, if you have yourself a particle of courage or candour, to insert this letter as a reasonable and legitimate 'appeal, and if you do not insert it, I shall myself insert it elsewhere.
Moreover, I ask you to correct one of your own false hypotheses, that the article signed "H. M." was by my dear friend of many years Miss Harriet Martineau. It was written by one of the moat eminent contributors to contemporary literature, a gentleman as incapable of conduct such as your own, as he is in his character and conduct honest and conscientious.—And I remain, Sir, as you have treated me, THE EDITOR OF 'THE SHILLING- MAGAZINE."
[We insert this remarkable letter without any further comment than to say that the writer of the criticism in question was absolutely without knowledge of the gentleman whom he WAS reviewing, not even having had the advantage of being personally aware of his eminent position in the world of letters. The only motive of the criticism was strong dislike to the puffing style of the editor's announeement, which seemed quite new in the world of English lettere.—En. Spectator.] -
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