Under the title of England's Essayists (Macniven and Wallace, Edinburgh),
the Rev. Peter Anton writes both with judgment and with enthusiasm of Addison, Bacon, De Quincey, and Lamb. He would, in our opinion, however, have done still better, had he said a little less about these four writers, and said something about others. Gold- smith is, although in a different way, as charming an essayist as Addison, in spite of his having written some sad nonsense about Shake- speare's mixed metaphors. Then, what about Johnson, and even Steele Within his own chosen lines, however, Mr. Anton has done his work well, even if he is too lenient to Bacon. There are no faults of style, to speak of, in this volume. What does Mr. Anton mean, however, by saying that "Lamb was not a stomachic man 2" As the expres- sion stands, it recalls a Scotch Mrs. Poyser, who figures in some old novel, and asserts, with contemptuous vigour, that "there were no such things as stomachs in her young days !"
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