Why should I
plague poor Clark with them, if it be any plague to him? The
Booksellers will never _know_ but we examine them! The very
terror of Clark's name will be as the bark of chained Mastiff,--
and no need for actual biting! Have due pity on the man.
Your English volume of _Essays,_ as Chapman probably informs you
by this Post, was advertised yesterday, "with a Preface from me."
That is hardly accurate, that latter clause. My "Preface"
consists only of a certificate that the Book is correctly
printed, and sent forth by a Publisher of your appointment, whom
therefore all readers of yours ought to regard accordingly.
Nothing more. There proves, I believe, no visible real vestige
of a copyright obtainable here; only Chapman asserts that he
_has_ obtained one, and that he will take all contraveners into
Chancery,--which has a terrible sound; and indeed the Act he
founds on is of so distracted, inextricable a character, it may
mean anything and all things, and no Sergeant Talfourd whom we
could consult durst take upon him to say that it meant almost
anything whatever.
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