MISCELLANEOUS. 



695 



Character of Mr. Cumberland's 

 Observer. 



[From the same work.] 



The Observer. — Of this very 

 valuable paper, the composition of 

 Mr. Cumberland, it will be ne- 

 cessary, in the first place, to re- 

 late what the author has himself 

 thought proper to say of its origin, 

 progress, and character. In the 

 Memoirs of his own Life he has 

 favoured us with the following ac- 

 count : — " I first printed two oc- 

 tavos (of the Observer) experi- 

 mentally at our press in Tunbridge 

 Wells ; the execution was so in- 

 correct that I stopped the im- 

 pression as soon as I had engaged 

 my friend, Mr. Charles Dilly, to 

 undertake the reprinting of it. 

 He gave it a form and shape fit 

 to meet the public eye, and the 

 sale was encouraging. I added to 

 the collection very largely, and it 

 appeared in a new edition of five 

 volumes : when these were out of 

 print, I made a fresh arrangement 

 of the essays, and, incorporating 

 my entire translation of The 

 Clouds, we edited the work thus 

 modelled in six volumes ; and 

 these being now attached to the 

 great edition of the British Essay- 

 ists, I consider the Observer as 

 fairly enrolled amongst the stand- 

 ard classics of our native language. 

 This work, therefore, has obtained 

 for itself an inheritance : it is 

 fairly off ray hands, and what I 

 have to say about it will be con- 

 fined to a few simple facts ; I had 

 no acknowledgments to make in 

 my concluding essay, for I had re- 

 ceived no aid or assistance from 

 any man living. Every page and 

 paragraph, except what is avowed 



quotation, I am singly responsible 

 for. 



" I have been suspected of tak- 

 ing stories out of Spanish authors, 

 and weaving them into some of 

 these essays as my own, without 

 acknowledging the plagiarism. 

 One of my reviewers instances 

 the story of Nicolas Pedrosa, and 

 roundly asserts, that, from inter- 

 nal evidence, it must be of Spa- 

 nish construction, and from these 

 assumed premises leaves me to 

 abide the odium of the inference. 

 To this I answer with the most 

 solemn appeal to truth and ho- 

 nour, that I am indebted to no 

 author whatever, Spanish or other, 

 for a single hint, idea, or sugges- 

 tion of an incident, in the story 

 of Pedrosa, nor in that of the 

 Misanthrope, nor in any other 

 which the work contains. In the 

 narrative of the Portuguese who 

 was brought before the Inquisi- 

 tion, what I say of it as being 

 matter of tradition, which I col- 

 lected on the spot, is a mere fic- 

 tion to give an air of credibility 

 and horror to the tale : the whole, 

 without exception of a syllable, is 

 absolute and entire invention. 



" I take credit to myself for the 

 character of Abraham Abrahams; 

 I wrote it upon principle, think- 

 ing it high time that something 

 should be done for that persecuted 

 race ; I seconded my appeal to 

 the charity of mankind, by the 

 character of Sheva, which I co- 

 pied from this of Abrahams. The 

 public prints gave the Jews credit 

 for their sensibility in acknow- 

 ledging my well-intended ser- 

 vices : my friends gave me joy of 

 honorary presents, and some even 

 accused me of ingratitude for not 



