"
If Ernest had published this work in his own name I should think it would
have fallen stillborn from the press, but the form he had chosen was
calculated at that time to arouse curiosity, and as I have said he had
wickedly dropped a few hints which the reviewers did not think anyone
would have been impudent enough to do if he were not a bishop, or at any
rate some one in authority. A well-known judge was spoken of as being
another of the writers, and the idea spread ere long that six or seven of
the leading bishops and judges had laid their heads together to produce a
volume, which should at once outbid "Essays and Reviews" and counteract
the influence of that then still famous work.
Reviewers are men of like passions with ourselves, and with them as with
everyone else _omne ignotum pro magnifico_. The book was really an able
one and abounded with humour, just satire, and good sense. It struck a
new note and the speculation which for some time was rife concerning its
authorship made many turn to it who would never have looked at it
otherwise. One of the most gushing weeklies had a fit over it, and
declared it to be the finest thing that had been done since the
"Provincial Letters" of Pascal.
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