THE CARNABY CORRESPONDENCE.
THERE is no estimate more ludicrous than that which is formed by unthinking persons of the powers of Authors. Thus when a gentleman has once written a Book, say, on Domestic Medicine, it is popularly supposed that he is competent to compose a work on any subject whatever, from Transcendental Philosophy down to Five Minutes’ Advice on the Teeth. Something of the kind is observable in the Autobiography of Brasbridge, the Silversmith, of Fleet Street, who tells us that after the publication of his Memoirs, he was hailed by a fellow-citizen with “So you have written a book!—why, for the future I shall call you Shakspeare!” as if the recorder of a set of
[Pg 396]
 “fiddle-headed” anecdotes became, ipso facto, on a par with the creator of Othello. For another instance............