3s. 6d. Isbister's Standard Abridgments net. I. JOHN WESLEY'S JOURNAL Introduction by HUGH PRICE HUGHES, M.A. II. GEORGE FOX'S JOURNAL 3s. 6d. net. Introduction by W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D. III. BOSWELL'S JOHNSON Introduction by G. K. CHESTERTON IV. NOCTES AMBROSIANÆ Introduction by J. H. MILLAR HARVARD 50491 ΧΡΗ ΔΕΝ ΣΥΜΠΟΣΙΩ ΚΥΛΙΚΩΝ ΠΕΡΙΝΙΣΣΟΜΕΝΑΩΝ ΗΔΕΑ ΚΩΤΙΛΛΟΝΤΑ ΚΑΘΗΜΕΝΟΝ ΟΙΝΟΠΟΤΑΖΕΙΝ [This is a distich by wise old Phocylides, PHOс. ap. Ath. An ancient who wrote crabbed Greek in no silly days; Meaning, "Tis right for GOOD WINE-BIBBing people, NOT TO LET THE JUG PACE ROUND THE BOARD LIKE A CRIPPLE; BUT GAILY TO CHAT WHILE DISCUSSING THEIR TIPPLE." An excellent rule of the hearty old cock 'tis And a very fit motto to put to our Noctes.] C. N. ap. Ambr. INTRODUCTION BY J. H. MILLAR " AMONG the triumphs of the higher journalism which flourished so remarkably in this country during the first half of the nineteenth century, not the least signal and conspicuous was the Noctes Ambrosiana. These celebrated papers appeared in Blackwood's Magazine between 1822 and 1835, and they supplied the editor with an unrivalled medium for the discussion of every conceivable sort of question. Taken as a whole, they may be said to contain a comprehensive "criticism of life," and the ideal mode of acquiring a due sense of their versatility and range is probably to dip into the volumes of Maga in which they originally appeared. But it is not every one who has these volumes on his book-shelves, nor, to tell the truth, are portability and compactness their chief characteristic. Even the space which Wilson's part of the Noctes fills in his collected works occupies rather more room than some may think themselves able to afford. It is hoped, therefore, that the following abridgment may serve to convey a tolerably just idea of a work which may surely, without exaggeration, be termed a classic of the second order, though no one is likely to pretend that it belongs to the very first. |