ARIEL BOOKLETS.
———
A series of productions complete in small compass, which have beenaccepted as classics of their kind.
———
by
James Russell Lowell
New York and London
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
The Knickerbocker Press
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Copyright, 1848
By GEORGE P. PUTNAM
Copyright, 1890
By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
Note.—This edition is printed under the authorization of Messrs.Houghton, Mifflin & Co., the publishers of the complete works of JamesRussell Lowell.
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
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Reader! walk up at once (it will soon be too late) and
buy at a perfectly ruinous rate
A
FABLE FOR CRITICS;
OR, BETTER,
(I like, as a thing that the reader’s first fancy may strike,
an old-fashioned title-page,
such as presents a tabular view of the volume’s contents)
A GLANCE
AT A FEW OF OUR LITERARY PROGENIES
(Mrs Malaprop’s word)
FROM
THE TUB OF DIOGENES:
A VOCAL AND MUSICAL MEDLEY
THAT IS,
A SERIES OF JOKES
B y A W o n d e rf u l Q u i z,
who accompanies himself with a rub-a-dub-dub, full of spirit and grace,
on the top of the tub.
SET FORTH IN
October, the 21st day, in the year ’48
G. P. PUTNAM, BROADWAY
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This jeu d’esprit was extemporized, I may fairly say, so rapidly wasit written, purely for my own amusement, and with no thought ofpublication. I sent daily instalments of it to a friend in New York, thelate Chas F. Briggs. He urged me to let it be printed and I at lastconsented to its anonymous publication. The secret was kept till afterseveral persons had laid claim to its authorship.{vii}{vi}