[page 234, continued:]

WE have so frequently spoken in the warmest terms of admiration, of the brilliant and versatile abilities of Mr. Willis, that there is really nothing left for us to say — upon the issue of this the third instalment of “The Loiterings.” Of its author the world has been willing to admit — what is a great deal to admit of anyone, in [page 235:] these days of unoriginal mediocrity — that he has a marked way of his own, and in that way is altogether unrivalled. We look upon Mr. Willis as one of the truest men of letters in America. About him there is no particle of pretence. His works show his fine genius as it is. They convey the man. Whatever idea is gleaned of him through his books, will be confirmed upon personal acquaintance — and we know not one other man of letters of whom the same thing can be confidently said. In general, of the talents, of the fancy, of the wit, of the conversational powers, and especially of the accomplishments of a literary man, we get, through his compositions, a false, and very usually an exaggerated impression.