ONTHEROYALSOCIETYOFLITERATURE。
（June1823。）
Thisistheageofsocieties。ThereisscarcelyoneEnglishmanintenwhohasnotbelongedtosomeassociationfordistributingbooks，orforprosecutingthem;forsendinginvalidstothehospital，orbeggarstothetreadmill;forgivingplatetotherich，orblanketstothepoor。Tobethemostabsurdinstitutionamongsomanyinstitutionsisnosmalldistinction;itseems，however，tobelongindisputablytotheRoyalSocietyofLiterature。Atthefirstestablishmentofthatridiculousacademy，everysensiblemanpredictedthat，inspiteofregalpatronageandepiscopalmanagement，itwoulddonothing，ordoharm。Anditwillscarcelybedeniedthatthoseexpectationshavehithertobeenfulfilled。
Idonotattackthefoundersoftheassociation。Theircharactersarerespectable;theirmotives，Iamwillingtobelieve，werelaudable。ButIfeel，anditisthedutyofeveryliterarymantofeel，astrongjealousyoftheirproceedings。
Theirsocietycanbeinnocentonlywhileitcontinuestobedespicable。Shouldtheyeverpossessthepowertoencouragemerit，theymustalsopossessthepowertodepressit。Whichpowerwillbemorefrequentlyexercised，leteveryonewhohasstudiedliteraryhistory，leteveryonewhohasstudiedhumannature，declare。