[The Battle of Navarino; The Aftermath]

First published Edinburgh Saturday Post, 24 November 1827, p. 228. Never reprinted. This leader continues the weekly digest of news from London, to which De Quincey was normally assigned. It has ‘between’, where the editor Peterkin and most of his contributors would have used ‘betwixt’. The fifth paragraph refers clearly to De Quincey’s previous leader on the same subject, in terms of the ‘concern … which we exposed last week’. Other signs of De Quincey include the four sentences starting with ‘But’, the free use of italics, dashes, and questions, the word ‘waiving’ (a favourite of De Quincey’s in 1827–8) and especially the very apt allusion to Falstaff. Falstaff’s Englishness, his appearance in an English history play by an English author, and (perhaps above all) his devotion to pleasure as opposed to morality or religion, may explain why he appears so often in De Quincey’s articles at this time. This particular piece is clearly part of the series on Navarino, written by the Post’s only regular English contributor.