ABSTRACT
William Cox (?—1851?) was born in England about the turn of the century and became an active literary and theater critic in New York City in the 1820s, contributing regularly to the New York Mirror. He burlesqued contemporary literary fashions in “The Man of the Flymarket Ferry” and “Oysters,” both much-admired pieces in the 1830s. Cox advocated the dramatic principle in writing, thus advancing short fiction over the Addisonian essay form. In the 1830s he returned to England, corresponding regularly with the Mirror on literary and the atrical matters. A volume of his essays, Crayon Sketches (New York, 1833) by “An Amateur,” included “Steam” among other comic and serious matter. The text here is from The Atlantic Club-Book (2 vols.; New York, 1834). A brief biography of Cox appears in Evert A. Duyckinck and George L. Duyckinck (eds.), Cyclopedia o f American Liter ature (2 vols.; New York, 1855), II, 243-44.
