ABSTRACT
The Genius of Romance seems to have been long since drooping among us; and has, of late, been generally displayed only for the basest purposes; either to raise the grin of Ideotism by its buffoonry, or stimulate the prurience of Sensuality by its obscenity. Novels, therefore, have circulated chiefly among the giddy and licentious of both sexes, who read, not for the sake of thinking, but for want of thought.
