[Tales of All Nations]

First published Edinburgh Saturday Post, 13 October 1827, p. 182. Never reprinted. The interest in literature, as opposed to Scottish, moral or theological concerns, together with conversational phrases like ‘wade through’, ‘spin out’, ‘It has not yet escaped our recollection’, and ‘by all means’, strongly suggest De Quincey, especially in the context of the Post. This witty reviewer looks for pleasure rather than morality, national pride, or improvement or instruction, in reading fiction.