ABSTRACT
First published Edinburgh Evening Post, 12 July 1828, p. [73]. Reprinted Tave, pp. 388–96 (with attribution, pp. 396–8). The subject was one of De Quincey’s specialties for the Post, and the private knowledge of Wordsworth and Westmorland confirms his authorship. Also of note are colloquialisms like ‘bearder’ and ‘funk’, the recurring word ‘boutefeus’, Milton, the italicization of ‘that’ and allusions to Wordsworth, Edward Irving and Edmund Burke.
