[To a Reader; Invitation to a Set-to on Greek Literature]

First published Edinburgh Evening Post, 26 July 1828, p. 93. Never reprinted. This piece appeared as one of three short paragraphs in the ‘To Correspondents’ column, immediately above the masthead on the fourth page. As co-editor of the Evening Post, De Quincey probably wrote many of its editorial notices to readers and correspondents. Of the ones in surviving issues, however, most are too short for attribution. But the following notice has ‘between’ (where Crichton would use ‘betwixt’), as well as the colloquial term ‘set-to’ which recalls ‘[“The Pretensions of Phrenology”]’ (Vol. 5, pp. 321–6), and other articles by De Quincey. Another unusual term, ‘velitation’ recurs in ‘Dr. Parr and his Contemporaries’ (Vol. 8). The relaxed, humorous, and secular tone of this short notice is what might be expected in De Quincey’s better contributions. Finally, the writer’s obvious relish at the prospect of ‘a set-to’ between Edinburgh intellectuals would be difficult to square with the Reverend Crichton’s view that ‘pugilism’ is ‘monstrously inconsistent with the profession of Christian principles’ (see above, p. 194).