ABSTRACT
Mr. Thelwall’s Reply to the Calumnies, Misrepresentations, and Literary Forgeries, is contained in the Anonymous Observations on his Letter to the Editor of the Edinburgh Review. In the Reply he appears hurt, indignant and at times rather shrill, where he might have maintained a more objective or self-possessed tone. His decision to attack Jeffrey publicly and in such an impassioned and personal way only steered this war of words further into personal territory. Indeed, the anonymous author of the Observations places the blame for the ensuing public scandal at Thelwall’s feet. For Mr. Thelwall’s family afflictions, and the embarrassments which his distaste for drudgery has brought on the innocent persons with whom he is connected, the Reviewers certainly feel the most sincere compassion. If they were capable of making these circumstances a subject of derision, they would deserve nearly all the abuse which Mr. Thelwall has poured out against them.
