{picture:The young man is used to claret:  page209.jpg}

And when the waiter had retired I took a second glass of the wine, which I found excellent; and, observing a newspaper lying near me, I took it up and began perusing it.  It has been observed somewhere that people who are in the habit of reading newspapers every day are not unfrequently struck with the excellence of style and general talent which they display.  Now, if that be the case, how must I have been surprised, who was reading a newspaper for the first time, and that one of the best of the London journals!  Yes, strange as it may seem, it was nevertheless true that, up to the moment of which I am speaking, I had never read a newspaper of any description.  I of course had frequently seen journals, and even handled them; but, as for reading them, what were they to me?  I cared not for news.  But here I was now with my claret before me, perusing, perhaps, the best of all the London journals; it was not the —–­ , and I was astonished:  an entirely new field of literature appeared to be opened to my view.  It was a discovery, but I confess rather an unpleasant one; for I said to myself, If literary talent is so very common in London, that the journals, things which, as their very name denotes, are ephemeral, are written in a style like the article I have been perusing, how can I hope to distinguish myself in this big town, when, for the life of me, I don’t think I could write anything half so clever as what I have been reading?  And then I laid down the paper, and fell into deep musing; rousing myself from which, I took a glass of wine, and, pouring out another, began musing again.  What I have been reading, thought I, is certainly very clever and very talented; but talent and cleverness I think I have heard some one say are very commonplace things, only fitted for everyday occasions.  I question whether the man who wrote the book I saw this day on the bridge was a clever man; but, after all, was he not something much better?  I don’t think he could have written this article, but then he wrote the book which I saw on the bridge.  Then, if he could not have written the article on which I now hold my forefinger—­and I do not believe he could—­why should I feel discouraged at the consciousness that I, too, could not write it?  I certainly could no more have written the article than he could; but then, like him, though I would not compare myself to the man who wrote the book I saw upon the bridge, I think I could—­and here I emptied the glass of claret—­write something better.

Thereupon I resumed the newspaper; and, as I was before struck with the fluency of style and the general talent which it displayed, I was now equally so with its commonplaceness and want of originality on every subject; and it was evident to me that, whatever advantage these newspaper-writers might have over me in some points, they had never studied the Welsh bards, translated Kaempe Viser, or been under the pupilage of Mr. Petulengro and Tawno Chikno.