Quote#Books & Reading
It suits your purpose, no doubt, to delude the unwary by false…
Quote byJoseph Ritson · 1752–1803
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Literary critics, Cursory Criticisms on the Edition of Shakspeare Published by Edmond Malone Critical Reviewers preface.
English (original)
It suits your purpose, no doubt, to delude the unwary by false colors; as the devil, when he commences innkeeper, hangs out an angel for his sign. The real meaning, however, is that you '--set down ALL in malice.' Shakspears morality, in the hands of a Reviewer, is to be read backward, like a witch's prayer.
— Joseph Ritson
More from Joseph Ritson
It has been frequently said that fools make knaves; it is equally true, I believe, that credulity is the parent of falsehood.
You complain, I see, that I have too much acidity in my composition; and, I think, you have too much puritanism. St. Matthew, vii. 5.
Ritson: "That same power, one may answer, which authorises kings to take where it can be worst spared, and give it where it is least wanted. Our hero, in this respect, was a knight-errant; and wanted no other commission than that of …
I am much obliged by the pains you have taken in detecting the blunders of the English Anthology. Some of them, however, are those of the author himself, or of the authority, at least, whence the piece is taken, and for these, of course, …
Dr. Fuller to Ritson: "But Who made him[Robin Hood] a judge? or gave him a commission to take where it might be best spared, and give where it was most wanted?"
As writing seems to be attended with some difficulty if not uneasiness, you have only to put down a figure of 4 or 5 before a cypher to satisfy me of the verity of the matter: a nod, you know, is as good as a wink to a blind horse.