or
to his death, in last November.

This allusion to Kirk brings to my mind the notorious John Williams,
better known as Anthony Pasquin, under which name he was doomed to
everlasting infamy by Gifford, in his satire of the _Baviad and Maeviad_,
in judgments afterwards confirmed in a celebrated trial for libel in which
the famous Erskine delivered one of his best forensic speeches. Williams
was the associate in London of a small but ambitious set of mutual
admirers in literature, of whom Mr. Merry and his future wife were the
"Della Crusca" and "Rosa Matilda," and all three of these worthies came to
New-York about the year 1798. I have an impression that Kirk came at the
same time. The character of Williams was infamous, and a large share of
his infamy consisted in his ministering to, if not creating, the passion
for personal scandal, and setting the example of black-mail collections,
in newspapers. In the report of the great case of Williams vs. Faulder, it
is said of his paper, called _The World_, that "In this were given the
earliest specimens of those unqualified and audacious attacks on all
private character which the town first smiled at for their quaintness,
then tolerated for their absurdity--and will have to lament to the last
hour of British liberty." After he came to this country he associated
himself with the enemies of Hamilton, and published a satire called _The
Hamiltoniad_, edited a magazine entitled _The Columbian_, and was a
pioneer in that species of journalism which still subsists here upon the
most scandalous invasions of private life and reputation. He was doubly
detestable, in that he was the corruptor and worst specimen of the
editorial calling in Europe and in America. I remember frequently seeing
Williams, in the latter part of his life, in his shabby pepper-and-salt
dress, in the obscure parts of the city. I believe he died during the
first prevalence of the cholera in Brooklyn. Fancy may depict his
expression as illustrating Otway's lines, "as if all hell were in his
eyes, and he in hell." It must not be supposed that I in any degree
associate the fame of the worthy Kirk with that of this literary vagabond.

To a suggestion that I might refer to the late William Cobbett, as
associated with the periodical press of this country, I may say that I see
in it no impropriety. Unquestionably a minute record would include his
_Porcupine Gazette_ and his _Weekly Register_; the one an offspring of his