If his specialty is French drama, French
drama he will find, even in a footnote, and root it out and nuzzle
it. I remember when a famous scholar devoted the whole of his
review of a two volume _magnum opus_ upon a great historical
period, to the criticism of the text of a Latin hymn cited in a
footnote! The academic reviewer (by which I do _not_ mean the
university reviewer, since many such are not academic in the bad
sense which I am giving to the word) demands an index. His reviews
usually end with, "There is no index," or, "There is an excellent
index." The reason is plain. The index is his sole guide to
reviewing. If he finds his pet topics there he can hunt them down
remorselessly. But if there is no index, he is cast adrift
helpless, knowing neither where to begin nor where to end his
review. I call him a bad reviewer, but useful, because, though
incapable of estimating philosophies or creations of the
imagination, he is our best guarantee that writers' facts are
facts.
My acquaintance with the next bad, but occasionally useful,
reviewer is less extensive, but, by the circumstances of the case,
more intimate.
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