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To comprehend this witticism of poor Renzo, it is necessary to be

informed, that in the eyes of the vulgar of Milan, and more

particularly in its environs, the name of poet did not signify,

as among cultivated people, a sublime genius, an inhabitant of

Pindus, a pupil of the muses, but a whimsicality and eccentricity

in discourse and conduct, which had more of singularity than

sense; and an absurd wresting of words from their legitimate

signification.