text:  This kind of excellence may give value to a work which is defective in the higher essential qualifications of imaginative writing; as old ballads and tales which have no other merit may be valuable illustrations of the manners of their time so by carefully collecting and concentrating scattered rays a man possessed of talents for the task may throw a strong light on states of society that were formerly obscure and thus greatly enhance the pleasure we derive from any higher merits we may find in his story