Thomas James Mathias

His first publication was Runic Odes, imitated from the Norse Tongue, in the manner of Thomas Gray, London, 4to, 1781.

In 1783 he published, An Essay on the Evidence, external and internal, relating to the Poems attributed to Thomas Rowley.

In 1794 appeared the first part of an anonymous poem, entitled, The Pursuits of Literature, which, when completed in four parts, attracted universal attention, chiefly on account of the notes, which abound in deep and discriminating criticism on public men and opinions.

Besides several minor pieces of his own, he published the Works of Thomas Gray, with his Life, and Additions, Cambridge, 1814, 2 vols., 4to.

His chief work was The Pursuits of Literature (1794), an undiscriminating satire on his literary contemporaries that went through 16 editions, but is now almost forgotten.