Too much of the show, however, was bogged down by sketches that were underwritten and overlong.

"Four years is overlong for anyone to play ghost on a whole countryside," he said laughing.

“I trust, Master Preston, that you will not be overlong in recovering,” he said as he turned to leave the unfortunate fellow.

The nation must have then consisted of young readers, when a diminutive volume in twelves was deemed to be “overlong.”