Immethodical

[T]he unſkilful and immethodical teaching of thir paſtor, teaching here and there at random out of this and that text as his eaſe or fanſie, and oft-times as his ſtealth guides him.

I must beg my reader’s indulgence, being the most immethodical writer imaginable. It is true I lay down a scheme, but fancy is so fertile I often start fresh hints, and cannot but pursue them; pardon therefore, kind reader, my digressive way of writing, and let the subject, not the style or method, engage thy attention.

The letter I am looking for was one written by Mr Elliot to him before our marriage, and happened to be saved; why, one can hardly imagine. But he was careless and immethodical, like other men, about those things; and when I came to examine his papers, I found it with others still more trivial, from different people scattered here and there, while many letters and memorandums of real importance had been destroyed.

1844, Edgar Allan Poe, “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains” in The Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, New York: The Brampton Society, 1902, Volume 5, p. 77, In the quivering of a leaf—in the hue of a blade of grass—in the shape of a trefoil—in the humming of a bee—in the gleaming of a dew-drop—in the breathing of the wind—in the faint odors that came from the forest—there came a whole universe of suggestion—a gay and motley train of rhapsodical and immethodical thought.