and Leaf_, and was charmed with that young beauty, shrouded in her
bower, and listening with ever-fresh delight to the repeated song of
the nightingale close by her--the impression of the scene, the vernal
landscape, the cool of the morning, the gushing notes of the
songstress,
'And ayen methought she sung close by mine ear,'
is as vivid as if it had been of yesterday; and nothing can persuade
me that that is not a fine poem. I do not find this impression
conveyed in Dryden's version, and therefore nothing can persuade me
that that is as fine. I used to walk out at this time with Mr. and
Miss Lamb of an evening, to look at the Claude Lorraine skies over our
heads melting from azure into purple and gold, and to gather
mushrooms, that sprung up at our feet, to throw into our hashed mutton
at supper. I was at that time an enthusiastic admirer of Claude, and
could dwell for ever on one or two of the finest prints from him hung
round my little room; the fleecy flocks, the bending trees, the
winding streams, the groves, the nodding temples, the air-wove hills,
and distant sunny vales; and tried to translate them into their lovely
living hues. People then told me that Wilson was much superior to
Claude: I did not believe them. Their pictures have since been seen
together at the British Institution, and all the world have come into
my opinion. I have not, on that account, given it up. I will not
compare our hashed mutton with Amelia's; but it put us in mind of it,
and led to a discussion, sharply seasoned and well sustained, till
midnight, the result of which appeared some years after in the
_Edinburgh Review_. Have I a better opinion of those criticisms on
that account, or should I therefore maintain them with greater
vehemence and tenaciousness? Oh no: Both rather with less, now that
they are before the public, and it is for them to make their election.
It is in looking back to such scenes that I draw my best consolation
for the future. Later impressions come and go, and serve to fill till
the intervals; but these are my standing resource, my true classics.
If I have had few real pleasures or advantages, my ideas, from their
sinewy texture, have been to me in the nature of realities; and if I
should not be able to add to the stock, I can live by husbanding the
interest. As to my speculations, there is little to admire in them but
my admiration of others; and whether they have an echo in time to
come or not, I have learned to set a grateful value on the past, and
am content to wind up the account of what is personal only to myself
and the immediate circle of objects in which I have moved, with an act
of easy oblivion,
'And curtain-close such scene from every future view.'
Winterslow, _Feb. 20, 1828_.
FOOTNOTES:
[17] Dryden's _Theodore and Honoria_, princip.
[18] Dryden's _Theodore and Honoria_, princip.
[19] Dryden's _Sigismonda and Guiscardo_.
Edinburgh: Printed by T. and A. Constable
Transcriber's Note
Minor punctuation errors have been repaired.
Archaic spelling is preserved as printed.
The following typographic errors have been repaired:
Page 35--Crichton amended to Chrichton (with reference to the
"Cabinet of Curiosities," which also contains the story of
Eugene Aram)--"The name of the 'Admirable Chrichton' was
suddenly started ..."
Page 134--lawer's amended to lawyer's--"... on a word, or a
lawyer's _ipse dixit_."
Page 156--stimulute amended to stimulate--"... something like
an attempt to stimulate the superficial dulness ..."
Page 162--on amended to no--"Burke was so far right in saying
that it is no objection ..."