1807.
ADVICE TO A YOUNG REVIEWER, &c.
You are now about to enter on a Profession which has the means of doing
much good to society, and scarcely any temptation to do harm. You may
encourage Genius, you may chastise superficial Arrogance, expose
Falsehood, correct Error, and guide the Taste and Opinions of the Age in
no small degree by the books you praise and recommend. And this too may
be done without running the risk of making any enemies; or subjecting
yourself to be called to account for your criticism, however severe.
While your name is unknown, your person is invulnerable: at the same time
your aim is sure, for you may take it at your leisure; and your blows fall
heavier than those of any Writer whose name is given, or who is simply
anonymous. There is a mysterious authority in the plural, _We_, which no
single name, whatever may be its reputation, can acquire; and, under the
sanction of this imposing style, your strictures, your praises, and your
dogmas, will command universal attention; and be received as the fruit of
united talents, acting on one common principle--as the judgments of a
tribunal who decide only on mature deliberation, and who protect the
interests of Literature with unceasing vigilance.
Such being the high importance of that Office, and such its
opportunities; I cannot bestow a few hours of leisure better than in
furnishing you with some hints for the more easy and effectual discharge
of it: hints which are, I confess, loosely thrown together; but which are
the result of long experience, and of frequent reflection and comparison.
And if anything should strike you, at first sight, as rather equivocal in
point of morality, or deficient in liberality and feeling; I beg you will
suppress all such scruples, and consider them as the offspring of a
contracted education and narrow way of thinking, which a little
intercourse with the World and sober reasoning will speedily overcome.
Now as in the conduct of life nothing is more to be desired than some
Governing Principle of action, to which all other principles and motives
must be made subservient; so in the Art of Reviewing I would lay down as
a fundamental position, which you must never lose sight of, and which
must be the mainspring of all your criticisms--_Write what will sell!_ To
this Golden Rule every minor canon must be subordinate; and must be either
immediately deducible from it, or at least be made consistent with it.
Be not staggered at the sound of a precept which, upon examination, will
be found as honest and virtuous as it is discreet. I have already
sketched out the great services which it is in your power to render
mankind; but all your efforts will be unavailing if men did not read what
you write. Your utility therefore, it is plain, depends upon your
popularity; and popularity cannot be attained without humouring the taste
and inclinations of men.
Be assured that, by a similar train of sound and judicious reasoning, the
consciences of thousands in public life are daily quieted. It is better
for the State that their Party should govern than any other. The good
which they can effect by the exercise of power is infinitely greater than
any which could arise from a rigid adherence to certain subordinate moral
precepts; which therefore should be violated without scruple whenever
they stand in the way of their leading purpose. He who sticks at these
can never act a great part in the World, and is not fit to act it if he
could. Such maxims may be very useful in ordinary affairs, and for the
guidance of ordinary men: but when we mount into the sphere of public
utility, we must adopt more enlarged principles; and not suffer ourselves
to be cramped and fettered by petty notions of Right and Moral Duty.
When you have reconciled yourself to this liberal way of thinking; you
will find many inferior advantages resulting from it, which at first did
not enter into your consideration. In particular, it will greatly lighten
your labours, to _follow_ the public taste, instead of taking upon you to
_direct_ it. The task of Pleasing is at all times easier than that of
Instructing: at least it does not stand in need of painful research and
preparation; and may be effected in general by a little vivacity of
manner, and a dexterous morigeration [_compliance, or obsequiousness_],
as Lord BACON calls it, to the humours and frailties of men. Your
responsibility too is thereby much lessened. Justice and Candour can only
be required of you so far as they coincide with this Main Principle: and a
little experience will convince you that these are not the happiest means
of accomplishing your purpose.
It has been idly said, That a Reviewer acts in a judicial capacity, and
that his conduct should be regulated by the same rules by which the Judge
of a Civil Court is governed: that he should rid himself of every bias; be
patient, cautious, sedate, and rigidly impartial; that he should not seek
to shew off himself, and should check every disposition to enter into the
case as a partizan.
Such is the language of superficial thinkers; but in reality there is no
analogy between the two cases. A Judge is promoted to that office by the
authority of the State; a Reviewer by his own. The former is independent
of control, and may therefore freely follow the dictates of his own
conscience: the latter depends for his very bread upon the breath of
public opinion; the great law of self-preservation therefore points out
to him a different line of action. Besides, as we have already observed,
if he ceases to please, he is no longer read; and consequently is no
longer useful. In a Court of Justice, too, the part of amusing the
bystanders rests with the Counsel: in the case of criticism, if the
Reviewer himself does not undertake it, who will?
Instead of vainly aspiring to the gravity of a Magistrate; I would advise
him, when he sits down to write, to place himself in the imaginary
situation of a cross-examining Pleader. He may comment, in a vein of
agreeable irony, upon the profession, the manner of life, the look,
dress, or even the name, of the witness he is examining: when he has
raised a contemptuous opinion of him in the minds of the Court, he may
proceed to draw answers from him capable of a ludicrous turn; and he may
carve and garble these to his own liking.
This mode of proceeding you will find most practicable in Poetry, where
the boldness of the image or the delicacy of thought (for which the
Reader's mind was prepared in the original) will easily be made to appear
extravagant, or affected, if judiciously singled out, and detached from
the group to which it belongs. Again, since much depends upon the rhythm
and the terseness of expression (both of which are sometimes destroyed by
dropping a single word, or transposing a phrase), I have known much
advantage arise from _not_ quoting in the form of a literal extract: but
giving a brief summary in prose, of the contents of a poetical passage;
and interlarding your own language, with occasional phrases of the Poem
marked with inverted commas.
These, and a thousand other little expedients, by which the arts of
Quizzing and Banter flourish, practice will soon teach you. If it should
be necessary to transcribe a dull passage, not very fertile in topics of
humour and raillery; you may introduce it as a "favourable specimen of
the Author's manner."
Few people are aware of the powerful effects of what is philosophically
termed Association. Without any positive violation of truth, the whole
dignity of a passage may be undermined by contriving to raise some vulgar
and ridiculous notions in the mind of the reader: and language teems with
examples of words by which the same idea is expressed, with the
difference only that one excites a feeling of respect, the other of
contempt. Thus you may call a fit of melancholy, "the sulks"; resentment,
"a pet"; a steed, "a nag"; a feast, "a junketing"; sorrow and affliction,
"whining and blubbering". By transferring the terms peculiar to one state
of society, to analogous situations and characters in another, the same
object is attained. "A Drill Serjeant" or "a Cat and Nine Tails" in the
Trojan War, "a Lesbos smack putting into the Piraeus," "the Penny Post of
Jerusalem," and other combinations of the like nature which, when you have
a little indulged in that vein of thought, will readily suggest
themselves, never fail to raise a smile, if not immediately at the
expense of the Author, yet entirely destructive of that frame of mind
which his Poem requires in order to be relished.
I have dwelt the longer on this branch of Literature, because you are
chiefly to look here for materials of fun and irony.
Voyages and Travels indeed are no barren ground; and you must seldom let
a Number of your _Review_ go abroad without an Article of this
description. The charm of this species of writing, so universally felt,
arises chiefly from its uniting Narrative with Information. The interest
we take in the story can only be kept alive by minute incident and
occasional detail; which puts us in possession of the traveller's
feelings, his hopes, his fears, his disappointments, and his pleasures.
At the same time the thirst for knowledge and love of novelty is
gratified by continual information respecting the people and countries he
visits.
If you wish therefore to run down the book, you have only to play off
these two parts against each other. When the Writer's object is to
satisfy the first inclination, you are to thank him for communicating to
the World such valuable facts as, whether he lost his way in the night,
or sprained his ankle, or had no appetite for his dinner. If he is busied
about describing the Mineralogy, Natural History, Agriculture, Trade, etc.
of a country: you may mention a hundred books from whence the same
information may be obtained; and deprecate the practice of emptying old
musty Folios into new Quartos, to gratify that sickly taste for a
smattering about everything which distinguishes the present Age.
In Works of Science and recondite Learning, the task you have undertaken
will not be so difficult as you may imagine. Tables of Contents and
Indexes are blessed helps in the hands of a Reviewer; but, more than all,
the Preface is the field from which his richest harvest is to be gathered.
In the Preface, the Author usually gives a summary of what has been
written on the same subject before; he acknowledges the assistance he has
received from different sources, and the reasons of his dissent from
former Writers; he confesses that certain parts have been less
attentively considered than others, and that information has come to his
hands too late to be made use of; he points out many things in the
composition of his Work which he thinks may provoke animadversion, and
endeavours to defend or palliate his own practice.
Here then is a fund of wealth for the Reviewer, lying upon the very
surface. If he knows anything of his business, he will turn all these
materials against the Author: carefully suppressing the source of his
information; and as if drawing from the stores of his own mind long ago
laid up for this very purpose. If the Author's references are correct, a
great point is gained; for by consulting a few passages of the original
Works, it will be easy to discuss the subject with the air of having a
previous knowledge of the whole.
Your chief vantage ground is, That you may fasten upon any position in
the book you are reviewing, and treat it as principal and essential; when
perhaps it is of little weight in the main argument: but, by allotting a
large share of your criticism to it, the reader will naturally be led to
give it a proportionate importance, and to consider the merit of the
Treatise at issue upon that single question.
If anybody complains that the greater and more valuable parts remain
unnoticed; your answer is, That it is impossible to pay attention to all;
and that your duty is rather to prevent the propagation of error, than to
lavish praises upon that which, if really excellent, will work its way in
the World without your help.
Indeed, if the plan of your _Review_ admits of selection, you had better
not meddle with Works of deep research and original speculation; such as
have already attracted much notice, and cannot be treated superficially
without fear of being found out. The time required for making yourself
thoroughly master of the subject is so great, that you may depend upon it
they will never pay for the reviewing. They are generally the fruit of
long study, and of talents concentrated in the steady pursuit of one
object: it is not likely therefore that you can throw much new light on a
question of this nature, or even plausibly combat the Author's
propositions; in the course of a few hours, which is all you can well
afford to devote to them. And without accomplishing one or the other of
these points; your _Review_ will gain no celebrity, and of course no good
will be done.
Enough has been said to give you some insight into the facilities with
which your new employment abounds. I will only mention one more, because
of its extensive and almost universal application to all Branches of
Literature; the topic, I mean, which by the old Rhetoricians was called
[Greek: _ex enantion_], That is, when a Work excels in one quality; you
may blame it for not having the opposite.
For instance, if the biographical sketch of a Literary Character is
minute and full of anecdote; you may enlarge on the advantages of
philosophical reflection, and the superior mind required to give a
judicious analysis of the Opinions and Works of deceased Authors. On the
contrary, if the latter method is pursued by the Biographer; you can,
with equal ease, extol the lively colouring, and truth, and interest, of
exact delineation and detail.
This topic, you will perceive, enters into Style as well as Matter; where
many virtues might be named _which are incompatible_: and whichever the
Author has preferred, it will be the signal for you to launch forth on
the praises of its opposite; and continually to hold up that to your
Reader as the model of excellence in this species of Writing.
You will perhaps wonder why all my instructions are pointed towards the
Censure, and not the Praise, of Books; but many reasons might be given
why it should be so. The chief are, that this part is both easier, and
will sell better.
Let us hear the words of Mr BURKE on a subject not very dissimilar:
"In such cases," says he, "the Writer has a certain fire and alacrity
inspired into him by a consciousness that (let it fare how it will with
the subject) his ingenuity will be sure of applause: and this alacrity
becomes much greater, if he acts upon the offensive; by the impetuosity
that always accompanies an attack, and the unfortunate propensity which
mankind have to finding and exaggerating faults." Pref., _Vindic. Nat.
Soc_., p. 6.
You will perceive that I have on no occasion sanctioned the baser motives
of private pique, envy, revenge, and love of detraction. At least I have
not recommended harsh treatment upon any of these grounds. I have argued
simply on the abstract moral principle which a Reviewer should ever have
present to his mind: but if any of these motives insinuate themselves as
secondary springs of action, I would not condemn them. They may come in
aid of the grand Leading Principle, and powerfully second its operation.
But it is time to close these tedious precepts, and to furnish you with,
what speaks plainer than any precept, a Specimen of the Art itself, in
which several of them are embodied. It is hastily done: but it
exemplifies well enough what I have said of the Poetical department; and
exhibits most of those qualities which disappointed Authors are fond of
railing at, under the names of Flippancy, Arrogance, Conceit,
Misrepresentation, and Malevolence: reproaches which you will only regard
as so many acknowledgments of success in your undertaking; and infallible
tests of an established fame, and [a] rapidly increasing circulation.
_L'Allegro_. A Poem.
By JOHN MILTON.
No Printer's name.
It has become a practice of late with a certain description of people,
who have no visible means of subsistence, to string together a few trite
images of rural scenery, interspersed with vulgarisms in dialect, and
traits of vulgar manners; to dress up these materials in a Sing-Song
jingle; and to offer them for sale as a Poem. According to the most
approved recipes, something about the heathen gods and goddesses; and the
schoolboy topics of Styx and Cerberus, and Elysium; are occasionally
thrown in, and the composition is complete. The stock in trade of these
Adventurers is in general scanty enough; and their Art therefore consists
in disposing it to the best advantage. But if such be the aim of the
Writer, it is the Critic's business to detect and defeat the imposture;
to warn the public against the purchase of shop-worn goods and tinsel
wares; to protect the fair trader, by exposing the tricks of needy Quacks
and Mountebanks; and to chastise that forward and noisy importunity with
which they present themselves to the public notice.
How far Mr. MILTON is amenable to this discipline, will best appear from
a brief analysis of the Poem before us.
In the very opening he assumes a tone of authority which might better
suit some veteran Bard than a raw candidate for the Delphic bays: for,
before he proceeds to the regular process of Invocation, he clears the
way, by driving from his presence (with sundry hard names; and bitter
reproaches on her father, mother, and all the family) a venerable
Personage, whose age at least and staid matron-like appearance, might
have entitled her to more civil language.
Hence, loathèd Melancholy!
Of CERBERUS and blackest Midnight born,
In Stygian cave forlorn, &c.
There is no giving rules, however, in these matters, without a knowledge
of the case. Perhaps the old lady had been frequently warned off before;
and provoked this violence by continuing still to lurk about the Poet's
dwelling. And, to say the truth, the Reader will have but too good reason
to remark, before he gets through the Poem, that it is one thing to tell
the Spirit of Dulness to depart; and another to get rid of her in
reality. Like GLENDOWER's Spirits, any one may order them away; "but will
they go, when you do order them?"
But let us suppose for a moment that the Parnassian decree is obeyed;
and, according to the letter of the _Order_ (which is as precise and
wordy as if Justice SHALLOW himself had drawn it) that the obnoxious
female is sent back to the place of her birth,
'Mongst horrid shapes, shrieks, sights, &c.
At which we beg our fair readers not to be alarmed; for we can assure
them they are only words of course in all poetical Instruments of this
nature, and mean no more than the "force and arms" and "instigation of
the Devil" in a common Indictment.
This nuisance then being abated; we are left at liberty to contemplate a
character of a different complexion, "buxom, blithe, and debonair": one
who, although evidently a great favourite of the Poet's and therefore to
be received with all due courtesy, is notwithstanding introduced under
the suspicious description of an _alias_.
In heaven, ycleped EUPHROSYNE;
And by men, heart-easing Mirth.
Judging indeed from the light and easy deportment of this gay Nymph; one
might guess there were good reasons for a change of name as she changed
her residence.
But of all vices there is none we abhor more than that of slanderous
insinuation. We shall therefore confine our moral strictures to the
Nymph's mother; in whose defence the Poet has little to say himself. Here
too, as in the case of the _name_, there is some doubt. For the
uncertainty of descent on the Father's side having become trite to a
proverb; the Author, scorning that beaten track, has left us to choose
between two mothers for his favourite and without much to guide our
choice; for, whichever we fix upon, it is plain she was no better than
she should be. As he seems however himself inclined to the latter of the
two, we will even suppose it so to be.
Or whether (as some sager say)
The frolic _wind that breathes the Spring_,
ZEPHYR with AURORA playing,
_As he met her once a Maying_;
There on beds of violets blue,
And fresh-blown roses washed in dew, _&c._
Some dull people might imagine that _the wind_ was more like _the breath
of Spring_; than _Spring, the breath of the wind_: but we are more
disposed to question the Author's Ethics than his Physics; and
accordingly cannot dismiss these May gambols without some observations.
In the first place, Mr. M. seems to have higher notions of the antiquity
of the May Pole than we have been accustomed to attach to it. Or perhaps
he sought to shelter the equivocal nature of this affair under that
sanction. To us, however, who can hardly subscribe to the doctrine that
"Vice loses half its evil by losing all its grossness"; neither the
remoteness of time, nor the gaiety of the season, furnishes a sufficient
palliation. "Violets blue" and "fresh-blown roses" are, to be sure, more
agreeable objects of the Imagination than a gin shop in Wapping or a
booth in Bartholomew Fair; but, in point of morality, these are
distinctions without a difference: or it may be the cultivation of mind
(which teaches us to reject and nauseate these latter objects) aggravates
the case, if our improvement in taste be not accompanied by a
proportionate improvement of morals.
If the Reader can reconcile himself to this latitude of principle, the
anachronism will not long stand in his way. Much indeed may be said in
favour of this union of ancient Mythology with modern notions and
manners. It is a sort of chronological metaphor--an artificial analogy,
by which ideas, widely remote and heterogeneous, are brought into
contact; and the mind is delighted by this unexpected assemblage, as it
is by the combinations of figurative language.
Thus in that elegant Interlude, which the pen of BEN JONSON has
transmitted to us, of the loves of HERO and LEANDER:
Gentles, that no longer your expectations may wander,
Behold our chief actor, amorous LEANDER!
With a great deal of cloth, lapped about him like a scarf:
For he yet serves his father, a Dyer in Puddle Wharf:
Which place we'll make bold with, to call it our Abydus;
As the Bankside is our Sestos, and _let it not be denied us_.
And far be it from us to deny the use of so reasonable a liberty;
especially if the request be backed (as it is in the case of Mr. M.) by
the craving and imperious necessities of rhyme. What man who has ever
bestrode Pegasus for an hour, will be insensible to such a claim?
_Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco_.
We are next favoured with an enumeration of the Attendants of this
"debonair" Nymph, in all the minuteness of a German _Dramatis Personae_,
or a Ropedancer's Handbill.
Haste thee, Nymph; and bring with thee
Jest and youthful Jollity,
Quips and cranks and wanton wiles,
Nods and becks and wreathèd smiles
Such as hang on HEBE's cheek
And love to live in dimple sleek;
Sport that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his sides.
The Author, to prove himself worthy of being admitted of the crew, skips
and capers about upon "the light fantastic toe," that there is no
following him. He scampers through all the Categories, in search of his
imaginary beings, from Substance to Quality, and back again; from thence
to Action, Passion, Habit, &c. with incredible celerity. Who, for
instance, would have expected _cranks, nods, becks_, and _wreathèd
smiles_ as part of a group in which Jest, Jollity, Sport, and Laughter
figure away as full-formed entire Personages? The family likeness is
certainly very strong in the two last; and if we had not been told, we
should perhaps have thought the act of _deriding_ as appropriate to
Laughter as to Sport.
But how are we to understand the stage directions?
_Come_, and trip it as you _go_.
Are the words used synonymously? Or is it meant that this airy gentry
shall come in a Minuet step, and go off in a Jig? The phenomenon of a
_tripping crank_ is indeed novel, and would doubtless attract numerous
spectators.
But it is difficult to guess to whom, among this jolly company, the Poet
addresses himself: for immediately after the Plural appellative _you_, he
proceeds,
And in _thy_ right hand lead with _thee_
The mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty.
No sooner is this fair damsel introduced; but Mr M., with most unbecoming
levity, falls in love with her: and makes a request of her companion which
is rather greedy, that he may live with both of them.
To live with her, and live with thee.
Even the gay libertine who sang "How happy could I be with either!" did
not go so far as this. But we have already had occasion to remark on the
laxity of Mr M.'s amatory notions.
The Poet, intoxicated with the charms of his Mistress, now rapidly runs
over the pleasures which he proposes to himself in the enjoyment of her
society. But though he has the advantage of being his own caterer, either
his palate is of a peculiar structure, or he has not made the most
judicious selection.
To begin the day well, he will have the _sky-lark_
to come _in spite of sorrow_
And at his window bid "Good Morrow!"
The sky-lark, if we know anything of the nature of that bird, must come
"in spite" of something else as well as "of sorrow," to the performance
of this office.
In the next image, the Natural History is better preserved; and, as the
thoughts are appropriate to the time of day, we will venture to
transcribe the passage, as a favourable specimen of the Author's manner:
While the Cock, with lively din,
Scatters the rear of darkness thin,
And to the stack, or the barn door,
Stoutly struts his dames before;
Oft listening how the hounds and horns
Cheerly rouse the slumbering morn,
From the side of some hoar hill,
Through the high wood echoing still.
Is it not lamentable that, after all, whether it is the Cock, or the
Poet, that listens, should be left entirely to the Reader's conjectures?
Perhaps also his embarrassment may be increased by a slight resemblance
of character in these two illustrious Personages, at least as far as
relates to the extent and numbers of their seraglio.
After a _flaming_ description of sunrise, on which the clouds attend in
their very best liveries; the Bill of Fare for the day proceeds in the
usual manner. Whistling Ploughmen, singing Milkmaids, and sentimental
Shepherds are always to be had at a moment's notice; and, if well
grouped, serve to fill up the landscape agreeably enough.
On this part of the Poem we have only to remark, that if Mr JOHN MILTON
proposeth to make himself merry with
Russet lawns, and fallows grey
Where the nibbling flocks _do_ stray;
Mountains on whose barren breast
The labouring clouds _do_ often rest,
Meadows trim with daisies pied,
Shallow brooks, and rivers wide,
Towers and battlements, &c. &c. &c.
he will either find himself egregiously disappointed; or he must possess
a disposition to merriment which even DEMOCRITUS himself might envy. To
such a pitch indeed does this solemn indication of joy sometimes rise,
that we are inclined to give him credit for a literal adherence to the
Apostolic precept, "Is any merry, let him sing Psalms!"
At length, however, he hies away at the sound of bell-ringing, and seems
for some time to enjoy the tippling and fiddling and dancing of a village
wake: but his fancy is soon haunted again by spectres and goblins, a set
of beings not, in general, esteemed the companions or inspirers of mirth.
With stories told of many a feat,
How fairy MAB the junkets eat.
She was pinched, and pulled, she said:
And he, by friar's lanthern led,
Tells how the drudging Goblin sweat
To earn his cream-bowl duly set;
When, in one night, ere glimpse of morn,
His shadowy Flail hath threshed the corn
That ten day-labourers could not end.
Then lies him down the lubbar Fiend;
And, stretched out all the chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength:
And, crop-full, out of door he flings
Ere the first cock his Matins rings.
Mr. M. seems indeed to have a turn for this species of Nursery Tales and
prattling Lullabies; and, if he will studiously cultivate his talent, he
need not despair of figuring in a conspicuous corner of Mr NEWBERY's shop
window: unless indeed Mrs. TRIMMER should think fit to proscribe those
empty levities and idle superstitions, by which the World has been too
long abused.
From these rustic fictions, we are transported to another species of
_hum_.
Towered cities please us then,
And the busy hum of men;
Where throngs of Knights and Barons bold,
In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold:
With _store of Ladies_, whose bright eyes
_Rain influence_, and judge the Prize
Of Wit or Arms; while both contend
To win her grace, whom all commend.
To talk of the bright eyes of Ladies judging the Prize of Wit is indeed
with the Poets a legitimate species of humming: but would not, we may
ask, the _rain_ from these Ladies' bright eyes rather tend to dim their
lustre? Or is there any quality in a shower of _influence_; which,
instead of deadening, serves only to brighten and exhilarate?
Whatever the case may be, we would advise Mr. M. by all means to keep out
of the way of these "Knights and Barons bold": for, if he has nothing but
his Wit to trust to, we will venture to predict that, without a large
share of most undue influence, he must be content to see the Prize
adjudged to his competitors.
Of the latter part of the Poem little need be said.
The Author does seem somewhat more at home when he gets among the Actors
and Musicians: though his head is still running upon ORPHEUS and EURYDICE
and PLUTO, and other sombre personages; who are ever thrusting themselves
in where we least expect them, and who chill every rising emotion of
mirth and gaiety.
He appears however to be so ravished with this sketch of festive
pleasures, or perhaps with himself for having sketched them so well, that
he closes with a couplet which would not have disgraced a STERNHOLD.
These delights if thou canst give,
Mirth, with thee I _mean_ to live.
Of Mr. M.'s good _intentions_ there can be no doubt; but we beg leave to
remind him that there are two opinions to be consulted. He presumes
perhaps upon the poetical powers he has displayed, and considers them as
irresistible: for every one must observe in how different a strain he
avows his attachment now, and at the opening of the Poem. Then it was
If I give thee honour due,
Mirth, admit me of thy crew!
But having, it should seem, established his pretensions; he now thinks it
sufficient to give notice that he means to live with her, because he likes
her.
Upon the whole, Mr. MILTON seems to be possessed of some fancy and talent
for rhyming; two most dangerous endowments which often unfit men for
acting a useful part in life without qualifying them for that which is
great and brilliant. If it be true, as we have heard, that he has
declined advantageous prospects in business, for the sake of indulging
his poetical humour; we hope it is not yet too late to prevail upon him
to retract his resolution. With the help of COCKER and common industry,
he may become a respectable Scrivener: but it is not all the ZEPHYRS, and
AURORAS, and CORYDONS, and THYRSIS's; aye, nor his "junketing Queen MAB"
and "drudging Goblins," that will ever make him a Poet.