by aught that is unworthy of it?—among
those and those only, who, never having suffered their
youthful love of poetry to remit much of its force,
have applied to the consideration of the laws of this
art the best power of their understandings. At
the same time it must be observed—that,
as this Class comprehends the only judgements which
are trustworthy, so does it include the most erroneous
and perverse. For to be mistaught is worse than
to be untaught; and no perverseness equals that which
is supported by system, no errors are so difficult
to root out as those which the understanding has pledged
its credit to uphold. In this Class are contained
censors, who, if they be pleased with what is good,
are pleased with it only by imperfect glimpses, and
upon false principles; who, should they generalize
rightly, to a certain point, are sure to suffer for
it in the end; who, if they stumble upon a sound rule,
are fettered by misapplying it, or by straining it
too far; being incapable of perceiving when it ought
to yield to one of higher order. In it are found
critics too petulant to be passive to a genuine poet,
and too feeble to grapple with him; men, who take
upon them to report of the course which
he holds
whom they are utterly unable to accompany,—confounded
if he turn quick upon the wing, dismayed if he soar
steadily ’into the region’;—men
of palsied imaginations and indurated hearts; in whose
minds all healthy action is languid, who therefore
feed as the many direct them, or, with the many, are
greedy after vicious provocatives;—judges,
whose censure is auspicious, and whose praise ominous!
In this class meet together the two extremes of best
and worst.
The observations presented in the foregoing series
are of too ungracious a nature to have been made without
reluctance; and, were it only on this account, I would
invite the reader to try them by the test of comprehensive
experience. If the number of judges who can be
confidently relied upon be in reality so small, it
ought to follow that partial notice only, or neglect,
perhaps long continued, or attention wholly inadequate
to their merits—must have been the fate
of most works in the higher departments of poetry;
and that, on the other hand, numerous productions
have blazed into popularity, and have passed away,
leaving scarcely a trace behind them: it will
be further found, that when Authors shall have at
length raised themselves into general admiration and
maintained their ground, errors and prejudices have
prevailed concerning their genius and their works,
which the few who are conscious of those errors and
prejudices would deplore; if they were not recompensed
by perceiving that there are select Spirits for whom
it is ordained that their fame shall be in the world
an existence like that of Virtue, which owes its being
to the struggles it makes, and its vigour to the enemies
whom it provokes;—a vivacious quality,
ever doomed to meet with opposition, and still triumphing
over it; and, from the nature of its dominion, incapable
of being brought to the sad conclusion of Alexander,
when he wept that there were no more worlds for him
to conquer.