he
declared
to be inimitable.
Byron
He enjoyed it like a
child; but his criticisms went little beyond the exclamatory 'Toll!
Ganz grob! himmlisch! unubertrefflich! ' etc. , etc.
"In general, the more strongly peppered passages pleased him the
best. Stanza 9 he praised for the clear distinct painting; 10 he
repeated with emphasis,--the last two lines conscious that his own
age was eighty; 13, 14, and 15 are favourites with me. G. concurred
in the suggested praise. The stanza 24 he declared to be sublime.
The characteristic speeches of Wilkes and Junius he thought most
admirable.
"Byron 'hat selbst viel ubertroffen;' and the introduction of
Southey made him laugh heartily.
"August 16.
"Lord B.
he declared to be inimitable. Ariosto was not so _keck_ as
Lord B. in the _Vision of Judgment_. "
PREFACE
It hath been wisely said, that "One fool makes many;" and it hath been
poetically observed--
"[That] fools rush in where angels fear to tread. "
[POPE'S _Essay on Criticism_, line 625. ]
If Mr. Southey had not rushed in where he had no business, and where he
never was before, and never will be again, the following poem would not
have been written. It is not impossible that it may be as good as his
own, seeing that it cannot, by any species of stupidity, natural or
acquired, be _worse. _ The gross flattery, the dull impudence, the
renegade intolerance, and impious cant, of the poem by the author of
"Wat Tyler," are something so stupendous as to form the sublime of
himself--containing the quintessence of his own attributes.
So much for his poem--a word on his preface. In this preface it has
pleased the magnanimous Laureate to draw the picture of a supposed
"Satanic School," the which he doth recommend to the notice of the
legislature; thereby adding to his other laurels the ambition of those
of an informer. If there exists anywhere, except in his imagination,
such a School, is he not sufficiently armed against it by his own
intense vanity? The truth is that there are certain writers whom Mr. S.
imagines, like Scrub, to have "talked of _him_; for they laughed
consumedly. "[492]
I think I know enough of most of the writers to whom he is supposed to
allude, to assert, that they, in their individual capacities, have done
more good, in the charities of life, to their fellow-creatures, in any
one year, than Mr.
child; but his criticisms went little beyond the exclamatory 'Toll!
Ganz grob! himmlisch! unubertrefflich! ' etc. , etc.
"In general, the more strongly peppered passages pleased him the
best. Stanza 9 he praised for the clear distinct painting; 10 he
repeated with emphasis,--the last two lines conscious that his own
age was eighty; 13, 14, and 15 are favourites with me. G. concurred
in the suggested praise. The stanza 24 he declared to be sublime.
The characteristic speeches of Wilkes and Junius he thought most
admirable.
"Byron 'hat selbst viel ubertroffen;' and the introduction of
Southey made him laugh heartily.
"August 16.
"Lord B.
he declared to be inimitable. Ariosto was not so _keck_ as
Lord B. in the _Vision of Judgment_. "
PREFACE
It hath been wisely said, that "One fool makes many;" and it hath been
poetically observed--
"[That] fools rush in where angels fear to tread. "
[POPE'S _Essay on Criticism_, line 625. ]
If Mr. Southey had not rushed in where he had no business, and where he
never was before, and never will be again, the following poem would not
have been written. It is not impossible that it may be as good as his
own, seeing that it cannot, by any species of stupidity, natural or
acquired, be _worse. _ The gross flattery, the dull impudence, the
renegade intolerance, and impious cant, of the poem by the author of
"Wat Tyler," are something so stupendous as to form the sublime of
himself--containing the quintessence of his own attributes.
So much for his poem--a word on his preface. In this preface it has
pleased the magnanimous Laureate to draw the picture of a supposed
"Satanic School," the which he doth recommend to the notice of the
legislature; thereby adding to his other laurels the ambition of those
of an informer. If there exists anywhere, except in his imagination,
such a School, is he not sufficiently armed against it by his own
intense vanity? The truth is that there are certain writers whom Mr. S.
imagines, like Scrub, to have "talked of _him_; for they laughed
consumedly. "[492]
I think I know enough of most of the writers to whom he is supposed to
allude, to assert, that they, in their individual capacities, have done
more good, in the charities of life, to their fellow-creatures, in any
one year, than Mr.
