On the
other hand,--if this little work, selected from the compositions of five
maturer years, and written avowedly for the purpose of exalting a
system, which has already excited a good deal of attention, should be
generally rejected by those whose prepossessions were in its favour,
there is room to hope, not only that the system itself will meet with no
more encouragement, but even that the author will be persuaded to
abandon a plan of writing, which defrauds his industry and talents of
their natural reward.
Putting ourselves thus upon our country, we certainly look for a verdict
against this publication; and have little doubt indeed of the result,
upon a fair consideration of the evidence contained in these
volumes.--To accelerate that result, and to give a general view of the
evidence, to those into whose hands the record may not have already
fallen, we must now make a few observations and extracts.
We shall not resume any of the particular discussions by which we
formerly attempted to ascertain the value of the improvements which this
new school had effected in poetry;[H] but shall lay the grounds of our
opposition, for this time, a little more broadly.
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