We
give the following extract, as affording a fair specimen:
[Quotes about 60 lines from the beginning of the fifth and sixth books
of _Gebir_.]
We must observe that the story is told very obscurely, and should have
been assisted by an _Argument_ in prose. Young writers are often
astonished to find that passages, which seem very clear to their own
heated imaginations, appear very dark to their readers.--The author of
the poem before us may produce something worthy of more approbation, if
he will labour hard, and delay for a few years the publication of his
next performance.--_The Monthly Review_.
SIR WALTER SCOTT
_Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field_. By WALTER SCOTT, Esq. 4to. pp. 500.
Edinburgh and London, 1808.
There is a kind of right of primogeniture among books, as well as among
men; and it is difficult for an author, who has obtained great fame by a
first publication, not to appear to fall off in a second--especially if
his original success could be imputed, in any degree, to the novelty of
his plan of composition. The public is always indulgent to untried
talents; and is even apt to exaggerate a little the value of what it
receives without any previous expectation.
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