manner, a determination not to publish with my name any production, which was not entirely and exculsively my own composition. With regard to the real talents of many of the poetical persons whose performances are mentioned or alluded to in the following pages, it is presumed by the author that there can be little difference of opinion in the public at large; though, like other sectaries, each has his separate tabernacle of proselytes, by whom his abilities are over-rated, his faults overlooked, and his metrical canons received without scruple and without consideration. But the unquestionable possession of considerable genius by several of the writers here censured, renders their mental prostitution more to be regretted. Imbecility may be pitied, or, at worst, laughed at and forgotten; perverted powers demand the most decided reprehension. No one can wish more than the author that some known and able writer had undertaken their exposure; but Mr. Gifford has devoted himself to Massinger, and, in the absence of the regular physician, a country practitioner may, in cases of absolute necessity, be allowed to prescribe his nostrum to prevent the extension of so deplorable an epidemic, provided there be no quackery in his treatment of the malady. A caustic is here offered; as it is to be feared nothing short of actual cautery can recover the numerous patients afflicted with the present prevalent and distressing rabies for rhyming. As to the Edinburgh Reviewers, it would, indeed, require a Hercules to crush the Hydra; but if the author succeeds in merely "bruising one of the heads of the serpent," though his own hand should suffer in the encounter, he will be amply satisfied. ENGLISH BARDS AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS. STILL must I hear?-shall hoarse Fitzgerald bawl Oh! nature's noblest gift-my gray goose-quill! The pen! foredoom'd to aid the mental throes IMITATION : "Semper ego auditor tantum? nunquamne reponam, Vexatus toties rauci Theseide Codri ?"-Juv. Sat. I. +Mr. Fitzgerald, facetiously termed by Cobbett the "Small Beer Poet," inflicts his annual tribute of verse on the Literary Fund: not content with writing, he spouts in person, after the company have imbibed a reasonable quantity of had port, to enable them to sustain the operation. Condemn'd at length to be forgotten quite, When Vice triumphant holds her sov'reign sway, Such is the force of wit! but not belong I, too, can scrawl, and once upon a time I pour'd along the town a flood of rhyme, * Cid Hamet Benengeli promises repose to his pen, in the last chapter of Don Quixote. Oh! that our voluminous gentry would follow the example of Cid Hamet Benengeli. "Tis pleasant, sure, to see one's name in print; The self-same road, but make my own review : A man must serve his time to ev'ry trade Shrink not from blasphemy, 'twill pass for wit; And shall we own such judgment? no-as soon Or any other thing that's false, before You trust in critics, who themselves are sore; By Jeffrey's heart, or Lambe's Boeotian head. + This ingenuous youth is mentioned more particularly, with his production, in another place. +In the Edinburgh Review. Messrs. Jeffrey and Lambe are the alpha and omega, the first and last of the Edinburgh Review; the others are mentioned hereafter. To these young tyrants, by themselves misplaced, Combined usurpers on the throne of taste; To these, when authors bend in humble awe, And hail their voice as truth, their word as lawWhile these are censors, 'twould be sin to spare; While such are critics, why should I forbear? But yet so near all modern worthies run, 'Tis doubtful whom to seek, or whom to shun; Nor know we when to spare, or where to strike, Our bards and censors are so much alike. Then should you ask me,+ why I venture o'er Time was, ere yet, in these degen'rate days "Stulta est Clementia, cum tot ubique occurras perituræ parcere charta."-Juv. Sat. I. Cur tamen hoc libeat potius decurrere campo Juv. Sat. 1. |