MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 77 



humour: witness his " Crapauds." The work, taken throughout, is 

 unique, and exceedingly valuable, both for its temper and its mate- 

 rials : it is a most pleasant work into the bargain ; and we are certain 

 that it will be highly popular on both sides the Atlantic. 



The Works of William Cowper : his Life and Letters. Edited by 

 the Rev. T. S. GRIMSHAWE. Vol. IV. Saunders and Otley, 

 London. 



In every respect a worthy companion of its predecessors. Cowper 

 stands before us as painted by himself; and if we pity, we love and 

 admire the more we know him. His acquaintance with Hayley com- 

 mences in this volume ; an amiable man, of considerable talents, and one 

 who lived high in the regard of his co-temporaries. He was Cowper's 

 first biographer, and his work forms the basis of Mr. Grimshawe's. 

 Hayley was exceedingly well qualified for his task, but he wanted nerve 

 and vigour, and failed utterly in delineating Cowper's peculiar religious 

 temperament. The illustrations are very beautiful. 



The Poetical Works of John Milton. Edited by SIR EGERTON 

 BRYDGES ; with Illustrations by Turner. Vol. I. John Ma- 

 crone, London. 



The despotism so long exercised by Johnson in his capacity of critical 

 biographer of our most illustrious poets has often surprised us, as he 

 was in many respects singularly unfitted for the task. His mind was 

 essentially unpoetical : the very finest and most brilliant passages of 

 Milton were sneered at, or passed over, as puerilities by him ; and yet 

 this has passed current for criticism ; and what is still more extraordinary 

 is, that Johnson put aside Addison, a man as infinitely his superior as 

 a moralist, a critic, and a writer, as Milton was superior as a poet to 

 Johnson. 



A life of John Milton, critically given in connexion with his works, 

 has long been wanting. To write such a life, however, acquirements and 

 mind of no common order were required. Todd, Hayley, Mitford, Sym- 

 mons, Warton, Johnson, Newton, Birch, and the Bard's own nephew, 

 have each essayed the task, and have produced works of various degrees 

 of merit. None of them however seem to have entered into the sanctuary 

 of Milton's thoughts ; none of them have felt the full power of his mag- 

 nificent intellect as developed in his works, and from thence shown us 

 the man ; none have brought a sufficiency of detail to bear upon his 

 productions and upon himself; and hence Milton, revered and honoured 

 as he is and has been, is but little known to us. The aspiring mind, 

 which found its congenial home amidst the grandest and most sublime 

 conceptions, has too often been overlooked ; and the genius of Milton has 

 been sought for in polemics and politics, and has been traced in his 

 domestic troubles and home infelicity. Sir Egerton Brydges has how- 

 ever done much to redeem him ; and if we think that his admiration 

 occasionally assumes an aspect a little too enthusiastic, we know that it is 

 impossible for any man to have felt the grandeur and magnificent rich- 

 ness of the greatest poet of the world, without having had stirred up within 

 him emotions of a nature widely apart from those generated by the 

 writings of any other author. 



In speaking of " L' Allegro" and "II Penseroso," Sir Egerton re- 

 marks: " It seems to me that these two poems are much more va- 



