302 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



day literature, and so on. We scarcely need say how widely we have dif- 

 fered from our contemporaries in this matter. 



It has been too much the " fashion" of late, firstly, to impugn a young 

 author for even attempting to produce a respectable volume of poetry ; and, 

 secondly, to " smash his work" in the most un praiseworthy and ungenerous 

 manner. It has been affirmed, that in every instance where a young author 

 has presumed to publish apart, as it were, from the corporation of book- 

 sellers and with a view to economy on the one hand, and a hope of gaining 

 some remuneration for his well-meant labours on the other, that the " smash- 

 ing machinery" of Paternoster Row has been uniformly set at work in the 

 most dishonourable way the flood-gates of the "under current" have been 

 opened up, and a torrent of abuse poured upon the author, calculated not 

 merely to injure him in the estimation of the community at large, but evi- 

 dently intended by these panderers whose names, for the present, shall be 

 nameless?- to act as a death-blow upon the victim of a body, whose aim 

 (semper paratus), like that of the old Buccaneers of America, can only be 

 inferred by their doings, namely, to burn, sink, and destroy whatsoever they 

 cannot profit by, and ultimately pilfer. 



We have been led to these remarks by not only passing events, the results 

 of which are now before our eyes, but by other, and, if possible, more 

 tangible evidences of bookselling Christianity ! We have heard, moreover, to 

 our utter astonishment, that the widow of the late Mr. Guy is at this mo- 

 ment existing precariously upon the earnings that are to be derived from a 

 small school ; instead of being in the quiet enjoyment of the results of her 

 husband's hardly-earned reputation, as a scholastic author of considerable 

 eminence and so on. This is not all. Nor is the end yet. Ad referendum. 



We hope these bookselling lords will take warning in good time. Suffi- 

 cient for the day is the evil thereof. Reform is much needed, and must 

 certainly be had. Paternoster Row, like the Augean stable, must be tho- 

 roughly swept out; " Ave Maria! it is the hour of prayer," said Byron, 

 and so say we. Currente calamo. But to return to Mr. Milton, and " the 

 Songs of the Prophecies." It appears to us pretty evident that Mr. Milton 

 must have measured his poetical stature, and weighed his literary strength, 

 long before he brought forth the present refreshing nay, inspiring volume. 

 It therefore seems to us wholly useless to dwell upon the parity of names, or 

 to conceive that discerning persons would permit that circumstance to operate 

 against the Milton of 1835, or the 19th century. It is quite clear, then, that 

 our author cannot suffer so very much as some persons would have us be- 

 lieve by the comparison. It is most true that the work we appreciate con- 

 sists of songs but they are songs of so high an order, that we think many a 

 reckless and unblushing critic, in his condemned cell, will turn pale, when 

 he has brought himself to understand the language which appears to us 

 the almost uncorrupted language of the human heart with the terrors of 

 conviction, which these beautifully finished compositions convey to the hearing 

 ear. That we may not be suspected of any undue partiality to Mr. Milton, 

 nor indeed of being connected with any bookselling house, we purpose 

 quoting but little from the Songs of the Prophecies ; but we sincerely hope 

 that what quotations are made shall be deemed worthy of our unpretending 

 advocacy, not only of Mr. Milton, but of deserving young authors in general ; 

 for sure we are, were it not for the mal-practices of the hacks of the book 

 corruption ists, and their intolerant denunciations, as contained in some of 

 the hypocritical and brazenfaced criticisms of their fabrication, many a man 

 of sense and literary prowess would enter the lists and shame add win the 

 bays too. 



The peculiar verse of which the author has made choice seems to us of all 

 others the most happy : it is evident likewise that Mr. Milton is no stranger to 

 its usefulness and superiority, as applied to his own poetic powers : from 



