1827.] Canons of Criticism. 479 



beats a substantive publication hollow : only the articles must not be too 

 long. The next generation need not despair of having books written, like 

 promissory obligations, with an I. O. U. 



Among the obsolete canons of criticism, we are not quite justified in 

 placing the good old rule of judging a work by its politics. True it is, 

 that this canon is not so much acted upon as it was ten years ago. Other 

 matters are now taken into consideration : sense, spirit, and information do 

 go for something ; and Whig and Tory do not contain all that is to be said 

 on a subject. Yet woe betide the author who overlooks entirely such con- 

 siderations ! Occasional demonstrations of proper thinking are as neces- 

 sary to a successful publication, as loyal clap-traps are to a successful play; 

 and a slight dash of Methodism produces the same good effect even on a 

 jest-book, or a volume of loose love songs, as rubbing a plate with shalot 

 does on a beef-steak ; it renders the materiel much more palatable. 



But, of all literary excellencies, there is none more important none 

 more winning on a reader, and more profitable to an author, than a good 

 advertisement. Felices ter et amplius the authors who are au fait to 

 this branch of literature, the art of preparing the way for a new publication, 

 and of well-timing the series, or, if I may so speak, the climax of eulogium, 

 is neither easily learned nor lightly communicated. The tactus eruditus 

 is every thing. The collection of the " testimonia recentium" Anglice, 

 the opinions of the reviews, and setting them forth to the best advantage 

 is a mere mechanical branch of the art. Those who have narrowly watched 

 the great geniuses of the day will find that they have made a larger expense 

 of wit and labour in what is technically called " keeping themselves before 

 the public," than in the mere drudgery of composition. " The ingenious 

 Mr. Scribblemuch is on a visit with his friend, Lord Haut-Ton ;" "Tom 

 Distich is on a poetical tour to the Lakes;" "Sir Humphry Hum is 

 searching the files of the Morning Post for his ingenious biography of 

 Alexander the Great," are mistaken by the simple for articles of news- 

 paper intelligence : the knowing ones are well aware that it is a preliminary 

 flourish to a "forthcoming publication." A good writer should never 

 suffer himself to be forgotten by his readers for a moment ; and, if really 

 nothing extraordinary happens to him, he ought to throw himself down 

 stairs, or set fire to his house, or be stopped by a highwayman upon 

 paper, after the most approved Major Longbow fashion at least once a 

 fortnight. Observe, that any nail will serve to hang a notice upon. If a 

 butcher's boy stops you in the street, and \>Q-trays his knowledge of your 

 being the great Mr. A., or the noted Mr. B., the dialogue will make the 

 world happily recollect that you are neither dead nor in St. Luke's. Quod 

 eratproxime, demonstrandum. Sitting for your picture is a good plan : it 

 kills two birds with one stone; and the painter and the author may divide 

 the expense of inserting the news between them. To recur, however, to 

 the materiel, it is a rule, from which there is no derogation, that poetry 

 should always be well printed, and upon good paper. The reasons are 

 many, and, indeed, almost self-evident. Every one complains that poetry 

 is difficult reading : it should, therefore, meet with no unnecessary obstacle 

 in charta eventissima and muddy type. Besides, poetry should dazzle 

 the reader (Boyer calls it elevate and surprise). Now, if the lines do not 

 effect this operation, the hot-pressed wire-wove forms a useful substitute. 

 And, last not least, it is good that a book should be good for something ; 

 and a handsome book, especially if well bound, always looks well on a 

 library-table. In prose publications, the print is less essential. In the 



