1832.] The Field of Monuments : a Piston. 427 



when you are profoundly ignorant of the nature of that which has pro- 

 duced it, the mind ?" " We judge by the result," I ventured to reply. 

 " Truly an excellent way of judging/' said my companion, with a smile ; 

 " look at yourself, and look at this blade of grass ; judging by the result, 

 you would say that the genius which contrived the one, is more excel- 

 lent than that which produced the other ; and yet they are both the 

 work of Omnipotence ; but come, let me be your instructor and your 

 guide over this field of truth ;" and so saying, my companion walked in 

 silence towards the monuments. 



We soon approached a group of monuments of different altitude, of 

 which three were more conspicuous than the others. " These names," 

 said my companion, " are no doubt familiar to you, but your estimate 

 of them may perhaps have been erroneous." 



I read upon the three pillars the names of Samuel Johnson, Oliver 

 Goldsmith, Laurence Sterne. Of these, the first appeared upon the 

 lowest of the three monuments, the second was inscribed upon the 

 highest, the last occupied a middle station. " What !" said I, in sur- 

 prise, " do you rate the genius of Johnson, the colossus of English 

 literature, lower than that of Goldsmith or Sterne ? Johnson, whose 

 learning was unbounded, whose mind was capable of embracing the 

 whole circle of letters ?" 



" Softly," returned my companion, " we do not estimate men here by 

 what they may be thought capable of doing, but by what they have 

 done." 



" And yet," said I, " Johnson has done much ; as a lexicographer, 

 at least, he has no competitor." 



" So much the greater misfortune for the English language," replied 

 my companion ; " his work is an extraordinary example of persevering 

 labour in a man whose genius no doubt qualified him for a higher 

 sphere ; for when we contemplate the beauties which are scattered over 

 his moral and imaginative writings, we cannot but regret the sacrifice 

 which has probably been made of works from his pen, for a production 

 which would better have emanated from the combined labours of men of 

 inferior talent." 



" But what," returned I, " do you say to the claims of Johnson as a 

 critic, a novelist, an essayest?" 



" His great critical work," said my companion, " is more valuable as 

 a specimen of biographical writing, than as a body of sound criticism. 

 For criticism of a certain kind, Johnson was well fitted ; his natural 

 shrewdness, his long habits of thinking, and his knowledge of mankind 

 and of the world, enabled him to judge justly, and promptly, of all that 

 is addressed chiefly to the reason ; and of all that class of poetry of 

 which imagination is not the source, but only the adornment. This, he 

 was well capable of doing; unless when the free exercise of his judg- 

 ment was impeded by his prejudices, which were neither few nor weak. 

 But on poetry of a higher order, the cast of Johnson's mind altogether 

 disqualified him from the exercise of criticism. His own poetry is a 

 sufficient proof of his want of that genius required for judging of the 

 higher flights of poetry in others." 



" Then you are of opinion," said I, " that in order to judge of lofty 

 poetry, one must have the power of writing it." 



No," returned my companion ; " but if a critic himself adventures 

 into the poetic field, and betrays in his productions a want of those fine 



