PRESUMPTUOUS POETRY. 23 



Or, who can conceive Satan with only one eye ? 



" And like a blasted orb, once over bright, 

 His eye, a ruin, burned." 



We have advanced a serious charge against Mr. Heraud ; we have 

 said that he has slavishly imitated Milton ; we should rather have 

 said that Mr. Heraiid's poem is full of the grossest plagiarisms from 

 that great poet. It were not decent that such a charge should be 

 : unsupported by proof; we shall accordingly cite not a few examples. 

 Let us begin with words and expressions. Far be it from us to as- 

 sert that Mr. Heraud is not at liberty to use any word that Milton 

 has employed ; but it is worthy of remark that in many cases the 

 beauty of a passage resides in the word adopted by Milton. More 

 than any other poet is Milton remarkable for the happiness of his 

 words : " the gadding vine" " the flaunting honeysuckle" the 

 huddling brook" are illustrations of our meaning. We find, then, in 

 Mr. Heraud' s poem the following amongst other (which we have not 

 noted) words belonging to Milton : " star-bright" ef prankt" 

 -<. " fulmined" " swinkt" "darkles" " 'sdained," "garish" "im- 

 Jparadised" " fulgent" " westering" " imbruted" "prowest," &c. 



Of Milton's phrases we discover these: "sea without shore" 

 W "oblivious deep" "slant beam" "fleshy nook" "oaten stop" 

 " fair atheist" " ample locks" " visible confine" " sensual sty" 

 " heaven's champaign." &c. 



From Shakspeare: "could not choose but weep" "bourne of 

 death" cold obstruction" " still small voice." 



We find also : " starry poesy" Byron ; te expressive silence" 

 Thomson ; " storied shield" Gray. 



Mr. Heraud also applies to Milton for these : " not a jot bated" 

 " the darkness of excessive light/' He speaks of the swan " oaring 

 her way ;" and of himself, " I build the lofty rhyme." 



Let us give two more straws. They indicate which way the wind 

 blows pretty accurately : 



and begirt 



With warrior and with noble." HERAUD. 



"Begirt with British and armorick knights." 



MILTON. 



" Apart with his strong hand (such power he had 

 From heaven)." HERAUD. 



" With that (such power was giver) him then)." 



IVllLTON. 



We think we hear the indulgent or partial critic say that these are 

 trifles that, at the utmost, they are to be considered as a species of 

 literary petty larceny and that they prove at most that Mr. Heraud 

 has read Milton very attentively. Be it so. We shall now shew that 

 he has not only studied him with great attention, but to some 

 purpose. 



We select the following passages descriptive of, or relating to, 

 Satan : 



