PRESUMPTUOUS POETRY. J5 



But Mr. Heraud may say that we do him injustice that he has 

 not endeavoured to imitate Milton but that he has striven to give to 

 his countrymen a poem, which, unlike in other respects, is, or ought 

 to be, considered alike in excellence of matter, and not inferior in 

 execution. 



That Mr. Heraud believes that his endeavour has been crowned 

 with success there can be no question ; we shall by and bye quote 

 several passages that sufficiently evince his feeling upon that head ; 

 but that he can have deceived himself into a belief that he has not at 

 every turn been imitating Milton, in the most slavish, and, to us, 

 obvious manner, we altogether reject as an impossible circum- 

 stance. 



That Mr. Heraud may have originally conceived his poem, with a 

 determination to emulate, without copying, his great master, we can, 

 perhaps, believe and that he has applied himself with praiseworthy 

 diligence to laborious study, in order to qualify himself for his under- 

 taking, we can plainly discern ; but, alas ! of what use is this con- 

 gregation of faggots without the spark what are all these enlivened 

 appliances and means to boot, without the power what are these 

 munitions of war what is this armour this sword this shield 

 * without the man ? 



Milton was a mighty genius, profound and lofty, though not so 

 many-sided as Shakspeare. He reached as near to heaven, though 

 the area of his base was not so broad. Shakspeare was as a vast city 

 Milton a solemn cathedral. Before he commenced his great poem, 

 his various learning had become fused within him had made itself, 

 as it were, a portion of his mind. It is a grevious error to sup- 

 pose that Milton was a laborious writer there is sufficient evi- 

 dence to prove that he was not, even if his works did not at once 

 satisfy the reader of the fact. No less a mistake is it to imagine that 

 his language is stilted or pedantic, as some have pronounced it to be ; 

 or that his verse is verse only to the eye as Dr. Johnson, was, per- 

 haps, justified in asserting, who had no ear. 



In a word, the poetry of Milton flowed as freely and spontaneously 

 as that of Shakspeare in language, which, for strength, force, ma- 

 jesty, and beauty, has never been equalled, and in versification to 

 which English poetry can afford no parallel. 



One word as to Milton's versification : We have said, that it is un- 

 equalled. Frequently, however, passages of surpassing beauty, of 

 melody, are to be found in Shakspeare not seldom in Kit Marlow 

 sometimes, though rarely, in Beaumont and Fletcher. Coleridge 

 and Shelley alone, of our modern times, have approached these in 

 the harmony of blank verse. 



We find, then, in the Paradise Lost of Milton, an extraordinary 

 genius, an astonishing extent of learning, a vast command and mas- 

 tery over all the resources of his own language, and an unrivalled 

 power of versification. We can hardly expect to find such attributes 

 conjoined in any one man again. Which of them, therefore, shall we 

 concede to him who shall aspire to his pre-eminence ? In whichever 

 of these Mr. Heraud may be wanting, (and that, compared with Milton 

 he is lamentably deficient, we have no hesitation in assuring him) he 



