ON CERTAIN INCONSIDERATE CRITICISMS. 243 



tion, the correctness of his judgment, and the delicacy of his taste. 

 He had his choice between homeliness and beauty, and he preferred 

 the latter, as most pleasing to him and^ with some very rare excep- 

 tions, to all mankind. 



If the artist, to excite surprise, and produce a more striking vari- 

 ety, had introduced an elephant or rhinoceros, quietly indulging its 

 curiosity as a looker-on, among the other spectators ; a lion tearing 

 one of the peasants in pieces, or a prodigious boa serpent crushing 

 Captain Rock in its enormous folds ; as none of these are natives of 

 the emerald isle, or to be found there, their introduction so remote 

 from their proper climate and element would have been an incon- 

 gruity, and a gross violation of probability. Such a heterogeneous 

 medley would have been an instance of the extravagant folly which 

 Horace ridicules in The Cypress in the Sea, and in the satirical 

 verses, 



" Qui variare cupit rem prodigaliter unam 

 I>elphinum sylvis appingit, fluctibus aprum.*' 



" While he who tries, 



With ever-varying wonders, to surprise. 



In the broad forest bids his dolphins play, 



And paints his boars disporting in the sea.** — Francis. 



Mc^Clise's object was, to render his picture more interesting and 

 pleasing, without any violation of general probability, by the intro- 

 duction of those beautiful girls, who, so far from being un-Irish and 

 an incongruity, are one of the most excellent and delightful features 

 of his wonderful performance. Even on the dreary shore of the 

 Solway Frith, Sir Walter Scott has introduced, in the miserable 

 hut of a poor and savage fisherman, a young and beautiful lady of 

 family — the green-mantle heroine of his romance — dancing with 

 the ignorant and boorish inmates and their associates, in one of 

 their merry-makings. 



I here quote the authority of Sir Walter, as to the general license 

 allowable to a poet or painter. " I ought to have mentioned, in the 

 former edition of this Romance, that Charlotte Treraouille, Coun- 

 tess of Derby, represented as a catholic, was, in fact, a French pro- 

 testant. For representing the noble Dame in this manner, I have 



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