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framework or ground-plan of each of Wordsworth's larger poems, 

 and also in many of his shorter ones. It may even be natural to 

 wish that a mind like Scott's, for example, had constructed the plot 

 of The Excursio7i for him, in whole or in part, — Sir Walter would 

 have done it with so much more artistic skill. But such literary 

 copartnery is not possible. Supposing all initial difficulties removed, 

 irregularities would be seen in the woA, in proportion to the 

 originaHty of the minds engaging in it. The respective portions 

 would not dovetail into one another. The sutures would not fit. 

 Then, had the plot of The Excursion been prepared for Wordsworth 

 by such a master of construction as Scott, he would not have kept 

 to it. His idiosyncrasy would have rebelled against the suggested 

 plan, as something that trammelled the freedom of his own mind > 

 and he could not have woven into the more perfect framework, 

 handed to him by Scott, that wealth of imagination which now lies 

 within the less interesting skeleton of his own story. It is easy to 

 see that all literary work has it blemishes, and that the most perfect, 

 in form and "substance alike, must have its lacuna, which are even 

 essential to its limited perfection. But it is not always seen, that 

 excellence in one direction must of necessity, be balanced by defect 

 in another ; and hence, that the wish to possess a perfect poem, or 

 a perfect philosophy, or a perfect work of art, is as Utopian and 

 absurd as the longing for a perfect human being. 



It is extremely easy to point out the infelicities and tran- 

 sitions in Wordsworth's style, its ' inconstancy,' its occasional 

 abrupt descents to an inferior level, its sinking from ideality into 

 matter-of-factness, its frequent prolixity, due to the poet's lingering 

 over details and elevating secondary incidents to a primary place, 

 and hence "an eddying instead of a progression of thought." 

 But what is the use of such nimble-witted criticism noiv ? It may 

 be of use to prevent an unaccredited poet from fancying that he 

 has secured a place amongst the immortals, merely because he has 

 succeeded in becoming a clever writer of verses. But when one 

 so great, original, and rare as Wordsworth has once taken his 

 place in that Hierarchy, where so few sit together through all time 

 • — and when that place is assured to iiim by the suffrage of posterity 



