372 IIEITRT KTRKE WHITe's nEKATNS. 



with habits, which., as thej have been used to, men are 

 apt to think cannot be improved upon. The opposition 

 which has been made to the metre of " Thalaba," is, 

 therefore, not so much to be imputed to its want of har- 

 mony as to the operation of existing prejudices, and it is 

 fair to conclude, that, as these prejudices are softened by 

 usages, and the strangeness of novelty wears off, the 

 peculiar features of this lyrical frame of verse will be 

 more candidly appreciated, and its merits more unreser- 

 vedly acknowledged. 



Whoever is conversant with the writings of this author 

 will have observed and admired that greatness of mind, 

 and comprehension of intellec*!:, by which he is enabled, 

 on all occasions, to throw oiF the shackles of habit and 

 prepossession. Southey never treads in the beaten track ; 

 his thoughts, while they are those of nature, carry that 

 cast of originality which is the stamp of testimony and 

 genius. He views things through a peculiar phasis, and 

 while he has the feelings of a man, they are those of a 

 man almost abstracted from mortality, and reflecting on, 

 and painting the scenes of life, as if he were a mere spec- 

 tator, uninfluenced by his own connexion with the ob- 

 jects he surveys. To this faculty of bold discrimination 

 I attribute many of Mr South ey's peculiarities as a poet. 

 He never seems to inquire how other men would treat a 

 subject, or what may happen to be the usage of times ; 

 bat filled with that strong sense of fitness, which is the 

 result of bold and unshackled thought, he fearlessly pur- 

 sues that course which his own sense of propriety points 

 out. 



It is very evident to me, and I should conceive to all 

 who consider the subject attentively, that the structure 

 of verse which Mr Southey has promulgated in his 

 " Thalaba," was neither adopted rashly, nor from any 

 vain emulation of originality. As the poet himself hap- 

 pily observes, " It is the arahesjue ornament of an 

 Arabian tale." No one would wish to see the " Joan of 

 Arc" in such a garb : but the wild freedom of the versi- 

 fication of " Thalaba" accords well with the romantic 

 wildness of the story, and I do not hesitat-? to say, that, 



