LITEKAKY AND DOMESTIC MFE. 301 



wood. I will now say, further, in defence or explanation of the ad- 

 vice I gave him, that the composition is not, in my opinion, pecu- 

 liarly and characteristically Christopherish, and therefore, with all 

 its merit, would not have greatly delighted the readers of ' Mag;i' 

 at the beginning of anew year. Secondly. The topics are not such 

 as Christopher, on looking hack for two or three years, could have 

 selected, and many important ones are not alluded to at all. That 

 to me is a fital objection. Thirdly. There are occasional allusions 

 that are rather out of time and place, and seem to have been — as I 

 believe they were — written, not lately, but a good while ago. So 

 that I do not now, as I did not then, think it a composition that 

 would have graced and dignified a new year's number, preceding 

 all other articles, as a sort of manifesto from the pen of C. N., and 

 this, partly from its not being very like him. in style, but chiefly 

 from its being very unlike him in topics. 



" Having said so much, I will venture to say a little more, well 

 knowing that my criticism will not offend, even although it may not 

 convince.* Of the first four stanzas, the first is to me beautiful, the 

 second moderately good, the third, absolutely bad, and the fourth, 

 not very happy, Irving and Rowland Hill being better out of 

 North's mind altogether on a Christmas occasion. The nineteenth 

 stanza is, I think, very bad indeed, no meaning being intended, and 

 the expression being cumbrous and far from ingenious. Twentieth 

 stanza I see no merit in at all, nor do I understand it, I hope, for I 

 trust there is more meaning in it than meets my ear. Jeffrey's age 

 was a bad joke at the first, worse when repeated in a Christmas 

 Carol for 1 82*7-28. The whole stanza displeases me much. Twen- 

 ty-four is pretty well, but by no means equal to what would have 

 been the view-holloa of old C. N". on first tally-hoing a Whig. The 

 last line of it does not tell, or point to any one person ; if so, not 

 distinctly. Twenty-fifth contains a repetition of what has been 

 many thousand times repeated in ' Maga,' usque ad nauseam, by 

 that eternal Londoner from Yorkshire, and wants the free freshness 

 with which C. N. would have breathed out himself on such a topic, 

 if at all. Perhaps I dislike twenty-eighth stanza, because I am by 

 no means sure of its political economy, and never can join in the cry 



* Then follows a minute criticism of the poem, stanza by stanza, too detailed to be given entire. 

 A few touches may suffice, indicating that in politics the extreme opinions of Christopher North, 

 as expressed in Blackwood, were not always those of John Wilson. 



