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CRITICISM. 



•riticism. the growing hope of approaching the object of research, 

 ^-nr*— ' could not fail to be pleasing to their possessor, if we 

 may judge by the pleasure which we occasionally de- 

 rive from their success. To see a passage of obstinate 

 perplexity rendered intelligible, by the change of a point, 

 or a letter, is accompanied with those emotions of sur- 

 prise and satisfaction, which naturally result from the 

 sudden recovery of what was lost, from the completion 

 of what was detective, from the comprehension of what 

 was obscure, and from the triumph in human ingenuity 

 when accomplishing an arduous effect by a slight opera- 

 tion. Such are the emotions which, amid numerous 

 disappointments, we have frequently experienced, from 

 the skilful and sagacious conjectures of a Heyne, a Por- 

 son, a Toup, a Warton, or a Tyrwhit. Nearly akin to 

 verbal is elucidatory criticism, which attempts to remove 

 obscurities, by referring to some local custom or obso- 

 lete event, by quoting the phrase from some author, 

 where the context has made it intelligible, or by em- 

 ploying the united force of learning and argument to 

 establish a meaning, which others had missed. To 

 this class of critics, as well as to the former, consider- 

 able praise is due, for the sudden light which they are 

 sometimes able to introduce, from a remote and unex- 

 pected quarter, into the darkest passages. Both, how- 

 ever, are apt to become too enamoured of the arts in 

 which they excel, and to fatigue the reader, by forget- 

 ting the precept ne quid nimis. The one often prolongs 

 his experiments on words, till we nod over the crucible, 

 where he tries to restore them from an oxy dated to a 

 metallic form ; while the other displays his erudition, 

 by accumulating explanatory quotations, till the doubt- 

 ful phrase, like a sickly infant overlaid by the nurse, is 

 lost in the crowd that is brought to its assistance. 

 These errors are justly ridiculed by Young. 



Imperious some a classic fame demand, 

 For heaping up, with a laborious hand, 

 A waggon load of meanings for one word, 

 While A's deposed, and B with pomp restored. 

 Some for renown on scraps cf learning dote, 

 And think they grow immortal as they quote. 

 To patchwork learned quotations are allied: 

 both strive to make our poverty our pride. 



For the justice of these remarks, we may appeal to 

 the commentators of Holland and Germany, countries 

 peculiarly fertile in these tedious interpreters, who, 

 however serviceable, are no more to be compared to 

 those who investigate the genius and spirit of an author, 

 than the workman who repairs a rotten plank, to the 

 scientific teacher of the art of navigation. Into criticism 

 of the first kind few have patience to enter ; but all are 

 disposed to bsten to the last. All are desirous to see 

 their judgment of a literary work confirmed by others, 

 in whose wisdom they confide ; or to be guided by the 

 same authority where they have had no opportunity of 

 judging for themselves, to studies which may be pro- 

 fitable or pleasing. From experience, however, they 

 would soon discover that the sentence varied with the 

 temper, the talent, and the prejudices of the judge ; 

 and it therefore became desirable to establish a system 

 of general and immutable rules, to which both the wri- 

 ter and the critic might appeal. This gave rise to what 

 may be called the Philosophy of Criticism, or the Le- 

 gislation of Taste, of which Aristotle, in his Poetics, 

 offered an early and splendid example. Applying to 

 poetry that faculty of generalisation, which he posses- 

 sed in singular perfection, and which on all subjects 

 he delighted to exercise, he drew from the nature and 

 < i sets of the art, and also from experience of its prac- 



tical effects, a code of rules to serve as its future stand- Criticism, 

 ard. Specimens in the same department of criticism > -~ -v- 3 *' 

 were afterwards produced by Longinus, Dionysius, and 

 Demetrius Phalareus; by Cicero, Horace, and Quinti- 

 lian ; and, in modern times, the general principles of 

 criticism have become a regular branch of academical 

 education. Critics of this speculative character main- 

 tain more dignity than those who descend into the 

 arena, and grapple with individual writers; in the same 

 manner as the didactic politician is regarded with more 

 general respect than one who engages, as a partisan, in 

 the official details of contemporary government. It may 

 be doubted, however, if the former command equal in- 

 terest with those who personally " mingle in the mor- 

 tal fray," and who enliven their strictures with that 

 dramatic animation in which all are formed to delight. 

 Polemical criticism, therefore, by its exemption from 

 the more dignified dulness of abstract maxims, is of- 

 ten of greater practical benefit; as precepts, casually 

 thrown off in the ardour of dispute, and embodied in 

 examples which force attention by their novelty, make 

 a deeper impression on the mind, than those which 

 are calmly pronounced ex cathedra, and unassociated 

 with any personal circumstance, to assist the memory 

 in recalling them when required. To this may, in a 

 great degree, be ascribed the justice of the following 

 remark by the French Academy : " Les connoissances 

 qui sont estimees les plus belles, sont presque toutes 

 sorties de la contention des esprits ; et il est souvent 

 arrive que par cette heureuse violence on a tire la ve- 

 rite du fond des abimes, et que Ton a force le temps 

 d'en avancer la production. II servit superflu de faire 

 une longue deduction des innocentes et profitables que- 

 relles qu'on a vu naitre dans tout le cercle des sciences 

 entre ces rares hommes de l'antiquite. II suffira de 

 dire que parmi les modernes il s'en est emu de ties fa- 

 vorables pour les lettres, et que la poesie servit aujour- 

 dui bien moins parfaite qu'elle n'est sans les contesta- 

 tions qui se sont formees sur les ouvrages des plus ce- 

 lebres auteurs des derniers temps." 



Criticism being thus, not only a natural, but a po- 

 pular exercise of the mind, authors in all ages have 

 been sure of encountering this intellectual reaction. 

 Aristarchus and Zoilus, among the Greeks, have, from 

 their severity, become generic names for the whole class 

 cf literary censors. Bavius and Maevius, among the 

 Romans, damned themselves to immortal fame, by pro- 

 voking a contemptuous notice from Virgil, and a live- 

 ly imprecation from Horace ; and we are told by one 

 of the first and one of the last of the Latin classics, (by 

 Terence and by Martial,) who' dwells on the domince 

 fastidia Romas, that neither of them escaped the rejsre- 

 "hension of then- contemporaries. After the restoration 

 of letters, critics were not the slowest to reappear on 

 the scene; but, for a while, their labours were cir- 

 cumscribed, by the expence which they incurred, from 

 the necessity of offering them to the world in separate 

 publications. In the 1 7th century, this inconvenience 

 was removed by the lucky project of a pamphlet, which 

 should appear at stated intervals, and which all the 

 critics of the day should be permitted, and even invi- 

 ted, to fill with their lucubrations. By this contri- 

 vance, the scale of intellectual warfare was extended 

 from unconnected single combats, to a field where a 

 whole squadron of the critical force might array them- 

 selves against an equal number of candidates for re- 

 nown. Authors, too, could tints be brough to trial, by 

 a sort of periodical assize, or gaol delivery of literature, 

 (if the expression be allowable) with the greatest eco- 

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