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I have such respect for the feeling whrcr* 

 most poets have shewn for natural beauties,, 

 and think they have so often and so happily 

 expressed what is, and ought to be y the ge- 

 neral feeling of mankind, that wherever 

 they were clearly and uniformly against 

 me, I should certainly, as far as that ge- 

 neral sensation was concerned, allow my- 

 self to be in the wrono*. In this ekse r 

 however, I can safely agree with the poets> 

 and yet condemn Mr. Brown. With re- 

 gard to the first instance, I might say, that 

 without thinking of beauty, it is a very 

 natural com pi i men t to a river-god or god- 

 dess, to wish their streams always full ; 

 but I am ready to admit, that by brimmed 

 waves the poet meant as full as the river 

 could be without overflowing, and that it 

 were to be wished for the sake of beauty, 

 that rivers could always be kept in that 

 state. All this is clearly in favour of an 

 equal height of the water-, but can it be 

 inferred from this, or, I will venture to say, 

 from any passage whatever, that Milton, 

 or any other poet, was of opinion that the 



