SS Se 
314 
be so. The chief are, that this part is 
beth easier, and will sell berter. Let us 
hear the words of Mr. Burke on a sub- 
ject not very dissimilar. ‘* In such cases,” 
says he, “the writer has a certain fire 
-and alacrity inspired into him, by a con- 
sciousness, that, Jet it fare how it will 
with the subject, -his ingenuity will be 
Sure of applause; and this alacrity be- 
comes much greater, if he acts upon the 
offensive, by the impetuosity that always 
accompanies an attack, and the unfor- 
tunate propensity which mankind have to 
the finding and exaggerating faults.”— 
Pref. Vindic. Nat. Soc. p. 6. You will 
perceive that I have on no occasion sanc- 
tioned the baser motives of private pigue, 
envy, revenge, and love of detraction; 
at least I have not recommended harsh 
treatment upon any of these grounds: £ 
have argued simply on the abstract moral 
principle which a reviewer should ever 
have present to his mind. But if any of 
these motives insinuate themselves as se- 
condary springs of action, I would not 
condemn them: they may come in aid of 
the grand leading principle, and power- 
fully second its operation, 
‘But it is time to close these tedious 
precepts; and to furnish you with what 
speaks plainer than any precept, a spect- 
men of the art itself, in which several of 
them are embodied. It is hastily done; 
but it exemplifies well enough what I 
have said of the poetical department, 
and exhibits most of those qualities 
which disappointed authors are fond of 
railing at, under the names of flip- 
pancy, arrogance, conceit, misrepresen- 
tation, and malevolence: 
which you will only regard as so many 
acknowledgments of success in your un- 
dertaking, and infaliible tests of an es- 
tablished - fame and rapidly increasing 
circulation. 
SPECi{MEN OF REVIEWING. 
L’ Allegro, a Poem, by John Milton. 
No Prinier’s name. 
Tr has become. a practice of Jate with 
@ certain description of people who have 
no visible means of subsistence, to string 
together a few trite images of rural Sce- 
nery, interspersed with vulgarisms in dia- 
lect, and traits of vulgar manners; to 
dress up these materials in a sing-song 
jingle, and to offer them for sale asa 
poem. According to the most approved 
recipes, something about the heathen 
gods and goddesses, and the school-boy 
topics of Stvx,and Cerberus, and Elysium, 
is occasioualiy thrown in, and the com- 
Advice toa Young Reviewer. 
reproaches, 
[May 1, 
position iscomplete. The stock in trade 
of these adventurers Js in general scanty 
enough, and their art therefore consists 
in disposing it to the best, advantage. 
But if such be the aim of the writer, it 
is the critic’s business to detect and de- 
feat the imposture; to warn the publie 
against the purchase of shop-worn goods, 
and tinsel wares; to protect the fair 
trader, by exposing the tricks of needy 
guacks and mountebanks; and to chas- 
tise that forward and noisy importunity, 
with which they present themselves to the 
public notice. 
How far Mr. Milton is amenable to 
this discipline, will best appear from a 
brief analysis of the poem before us. In 
the very opening he assumes atone of 
authority, which might better suit some 
veteran bard than a raw candidate for 
the Delphicbays; for, before he proceeds 
to the regular process of invocation, he 
clears the way by driving from his pre 
sence, with sundry hard names and bitter 
reproaches on her father, mother, and all | 
the fainily, a venerable personage, whose 
age at least, and staid matron-like ap- 
pearance, might have entitled her to 
more civil language. : 
Hence, loathed Melancholy 5 
Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born, 
In Stygian cave forlorn, &c. 
‘There is no giving rules, however, in 
these tatters, without a knowledge of 
the case. Perhaps the old lady had been 
frequently warned off before, and pro- 
voked this violence by continuing still to 
lurk about the poet’s dwelling. And, to 
say the truth, the reader will have but 
too good reason to remark, before he 
gets through the poem, that it is one 
thing totell the spirit of Dulness to depart, 
and another to get rid of her in reality. 
Like Glendower’s spirits, any one may 
order them away, “ But will they go 
when you do order theni?” . 
Bat let us suppose for a moment, that 
the Parnassian deeree is obeyed; and 
according to the letter of the order, 
which is as precise and wordy as if Jus- 
tice Shallow himself had drawn it, that 
the obnoxious female is sent back to the 
placeof her birth, » 
‘€ "Mongst horrid shapes, shrieks, sights,” &c. 
at which we beg our fair readers not to 
be alafined, for we can assure them they 
are only words of course in all poetical 
instruments of this nature; and mean no 
more than the “ force and arms,” and 
‘‘ instigation of the devil,” in a common 
indictment. This nuisance then being 
: abated, 
