THE WRITER TO HIS POETIC

BRETHREN.

-Mediocribus esse poetis

Non Dii, non homines, non concessere columnæ.

Horace.

With poets mediocrity is not allowable, either by gods, or men, or the pillars which support the shops of the booksellers.

My prelude thus ended, I next, by degrees,
Must enact all the toils of renown'd Hercules;
For the theme is so copious of Scribblecumdash,
I already feel symptoms bespeaking me rash;
Since to bring in one focus all scribes-I'm less able,
Than to jabber with each tribe of workmen at Babel.
We're told a faint heart will not fair lady win;
Thus I ne'er shall conclude, if I never begin:

Then at it, my Pegasus, here's whip and rein,
Tally ho! Tally ho! dash it bold o'er the plain;
Extol in thy race ev'ry son of Apollo,

And spurn with thine hoofs sconces all that are

hollow;

Be justice the symbol that marks thy career,
For the organ of Truth is disdainful of fear:

I'faith, I've no rancour, nor mean I to show it;
In person I scarce know e'en one living Poet.
Their labours I've studied, and act from cool

reason;

Thus folly and sense share due comments in season. The flights of bold fancy shall first claim the stricture,

For poets stand foremost on Noodle's grand picture, From high vaunted Scot that has caus'd hue and cry O!

To Rickman, self-dubb'd after great Mistress Clio.

Southey.(2)

Aut insanit homo, aut versus facit.

Either the man is mad, or writing verses.

Horace.

TIME
IME was, when a man dar'd an Epic essay,

He cautious survey'd stumbling-blocks in his way;
So first made enquiry if Phoebus had bless'd him,
And whether the Muses united caress'd him:

(h) This 'gentleman's voluminous productions seem to have been written with a view to the display of his universal reading, rather than of annexing to his name the title of a great and lasting poet he has been esteemed a follower of Wordsworth's

With acumen keen depth of study survey'd,
And if fancy in vestments of reason was 'ray'd;
For when sterling sense cannot genius bind fast,
All efforts prove madness-the style mere bombast.

style, without laying claim to the pathos which characterises a variety of that gentleman's productions, notwithstanding his contempt for all the heretofore acknowledged rules of poetical composition. Whensoever Mr. Southey issues from the press, we find him arrayed in a different costume, though one unvarying predeliction for the wonderful runs through the whole series of his poems. His Joan of Arc, hastily composed after the manner of Milton and other epic poets, though possessing merit, is particularly deficient on the score of patriotism, as every Gallic chief is elevated to the rank of an hero, while our fifth Henry, Talbot, &c. are scarcely raised above the common walk of life. Thalaba the Destroyer, after the model of the Arabian Tales, is characterised by some bold but extravagant flights. Madoc, though generally pleasing, on account of the mild sentiments which breathe throughout that production, is nevertheless rendered irksome to the reader, at intervals, from insipidity and tameness of style. Kehama, diversified with the rhapsodies of Thalaba, and the gentleness of the last mentioned poem, claims precedence above the rest; and whatsoever genius this writer may possess is certainly elicited from the work in question

These points well consider'd, he next conn'd the

page,

To find a theme fitting his Muse to engage;

Upon analyzing the productions of Mr. Southey, it will be found that he is most anxious to make the world acquainted with the multiplicity of books that have engrossed his attention: to accomplish which purpose he has neglected the arrangement of his ideas, and a due attention to the groundwork of his plans; two concomitants which are absolutely essential to ensure the poet universal and unperishable fame.

A poem entitled the Damnation of Ruvomisha, from the pen of Rodrigo Maddocks, Esq., is a production in the style of Southey; containing a portion of the extravaganza of that writer's Curse of Kehama, while the versification is much more regular than the laureat's poem of Thalaba the Destroyer. There is, indeed, no part of the production of Mr. Maddocks which can compare with Kehama's entrance through eight portals at the same juncture of time; or of the orb compounded of a thousand little eyes kneaded into one. All that it is requisite to state, respecting the Damnation of Ruvomisha, is, that such individuals who may be partial to the most marvellous of the marvellous will find ample food for the indulgence of their predeliction on perusal of the work in question.