The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-07-09
He had cot into wild eddy Of his own. and did

not even perceive the sweep OF the larger river.
Mrs. oliphant happily describes his relation to
Wordsworth and Colcridge by saying that
Southey was a rebel, and nothing more, at
time, so to speak. Of great legislative changes.
By the fact however. that he preferred free
dom. and even lawlossness for himself he
gave certain aid to the final strokes
Of the emancipators but inadvertently,
and without any real sympathy with
their work. The freedom Of his poetic dictlon
was as entirely unlike that for which Words
worth contendod rs the elaborate mechanism
Of his Oriental magic was unlike the mys-
tic and visionary insight OF Colerldge. lie
never protested any belief in LONELINESS OF ex-
preston. and never abandoned the elevated
language usually adopted in poetry. Mrs. Oil
plant notes. with certain sympathetic sor-
row. the poets dulusion with regard to the
merit Of his own performances. Southey be-
lieved that his fame would go on increasing.
and rest upon as wide basis as Dante's. and
ne child friend for calling him the most sub
lime poet OF the age. not that he had any diff
Guilty in accepting the title. but because both
Wordsworth and Lander are at least my
equals" The melancholy truth is that Of the
many volumes Southey left behind him. only
one or two ballads have secured a place In the
general memory. Mrs. Oliphant describes
neatly the characteristic quality of his mind as
an imaginative matter-of-factness.
The mt audience. though few" which South
ey challenged for his long poems has refused
to listen to them. but has not deserted Landor
who found. curiously enough. his first admirer
and persistent champion in the author Of
Thalaba." or Landor's first poem. Gebir."
De Quincy boosted that he and southey were
the only two people who had read 1t. and we
doubt whether dozen men now living in Eng
land and America have followed their example.
1t cannot be said that Lander had any innu
ence upon the literary movement Of his age.
His works. and particularly the Imaginary
Conversations" have been greatly appauded
by the best judges. but they have not
penetrated the public mind. for how
could the mass Of only moderately we'll
informed readers understand the fine points
Of character which were supposed tobe unfold
ed in their imaginary talk Of famous historical
personages We concur with Mrs. Oliphant in
thinking that the skill in characterization
which is currently averred to be the prime
merit OF these Conversations has been
greatly overrated. Undoubtedly Lander has
displayed in these papers wide range Of his
torical knowledge but his portraits are not
trustworthy. for he is too fond OF thrusting
himself into the picture. The more one knows
ofany given epoch or character. the less salts
fed is he with Landor's delincaton. This is
not TO deny that Lander was one OF the fore
most Greek and Latin scholars that England
has produced. for none perhaps have better
answered the test Of ability to think in a dead
language. But he could not use his knowledge
as Robert Browning can in dramatic portrait
ure, because he could not suppress his own
personality.
Mrs. oliphant discerns that Wordsworth has
for the moment passed the zenith Of his fame.
No; til ll,.a tod han bo
twenty years ago. and occasionally We hear re-
peated the gibes with which the expiring
eighteenth century Knocked at his innovations.
Nevertheless the work that Wordsworth did
will always be regarded rs Of monumental
character and il is to be hoped in the interest
OF humanity that his influence will never be
more than slightly and feetingly impaired by
the fashions Of the hour. 1t is certain that
Wordsworth brought to the fair and real Eng
lish Landscape which with its genial breezes
and wholesome freshness Cowper had redis-
covered his own deeply reasoning spirit, en-
dowed with lofty perception Of the mysteries
OF nature and high philosophical faculty for
the solution OF them. Instead Of the stale
moralities and superficial reflections Of which
the world had grown SO weary. he expounded
the agencies Of human sorrow in the economy
of life. and put forth his hand to grasp
the far-ofl interest of tears" As to
the mere vehicle of Wordsworth's thought.
the homely medium Of expression which he
illustrated in The idiot Boy" and other
poems printed in the lyrical Ballads" he
himself recognized in the practice Of his later
life that such theories of poetic diction were
strained and unnatural. He so far kept to
them as 10 make the hero Of his longest poem
pcdd.er but the language ofthc Excursion"
is rs widely removed from the bald simplicity
which he recommended at the outset as il is
possible to imagine. That poem. rs we'll rs
the Prelude is palpably addressed. not to
the nuts where poor men lie" but to n
specially elect and cultured audience. We
need not say that Wordsworth lived TO be
Acknowledged the greatest living name in
English literature, and at the end OF his life
received that tribute Of public honor. the
laureateship, which Southey had lifted from the
mud. and which. since then. has been actually.
well as nominally. the need Of the most
worthy.
We are not sure that Mrs. Oiphant is quite
just TO Coleridge. Yet she has an intense SYM
PATTY with some aspects of his character. and
appears in one place to appreciate the specific
quality Of his intellectual achievement Thus
she says that "Coleridge opened up all that
mystic world Of suggestion in which the hu-
man spirit lives, conscious. but bewildered-
! lDat WOTlu not TeHllNeu. inc WOnueTlul I'M
known. to which no soul is stranger. yet
! which no man has interpreted. but which.
breathing mysteriously upon us in tremors OF
the blood and thrills Of spiritual curiosity. at
tracts more or less potcntly every conscious
being" And again. speaking of the serene
and selt-possessed development Of Words
worths mind, which unqucstionably offers a
! lofty spectacle she turns with certain tender
ness to that other figure Of Coleridge.
| no conqueror. but sadly worsted in
liie's battle. his bosom strained with a
sob Of self-compassion." and yet equal
| 10 a generous outpour of enthusiasm. proclaim
ing the triumph of the victor who had started
behind him in the race. Wordsworth, in his
seli-detcrmined greatness. has our respect and
admiration. but 1T is" says Mrs Olphant
with a poignant sympathy which stirs the
| depths Of our being that we return to the other.
| with his weird and marvellous insight into the
mysteries Of creation and his sheer incapacity
to hold his own against the vulgarest kinds OF
evil. 1t is. however" she continues. one OF
the most affecting OF compensations that the