Shelley has more poetry in him than any man living; and if he were not so mys"tical, and would not write Utopias and set "himself up as a Reformer, his right to "rank as a poet, and very highly too, could "not fail of being acknowledged. I said "what I thought of him the other day; and "all who are not blinded by bigotry must "think the same. The' works he wrote at 66 seventeen are much more extraordinary "than Chatterton's at the same age." A question was started, as to which he considered the easiest of all metres in our language. "Or rather," replied he, "which is the least difficult? 66 you mean, I have spoken "of the fatal facility of the octo-syllabic "metre. The Spenser stanza is difficult, "because it is like a sonnet, and the finishing "line must be good. The couplet is more "difficult still, because the last line, or one "out of two, must be good. But blank"verse is the most difficult of all, because 66 every line must be good." "You might well say then," I observed, "that no man can be a poet who does any thing else." 66 During our evening ride the conversation happened to turn upon the rival Reviews. "I know no two men," said he, << "who "have been so infamously treated, as Shelley "and Keats. If I had known that Milman "had been the author of that article on "The Revolt of Islam,' I would never "have mentioned Fazio' among the plays "of the day, and scarcely know why I paid "him the compliment. In consequence of 1 "the shameless personality of that and ano"ther number of The Quarterly,' every 66 one abuses Shelley,-his name is coupled "with every thing that is opprobrious: but "he is one of the most moral as well as "amiable men I know. I have now been "intimate with him for years, and every year "has added to my regard for him.-Judging "from Milman, Christianity would appear a "bad religion for a poet, and not a very good one for a man. His 'Siege of Jeru"salem' is one cento from Milton; and in 66. style and language he is evidently an imi"tator of the very man whom he most abuses. "No one has been puffed like Milman he 66 owes his extravagant praise to Heber. "These Quarterly Reviewers scratch one "another's backs at a prodigious rate. Then 66 as to Keats, though I am no admirer of "his poetry, I do not envy the man, who66 ever he was, that attacked and killed him. "Except a couplet of Dryden's, 66 'On his own bed of torture let him lie, I know no lines more cutting than those in "Adonais,*' or more feeling than the whole "As Keats is now gone, we may speak of "him. I am always battling with the Snake 66 *The lines to which he referred were these: Expect no heavier chastisement from me, But ever at thy season be thou free To spill their venom when thy fangs o'erflow. Remorse and self-contempt shall cling to thee; Hot shame shall burn upon thy Cain-like brow, And like a beaten hound tremble thou shalt as now." Adonais. "about Keats, and wonder what he finds to “make a god of, in that idol of the Cockneys: "besides, I always ask Shelley why he does "not follow his style, and make himself one "of the school, if he think it so divine. He 66 will, like me, return some day to admire "Pope, and think 'The Rape of the Lock' "and its sylphs worth fifty Endymions,' "with their faun and satyr machinery. I 66 remember Keats somewhere says that ""flowers would not blow, leaves bud,' &c. "if man and woman did not kiss. How "sentimental !" 66 6 I remarked that Hyperion' was a fine fragment, and a proof of his poetical genius. "Hyperion!"" said he: " why a man 66 might as well pretend to be rich who had "one diamond. 'Hyperion' indeed! 'Hy"perion to a Satyr! Why, there is a fine "line in Lord Thurlow (looking to the West |
