is the first who has made open war, and turned his ridicule against the sombre followers of Lord Byron; but I think he goes too far in the close alliance he supposes between good spirits and genius. The favourite topic of our philosophers is the weakness, that of the poets the sorrows of human nature—its fears also, and its crimes. These are not very enlivening subjects, and yet they are universally chosen; and for one great reason—in some or other of their shapes they come home to every one's experience. It is very true that Homer's general tone is exciting, warlike, and glad, like the sound of a trumpet; still his most popular passages are those touched with sorrow and affection: the parting of Hector and Andromache is uppermost in the minds of the great body of his readers; and the grief of Priam touches the many much more than the godlike attributes of Achilles. I believe genius to be acute feeling gifted with the power of expression, and with that keen observation which early leads to reflection; and few can feel much of, or think much on, the various lessons of life, and not say, in the sorrowful language of the Psalmist, 'My soul is heavy within me.' But as the once beautifully-moulded figures,
