sis. Besides, the idea of the author's having made use of an allegorical fable for any such purpose, might be controverted on the grounds, that at that early period our writers had not resorted to such a mode of composition: they had, in fact, no experience of the power and extensive influence of political satire, which belongs to a much more advanced and polished state of society. On the whole, we mayconclude with observing, that the author has displayed considerable ingenuity and descriptive power, and has preserved several curious sketches of the manners of the time; and that although the poem of The Howlat is in some measure obscured by the unfortunate preference which has been given to the alliterative style that prevailed so much in our ancient poetical literature, it must nevertheless be always regarded as one of the most singularly curious productions of the age to which it belongs.
Edinburgh, October 1823.
