the direct contrary state, and you will have a distinct sense of the
connection between two conceptions, without that sensation of such
connection which is supplied by habit. The man feels as if he were
standing on his head though he cannot but see that he is truly standing
on his feet. This, as a painful sensation, will of course have a
tendency to associate itself with him who occasions it; even as
persons, who have been by painful means restored from derangement, are
known to feel an involuntary dislike towards their physician.]
[Footnote 19: Without however the apprehensions attributed to the Pagan
reformer of the poetic republic. If we may judge from the preface to
the recent collection of his poems, Mr. W. would have answered with
Xanthias--
su d’ ouk edeisas ton huophon ton rhaematon,
kai tas apeilas; XAN, ou ma Di’, oud’ ephrontisa.--Ranae, 492-3.
And here let me hint to the authors of the numerous parodies, and
pretended imitations of Mr. Wordsworth’s style, that at once to conceal
and convey wit and wisdom in the semblance of folly and dulness, as is
done in the Clowns and Fools, nay even in the Dogberry, of our
Shakespeare, is doubtless a proof of genius, or at all events of
satiric talent; but that the attempt to ridicule a silly and childish
poem, by writing another still sillier and still more childish, can
only prove (if it prove any thing at all) that the parodist is a still
greater blockhead than the original writer, and, what is far worse, a
malignant coxcomb to boot. The talent for mimicry seems strongest where
the human race are most degraded. The poor, naked half human savages of
New Holland were found excellent mimics: and, in civilized society,
minds of the very lowest stamp alone satirize by copying. At least the
difference which must blend with and balance the likeness, in order to
constitute a just imitation, existing here merely in caricature,
detracts from the libeller’s heart, without adding an iota to the
credit of his understanding.]
[Footnote 20: --
The Butterfly the ancient Grecians made
The soul’s fair emblem, and its only name--
But of the soul, escaped the slavish trade
Of mortal life! For to this earthly frame
Ours is the reptile’s lot, much toil, much blame,
Manifold motions making little speed,
And to deform and kill the things whereon we feed.]
[Footnote 21: Mr. Wordsworth, even in his two earliest poems, The
Evening Walk and the Descriptive Sketches, is more free from this
latter defect than most of the young poets his contemporaries. It may
however be exemplified, together with the harsh and obscure
construction, in which he more often offended, in the following
lines:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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