The review, quoted from the _Critical Rev._, XVIII (458-462) (December, 1764), is from the pen of Dr. Samuel Johnson. Apart from its distinguished authorship and the strong words of commendation in the final sentence, it possesses slight interest as literary criticism. It is, in fact, little more than a brief summary of the poem, enriched by a few well-chosen illustrative extracts. The fact that Johnson contributed nine or ten lines to the poem (see Boswell, ed. Hill, I, p. 441, n. 1, and II, p. 6) may account partly for the character of the review. Johnson's quotations from the poem are not continuous and show several variations from authoritative texts. WILLIAM COWPER Cowper stands almost alone among English poets as an instance of late manifestation of poetic power. He was over fifty years of age when he offered his first volume of _Poems_ (1782) to the public. This collection, which included _Table-Talk_ and other didactic poems, appeared at the beginning of the most prosaic age in the history of modern English literature; yet the critics did not find it sufficiently striking in quality to differentiate it from the level of contemporary verse, or to forecast the success of _The Task_ and _John Gilpin's Ride_ three years later. The notice in the _Critical Rev._, LIII (287-290), appeared in April, 1782. While the same poems are but slightly esteemed to-day, it must be recognized that the attitude of the reviewer was severe for his time. The age had grown accustomed to large draughts of moralizing and didacticism in verse, and the quality of Cowper's contribution was assuredly above the average. The _Monthly Rev._, LXVII, p. 262, gave the _Poems_ a much more favorable reception. 10. _Non Dii, non homines, etc._ Properly, _non homines, non di_, Horace, _Ars Poetica_, l. 373. 10. _Caraccioli_. _Jouissance de soi-même_ (ed. 1762), cap. xii. 11. _There needs no ghost, etc._ See _Hamlet_, I, 5. 110. ROBERT BURNS