But he complains of those who have attempted such interpretations hitherto, that 'being _unskilled in nature_, and _their learning_ no more than that of common-place, they have applied the sense of the parables to certain _general_ and _vulgar_ matters, without reaching to their real purport, genuine interpretation and full depth;' certainly it would not be _that kind_ of criticism, then, which would be able to bring out _the_ subtleties of the _new learning_ from those popular embodiments, which he tells us it will have to take, in order to make some impression, at least, on the common understanding. 'Settle that question, then, in regard to the old Fables as you will, _our_ pains will not perhaps be misemployed, whether we illustrate antiquity or things themselves,' and to that he adds, 'for _myself, therefore, I expect to appear_ NEW in THESE COMMON THINGS, because, leaving untouched such as are sufficiently plain and open, I _shall drive only those_ that are either deep or rich.' 'For myself?'--I?--'I expect to appear new in these common things.' But elsewhere, where he lays out the argument of them, by the side of that 'resplendent and lustrous mass of matter,' those _heroical_ descriptions of virtue, duty, and felicity, that _others_ have got glory from, it is some _Poet_ we are given to understand that is going to be found _new_ in them. _There_, the argument is all--_all_--_poetic_, and it is a theme for one who, if he know how to handle it, need not be afraid to put in his modest claim, with those who sung of old, the wrath of heroes, and their arms.