“In perusing the works of this race of authors, the mind is exercised either by recollection or inquiry: something already learned is to be retrieved, or something new is to be examined. If their greatness seldom elevates, their acuteness often surprises; if the imagination is not always gratified, at least the powers of reflection and comparison are employed; and in the mass of materials which ingenious absurdity has thrown together, genuine wit and useful knowledge may be sometimes found buried perhaps in grossness of expression, but useful to those who know their value; and such as, when they are expanded to perspicuity, and polished to elegance, may give lustre to works which have more propriety though less copiousness of sentiment.”—JOHNSON, _Life of Cowley_. Contents Introduction ix The Perfect Critic 1 Imperfect Critics— Swinburne as Critic 15 A Romantic Aristocrat 22 The Local Flavour 29 A Note on the American Critic 34 The French Intelligence 39 Tradition and the Individual Talent 42 The Possibility of a Poetic Drama 54 Euripides and Professor Murray 64 Rhetoric and Poetic Drama 71 Notes on the Blank Verse of Christopher Marlowe 78 Hamlet and His Problems 87 Ben Jonson 95 Phillip Massinger 112 Swinburne as Poet 131 Blake 137 Dante 144 The Perfect Critic I “Eriger en lois ses impressions personnelles, c’est le grand effort d’un homme s’il est sincère.”—_Lettres à l’Amazone._