The true poet is
born, not made. Still, in their place, our author's dogmas have their
use, and might, if duly marked and inwardly digested, annually deter
many aspirants who are _not_ poets from proving so incontestably to
the careless public that negative fact.
_Notes from Books_ followed within a few months, but met with a less
cordial reception. Of the four essays comprised in this volume, three
are reprinted contributions to the _Quarterly Review_, being
criticisms on the poetry of Wordsworth and Aubrey de Vere; and
worthily do they illustrate--those on Wordsworth at least--Mr Taylor's
composite faculty of depth and delicacy in poetical exposition. Of
Wordsworth's many and gifted commentators--among them Wilson,
Coleridge, Hazlitt, De Quincey, Lamb, Moir, Sterling--few have shewn a
happier insight into the idiosyncrasy, or done more justice to the
beauties of the patriarch of the Lakes. With Wordsworth for a subject,
and the _Quarterly Review_ for a 'door of utterance,' Mr Taylor is
quite in his element. The fourth essay, on the _Ways of the Rich and
Great_, is enriched with wise saws and modern instances.
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