124
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[12S. IV. MAY, 1918.
' Mexico Conquistada,' contains some verse-
translations which should be of interest to
students of the Spanish element in South ey's
poems.
Miss Baillie's ' Series of Plays,' February, 1803. This review is claimed by Southey in a letter to his brother, Dec. 17, 1803 : "My review of Miss Baillie was for The Critical ; that in The Annual I suspect to be by Mrs. Barbauld." The judgment which Southey pronounces in this review is the result not of his ordinary amiability, but of his sincere critical belief. He joined with Scott in assigning the loftiest rank to Miss Baillie' s ' Plays of the Passions ' :
" Miss Baillie's dramatic powers are of the highest order. With the miserable stage writings of the day it would be insult to compare her ; nor is it much commendation to rank her above Young, and Rowe, and Southerne, and such writers, whose fame is held, like certain titles and estates, by the courtesy of England. Above these, above Beaumont and Fletcher, we will not hesitate to rank her. .. .above even Massinger ; for she equals these writers in the beauty of detached passages ; and, in true delineation of character and uniform merit, is as far their superior as she is in moral principles. Why should praise be awarded only to the dead ? She has a near approach to Shakespeare ; and, if not connected with him by blood, has something superior to a mere family likeness."
Nathaniel Bloomfield's ' Poems,' April, 1803. There are only internal grounds for assigning this review to Southey. In the first place, there is a strong denunciation of atheistic morals and " arithmetical moralists." This is a thrust in Southey' s true vein against Mai thus, who was his bete noire and the object of one of his severest articles in The Annual Review (vol. ii.). Secondly, the concluding passage in its general tone and the pointing reference to the review of Robert Bloomfield's poems (q.v.) is well-nigh unmistakable :
" The specimens which we have selected will justify us in bestowing our praise upon this little volume ; and sincerely do we wish that public praise may be as efficient in his instance, as it was in that of his brother. We hope Mr. N. Bloomfield will continue to write ; but we would dissuade him from writing in blank verse : it requires a command of language, and a strength of thought, which he has not yet attained."
Three reviews of June, 1803, are possibly from Southey' s pen : (1) Link's ' Travels in Portugal, France, and Spain.' There is nothing but the subject and perhaps a certain air of authority to suggest Southey. (2) ' The Claims of Literature ; the Origin, Motives, Objects, and Transactions of the Society for the Establishment of a Literary Fund.' This we know to have been a
subject near to Southey s heart, but the
article itself is colourless. (3) ' Poems,
Lyrical and Miscellaneous,' by the late
Rev. Henry Moore. The reviewer pays his
respects to " a gentle, pious, and benevolent
spirit," but finds " too many glaring imita-
tions from Milton, Gray, and poets of
inferior celebrity." The substance of the
conclusion is what we might expect, but the
style is too artificial for Southey's taste :
" In strains usually pleasing, often elegant, and occasionally elevated, the lyre of Mr. Moore encourages benevolence of heart, and excites the purest emotions of delight, by an amiable morality, and an unaffected devotion."
After this Southey's traces cannot be followed at all. His connexion with The Critical Review must have come to an end about this time, for he was busily at work for the newly established Annual Review, and some passages in his correspondence with William Taylor show that his relations with the former periodical ceased before the beginning of 1804. In October of that year Southey inquired of Taylor about a review of ' Amadis ' which the latter had written for The Critical, and was informed that it had appeared in the January number. Southey had also written to Taylor in July that The Critical " never falls in his way."
The reviews mentioned in these articles may be grouped under three heads, as follows :
A. Those that belong to Southey on conclusive
external evidence.
1. ' Lyrical Ballads.' October, 1798.
2. ' Rising Castle, with other Poems,' by George Goodwin. March, 1799.
3. ' Mmoires Historiques de Stephanie-Louise de Bourbon Conti.' Vol. xxv., Appendix.
4. Landor's ' Gebir.' September, 1799.
5. Bloomfield's ' Rural Tales.' May, 1802.
6. Mrs. Opie's ' Poems.' December, 1802.
7. Count de Noronia's ' Poems.' Vol. xxxri., Appendix.
8. Miss Baillie's ' Series of Plays.' February, 1803.
B. Those in ichich the internal evidence for Southey's authorship is almost conclusive.
9. Amos Cottle's ' Translation of the Edda.' January, 1798.
10. ' Blank Verse,' by Charles Lamb and Charles Lloyd. October, 1798.
11. Anderson's ' British Poets.' January, 1799 .
12. Escoiquiz's ' Mexico Conquistada. Vol. xxxii., Appendix.
13. Ellis's ' Specimens of the Early English Poets.' September, 1801.
14. Pratt's ' Bread.' January, 1802.
15. ' Little's [Thomas Moore's] Poetical Works.' February, 1802.
16. Nathaniel Bloomfield's ' Poems.' April, 1803.
