of the fuller reviews,[1] which in The Edinburgh supplanted the old meagre analysis of books. The claim would, I think, require modification. More than thirty years before his predecessor, Goldsmith had contributed genuine reviews to the same periodical—to give no other instances. At any rate, Taylor never took part in The Edinburgh or its rivals. He wrote, we are told, 1750 articles upon a vast variety of topics, many of them upon his speciality of German literature. Out of these he constructed what he called his Historic Survey of German Poetry in 1830; and thereby exposed himself to Carlyle's criticism in The Edinburgh. The review, as Mr. Herzfeld argues, was in many ways unjust. Unfortunately, it is probably the only thing by which Taylor is faintly remembered. His Life, however, has some interest, chiefly from the long correspondence with Southey, who had made his acquaintance on a visit to Norwich in 1798, and, in spite of growing divergence of opinion, kept up the friendship till the last.
Mr. Herzfeld generously seeks to vindicate his hero from Carlyle's criticisms. In one respect he
- ↑ When did the old form 'reviewals' go out? It is generally used by Southey and his contemporaries.
