l as that which may claim the title as of right, would
impose on himself a task demanding no little labor, and entailing no
little disgust and weariness. Nor is the trouble well repaid. More
profit will not accrue to him who studies, if the word can be used,
fifty of a certain class of versifiers, than to him who glances over
one: and, while a successful effort to warn such that poetry is not
their proper sphere, and that they must seek elsewhere for a vocation
to work out, might embolden a philanthropist to assume the position
of scare-crow, and drive away the unclean birds from the flowers and
the green leaves; on the other hand, the small results which appear
to have hitherto attended such endeavors are calculated rather to
induce those who have yet made, to relinquish them than to lead
others to follow in the same track. It is truly a disheartening task.
To the critic himself no good, though some amusement occasionally,
can be expected: to the criticised, good but rarely, for he is seldom
convinced, and annoyance and rancour almost of course; and, even in
those few cases where the voice crying "in the wilderness" produces
its effect, the one thistle that abandons the attempt at bearing figs
sees its neighbors still believing in their success, and soon has its
own place filled up. The sentence of those who do not read is the
best criticism on those who will not think.

It is acting on these considerations that we propose not to take
count of any works that do not either show a purpose achieved or give
promise of a worthy event; while of such we hope to overlook none.

We believe it may safely be assumed that at no previous period has
the public been more buzzed round by triviality and common-place; but
we hold firm, at the same time, that at none other has there been a
greater or a grander body of genius, or so honorable a display of
well cultivated taste and talent. Certainly the public do not seem to
know this: certainly the critics deny it, or rather speak as though
they never contemplated that such a position would be advanced: but,
if the fact be so, it will make itself known, and the poets of this
day will assert themselves, and take their places.

Of these it is our desire to speak truthfully, indeed, and without
compromise, but always as bearing in mind that the inventor is more
than the commentator, and the book more than the notes; and that, if
it is we who speak, we do so not for ourselves, nor as of our