or does not believe
that he made any progress in the prose translation. These
sonnets appearing rather too literal, and consequently harsh, it
has not been thought worth while to print.

"In the summer of 1832, the appearance of Professor Rosetti's
_Disquisizioni sullo spirito Antipapale_, in which the writings
of Arthur's beloved masters, Dante and Petrarch, as well as most
of the mediaeval literature of Italy, were treated as a series
of enigmas, to be understood only by a key that discloses a
latent Carbonarism, a secret conspiracy against the religion of
their age, excited him to publish his own Remarks in reply. It
seemed to him the worst of poetical heresies to desert the
Absolute, the Universal, the Eternal, the Beautiful and True,
which the Platonic spirit of his literary creed taught him to
seek in all the higher works of genius, in quest of some
temporary historical allusion, which could be of no interest
with posterity. Nothing, however, could be more alien from his
courteous disposition than to abuse the license of controversy,
or to treat with intentional disrespect a very ingenious person,
who had been led on too far in pursuing a course of
interpretation, which, within certain much narrower limits, it
is impossible for any one conversant with history not to admit.

"A very few other anonymous writings occupied his leisure about
this time. Among these were slight memoirs of Petrarch,
Voltaire, and Burke, for the Gallery of Portraits, published by
the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.[38] His time
was, however, principally devoted, when not engaged at his
office, to metaphysical researches, and to the history of
philosophical opinions.

[38] We had read these Lives, and had remarked them, before we
knew whose they were, as being of rare merit. No one could
suppose they were written by one so young. We give his
estimate of the character of Burke. "The mind of this great
man may perhaps be taken as a representation of the general
characteristics of the English intellect. Its groundwork was
solid, practical, and conversant with the details of
business; but upon this, and secured by this, arose a
superstructure of imagination and moral sentiment. He saw
little, _because it was painful to him_ to se