general--stretched on his palanquin, and borne by his slaves?
No; he is invigorated and inspirited by his leader, in order that he may
exert himself; for he cannot proceed in quiescence, he cannot be carried
like a dead weight. Therefore to create taste is to call forth and
bestow power, of which knowledge is the effect; and _there_ lies the
true difficulty.

As the pathetic participates of an _animal_ sensation, it might
seem--that, if the springs of this emotion were genuine, all men,
possessed of competent knowledge of the facts and circumstances, would
be instantaneously affected. And, doubtless, in the works of every true
poet will be found passages of that species of excellence, which is
proved by effects immediate and universal. But there are emotions of the
pathetic that are simple and direct, and others--that are complex and
revolutionary; some--to which the heart yields with gentleness;
others--against which it struggles with pride; these varieties are
infinite as the combinations of circumstance and the constitutions of
character. Remember, also, that the medium through which, in poetry, the
heart is to be affected--is language; a thing subject to endless
fluctuations and arbitrary associations. The genius of the poet melts
these down for his purpose; but they retain their shape and quality to
him who is not capable of exerting, within his own mind, a corresponding
energy. There is also a meditative, as well as a human, pathos; an
enthusiastic, as well as an ordinary, sorrow; a sadness that has its
seat in the depths of reason, to which the mind cannot sink gently of
itself--but to which it must descend by treading the steps of thought.
And for the sublime,--if we consider what are the cares that occupy the
passing day, and how remote is the practice and the course of life from
the sources of sublimity in the soul of Man, can it be wondered that
there is little existing preparation for a poet charged with a new
mission to extend its kingdom, and to augment and spread its
enjoyments?

Away, then, with the senseless iteration of the word _popular_, applied
to new works in poetry, as if there were no test of excellence in this
first of the fine arts but that all men should run after its
productions, as if urged by an appetite, or constrained by a spell!--The
qualities of writing best fitted for eager reception are either such as
startle the world into attention by their audacity and extravagance; or
they are