17] For Fielding's view of the French novels of his day see _Tom
Jones_, book xiii. chap. ix.

_COWPER AND ROUSSEAU_

Sainte-Beuve's Essay on Cowper--considered as the type of domestic
poets--has recently been translated for the benefit of English readers.
It is interesting to know on the highest authority what are the
qualities which may recommend a writer, so strongly tinged by local
prejudices, to the admiration of a different race and generation. The
gulf which separates the Olney of a century back from modern Paris is
wide enough to give additional value to the generous appreciation of the
critic. I have not the presumption to supplement or correct any part of
his judgment. It is enough to remark briefly that Cowper's immediate
popularity was, as is usually the case, due in part to qualities which
have little to do with his more enduring reputation. Sainte-Beuve dwells
with special fondness upon his pictures of domestic and rural life. He
notices, of course, the marvellous keenness of his pathetic poems; and
he touches, though with some hint that national affinity is necessary to
its full appreciation, upon the playful humour which immortalised John
Gilpin, and lights up the poet's most charming letters. Something,
perhaps, might still be said by a competent critic upon the singular
charm of Cowper's best style. A poet, for example, might perhaps tell
us, though a prosaic person cannot, what is the secret of the impression
made by such a poem as the 'Wreck of the Royal George.' Given an
ordinary newspaper paragraph about wreck or battle, turn it into the
simplest possible language, do not introduce a single metaphor or figure
of speech, indulge in none but the most obvious of all reflections--as,
for example, that when a man is once drowned he won't win any more
battles--and produce as the result a copy of verses which nobody can
ever read without instantly knowing them by heart. How Cowper managed to
perform such a feat, and why not one poet even in a hundred can perform
it, are questions which might lead to some curious critical speculation.

The qualities, however, which charm the purely literary critic do not
account for the whole of Cowper's influence. A great part of his
immediate, and some part of his more enduring success, have been clearly
owing to a different cause. On reading Johnson's 'Lives,' Cowper
remarked, rather uncharitably, that there was scarcely one good man
amongst the poets. Few poe