pressed forcibly upon the reader
throughout this work.

How far works of criticism in general are suited to children, remains
to be considered. Such works cannot probably suit their taste, because
the taste for systematic criticism cannot arise in the mind until many
books have been read; until the various species of excellence suited
to different sorts of composition, have been perceived, and until the
mind has made some choice of its own. It is true, that works of
criticism may teach children to talk well of what they read; they will
be enabled to repeat what good judges have said of books. But this is
not, or ought not to be, the object. After having been thus
officiously assisted by a connoisseur, who points out to them the
beauties of authors, will they be able afterwards to discover beauties
without his assistance? Or have they as much pleasure in being told
what to admire, what to praise, and what to blame, as if they had been
suffered to feel and to express their own feelings naturally? In
reading an interesting play, or beautiful poem, how often has a man of
taste and genius execrated the impertinent commentator, who
interrupts him by obtruding his ostentatious notes--"The reader will
observe the beauty of this thought." "This is one of the finest
passages in any author, ancient or modern." "The sense of this line,
which all former annotators have mistaken, is obviously restored by
the addition of the vowel i." &c.

Deprived, by these anticipating explanations, of the use of his own
common sense, the reader detests the critic, soon learns to disregard
his references, and to skip over his learned truisms. Similar
sensations, tempered by duty or by fear, may have been sometimes
experienced by a vivacious child, who, eager to go on with what he is
reading, is prevented from feeling the effect of the whole, by a
premature discussion of its parts. We hope that no keen hunter of
paradoxes will here exult in having detected us in a contradiction: we
are perfectly aware, that but a few pages ago we exhibited examples of
detailed explanations of poetry for children; but these explanations
were not of the criticising class; they were not designed to tell
young people what to admire, but simply to assist them to understand
before they admired.

Works of criticism are sometimes given to pupils, with the idea that
they will instruct and form them in the art of writing: but few things
can be more terrific or dangerous to