lained, with a modesty and
patience which restored him to the regard he had lost by the derision
(all had impartially united in it), that though the work had already
been done, there needed some slight additions to it which would easily
fit it to his purpose. He was not thinking of going in for one of those
dreadful series of books which seemed the dismay alike of publisher and
reader, and required rewriting of matter more than enough rewritten. In
fact, he said, that for his purpose the writing was done fully and
probably better than it could be done again, and it was only the reading
and quoting that demanded editorial attention.

Another said he did not see how that could be, and the inventor of the
brave scheme, which was still _in petto_, said that he would try to show
him. We had, he contended, only too great riches in the criticisms of
the poets open to our choice, but suppose we took Spenser and let Lowell
introduce him to us. There would be needed a very brief biographical
note, and then some able hand to intersperse the criticism with passages
from Spenser, or with amplifications of the existing quotations, such as
would give a full notion of the poet's scope and quality. The story of
each of his poems could be given in a few words, where the poems
themselves could not be given even in part, and with the constant help
of the critic the reader could be possessed of a luminous idea of the
poet, such as he probably could not get by going to him direct, though
this was not to be deprecated, but encouraged, after the preparatory
acquaintance. The explanatory and illustrative passages could be
interpolated in the text of the criticism without interrupting the
critic, and something for Spenser might thus be done on the scale of
what Addison did for Milton. It was known how those successive papers in
the _Spectator_ had rehabilitated one of the greatest English poets, or,
rather, rehabilitated the English public, and restored the poet and the
public to each other. They formed almost an ideal body of criticism, and
if they did not embody all that the reader need know of Milton, they
embodied so much that he could no longer feel himself ignorant of
Milton. In fact, they possessed him of a high degree of Miltonian
culture, which was what one wanted to have with respect to any poet.
They might be extended with still greater quotation, and if something
more yet were needed the essay on Milton which made Macaulay's
reputati