There are barren, unpeopled wastes in the "Excursion," and in
some of the longer poems; but when his Genius stirs, we find ourselves in
rich places which have no parallel in any book since the death of Milton.
When his lyrical ballads first appeared, they encountered much opposition
and some contempt. Readers had not for many years been accustomed to drink
the waters of Helicon pure and undefiled; and Wordsworth (a prophet of the
true faith) had to gird up his loins, march into the desert, and prepare
for battle. He has, indeed, at last achieved a conquest; but a long course
of time, although sure of eventual success, elapsed before he could boast
of victory. The battle has been perilous. When the "Excursion" was
published (in 1814), Lamb wrote a review of it for "The Quarterly Review."
Whatever might have been the actual fitness of this performance, it seems
to have been hacked to pieces; more than a third of the substance cut
away; the warm expressions converted into cold ones; and (in Lamb's
phrase) "the eyes pulled out and the bleeding sockets left." This mangling
(or amendment, as I suppose it was considered) was the work of the late
Mr. Gifford. Charles had a great admiration for Wordsworth.
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