ESSAYS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. COLLECTED BY HIMSELF. (NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED IN AMERICA.) VOL. I. PHILADELPHIA: CAREY & HART. 1841. 37 MISCELLANIES BY SIR WALTER SCOTT. POETICAL CRITICISM. EARLY ENGLISH POETRY.* [Edinburgh Review, 1804.] It is obvious to every one who has studied our language, whether in prose or poetry, that a luminous history of its rise and progress must necessarily involve more curious topics of discussion than a similar work upon any other European language. This opinion has not its source in national partiality, but is dictated by the very peculiar circumstances under which the English language was formed. The other European tongues, such at least as have been adapted to the purposes of literature, may be divided into two grand classesthose which are derived from the Teutonic, and those which are formed upon the Latin. In the former class, we find the German, the Norse, the Swedish, the Danish, and the Low Dutch, all of which, in words and construction, are *Ellis's Specimen of the early English Poets. Third edition. 3 vols. 1803. + George Ellis, Esq., to whom the 5th Canto of Marmion is inscribed, was the coadjutor of Messrs. Canning and Frere, in the Anti-Jacobin, and the author of various separate works distinguished by extensive antiquarian knowledge, and elegant critical taste. He died in 1815, at the age of 70. VOL. I.-2 |