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PERIODICAL CRITICISM.

BY

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART., 771-1832

VOL. I.

POETRY.

ROBERT CADELL, EDINBURGH;

* WHITTAKER AND CO., LONDON.

POETICAL CRITICISM.

ARTICLE I.

ENGLISH

ON ELLIS'S SPECIMEN OF THE EARLY
THIRD EDITION. 3 VOLS. 1803.

POETS.

[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. The following passages are from an Article in the Edinburgh Review for 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 classes-those which are

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