[88] To this utterly unjust stricture Scott made a calm reply in his Preface to Marmion (1830): “I never could conceive how an arrangement between an author and his publishers, if satisfactory to the persons concerned, could afford matter of censure to any third party.” Certainly Byron came to be a gross offender in this respect himself, and when, in 1819, he was haggling with Murray over the price of Don Juan, these boyish censures, if they met his eye, must have roused a smile.

[89] “The plot is absurd, and the antique costume of the language is disgusting, because it is unnatural” (All the Talents, page 68).

[90] Pursuits of Literature, iv., 397–398.

[91]

“Then still might Southey sing his crazy Joan,

To feign a Welshman o’er the Atlantic flown,

Or tell of Thalaba the wondrous matter,

Or with clown Wordsworth, chatter, chatter, chatter.”

(Epics of the Ton, 31–34.)

[92] After some praise of the three poets, the dedication of the Simpliciad closes with the words: “I lament the degradation of your genius, and deprecate the propagation of your perverted taste.”