Its very title
is enough," &c. &c. We quote these expressions as a fair specimen of
the general unphilosophical and adulatory tenor of our criticism.
As an instance of what may be termed the sublimely ridiculous we
quote the following lines-
With sweeping tail and quivering fin,
Through the wave the sturgeon flew,
And like the heaven-shot javelin,
He sprung above the waters blue.
Instant as the star-fall light,
He plunged into the deep again,
But left an arch of silver bright
The rainbow of the moony main.
It was a strange and lovely sight
To see the puny goblin there,
He seemed an angel form of light
With azure wing and sunny hair,
Throned on a cloud of purple fair
Circled with blue and edged with white
And sitting at the fall of even
Beneath the bow of summer heaven.
The [lines of the last verse], if considered without their
context, have a certain air of dignity, elegance, and chastity of
thought. If however we apply the context, we are immediately
overwhelmed with the grotesque. It is impossible to read without
laughing, such expressions as "It was a strange and lovely sight"- "He
seemed an angel form of light"- "And sitting at the fall of even,
beneath the bow of summer heaven" to a Fairy- a goblin- an Ouphe- half
an inch high, dressed in an acorn helmet and butterfly-cloak, and
sitting on the water in a muscleshell, with a "brown-backed
sturgeon" turning somersets over his head.
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