Indeed he was a true model of worth; a man fit for conquest, plantation, reformation, or what action soever is greatest and hardest amongst men; withal such a lover of mankind and goodness, that whoever had any real parts, in him found comfort, participation, and protection to the uttermost of his power. FULKE GREVILLE, Life of Sidney. The excellencies of this admirable essay are equally conspicuous, whether we regard the purity and simplicity of its style, the strength and soundness of its reasoning, the rich fervor of its eloquence, or the variety and aptness of its illustrations. In short, nothing is wanting to make the Defense of Poesy a piece of writing that, in a similar space, is not to be paralleled in our language. And regarding it as an essay on the nature, objects, and effects of poetry as an art, it is also beyond comparison the most complete work of the kind which we possess, even up to the present day;- which is not a little singular, considering that it was written before we had achieved a poetry of our own, and at a period, too, when it appears that the art itself was held in but slight respect at all events, if not in mere contempt. Retrospective Review (for 1824) 10. 44. Sidney may be regarded as the earliest and the greatest æsthetician in Schiller's sense of that term that England has ever produced. FLÜGEL'S Edition (1889), p. xlix. The Defense of Poetry is a work of rare merit. It is a golden little volume, which the scholar may lay beneath his pillow, as Chrysostom did the works of Aristophanes. . . . It will be read with delight by all who have a taste for the beauties of poetry, and may go far to remove the prejudices of those who have not. LONGFELLOW, N. Amer. Rev. 34 (January, 1832). 57. THE DEFENSE OF POESY ་་ OTHERWISE KNOWN AS AN APOLOGY FOR POETRY EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY ALBERT S. COOK PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE LLEGE FEB 19 1914 LIBRARY Substituted for a copy lift of worn out Bir!. I. La Kittivaic) Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, by in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. ALL RIGHTS Reserved. 29.7 The Athenæum Press |